The name of Humanities itself is defined by science, which is the 20th century's rejection of those whonatural scienceandsocial sciencesA simple general term for other disciplines.Modern philosophy is formed byscienceIt is defined by what was cleared out when it was formed. Other modern humanities are first defined by classicalPhilologyThe form ofArt History。
The backbone of the humanities can readily use what people often call "literature"（literature）, History（history）, Zhe（Philosophy）”To refer to, or add art.Broader "humanities" can also include modern languages and classical languageslinguistics、archaeology, and even containHumanismContent and research with humanistic methodssocial sciences。
The general characteristics of humanities are mainly related to natural sciencesocial sciences(especially the latter):
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Roots: Humanities can be said to be many other disciplines today, especiallysocial sciencesThe matrixes of various disciplines are mostly differentiated from them since modern times.
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Historicity: compared with social science, it is mainly vertical, with onehistoryIt is not only indispensable for us to have a deep understanding of modern society and its future development, but also a natural purpose to understand human history itself.
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Difference: In other words, linked to the particularity of each nation and civilization tradition, natural science and social science pay more attention to the discussion of universal rules, while humanities are closely related to the characteristics of each nation. It not only helps individuals to establish appropriate identity, but also reminds people to pay attention to the differences of civilization and cultureDiversityAnd exchanges and complementarities.In addition, humanities also has a particularity associated with individuals, which focuses on individuals.
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Comprehensiveness and continuity: Humanities have a relatively broad vision and wide application. They do not attach too much importance to the boundaries of specific majors (or they are majors with a wide range of fields). They focus on trainingGeneralistIn other words, it can make any professional talents have a broad vision and breadth of mind, have knowledge beyond the professional level, and have a high level of awareness of literature, art, and moralityDiscriminatory power。It is especially related to language and literature, emphasizing generalists, generalists“A gentleman is incompetent”；Or not for small things but for big things, it has a certain amateur nature, which is not only the study of ancient Chinese gentlemen,Plato《The Republic》The same is true for education in.
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Classicality: The majority of classics recognized by human beings can be said to be humanistic classics, and the main way to learn humanities is to get close to masters and understand classics.
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Understanding: more emphasis on wisdom than knowledge and laws.Unlike natural sciences and social sciences, which focus on universal laws and accumulated knowledge, it pays more attention to the cultivation of wisdom and ability, and pays more attention to the intense and creative discussion process rather than fixed conclusions.It's personalOriginalityThere is more space and more diverse forms of expression.
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Non practicality: the humanities generally does not rely on the experimental and material conditions as much as the natural sciences and social sciences do. On the other hand, because it is not a direct and practical discipline, it generally cannot bring direct benefits to its learners or practitionersMaterial interestsBut it will bring a kind of spiritual enrichment and satisfaction.[1]
Value mission
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Humanities and Natural Sciences
It is about the knowledge of human inner world, which is also different from social science.
People have a deep understanding of the power of natural science, while some people despise the humanities.In fact, humanities and natural science have something in common. Their direction is to eliminate ignorance and backwardness, seek progress and civilization, and liberate human beings themselves.What is different is that what the humanities need to break is ideological superstition, and what it needs to discover issocial developmentThe law of.
Humanities plays a fundamental guiding role in the development of natural science.
To develop one's personality
In order to get rid of ideological superstition, it is incompatible with the autocratic rule of clamping down on ideas and implementing education for the ignorant, and has been suppressed in history.In history, the humanities were not particularly prosperous in the period when the autocracy was strong, but in the period when the central government lacked strong rule, such as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period when the feudal lords rose togethercarving up of a country by warlordsAt the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of ChinaChinese historyThe last two cultural heyday of stars and talents.In particular, the former has createdChinese cultureAn inexhaustible source of thought for more than 2000 years.From this perspective, the prosperity of humanities needs a free external environment, and the prosperity of humanities will in turn promote the awakening of human nature and the progress of society.It nourishes human beings to obtain more meaningful life and has eternal value.
Thirty years of economic development
What is extremely asymmetrical with this is that the spiritual world was once deserted.One of the reasons for this phenomenon is that we live in the contradiction between the totalitarian system and modern society.Reflected in the field of culture and art, scholars and artists dare not talk about politics, dare notIndependent thinking, unable to care about life, resulting in works with formal means but no ideological content, lack of strength and depth.Reflected ineducationOn the other hand, education can not convey the beauty of human nature, and is becoming more and more instrumental, so it can not cultivate real talents.The shackles of thought have made the humanities workers loseinnovation ability。
The younger generation is increasingly abandoning the tradition and pursuing a modern life without roots and thoughts. They are unwilling to talk about politics and ideals, and are keen on pursuing realistic fame and wealth, which tends to be short-sighted.This phenomenon is also highly concentratedsocial power As a result, narrow-minded spiritActivity space, so that they can only pursue this kind of deformed modern life, rich in material and shrinking in spirit.
