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Why are they important? Who thinks so?

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As America's most fearless purveyor of "truthiness," Stephen Colbert shines a light on ego-driven punditry, moral hypocrisy and government incompetence, raising the bar for political satire.

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10 Reasons the Humanities are still important

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It is common to hear undergraduates and recent college graduates preparing for a career in science complain: "I think I wasted a lot of time in college being forced to take humanities classes that had nothing to do with my area of study." This is one of many manifestations of the ongoing centuries-long battle over the relationship between the sciences and the humanities.

From a historical point of view, until the mid-19th century, the humanities (i.e., grammar, rhetoric, history, literature, languages, and moral philosophy) held the upper hand. At Oxford and Cambridge Universities, the gold standard models for American education, the areas of study consisted mainly of classics, mathematics, or divinity.

However, in 1847 Yale College broke with this tradition and formed the School of Applied Chemistry. This became the Yale Scientific School and in 1861 it was renamed the Sheffield Scientific School. Sheffield's 3-year undergraduate program focused on chemistry, engineering, and independent research. It offered the best scientific training in America. The "Sheffs" studied and lived apart from other undergraduates taking the classic curriculum and roomed together in the "college yard." The two groups did not mingle. The old truism that a classical education assured success was being challenged. Science had begun its separation and was ascending vis-a-vis the liberal arts in American universities.

The need for science majors to take courses in the humanities has been contentious ever since. The required core curriculum at most colleges and universities has atrophied over the years, while at the same time governmental funds for support of any new research in the humanities has dried up. Authorities both within and outside of science have expressed concern that scientists do not learn enough about the humanities - to the detriment of society.

In this environment, it's difficult for the undergraduate to determine the desirability of taking courses in the humanities - or which and how many to take. In fact, some applicants to college regard a strong core curriculum requirement as a negative factor, opting instead for programs with a minimum number of required core courses and maximum flexibility.

All this considered, I would offer the following 10 reasons why students pursuing science careers should augment their education with a strong foundation in the humanities.

1. The humanities prepare you to fulfill your civic and cultural responsibilities.

The
reason that John Harvard left his library to the college in Cambridge,
Massachusetts, that Jane and Leland Stanford founded Stanford University, and
that states established land-grant colleges was to educate cultured and
useful citizens. The humanities provide an insightful understanding into
moral, ethical, political, and ideological forces. A successful society
depends upon altruism, charity, civility, compassion, and generosity,
and the humanities evaluate and emphasize the importance of these
characteristics. The liberal arts introduce aesthetic values to the
student. While it may not be obvious how these characteristics are essential to
finding a research position in academia or industry, they are key to a
full and meaningful life.

2. Studying the humanities allows you to become familiar with and use the creative ideas from great minds outside of science.

Biography,
literature, and history offer a window into the understanding of human
nature and society. They introduce us to thoughts and ideas from outside
our specialist areas and can have relevance to finding new directions
and enhance creative thinking.

For example, a classic case that
demonstrates the influence of humanities on science can be seen in
Charles Darwin's development of the theory of evolution by natural
selection. In his On the Origin of Species, his autobiography,
and other writings, Darwin revealed that the principal insight that led
to his theory of evolution was his knowledge of Malthus' population
theory. This states that populations increase geometrically while
food supplies grow arithmetically. Robert Young, who carefully traced
this link in his 1969 publication, Malthus and the Evolutionists: the Common Context of Biological and Social Theory,
points out that assumptions in the humanities about human nature and
society contribute fundamentally to approaches taken in the scientific
study of nature.
3. The
state-of-the-art scientific knowledge and techniques you learn in
college have a limited shelf life; mastering the humanities provides
tools for extending it.
Just as cars have an approximate 10-year road life and high-tech gadgets last 2 or 3 years before they
become obsolete, the preparation for a scientific career one receives in
graduate school leaves the individual competitive for a finite period
only. The study of humanities, both in its pursuit and the perspective
it provides, rewards the student with the skills needed for
self-critical reflection, adaptability, and self-teaching. These are the
functions needed to be an independent learner, thereby extending one's
scientific knowledge and teaching abilities throughout his or her
professional career.
4. Humanities study strengthens your ability to communicate and work with others.
Scientists
chafe at the stereotype held by some that they belong to a class of
socially awkward "geeks" that are unable to communicate their ideas
clearly. The old "classical" liberal arts education was pursued in large
measure because the materials studied and the methods of study enhanced
one's ability to work well with others and communicate properly via the
spoken and written word. These rewards still apply and remain useful
in securing good jobs, gaining advancement and promotions, and obtaining
grants.
5. You will gain knowledge of foreign languages and foreign cultures.
With
globalization, this is increasingly seen as a requirement for a
successful career in commerce and industry. It is also helpful in
science and medicine. When I was in college number of years ago, it was a
widely held belief that a proficiency in German -
scientific German, in particular - was of great importance to scientists and
physicians. While this has been helpful to me throughout the years, my
lack of proficiency in Spanish has been a handicap in my clinical
practice, requiring the use of a translator with Hispanic patients
unable to speak English.

