Humanities and Social Sciences

Studying the Humanities

Why is studying the Humanities important? Many have asked that question because to be honest many have also argued that studying the liberal arts or the humanities in general is a complete waste of time. Others would even argue that the Humanities are the unwise path for college students to take because non-technical degrees tend to have unemployment rates compared to those who are studying to be engineers, accountants, or business people.

Dr. Elwood Watson, in his article at diverseeducation.com, has discussed why studying the humanities always will be important. Dr. Watson said, “To minimize the value of the humanities, or any other area of academic inquiry for that matter, to one’s ability to earn an ample salary is to misunderstand the purpose of what such an education is about.”

The humanities provide students with the ability and vital ingredients necessary to think critically and holistically about an overabundance of issues, including business, science and technology for that matter. And, in an article by Scott Samuelson of the Wall Street Journal, businesses and employers were aggressively seeking to employ graduates who possessed “a demonstrated capacity to think critically, communicate clearly and solve complex problems.” Therefore, discrediting the argument of some about the irrelevance of the humanities and how students who study it will not earn as much as those who study other hard sciences.

In addition, Clayton State University, on its departmental website, listed the top 10 reason for people to study the humanities:

To practice the analytical thinking skills you need to be a successful student and employee.
To improve your skill at oral and written communication.
To see the interconnectedness of all areas of knowledge ― how it all fits together.
To develop a global perspective by studying cultures throughout the world.
To deepen your understanding and appreciation of other’s cultures and other’s points of view.
To support and strengthen your local arts community by learning to appreciate the importance of creativity.
To clarify your values by comparing and contrasting them to what others have thought.
To deepen your sources of wisdom by learning how others have dealt with failures, success, adversities, and triumphs.
To appreciate what is enduring and to be able to tell the difference between the meaningless and the meaningful.
To be inspired by some of the greatest minds and thoughts of the ages.

The humanities are the cornerstone of any and complete well-rounded education because it provides a good, solid foundation in critical thinking skills. The importance of the humanities should not be dismissed.

The Significance of Humanities in Nursing

Humanities is the study of human culture. The humanities include human language (ancient or modern), history, literature, law, religion, philosophy and music. Scholars in humanities are commonly called humanists. A lot of schools and universities offer humanities classes consisting of English literature, arts, and global studies. Nursing education can be counted as one. Thus, nursing students ask how important is humanities to their chosen profession.

Nursing is often defined as both an art and science, but humanities have been hesitatingly been studied in the nursing curricula. However, outbreaks of interest in what is called the “nursing humanities” have become obvious. For instance, literary works are rich sources of not only of information, but illumination as well. The study of art, included in the humanities, can make an important contribution to a nurses’ various ways of knowing what is factual. There are also other complementary ways of knowing like ethical and aesthetical, both included in humanities.

Arts and literature give a meaningful learning experience for nursing students. With their nature, students are encouraged to make discussions made up of different interpretations. This kind of interaction allows participants to learn in ways that call forth new ways of thinking.

There are numerous works of literature and arts that provide rich food for the spirit. Also, it gives insight into the nurse-patient relationship and into an individual’s condition. Good literature enhances language concepts, words, and vision of human existence. To have a pool of vocabulary is needed to support a patient care. Today, we are suffering from a scarcity in vocabulary which cannot support appropriate discussions of the moral problems and crises that confront humans.

This confronts the relevance of the humanities to nursing. The concepts included in the said study can reflect upon nursing practitioners and education.

Humanities and Medicine

Medical humanities is an interdisciplinary field of medicine consisting of the humanities, social sciences and the arts. When we say humanities, it involves different studies like the literature, religion, ethics, philosophy, and history. Social sciences, on the other hand, involve cultural studies, psychology, anthropology, sociology, health, and geography. While the arts include theater, literature, film as well as visual arts. These subjects are used to determine the application and relation of specific factors in health and medicine.

Medical humanities is also understood to be an interdisciplinary, and increasingly international undertaking that pulls on the innovative and intellectual skills of diverse disciplines, including literature, art, creative writing, drama, film, music, philosophy, ethical making decisions, anthropology, and history, in pursuit of medical educational goals. This approach to medicine is a wider and generalized view on how individuals are affected by many elements surrounding us.

The health care system recognizes the value of the humanities in preparing health care professionals to tackle the learning and practice of medicine. The interdisciplinary humanities educate students to check out the historical, linguistic, cultural and aesthetic contexts in which we live. It also allows students to discover and attend more fully to the lasting question of what it is to be human and think deeply and critically and react successfully to the complex situations by which we find ourselves.

The intellectual practices of the humanities, along with the expertise in creating a capstone research and studies that deals with the intersection of the humanities and medicine, have the potential to affect students in many ways that will increase their future performance as physicians managing and reaching patients drawn from across different life circumstances and contexts.

Scholar operators in the humanities and public sciences are essentially modifying their analysis methods to be more suitable with the behaviors which technological innovation is magnificent on us independently, culturally and expertly. There are great possibilities how this is impacting analysis and, probably, an upcoming profession as an education in humanities.

Digital Humanities can be described as the use of internet centered technological innovation in humanities and public science analysis. At the same time a relatively new area. Archives all over the globe have scanned their data resource, and sometimes even resource material. The primary example of this is the English Library’s on the internet Paper database, which features almost all released magazines in England since Jan 1, 1710. At the age of the internet it cannot argue the importance of making the things easier through digital. In making references digital, it allows the users to operate and improvised their resources.

The procedure of digitizing has not been without complications. Hand-written resources in particular have intended that some of the digitization is either imperfect or uncertain, and in situations even facetious. Here altmetrics get into the structure, at least at the material stage. By discovering which interest you the most, you can quickly make a record of material that are necessary to at least have a look at. Such material hardly ignites much press interest in comparison to, for example, those released in medication and astronomy.

Before a long time there will certainly be public scientists and other scientists who will look at the traditional and public effects of digitalization and, of course, the World Wide Web. Altmetrics will likely be a requirement important interest from scientists and other humanities and public technology students for years to come.