Today's Humanities Paper
Paul Sibley
Hum 102
August 14 2011
Mrs. Moody-Bouwhuis

Today's Humanities Paper

The definition of humanities according to Merriam-Webster: the branches of learning (as philosophy, arts, or languages) that investigate human constructs and concerns as opposed to natural processes (as in physics or chemistry) and social relations (as in anthropology or economics). We must be aware of the fact that the humanities are academic subjects that study the human form using analytical, speculative, and critical methods. There are many types of humanities and we I will try to distinguish the differences between just a few of them.
The first discipline that I shall attempt to explain is Art: There are different types of art. The visual art is one that you can see as in a painting or drawing. There are paintings of President Obama, what do you see, do you judge by the content or character, or even by how it feels. Do you see a black man; is he responsible for all of the socioeconomic problems today; or do you say technologically where do we go from here? It is all in the eye of the beholder. Some will look at this painting and dislike it simply because of his race. Then there will be those who look at it from a political point of view and hate it instantly. I wonder if people in general will ever be judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin as Dr. Martin Luther King so wanted.
Discipline number two is another form of art which is Music: Music makes the world go round a truer statement has never been made. We look at our young people today and say that the rap music has warped their minds or changed the way that they view things. Most of the music of today promotes violence and sex. This tells you that these are trying times and that technologically we have come a long way from the jazz music of old. Young people of today look at the music of old and frown at it. I wonder how it would help society today if all of the music that they listened to was taken away for a month and they were given only music that was classical, gospel, or oldies
Discipline number three is Architecture: Architecture is a thing of beauty that lies in the back of each mans mind. This science deals with buildings, and structures which are beautiful to the eye of the beholder. In the Ancient Egyptian culture the beauty was there to behold. The buildings were structurally sound and so beautiful and intricate in their details. The great pyramids were awesome and I wonder if we could construct something with such detail today. Chicago has some of the most structurally sound and beautiful buildings in the world. If too much is put into a building it is no longer pleasing to the eye of the beholder. The Sears Tower is marveled at by many tourists who come to simply view the many land marks located in that great city. Technology has brought us a long way but we still have a long way to go within our minds.
The fourth discipline is Philosophy: Philosophy is simply the list of values one chooses to live by. Philosophy can be analytical or it can be synthetic. When I decide to take on a new task do I analyze what I am going to do? Look at the question and if answered honest you would say no. Logic is something most people lack because we are basically impulsive. If we had analyzed how not voting in the last election would have affected the way things are done in Congress we would have done things differently. Hind sight is something that most of us have had to deal with. We will always say oh if I had the chance to do that over I certainly would do it differently. The president would not have as many problems if more people had gotten up off of their butts and voted and our socioeconomic situation would certainly be different.
The fifth and last discipline is Literature: Literature is defined as a body of written works. There have been many great literary works pinned in the twentieth century. However there have not been many pinned recently that I can think of. I can however give you an example of an Allusion which is a figure of speech in a piece of written work. “I was not born in a manger. I was actually born on Krypton and sent here by my father, Jo-rel, to save the Planet Earth.” In the above statement, it is very obvious that Senator Barrack Obama is making a direct indication to the very popular Superman, a superhero created by DC Comics.