History 1301

Student’s name

Institutional affiliation

Question One: Why Do Humans Create Works of Art?

Art and human beings are two inseparable things. Art is an essential part of human beings. As humans, we are blessed with the ability to develop tools and modify our surroundings. One of the reasons human beings create art is that we use our curiosity to make things around us look more beautiful. We use art to create objects to decorate our surroundings as evidenced in the various types of art that exist, including jewelry, paintings, architecture, sculptures, and design objects that we use in our everyday life.

Another reason for creating art is that it enables us to express ourselves and communicate ideas. For instance, we can express our religious beliefs; we are able to educate people and, at the same time, criticize the elements of society that do not sit right with us. For example, patriotic songs are a form of art used to praise nations and condemn acts of corruption, racism, and police brutality. Another reason why humans make art is that it is a way of recalling past emotions and events. It helps us create a record of a specific place, time, objects, people, and places on how events took place in the past. For example, wedding photographs, battle scenes, and paintings of individuals are considered artistic because they were created to record a particular event.

Question Two: How do Humanities Focus on Human Issues and Influence Culture.

Humanities focus on human issues as its study entails studying about human beings and their cultures. Humanities have a significant influence on arts and culture, which is evident in music, language, colors, and artworks. In my opinion, humanity study is interlinked with human issues because through its study, we are able to ask questions that help us interpret our history and life. By thinking critically and creatively, we gain new insight into human life, including politics, business models, poetry, and paintings.

Humanities entail the study of art; hence it influences the cultures of human beings. Art has the ability to influence culture by influencing the opinions that people may have about something. Additionally, through art, human beings can adapt and instill values in people and translate people’s experiences across time. Art is viewed as a depository for the world where the society stores collective memories about music, literature, paintings and other arts. In my viewpoint, I feel that humanities influence our culture as it involves art, which is used as a means of communication. It enables people from diverse backgrounds and different times to communicate with each other using means of images, sounds, and stories. An excellent example of this is how people are able to dance to any music irrespective of their cultural backgrounds. Another example is when films, songs, and novels are able to raise emotions in the people who interact with them and inspire them for change.

Question Three: Aesthetics of Music

Music has the ability to tap into how we feel, the way we think, and how we perceive different things. Whenever we listen to a song or a piece of music, we react to the particular characteristics of value to our musical sensibilities. This artistic value is not only independent but also aesthetic. Because aesthetics are linked to the beauty of art, music aesthetics is a philosophy that considers the type, development, source, significance, perception, and performance of a musical composition (Kramer, 2016). Worth noting, however much music’s main composition is sound, other aspects feed to a music piece’s aesthetic. They include the composer’s culture, musical structure, and the desire for composers to express themselves. Additionally, according to philosophers, other aspects, including knowledge, existence, musical ethics, sociology, and relationships, also form part of music aesthetics. The beauty of music lies in its beauty and being able to afford desired pleasure to its listener. Moreover, the richness of a work, its depth, subtlety, and its expressiveness also form an essential part of music aesthetic.

Question 4: About Humanities

In my viewpoint, humanities refer to a field of knowledge that is concerned with the study of human beings and their culture. It is concerned with the critical and analytical methods of inquiry derived from appreciating human beings’ values and the unique ability of the human spirit to express itself. In essence, the humanities studies entail but are not limited to fields of language, classical linguistics, modern linguistics, history, literature, philosophy, ethics, comparative religion, archeology, criticism, aspects of social sciences, the theory of arts, humanities application to the human environment with attention to detail on diverse heritage, and the relevance and history of humanities to the current conditions of national life. In other words, humanities is research that stems from a detailed understanding of economies, human behavior, cultures, societies, and economies, which dramatically redefine the crucial decisions which we tend to make as human beings. These decisions are directly interlinked with the future direction that our economy will take and broadens and strengthens education provision at all levels. Humanities teach us how human beings created the world and how the world created them.

References

Kramer, L. (2016). The thought of music. Univ of California Press.