Maeve McDermott

Professor Frank 

LIL420

Sept 2, 2025

Week 1

As a Communications and Media Arts major with a concentration in Public Relations I would describe humanities as understanding human connection, interpersonally and intrapersonally. Rather than focusing on concrete facts and laws, as one may do in sciences, the humanities research why things matter. Specifically, within a major of Communication, we connect humans through story telling and cultural awareness. 

While reading During’s article, “What Were the Humanities, Anyway?”, During’s main point was that there is not one simple way to define humanities. The quote that best described humanities to me was “To begin with, there is no adequate “idea of the humanities.” There is instead a humanities world: a loosely linked conglomeration of practices, interests, comportments, personae, moods, purposes, and values, and the various settings which these practices, interests, and so on inhabit.” This quote stuck out to me because it reiterates that there is not a defined definition of humanities, it has an interpretive nature that sciences do not have. During’s project was written to prove that the humanities can change and will change over time making it the reason why they are so crucial.