Although we assume English to be the universal
language of science and medicine, this isn't the case in every country. Moreover, all non-English speaking countries retain their national
pride. Years ago, a colleague of mine was invited to give a "name"
lecture in Japan. He spent a great deal of time and effort translating
his lecture into Japanese and rehearsing it so it would be intelligible
to his Japanese audience. His efforts paid off handsomely in terms of
subsequent collaborations, visiting professorships, and fellowship
applications from Japan.
6. The walls that exist among disciplines has been lowered and students can move across disciplines more freely.
The
concept of a core curriculum has changed and students have increasing
flexibility, largely as a result of information technology. Victor
Coelho, associate provost at Boston University, gives a good
illustration:

Recently I worked with the Office of Information Technology on this course selection database
that crawls through all the course descriptions at BU. You can put in
keywords to find all the courses with descriptions having those words,
and you would be amazed at how many people are discussing the same
thing. For instance, in typing in theoretical physics, you would have no
idea that there's an art history course discussing theoretical physics.
Or put in Africa, and you'd be amazed at how many courses at this
university deal with Africa from so many perspectives. It showed me how
fluid a university could be. You could actually see all of the
possibilities of a university teaching in a holistic manner, allowing
students to stay tethered to a major, but have that tie be very, very
long.

7. Students can benefit from advice on which courses to take.
Without
the benefit of experience or advice, students choosing courses in an
abstract manner can make poor decisions. In many instances, students do
not know the value of a particular course until after they've taken it.
It is difficult to determine how useful a course in Russian literature -
or advanced calculus - will be in one's career without information from
other people further advanced on the same career track. To provide
that information is the job of one's advisor or mentor, who can
knowledgeably speak to the importance and usefulness of particular
courses.
8. Humanities study helps you understand the impact that science,
technology, and medicine has had on society and understand the future
scientific needs of society.
The study of literature,
history, and philosophy shed light on the influence science has had on
the quality of people's lives and on the shaping of society, both
positively and negatively. These studies also inform us of society's
needs and are important considerations for the concerned scientist to
appreciate and learn from, including the consideration in where he or
she chooses to work and what projects they undertake.
9. Interdisciplinary learning adds value to one's degree.
In
a significant measure, the diploma we receive at graduation defines and
symbolizes who we are and what we are qualified to do. But its true
value is derived from what we have put into our head and our heart. A
broad knowledge that includes the essentials of the humanities is an
important complement to our scientific training.
10. Humanities study teaches you that the supposedly sharp dichotomies that separate science from humanities do not really exist.
It is a general belief among scientists that science deals with facts and the humanities deals with values.
But as Robert Young astutely notes: "Science, technology and medicine - far from being value-neutral - are the embodiment of values in theories, things and therapies, in facts and artifacts, in procedures
and programs . . . I am suggesting that science is part of culture . . .
[and] that research traditions cannot be reasonably claimed to be set
above the prevailing world view of the epoch."

And that, in summary, I believe is the most compelling reason why the knowledge of values gained through the study of the humanities is important to you as a scientist.