The decline of the humanities will turn a country's development into a water without a source and a tree without roots.We are eager for the prosperity of humanities. Only in this way can we bring real prosperity to a country and long-term well-being to mankind.[1]
Existence value
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The so-called humanistic quality education
imageYale UniversityWisconsinState universityIn elite universities such as the relatively small Lewis and Clark Private College, it is a tradition passed down from generation to generation to carry out humanistic literacy education for students.The so-called humanistic quality education is not the ability education for students aiming at a specific occupation. More specifically, humanistic quality education has a completely different purpose: ability education is based on students'Occupational orientation, andhumanistic education Is based on personal growth andSocial individualParticipating in public affairsprecondition: Have critical thinking, common sense of folk customs andSocial historyAnd the ability to distinguish right from wrong.
Guiding role
Although the humanities can't be produced directlyeconomic performance, but can provide correctsense of worthMindfulness and guidance.Historically successfulBig scientistFor example, Madame Curie, Einstein and others all have great humanistic feelings.
Worship tool technology isindustrial societyOne of the characteristics of,Transition periodThe neglect of humanities seems to have its own reasons.
Faced with difficulties
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Realistic dilemma
In today'sunemployment rateIn the new era of rising and declining university fund donations, it is urgent to re explore the significance of humanities in the high-tech society.Historical experience shows that economic decline will often lead to such problems as linguistics, literature, art, historyCultural StudiesThe number of college students enrolled in humanities such as philosophy and religion decreased.Relevant scholars worry thateconomic crisisNext, colleges and universitieshumanistic education Will suffer the most serious impact.
The second half of the twentieth century
As more and more Americans enter universities to receive education, the proportion of students who are willing to devote themselves to the humanities is declining.According to the Humanities Indicators Prototype released by the American Academy of Arts&Sciences, the proportion of humanities in college degrees is less than half of the peak period from the mid-1960s to the late 1960s.They counted about 8% of the students (about 100000), which is a very stable proportion.The low percentage of degrees in humanities appeared in the early 1980sEconomic stagflationPeriod.
Humanities and elites
China continues to receive attention, but inprivate schoolDifferences with other colleges are widening.Francis C. Oakley, honorary chairman of Williams University and professor of thought history, pointed out that some large state schools often refuse students who wish to apply for humanities.And inUniversity of WashingtonAs many as a quarter of the students failed to receive a humanities education.
With the shrinking of funds, the humanities may gradually return to its original status in the last century, when only a few people entered universities - receiving education became the privilege of the rich.
This may be unfortunate but we cannot avoid it, Mr. Kronman said.The Essence of Humanistic Education -- Exploring "Go" by Reading Great Literary and Philosophical WorksThe meaning of life”-- It may once again become "a luxury that people cannot afford".
Difference from science
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Different purports
There are three main differences between humanities and science (including natural science and social science):
All sciences, including natural sciences and social sciences, aim to reveal the nature and laws of objects and acquire the most common knowledge about objects. Their answers are mainly the questions of "what", "how" and "why" of objects.In contrast, the fundamental purpose of humanities is not to acquire knowledge about objects, but to explore human existence and its significanceHuman valueAnd its implementation, and thus express somesense of worthAnd value ideals, so as to establish a certain kind ofValue orientationThe main question to be answered is how the object should be.It can be said that science is pureKnowledge systemAll science is a kind of "physics";The humanities is based on certain knowledgevalue system All humanities are "human studies".For example, science (including natural science and social science) also studies people, but they only regard people as an establishedfactivityBeing is to study as a "thing", committed to discovering the laws governing the existence of human beings, so their study of human beings is not fundamentally different from that of other beings.In contrast, the humanities does not regard people as an established factual existence, but as human beings, that is, as an unfinished existence.so to speak,scientific researchThe research of science and humanities is to explore something, among which the scientific research institute is to explore facts, such as electronics, human physiological characteristics orPsychological activitiesLaws and so on. The thing it wants to explore is definitely searchable, and once it finds this kind of thing, a specific empirical scientific research will be completed;The situation of humanities is very different. What it seeks is doomed to be impossible to find from the beginning. In other words, previous explorers always think they have found it, but later explorers think they have not found it completely.However, this does not in any way affect the importance of the humanities. The importance of the humanities does not lie in the results of its exploration, but in the process of exploration.This is because what the humanities want to explore is the meaning of human existence or human value, and the meaning of human existence and human value are not in place waiting for us to find, but are constantly dug out and generated in the process of humanities exploration.It is through the endless exploration and inquiry into the meaning of human existence and human value that the humanities constantly demonstrates the unfinished state of human being different from any other existence from new aspects and new heights.
Humanities also needs to study things and the nature and laws of various factual existence, but it is never satisfied with, nor only to discover the nature and laws of objects, but always needs to further ask such and such objects, such and such properties and laws of objects, what meaning they have for human survival and development, human value and realization.
