The Humanities and Critical Thinking
Critical thinking as we know it is something that carries over into our everyday lives. We tend to use it a lot when it comes to decision making or in any kind of stressful situation we may come across. It is the critical thinking of such brilliant and sharpened minds that made the humanities we know come to life. In doing so, critical thinking allows us to exercise our minds to be able to dictate and assess certain situations that come to hand. Just like our bodies if we do not stay in shape, we become sluggish and unhealthy. According to the text, as we exercise our minds “ critical thinking is enhanced as we engage in three important activities: solving problems, challenging assumptions, and recognizing contexts.” (24.2.2) Being able to do so also leads us to properly rationalizing contexts. Art is typically created in the artists viewpoints and people often don’t understand what they see because they are so focused on the outside layer without digging deep.
Believe it or not, if you’re able to critically think and rationalize it’s really all you need to be a critic. The fact that opinions have a wide spectrum, there are those who professionally criticize for a career. As stated in the text, “… we want to be emotionally moved, intellectually challenged, and above all, to be in the company of writers, directors, and creative people, who respect the intelligence of their audience and readers.” (29.2.3) Personally I feel like as if that’s how everything in life should be approached. Being able to emotionally feel a piece of art in the humanities will ultimately allow you to have knowledge on it without having a considerable background in any individual form of art. Also, another key factor when it comes to criticism is that you don’t need to be so quick to love or hate something at first sight. You need to be able to let it grow on you so you can indulge on the different aspects it may bring to light.
Literalists and figuratists also come into play on this topic. Literalists are more of the noncritical thinkers that are shaped by popular opinions while figuratists are the critical thinkers. I feel as if for you to have more depth in the field of humanities being a figuratist is the way to go because as specified by the author “ Figuratists, a term derived from the fact that their language is colorful and suggests wide experiences in many fields, including the humanities.”(32.2.4) suggests that they are more open minded and willing to learn more than what is on the surface. Chapter 2 for me was showing more of the behind the scenes of the humanities which made me more eager to want to go ahead and use my Apollonian and Dionysian elements to in the humanities.
Janaro, R. P., & Althshuler, T. C. (2013). The art of being human: The humanities as a technique for living. Pearson Learning Solutions.
Critical thinking. (2020, August 20). Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_thinking
