Moreover, the humanistic disciplines are not the only ones concerned with the study and cultivation of values. What does distinguish the humanities from the sciences is the emphasis on self-knowledge based not upon the scientific study of human competences, but upon the exhibition and illustration of constitutive rules and practices which define distinctly human qualities. Given this definition of the humanities, it is clear that foreign languages are as humanistic as art, religion, history, literature, or philosophy. There is no history without emphasis on facts, no aesthetics without detailed knowledge about art, no genuine literary criticism without a mastery of the intricacies of language use, and no appreciation of a foreign language or literature without a thorough command of the fundamentals. There is no more rational basis for excluding the basic courses in foreign languages from the humanities than there is for excluding the basic courses in art, history, philosophy, religion, or literature.
All courses involved in the learning of foreign languages belong to the humanities.
As such, they play a central role, for they impart to the student a skill without which there can be no recognition of the pitfalls, as well as the possibilities, of communication. All Rights Reserved.