Why Humanities are More Important Than People Realize

Why are humanities important in our society today? Lots of people say that studying the humanities are “ultimately a frivolous and fruitless pursuit”- Mandy Pipher. However, the main goal out of studying humanities is much deeper than what the average person views. Due to the esoteric benefits and because of their predetermined internalized opinions on studying humanities most people don’t even understand what it is that they are speaking negatively about. If they do not understand the goal of studying humanities then they will not comprehend the mental benefits and increases in knowledge, due to it being something that is not physically measurable. What you gain out of humanities is a second way of thinking about things using logic reasoning and reading into faint and subtle changes in the way people might be speaking, writing, or body language. It teaches you about the importance of not only reading things from one side of the story and adding your own interpretation to the words that were written or spoken. It is important to watch out for logical fallacies in writing with common ones such as hasty generalizations, slippery slopes, genetic fallacy, and many more. Learning about these are important because they are way more common than most people would imagine. If you were to read or listen to a political article or speech you will be able to identify many logical fallacies being used in hopes of misleading and confusing the reader or listener. They are using these logical fallacies and bad rhetoric in hopes of misinforming people. That is why if everybody had a profound level of knowledge about humanities then the media would not be able to get away with as much misleading content because the misleading information and bad rhetoric could be sifted through, and the remaining information would be the facts which would mean what the media and politicians said could be taken at face value. “Some of the most stubborn fault lines running beneath many of the current, deeply troubling fractures in Western Democratic societies?” – Mandy Pipher. It seems like one way for this quote to be interpreted would be that an internalized belief many have in our society is how humanities are not beneficial but in reality, it’s that mindset that makes many people think they are right about everything and lacking critical thinking skills. If everyone at least accepted the viability of humanities it would show a lot more open mindedness in our society that clearly is not there. I believe if everyone had the ability to critically think, which is something you learn from humanities everything would run smoother in society.