Humanities terminology and key concepts

Humanities Terminology

Humanities:

Humanities refer to a group of subjects that deal directly with human community and development. It is not associated with scientific aspect of our being but instead focuses on the study of more intangible, artistic and aesthetic aspects of human life. For example, study of culture would come under humanities and not sciences. Similarly everything that tells us something about social sciences, creativity, writing, literature, art and painting would be categorized as humanities.

Art:

Art being the most important and by far the most diverse branch of humanities needs to be formally defined and understood. But defining art is a challenging task as everyone views this subject differently and what may be art to one may not be art for someone else. Art formally refers to painting, sculpture, drawing and everything that helps us creatively express ourselves. It is a part of who we are as Nancy Aiken's writes in The Biological Origins of Art: "Art is not icing on the cake of culture. Art is an intrinsic part of human behavior...Art can be made by any of us. It need not result in museum-quality work; it can be only an elaboration of an ordinary object: a hair style rather than plain hair, fashion rather than a simple covering to keep warm, decorating rather than a room with furniture. We can all dance, sing, and doodle; some just do these better than others."

While this is what one person believed, there are others who simply reject the existence of anything called art. They feel that whatever a creative person or artist produces is termed art. Sir Ernst Gombrich (1950) writes in his book The Story of Art: "There really is no such thing as Art. There are only artists." Both ways, art is a tangible form of our creativity. When we fell an urge to express ourselves creatively, we produce something that becomes art.

Style:

Style refers to the way a person chooses to express himself. This can be both in art and in personal life. A person may choose to express his creativity in a way that differs from that of others and this becomes his or her style. For example writers have their own styles of writing that help them stand out. E.B. White in his work Elements of Style defined style as the method of creative expression and added:" Every writer, by the way he uses his language, reveals something of his spirit, his habits, his capacities, his bias. This is inevitable as well as enjoyable.... No writer long remains incognito." Similarly writer Katherine Ann Porter feels that style is "the writer's own special way of telling a thing that makes it precisely his own and no one else's." (See reference 3) But style is not limited to the field of writing alone though it may be more pronounced here. Style can be seen in almost everything that forms creative expression; in fact even the way someone talks, walks or conducts himself becomes his or her unique style. It is due to this style that we can tell people apart or enjoy one's company and avoid another's. It is style that makes a writer popular. For example there are thousands of ghost and magic stories around but there was something about J.K Rowling's writing style that led to the massive success of her Harry Potter series.

Culture: