9/13/24, 10:53 C100 Study Guide - Lecture notes
AM Module 1-6
1/20
C100 STUDY GUIDE
This document identifies the topic areas that are emphasized on the
Humanities Objective Assessment. Use it to guide your note taking.
Module 1: Foundations of Humanities
1. What are the humanities?
- The study of how the human race understands and documents
the human experience through creative contributions in art,
music, literature, philosophy, religion, dance, etc.
2. Why study the humanities?
- To better understand the human condition
3. What are the major historical periods covered in this course?
- The Classical Period
- The Renaissance Period
- The Neoclassical Period
- The Romantic Period
- The Realist Period
4. What is a theme? Give a few examples of themes from each period.
- Unifying ideas that are repeated or developed throughout a
literary or artistic work.
- The Classical Period: balance, truth/reason, democracy/republic,
polytheism, humanism
- The Renaissance Period: rebirth of classicism, humanism, rationalism,
scientific expansion, university system, individualism, self-fashioning
- The Neoclassical Period: skepticism, rationalism, empiricism,
order, deism, classicism
- The Romantic Period: nationalism, exoticism, revolution, heroism,
passion, individualism, nature
- The Realist Period: Darwinism, industrialization, individualism, age of
doubt
5. Identify and describe two universal themes: love and the hero.
6. Define the central concepts in the humanities: humanism, myth,
beauty, aesthetic experience, and archetype.
- Humanism: The study of the creative and intellectual contributions of
all human cultures. This consideration and examination began in the
early Renaissance with the study of Greek and Roman civilizations,
which were extolled as the pinnacle of human achievement. A second,
common definition of humanism is as
about:bl 1/
,9/13/24, 10:53 C100 Study Guide - Lecture notes
AM Module 1-6
2/20
an ethical system that centers on humans and their values and
emphasizes reason and the scientific method.
- Myths: Are traditional stories of a people or culture that serve to
explain some natural phenomenon, the origin of humanity, or
customs or religious rites.
Humans can pass on their visions, values, and memories from
generation to generation through myths. Some myths are universal;
others are unique to a given culture. Myths offer practical and
spiritual wisdom and help shape how we see the world. They also
delight and entertain.
- Beauty: Those qualities that give pleasure to the senses. They
might be found (for example) in nature, a human face, a musical
composition, a painting, or a poem.
- Aesthetic experience: Is an experience of beauty that inspires a
feeling of pleasure, which is its own justification. We value the
experience, whether in nature or the arts, intrinsically—
independently of other things. The stimulus for aesthetic experience
may be visual (a full moon, a painting, a dance movement, a person's
face) or auditory (a song, the wind whistling through the trees) or
literary (a written narrative or verse).
- Archetypes: Are age-old models by which we comprehend human
experience. These original models—for example, "the hero" or
"descent into the underworld" or "scapegoat"—are transmitted from
generation to generation through mythology and become part of our
subconscious. They include mythic characters, events, symbols, and
buried assumptions. We rely on archetypes to organize our
understanding of ourselves, of humans generally, and of the universe.
A recurrent example or model of human behavior
7. Identify and describe the disciplines in the humanities.
- Music: An artistic form of auditory expression that incorporates
instruments or human voices in a structured and continuous
manner.
- Religion: An organized system of spiritual beliefs and practices,
usually offering a moral code and a worldview.
- Cinema: An artistic medium that uses the motion picture as a
vehicle for storytelling and other creative expressions.
- Visual Arts: Art forms that entail creation of primarily visual works,
which can be two- or three-dimensional. These include painting,
illustration, photography, printmaking, and sculpture.
- Literature: Art form of the written word. It refers to an individual
literary work or collectively to the creative writing of a people,
nation, or culture.
- Theater: A branch of the performing arts in which actors perform
a drama or musical before a live audience. Theater has existed in
every culture.
- Dance: An art form involving a sequence of rhythmic movements or
steps usually performed to music. Dance as a part of public ceremony,
ritual, or entertainment dates back to the earliest human civilizations.
about:bl 2/
, 9/13/24, 10:53 C100 Study Guide - Lecture notes
AM Module 1-6
about:bl 3/
AM Module 1-6
1/20
C100 STUDY GUIDE
This document identifies the topic areas that are emphasized on the
Humanities Objective Assessment. Use it to guide your note taking.