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Ten Important Reasons to Include the Humanities in Your Preparation for a Scientific Career

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It is common to hear undergraduates and recent college graduates preparing for a career in science complain: "I think I wasted a lot of time in college being forced to take humanities classes that had nothing to do with my area of study."

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Why major in humanities--Not just for a good job--but for a good life

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Why major in humanities--Not just for a good job--but for a good life

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Why be a Humanities Major?

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Parents and siblings are sometimes a bit baffled when their student declares a passionate interest in the humanities. Why can't she pursue a practical degree like accounting or computer science? What is the use of a dozen courses in the humanities? More basically, what are the humanities?

The humanities are the fields in which we study the meaningful ways that human beings express themselves -- literature, philosophy, art, music, poetry -- and the modes of commentary and interpretation we have developed to discuss those modalities. Humanist scholars concentrate their attention on explicating the complexities, contexts, and meanings of cultural works. So literary criticism gives us theories and language in terms of which to understand literary expressions; art history and criticism provides such frameworks for the visual and sculptural arts; and so forth.

Traditions of literary and creative work exist everywhere in the world and throughout history, and most would agree they add great value to human life and culture. In fact, we might say that the fields of the humanities constitute the greater part of what we mean by "culture" -- systems of values, meanings, and metaphors in terms of which we live our lives. Who has not had the experience of reading a great novel or poem or hearing an opera or a theatrical performance and being profoundly changed as a result? (Hermann Hesse's Steppenwolf stands out in this way from my own college experience.)

Much of what I've mentioned here has nothing to do with universities. Academics sometimes produce great literature and art; but so do Bruce Springsteen, Leo Tolstoy, and George Eliot. So culture and the academic world are distinct. Academics theorize about cultural products, but the culture creators can be found everywhere.

So what is the value of studying the humanities in universities? How does the study of humanities become practical in an undergraduate's education? The answer is simple. To navigate our world -- to be successful as a leader and a contributor to the range of cooperative activities of professional life, to function as an intelligent and compassionate citizen -- there are a number of intellectual and emotional skills we need to have. These skills don't emerge spontaneously any more than does the skill of taking a turbine apart. Study of the range of the humanities makes a major contribution to the young person's development in these areas. So what are some of those skills?

First, we need to be able to recognize the complexities of the social relationships that surround us in society and in the workplace. We need an open mind that recognizes nuance and ambiguity, and we need to be able to sort out these complexities and make sense of them in order to act appropriately. We need social intelligence, and literature and the arts help to cultivate it.

Second, we need to be able to analyze and reason about complicated social situations. Why do people behave as they do? What is the relation between the public script and the hidden transcript? How do sincerity and deception intermingle in ordinary human affairs? What are the passions that move people to heroism and tragedy? Literature helps develop these skills through the novelist's ability to capture a complex, fluid set of social relationships.

Third, we need to be able to empathize with other people. We need to be able to recognize that their experiences are different from ours, and their wants and needs deserve attention. But to understand another person's experience we need to have developed the intellectual and emotional skills that permit us to recognize the nuances of that experience. It is only by learning to join imaginatively in the lives and values of other people that we can gain a meaningful capacity for empathy. The experience of literature and the arts helps greatly to cultivate strong understanding of the complex lives of others.

Finally, the analytical skills of humanist scholars who study cultural products are themselves an important component of critical thinking. A great teacher of literature or art is able to lead the student to ask new questions, to probe the intentions and choices of the artist, and to attempt to uncover hidden assumptions and values. Follow T. J. Clark through his analysis of the French Impressionists and you will never again think that these are just pretty pictures (see The Painting of Modern Life: Paris in the Art of Manet and his Followers).

So the study of the humanities is actually of great practical importance. It helps students gain the intellectual and emotional skills they need to understand the human realities they engage with, and it helps them gain the empathy they will need be good parents, good friends, and good citizens.

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Parents and siblings are sometimes a bit baffled when their student declares a passionate interest in the humanities. Why can't she pursue a practical degree like accounting or computer science? What is the use of a dozen courses in the humanities? More basically, what are the humanities?

