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Humanities Today

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| Humanities Today | | | | 6/25/2012 | HUM102 |

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Humanities could be described as the blend of history, culture, mythology, literature and art in some cases. It establishes the past, the present, and the future, life, and destiny of society. With humanities, we are able to discover how life and all humanity became of existence and evolve over time. Humanities can assist people in different cultures and ethnic backgrounds to recognize, understand, and establish the meaningful modifications of American history. It seems as if society has become entirely dependent on visible consumption and leisure and is being denied of how we truly evolved into the existence of today. The lessons that we learn throughout our lives are taught so that we can learn about the creation of humanity.
The cultures throughout the world have been molded by historical events. Items such as technology set distinct areas that could be integrated to additional assessment of our history. Art offers our culture with a distinctive image that is custom-made towards our feelings, thoughts, ideas, and freedom of expression. The internet can show all the features of this. Modern museums were the first place for revealing such works of art, but now there is a constant effort to try to compete with the vast production of computers and the internet.
Without human inquiry and expression, I do not think there would be a society today or a sense of humanity. When you think about how society evolved over time, someone had to start somewhere. Someone millions of years ago inquired about how to improve life and create a society. Human expression is a way to show one person’s emotions. Throughout time and history, we have seen a variety of ways human beings can express how they are feeling or what they know. Even to this day we see human expression all around us. We see it through art; listen to it through music, different types of architecture, philosophy, and literature. Some people may be very oblivious to know or appreciate how human life has become the way it is today. That is the thing with humanities. It shows us and teaches us how to appreciate how society has evolved. Some people today may think that their life is rough. Imagine how the people felt thousands of years ago. They never had the items we have today, such as advanced technology, the internet, television, radios, etc.
Art has evolved over time. When it first started, there wasn’t really a technology; it was just hand painted or hand sculpted by an artist. With today, art can be produced by a press of a button. For example, one could make a collage of photographs within minutes, to whereas it would take someone days or months even years to finish a piece of art.
Music in early centuries was mainly created for a sense of entertainment for royalty. In today’s society, you can use the technology we have and download it from some other individual that lives half way around the world. It can be used as a way of expression. We hear a variety of genres. They talk about love, loss, sadness, anger, etc. I use music as a relaxation tool. I listen to the varieties of music depending on how my moods are or how I am feeling that day.
Architecture has definitely evolved over time. It has evolved from circular and square buildings made of stone and wood to any shape you can imagine made from steel to spider silk. With the creation of architecture, it gave society the opportunity to create shelters, homes, churches, etc. For example, there is a place in San Jose, California called the Winchester Mystery House. This house was created by Sarah Winchester. She believed that she was being haunted by all the spirits that were killed by the Winchester rifles. They told her that if she didn’t keep building onto her home that they would kill her family members. Well her husband and children died and she still believed that if she didn’t keep building onto her home, the spirits would kill her. Up until her death, construction still continued. I have been to this mansion. There are oddly shaped rooms and stairways that lead into the ceiling. There are random hallways that take you in a circle just to get back to the room you were just in. Even though Sarah Winchester was completely insane, the way she designed this home is truly a mystery.
Philosophy could be defined as, “the rational investigation of the truths and principles of beings, knowledge or conduct.” (Dictionary.com) Each culture has their own version of philosophy and they inherited it by self-discovery. They discovered things through logic, observation, leaps of faith, and religion. One thing I am not a big fan of is reading. It takes me a long time to get interested in a book. Literature had evolved more and more over the years. Authors are trying to get younger individuals interested in reading books. They have created books that can relate to teenagers. For example, the Twilight series by Stefanie Meyer. I actually read the series. It is about love and loss, teenage fantasy of being with a vampire, fighting, and werewolves. I guess what I am trying to say is that some literature is becoming more and more young reader friendly from when it was first created.

References
Dictionary.com
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/philosophy Accessed: June 23, 2012
Sarah Winchester http://winchestermysteryhouse.com/sarahwinchester.cfm Accessed: June 23, 2012

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