HUMANITIES C100 INTRODUCTION TO HUMANITIES STUDY GUIDE Q & A PLUS NOTES (MODULE 1- 6) WESTERN GOVERNORS UNIVERSITY 2024

HUMANITIES C100 INTRODUCTION TO HUMANITIES STUDY GUIDE Q & A PLUS NOTES (MODULE 1- 6) WESTERN GOVERNORS UNIVERSITY 2024 Module 1: Foundations of Humanities 1. What are the humanities? The study of human ideas. 2. Why study the humanities? To better understand the human condition and other cultures, what humans believe and why,understand the past, to become better citizens and contributors to society 3. What are the major historical periods covered in this course? Classical Renaissance Neoclassical Romantic Realist 4. What is a theme? Give a few examples of themes from each period. Themes are unifying ideas that are repeated or developed throughout a literary or artistic work. • Classical-balance, truth, polytheism, democracy • Renaissance-science, rationalism, humanism • Neoclassical-skepticism, order, belief in a hands-offsupreme being • Romantic-nationalism, revolution, passion • Realist-Darwin, doubt, industrialization 5. Identify and describe two universal themes: love and the hero. • Love: Eros-erotic love Agape-platonic; selfless; on a spiritual level. The pursuit of passionover power • Hero: an individual overcomes stupendous feats againstseemingly insurmountable andantagonistic forces. 6. Define the central concepts in the humanities: humanism, myth, monomyth, beauty, aesthetic experience, and archetype. • Humanism: the study of the creative and intellectual contributions of all human cultures or an ethical system that centers on humans and their values and emphasizes reason and thescientific method. • Myths: traditional stories of a people or culture that serve to explain some natural phenomenon, human origin and customs, or religious rites • Beauty: qualities that give pleasure to the senses. • Aesthetic experience: when beauty inspires a feeling of pleasure. The stimulus may bevisual, auditory, or literary. • Monomyth: the hero’s journey, a basic pattern that is found in many narratives from aroundthe world • Archetypes: age-old models of classification of people or story types. ie the hero, thescapegoat, the descent into the underworld.