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What & Why's to Humanities 2

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Why Humanities are important

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The world faces a lack of trust in institutions and a lack of confidence in existing ideas and models: it is hungry for new insights into meaning, identity and policy. We can see this wherever we look. There is rapid change in the political environment and the geo-political landscape is shifting fundamentally. Our politicians are not inspiring younger generations. There is decline in membership of political parties, a lack of public engagement in political issues, and it is especially true of the young. These processes are magnified and intensified by the revolution in communications and social media. The public political arena - the quality and quantity of questioning and serious discussion of evidence - is shrinking before our eyes - and we will all be the losers if this continues.

What is urgently needed is a new focus on serious public discussion of a host of difficult challenges. What kind of society do we seek to live in? How can we rekindle economic growth that can last, and bring communities and people together? We need to drive public debate forward on issues that face us all - issues such as ageing, migration, well-being and environment and climate change. These all require a deep understanding and a search for responses which need the essential input of humanities and social science research in order to help policy makers and politicians find a new focus and fresh ways of thinking.

Research stemming from understanding our behaviour and choices can dramatically redefine the crucial decisions we need to make - about the future direction of our economy, broadening education to all, tackling our widespread cultural impoverishment, or how we deal with the challenges and effect of constitutional change. Academics and researchers can do more to inspire our younger to engage more strongly with the world we are creating. We must all play our part in contributing to how our future will unfold.

Science, engineering and medicine are vital drivers of human progress and we must celebrate and nurture them. However, without the humanities and social sciences we can never find responses to the urgent issues that trouble us. The knowledge and expertise they add are the high-level analysis and insights essential to social and cultural well-being, to a rounded knowledge-driven economy. And ultimately to the UK's contribution, place and reputation in the world. From history to psychology, economics to law, literature to philosophy and languages to archaeology, they alone help us understand what it means to be human, to make sense of our lives, and to understand the choices we make for it. And above all, how we interact.

The UK economy is now 75 per cent services, hugely reliant on the analytical, negotiating and communication skills which humanities and social sciences disciplines develop in people. The crucible for developing this learning is at our universities where 65,000 UK academic staff (36 per cent of the total) teach these subjects, accounting for 50 per cent of active researchers (28,000). 970,000 undergraduate students in the UK (46 per cent of the total) study humanities and social science subjects, and a further 230,000 postgraduates (60 per cent of the total). These subjects attract 250,000 overseas students annually (nearly 60 per cent of the total), contributing to the economy and to the UK's international links. Most of the leaders in public life - government, commerce, public sector - were educated in humanities and social science disciplines.

The humanities and social sciences infuse our economy and our public and cultural life in a myriad of ways. One of the fastest growing sectors is the cultural, creative and digital industries, which now account for nearly 10 per cent of the whole economy. But in addition, the humanities and social sciences play a vital and often under-acknowledged role in pushing politics and public debate forward, in bringing new ideas to the fore, in helping to create the kind of world we all want: a world in which everyone can contribute and prosper.

The humanities and social sciences are not just about prosperity, however widely and deeply understood. They are also about challenge and questioning. Sometimes being awkward; always demanding rigour and honesty; often forcing ethical issues and choices into the open. Academics and politicians have to share in the responsibility to encourage everyone to get involved in public debate influenced by the best and most up-to-date research which can help define the decisions we all need to make about how we live and work - making sure that everyone can prosper, in the fullest sense, throughout their lives.

The UK is at a crossroads, facing enormous challenges in the years ahead - economically, politically, socially, constitutionally - including tough decisions for public spending. Tackling these issues will require the kind of radical and thought-through responses which expertise from humanities and social science can and must provide.

