You may be wondering, What are humanities courses? Humanities courses analyze the human experience and human expression throughout history to seek an understanding of the breadth and depth of our existence. 

Humanities courses offer students the opportunity to develop communication and writing skills, critical-thinking habits, leadership capabilities, and the ability to understand the motivations of historical —or even fictional — characters. While the sciences focus on measurable data and numbers, the humanities interpret the human experience on an individual, cultural and social level, often represented through creative endeavors.

This article will delve into the nature and history of humanities courses. We will analyze the types of classes the humanities offers, humanities definition and purpose, the utility of taking humanities courses as an undergraduate, the history of the humanities, jobs that require a humanities degree, and the importance of the humanities in private industries.

Humanities courses include history, philosophy, literature and religious studies to photography, creative writing, film, music studies, cultural studies, communications and art. These courses often analyze human culture in historical or present-day societies through creative expressions of the human experience. In doing so, these classes stress the importance of communication and understanding in an attempt to comprehend the motivations of people and societies.

American academic, Geoffrey Galt Harpham, in detailing the growth of humanities courses and degrees in the United States after World War II, stated that the humanities: 

The main difference between humanities classes and courses in the social sciences is that social sciences analyze a topic using empirical data to communicate complex ideas about an individual or society. Social sciences courses and majors include anthropology, sociology, psychology, law, economics, political science and environmental studies, to name a few.

While humanities courses tend to interpret the human experience through art, literature or philosophy, social sciences focus more on observable behavior and quantitative data analysis.

Humanities courses have been integral to the university system since the very early days of its inception in Western Europe over 1,000 years ago. During the reign of Charlemagne in France in the eighth century, higher education consisted of cathedral schools or palace schools designed to educate young members of the clergy or ruling class. Charlemagne instituted a change to the curriculum of those schools — designed to educate students in either theology or military tactics — to include the liberal arts.²

The liberal arts consisted of the Trivium and Quadrivium arts. The Trivium arts focused on language through grammar, rhetoric and dialectic (logic), and the Quadrivium arts included music, arithmetic, geometry and astronomy. While these topics of study differ in some cases from how we understand and teach them now, the Trivium arts represent early areas of study we now know as the humanities. These fields of study, focusing on language, communication and interpretation, were the roots of what would become known as the humanities and were integral to the foundations of the growing university system.¹

The Growth of University-Level Education

The roots of the university system put in place by Charlemagne in the eighth century evolved by the 12th century in Italy, France, England, Germany and other European countries that educated local populations and attracted foreign students seeking a higher education.² These early universities were referred to as studia generalia and often had to receive the blessing of the Pope to be able to award degrees to students. The term for these places evolved to universitas, referring to a community, corporation or guild.³

These places of learning did teach young future clergy members, but also increasingly taught middle-class students in secular fields like medicine and law. In places like the University of Paris, young students were taught the four faculties: theology, cannon law, medicine and art. The degrees of bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate were also established during this period in the Middle Ages.⁴

The Inspiration 

The humanities, as a field, was inspired by the rise of humanism during the Renaissance by secular educators and scholars in the 14th and 15th centuries. The study of the human experience was central to humanism, and educators focused on works of art and other forms of expression to understand our desires, capabilities and form.⁵

Humanism studies, or studia humanitas, focused on the study of grammar, poetry, ethics and ancient Greco and Roman literature. Along with what we now think of as degrees in the hard sciences like medicine and physics, humanities programs stressed the study of the self through philosophical inquiry and the arts. The knowledge of the self, from a secular lens, was central in the liberal arts university programs during the Renaissance period.⁶

Two Essential Fields

Although we presently tend to think of the sciences and humanities as being radically different and, at times incompatible, the two fields were essential to what became a university education going back to the Trivium and Quadrivium structure of a liberal arts education. The split between the sciences and humanities, as we commonly understand it today, occurred late in the 19th century when German philosopher Wilhelm Dilthey distinguished the natural sciences from the human sciences, or the humanities and social sciences. 

While the natural sciences focused on understanding the world through quantifiable, measurable data, he proffered that the humanities sought to understand our existence through creative expression.⁷ He also argued that the human science fields sought to understand how social structures shaped societies and influenced individuals throughout history.⁸

By analyzing the expressions and experiences of individuals and societies in literature, art or history, humanities scholars use critical-thinking skills to understand the importance of social structural context and the weight of human emotion in art. The focus on communication, critical thinking, contextualization, creativity and knowledge of various cultures throughout history, and the impact of historical societies on the present day, are important for the humanities as a field, but they are also increasingly important for fields in the sciences like business and medicine.⁹

Humanities majors study a variety of fields and can obtain several different degrees or graduate certificates at Grand Canyon University. Through the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, GCU offers Bachelor of Arts degrees in communications, education, government, history and professional writing. GCU also offers Bachelor of Science degrees in behavioral health, counseling, justice studies, mathematics for second education, psychology, sociology and social work.

At the graduate level, GCU students can complete Master of Arts degrees in communication, English and history, along with Master of Education and Master of Public Administration degrees. Master of Science degrees are available in counseling, criminal justice, mathematics, mental health and wellness, psychology, sociology and social work. 

Degrees in the humanities offer graduates a number of career opportunities within their field. 

• Graduates with a degree in history may become educators of various subfields within history including 20th-century history, military history, World history, etc., as well as a curator in a museum, an archivist or an author. These graduates typically require an additional degree besides a bachelor’s.¹⁰
• An education major may become a teacher in various fields including secondary education, mathematics, literature or history. Graduates start with a bachelor’s and can acquire more specified training after graduation.¹¹
• A humanities degree in communication or media can potentially lead to a career in advertising, social media, online marketing, translation, government or education.¹²
• A sociology graduate can position themselves to possibly become a program director, data analyst, counselor or work in human resources departments.¹⁰

As mentioned previously, humanities courses have been an integral part of a university education going back to the very founding of the university system. Their role in a university degree was well established by the 14th century and many university program degrees require at least two classes in a humanities subject.

While the humanities has taken a hit to its public reputation in recent years for various reasons, they still are central programs in a university system and are an important step in an undergraduate’s scholastic career. 

Why Employers Prefer Employees With Experience in the Humanities

Private employers in fields outside the humanities are increasingly aware of the benefits of humanities programs and favor graduates who have some basic level of completion in humanities courses. Employers favor applicants with exposure to humanities disciplines as an undergraduate because they offer experience in critical thinking, and cultural understanding, they stress the importance of communication and leadership, require writing complex analysis and foster abstract thinking.⁹

Employers in private industries value job candidates with writing and research experience, interpersonal communication skills, and the ability to interpret a topic or product from multiple perspectives, a skill often learned by analyzing pieces of art, to go along with their degrees in fields more commonly focused on hard data. 

Fields like engineering, business, finance and medicine benefit from graduates who have taken courses in the humanities because jobs in those disciplines require knowledge of ethics, analysis of human behavior and motivations, culture and cultural differences, history and philosophy.⁶

Humanities courses are a vital component of a well-rounded university education for students from all walks of life and all fields. No comprehensive university education can be complete without humanities courses, and employers in private industries outside the humanities are ever more aware of the benefits of analyzing the meaning of human endeavors and interactions expressed through religion, philosophy, writing and art. Complete the form on this page to learn more about the humanities and social science degree offerings at GCU.

About the Author

Dr. Michael West is an instructor at GCU’s College of Humanities and Social Sciences. He teaches courses in English composition, knowledge and technology in the humanities, intersections between the humanities and sciences, American encounter narratives and more. He holds a master’s in American studies from California State University, Fullerton and a PhD in American studies from the University of Iowa.