Module 1: Foundations of Humanities
1. What are the humanities?
- The study of how the human race understands and documents
the human experience through creative contributions in art,
music, literature, philosophy, religion, dance, etc.
2. Why study the humanities?
- To better understand the human condition
3. What are the major historical periods covered in this course?
- The Classical Period
- The Renaissance Period
- The Neoclassical Period
- The Romantic Period
- The Realist Period
4. What is a theme? Give a few examples of themes from each period.
- Unifying ideas that are repeated or developed throughout a
literary or artistic work.
- The Classical Period: balance, truth/reason, democracy/republic,
polytheism, humanism
- The Renaissance Period: rebirth of classicism, humanism, rationalism,
scientific expansion, university system, individualism, self-fashioning
- The Neoclassical Period: skepticism, rationalism, empiricism,
order, deism, classicism
- The Romantic Period: nationalism, exoticism, revolution, heroism,
passion, individualism, nature
- The Realist Period: Darwinism, industrialization, individualism, age of
doubt
5. Identify and describe two universal themes: love and the hero.
6. Define the central concepts in the humanities: humanism, myth,
beauty, aesthetic experience, and archetype.
- Humanism: The study of the creative and intellectual contributions of
all human cultures. This consideration and examination began in the
early Renaissance with the study of Greek and Roman civilizations,
which were extolled as the pinnacle of human achievement. A second,
common definition of humanism is as
about:bl 1/
,9/13/24, 10:53 C100 Study Guide - Lecture notes
AM Module 1-6
2/20
an ethical system that centers on humans and their values and
emphasizes reason and the scientific method.
- Myths: Are traditional stories of a people or culture that serve to
explain some natural phenomenon, the origin of humanity, or
customs or religious rites.
Humans can pass on their visions, values, and memories from
generation to generation through myths. Some myths are universal;
others are unique to a given culture. Myths offer practical and
spiritual wisdom and help shape how we see the world. They also
delight and entertain.
- Beauty: Those qualities that give pleasure to the senses. They
might be found (for example) in nature, a human face, a musical
composition, a painting, or a poem.
- Aesthetic experience: Is an experience of beauty that inspires a
feeling of pleasure, which is its own justification. We value the
experience, whether in nature or the arts, intrinsically—
independently of other things. The stimulus for aesthetic experience
may be visual (a full moon, a painting, a dance movement, a person's
face) or auditory (a song, the wind whistling through the trees) or
literary (a written narrative or verse).
- Archetypes: Are age-old models by which we comprehend human
experience. These original models—for example, "the hero" or
"descent into the underworld" or "scapegoat"—are transmitted from
generation to generation through mythology and become part of our
subconscious. They include mythic characters, events, symbols, and
buried assumptions. We rely on archetypes to organize our
understanding of ourselves, of humans generally, and of the universe.
A recurrent example or model of human behavior
7. Identify and describe the disciplines in the humanities.
- Music: An artistic form of auditory expression that incorporates
instruments or human voices in a structured and continuous
manner.
- Religion: An organized system of spiritual beliefs and practices,
usually offering a moral code and a worldview.
- Cinema: An artistic medium that uses the motion picture as a
vehicle for storytelling and other creative expressions.
- Visual Arts: Art forms that entail creation of primarily visual works,
which can be two- or three-dimensional. These include painting,
illustration, photography, printmaking, and sculpture.
- Literature: Art form of the written word. It refers to an individual
literary work or collectively to the creative writing of a people,
nation, or culture.
- Theater: A branch of the performing arts in which actors perform
a drama or musical before a live audience. Theater has existed in
every culture.
- Dance: An art form involving a sequence of rhythmic movements or
steps usually performed to music. Dance as a part of public ceremony,
ritual, or entertainment dates back to the earliest human civilizations.
about:bl 2/
, 9/13/24, 10:53 C100 Study Guide - Lecture notes
AM Module 1-6
about:bl 3/
