Studia Humanitatis

Studia Humanitatis is a Latin phrase that means "studies of humanity." It was the main education plan during the Renaissance. The modern Humanities subjects come from this old tradition.

What Studia Humanitatis Is

This education focused on the very old cultures of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. Students had to learn the Greek language and the Latin language. The main subjects were:

• Rhetoric (speaking well)
• Grammar (writing well)
• History
• Poetry
• Moral philosophy (how to live a good life)

The idea came from the Roman speaker Cicero. He thought language was what made humans different from animals, so learning to use language well was the most important thing.

The studies were kept separate from subjects like Logic, Mathematics, Science, Medicine, Law, and Theology.

History

The Italian humanist Coluccio Salutati first used the exact term Studia Humanitatis in 1369.

Humanists like Francesco Petrarca believed that the old education system was broken. They wanted to replace it with a new plan based on ancient examples to teach people to be good, moral citizens.

The word Humanist (humanista) came from this type of study later in the 15th century.

In the 18th century, thinkers like Denis Diderot thought the studies had become too dry, focusing only on old texts and languages.^[1]

Modern Humanities

Today, the Humanities include many subjects about human culture, like language, history, art, and philosophy.

Modern ideas about the Humanities sometimes separate them from the physical sciences (like physics) and the social sciences (like sociology). Philosophers like Wilhelm Dilthey and Heinrich Rickert helped define the Humanities as studies that look at unique human value, not general laws.

The American philosopher Martha Nussbaum says that education in the Humanities is very important for keeping a strong democracy.

The idea of Studia Humanitatis is used again at the Accademia Vivarium Novum in Frascati, Italy.

Related pages

• Liberal arts