Thinking differently
As for the difference in thinking direction between science and humanities,Neo KantismFreiburg SchoolOne of the representatives ofLee CeltIt has been explained.Lee Celt once analyzed the difference between cultural science (roughly equivalent to humanities) and natural science.He thought that because he wanted to find outgeneral ruleTherefore, natural science is always committed to "abstraction" or "generalization" when studying objects, that is, it is always committed to reducing individual facts to the role and performance of certain laws, andSpecial lawIt is promoted to a general law, so as to abstract more and more common laws.Therefore, if we look at people from a scientific perspective, people must be abstracted as "classes" without difference.In contrast, the cultural discipline is always committed to "concretization" or "individualization" when studying objects. It emphasizes and values various individual things, things with distinctive characteristics, and the value of unique things, and uses this to explore the rich meaning of human existence.The study of literature, history and philosophy are all like this. They are only valued when they express a unique value.
Lee Celt's above views are reasonable.In fact, not only the thinking direction of natural science is "abstraction" or "generalization", but also that of social science.Political science, economicsLaw, sociology and other social science disciplines are all aimed at finding and controlling a certaincivil lifeAnd try to use this universal law to explain the individualSocial events。In the late 19th century, when these disciplines were just independent, they even had to obey the "scientific" standard of natural science and borrow a lot of methods from natural science in order to get an entrance ticket to become "science".After the 20th century, especially since the contemporary era, various social sciences have gradually formed their own unique research objectsresearch methodHowever, there has been no change in the efforts to explore and discover the universal laws governing the research objects of the discipline and to acquire universal knowledge about the nature and laws of the research objects of the discipline.If there must be any change, it is that they are doing better than before because they have a more effective method.In a word, "abstraction" or "universalization" and "concretization" or "individualization" are important differences in thinking direction between all sciences (including natural sciences and social sciences) and humanities.
Famous British scientist and writerSnowAnalysis in his famous book Two Culturesscientific culture When it comes to the opposition and difference between human culture and scientific culture, the question has been raised that no one can doubt the progress of scientific culture, but that is not the case with human culture. For example, it is hard to say that we can understand Shakespeare better than people in Shakespeare's era.The essence of this question lies in: Is the humanities making continuous progress in its historical development?Obviously, this problem is caused by the unique thinking direction of humanities.In my opinion, as far as every important theory or thought in the field of humanities in history has expressed a unique concept of value and ideal of value, they all occupy an irreplaceable position in the history of human thought and will never be outdated;But as far as the humanities research is constantly digging out the meaning of human existence and exploring the value of human from new aspects and new heights, the humanities are constantly achieving historical progress.
Different thinking
All sciences take it as their duty to explore the nature and laws of objects and acquire knowledge about objects, which determines theMode of thinkingThey must be empirical.For example, if you want to explore metalConductivityTo reveal the boiling point or freezing point of waterCommodity circulationAnd the law of exchange, you must conduct empirical research, and use experiments or empirical materials to convince people to believe yourresearch conclusion。In contrast, the purport of the humanities is to express certain values or value ideals, so its way of thinking cannot be empirical, especially the way of thinking of philosophy is non empirical.Those in the humanities reflect somehumanistic spiritThe proposition ofFactual proposition(As a description of facts, the typical feature of fact propositions is that they can be expressed in the sentence pattern "A is P"), but in fact they are some value propositions (as an expression of certain values or value ideals, the typical feature of value propositions is that they can be expressed in the sentence pattern "A should be P").For example,ProtagorasOf“Man is the yardstick of all things”Croce's "All history is contemporary history", Dana's "Art is an elegant and popular thing" and other propositions are all the same.These value propositions can neither be derived from fact propositions nor verified by experience. They are all non empirical.
Of course, we say that all scientific ways of thinking are empirical, not natural science and social sciencePositivityOr confirmability is the same.The propositions of natural science areValue neutralityIn principle, they are all demonstrable;In contrast, although the propositions of social sciences are also factual propositions, they are not completely value neutral in most cases due to the existence of one or another interest relationship between the social things they refer to and researchers. In fact, their positivity is much lower than that of natural sciences.However, social scientists are often inclined toValue neutralityTo defend, because the existence of value load will damage the scientificity of social science propositions after all, and they themselves are the manifestations of imperfect social science propositions.According to its general purport and thinking direction, social science propositions will inevitably continue to tend to value neutral, and constantly improve their positivity or verifiability.
Similarly, when we say that the way of thinking of humanities is non empirical, it does not mean that the way of thinking of all humanities is the same.Although the fundamental purport of each humanities is the same, which is to reveal the meaning of human existence, explore human values and their realization ways, their thinking modes are also very different.Among them, literature and art are expressive or "explicit", while linguistics and history areUnderstandabilityPhilosophy is reflective.
In short, humanities and social sciences are very different things, and they are generally calledHumanities and Social SciencesAnd even integrate the humanities completelysocial sciencesIt is very inappropriate.[1]
