Humanities
About the Humanities
The humanities are academic disciplines that study human culture. The humanities use methods that are primarily critical, or speculative, and have a significant historical element—as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences. The humanities include ancient and modern languages, literature, philosophy, religion, and visual and performing arts such as music and theatre.
Courses Offered
This survey of the cultural heritage of Western civilization, from ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and Greece to the Early Renaissance, presents a history of culture and values with emphasis on artistic, literary, musical, religious and philosophical traditions. A wide variety of audio/ visual materials are used.
This survey of the cultural heritage of Western civilization from the High Renaissance to the end of the twentieth century presents a history of culture and values, with an emphasis on artistic, literary, musical, philosophical, and cinematic traditions using a wide variety of audio/visual materials.
This course provides opportunities to examine the interaction between society and technology. Challenging and stimulating questions about cultural and social values in light of the effects of modern technology are developed and discussed.
A comparative study of the cultures of the Middle Ages in Europe and the Middle East will include the literary, musical, and artistic traditions of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.