The Importance Of Humanities: The Behavioral Sciences

901 Words4 Pages

Humanities: Misbehavioral Sciences? Time after time, issues and debates arise about the nature and importance of the humanities. On one side, individuals argue that the humanities are irrelevant considering that “it does not properly train the men we need in the present expansion of technology and competition”. However, as for others, they believe that without the humanities disaster would await us. Having said this, we are all still left with the question on what is truly the nature and importance of the humanities in our everyday lives? With this, Jacques Barzun’s article entitled “The Misbehavioral Sciences” lays out the facts for us to better understand the controversial topic in the modern day society. Based on the article, Barzun proposed …show more content…

Considering its misbehaving nature of mischief and unconventionality. Generally speaking, Barzun laid out two possible major reasons to explain the importance of the humanities, which lie in its intimacy, organizing effect and inseperable nature. First off, Barzun explains the intimate and permanent effect that the humanities provide as compared to the other sciences. To further support his claim, he adds that the commonplace is ruled by science and is also given shape and color by art. With this, he tries to present to us a scenario wherein one is left to wonder, as to why are people still much more drawn to great works of literature like novels and fiction rather than reading books about Biology and Mathematics? More often than not, it is embedded in our heads that a science should be moving a civilization forward but how come even if the humanities does not necessarily conform to this reality we unconsciously still utilize it everyday in our lives. The answer comes from the fact that individuals still prefer something more intimate and relatable to their daily lives which lies in the heart of the humanities as compared to something we are just observing which are commonly found in the hard sciences. Moreover, it’s better to have something close to you than you can truly understand just like the humanities as it deals with the self rather than jargon concepts, that are usually found in Mathematics, Physics or

Open Document