Leading British researchers can help us understand the choices that confront us as a society and as human individuals, and how best to respond. Their voices need to be heard more clearly; it is paramount that they help us all to wrestle with these challenges in new ways. The younger generation are not politically engaged and it is our responsibility to help create an intellectual environment where they feel moved to confidently contribute their ideas, commitments and inspirations.
Professor Nicholas Stern (Lord Stern of Brentford) is President of the British Academy
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Don't neglect the importance of the humanities

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The world faces a lack of trust in institutions and a lack of confidence in existing ideas and models: it is hungry for new insights into meaning, identity and policy. We can see this wherever we look. There is rapid change in the political environment and the geo-political landscape is shifting fundamentally.

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What are Humanities? - Humanities - Clayton State University

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Budget cuts

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More than eight months ago, the high-wattage Broadway producer Rocco Landesman announced his departure as chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. Mr. Landesman, who took the job in 2009, will be hard to replace but not impossible. The White House has taken too long to nominate a successor. It also needs a new leader for the National Endowment for the Humanities, which has been missing a permanent chief since May.

Both of these small-but-vital endowments have able acting leaders. But almost by definition, interim bosses do not have the influence permanent leaders do. A strong voice at the top - nominated by the president and approved by Congress - would be particularly helpful now that Congressional Republicans are threatening major budget cuts that neither agency can easily absorb.

The House Appropriations Committee has proposed cutting each budget by half. Present financing levels are about $155 million each, a mite in the federal government's overall $3.5 trillion budget. Even at these modest levels, the endowments are essential to art and enlightenment all across the country, and they help local economies in the bargain. Grants range from smaller awards, like $50,000 to the Nicolaysen Art Museum in Casper, Wyo., to bigger ones, like $3.5 million this year for the digital preservation of historic American newspapers dating from 1836 to 1922.

Mr. Landesman has spent much of his time stressing art's contribution to local economies - $26 in local economic activity, he said, for every $1 spent by the endowment. House Republicans have not been listening. Representative Hal Rogers of Kentucky has belittled endowment investments as "nice-to-have" programs.

The White House's job is to find persuasive leaders for both agencies to explain why culture is central to a civilized society, not merely "nice to have."

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Opinion | Trifling With the Arts and Humanities

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More than eight months ago, the high-wattage Broadway producer Rocco Landesman announced his departure as chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts. Mr. Landesman, who took the job in 2009, will be hard to replace but not impossible. The White House has taken too long to nominate a successor.

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What are the Humanities and why are they so important?

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Interdisciplinary Humanities - Interdisciplinary Humanities - College of Arts and Sciences - University of San Diego

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Our degree in humanities is interdisciplinary humanities major including the study of art, English, history, world languages, music, philosophy, theology and religious studies and theater.

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Stanford. What are the humanities

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Why are they important?

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Disciplines of the humanities such as philosophy, history, and literary studies offer models and methods for addressing dilemmas and acknolwedging ambiguity and paradox. They can help us face the tension between the concerns of individuals and those of groups and promote civil and informed discussion of conflicts, placing current issues in historical perspective.

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Any thoughts on what the humanities do to us?

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Most of us write a little something everyday. It might be a grocery list, a poem, or a write-up on the infographic of the day. As we go through this daily ritual, however, we are probably not aware of the effects writing has on our brains.

According to todayâ??s infographic, writing can serve as a calming, meditative tool. Stream of conscious writing exercises, in particular, have been identified as helpful stress coping methods. Keeping a journal, for example, or trying out free-writing exercises, can drastically reduce your levels of stress.

It should also be noted that writing can hold a powerful influence over its readers. Todayâ??s infographic informs us that storytellers have the power to â??plant emotions, thoughts, and ideas into the brain of the listener.â? But all of these mind-shaping tools can be completely disregarded if one chooses to insert a clichÃ© into his or her writing. When you hear phrases like â??love is blindâ? or â??dumb blonde,â? your brain skips over these ideas and simply accepts them as a collection of words. ClichÃ©s have become so familiar to us that the sensory responses they are supposed to evoke are often severely diluted.

So, whether youâ??re trying to de-stress, or improve your writing, check out the infographic below for some helpful insight into the goings-on of your brain. I hope you never stop writing! [ Via]

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How Does Writing Affect Your Brain? [Infographic] | Daily Infographic

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Most of us write a little something everyday. It might be a grocery list, a poem, or a write-up on the infographic of the day. As we go through this daily ritual, however, we are probably not aware of the effects writing has on our brains.

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How does this relate to the Humanities?

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Consider another experiment, conducted in 2000. A team of contractors in Glasgow, Scotland, installed a series of blue lights in prominent locations citywide. The lights were designed to make unsightly districts of the city more attractive, but after a few months the city's crime statisticians noticed a striking trend: crime rates declined in the locations that were bathed in blue.

The lights, which mimicked those atop police cars, seemed to imply that the police were watching. In 2005, police in Nara Prefecture, Japan, installed blue lights at crime hot spots and got a similar result: the overall crime rate fell. When others tried the approach, they found that littering and suicide attempts also declined beneath the blue glow.

Theories abound on why the blue lights might deter crime: perhaps because their bright and attention-grabbing incandescence makes shadowy niches feel more open and exposed - or, quite the opposite, that they have a mysterious calming effect. But even subtler interventions seem to have similar consequences.

For example, people behave more honestly in locations that give them the sense they're being watched. A group of psychologists at Newcastle University in northeast England found that university workers were far more likely to pay for tea and coffee in a small kitchen when the honor-system collection box sat directly below a price list featuring an image of a pair of eyes, versus one with flowers. The researchers alternated the pictures of eyes and flowers each week during their 10-week experiment, using eyes from both men and women, to make sure that no single image affected the outcome. In every week featuring the eyes, the "honesty box" ended up with more money.

That study inspired police in West Midlands, England, to place large posters featuring a pair of eyes around town - which, at least according to anecdotal reports, led to a reduction in crime.

Mirrors have the same effect and are arguably even more powerful, because they compel us to peer, metaphorically, into our own souls.

Other environmental cues shape our actions because they subtly license us to behave badly. According to the heavily debated broken windows theory, people who are otherwise well behaved are more likely to commit crimes in neighborhoods with broken windows, which suggests that the area's residents don't care enough to maintain their property.

The theory's authors, James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling, hypothesized in a 1982 article for The Atlantic Monthly that if the broken windows in a building were not repaired, people were more likely to break additional windows in the structure. And that, in turn, would only encourage more vandalism.

The same goes for a sidewalk with litter. The more litter there is, the more accumulates. Eventually, people start discarding bags of trash from takeout restaurants there, and this soon leads to more crime in the neglected area.

SINCE 1982, when Professors Wilson and Kelling proposed their theory, the littering example has received plenty of experimental support. In one study, social psychologists placed paper fliers on 139 cars in a large hospital parking lot and watched to see what the car owners would do with them.

Again, the environment appeared to shape the response. When drivers emerged from the hospital to find a parking lot littered with scattered fliers, candy wrappers and coffee cups (arranged by the researchers, of course), nearly half of them removed the fliers from their cars and left them on the ground. In contrast, when the researchers swept the parking lot clean before the drivers returned, only 1 in 10 dropped the flier.

Unwittingly, the drivers adopted the behavior that seemed most appropriate given their understanding of the area's prevailing norms.

These studies tell us something profound, and perhaps a bit disturbing, about what makes us who we are: there isn't a single version of "you" and "me." Though we're all anchored to our own distinct personalities, contextual cues sometimes drag us so far from those anchors that it's difficult to know who we really are - or at least what we're likely to do in a given circumstance.

It's comforting to believe that there's an essential version of each of us - that good people behave well, bad people behave badly, and those tendencies reside within us.

But the growing evidence suggests that, on some level, who we are - litterbug or good citizen, for example - changes from moment to moment, depending on where we happen to be.

These environmental cues can shape and reshape us as quickly as we walk from one part of the city to another.

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Opinion | Where We Are Shapes Who We Are

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Consider another experiment, conducted in 2000. A team of contractors in Glasgow, Scotland, installed a series of blue lights in prominent locations citywide. The lights were designed to make unsightly districts of the city more attractive, but after a few months the city's crime statisticians noticed a striking trend: crime rates declined in the locations that were bathed in blue.