Abstract
Courses and/or subjects classified under the term “humane studies” or humanities fulfill a prominent role and are integral to a liberal arts education; as this is conceived in most colleges and universities in the United States of America – outside of the purely technical or vocational institutions. Briefly, humane studies are taught because in these studies the students are introduced to the various ways in which people have reflected or thought about the social, political, moral, aesthetic, and philosophical problems. It is not the answers or conclusions to such problems the great thinkers in the past arrived at; which of course is important, but how they arrived at them. In short, what sort of arguments are adduced; in particular, the structure and logic of arguments? This paper examines the nature of arguments exemplified, used, or employed, in a discipline pace philosophy as a paradigm illustration of the importance of arguments in the humanities. Here we are not limited to an inquiry in “the transfer and translation of ideas” but to make explicit a philosophical inquiry which then involves an examination of theoretical and practical understanding. The paper concludes with a brief observation/contrast where disciplines i.e. mathematical and natural sciences exhibit decision procedure while social sciences and humanities do not.
Presenters
Gerardo M. AcayAdjunct Professor, College of Education and Social Sciences, Missouri Valley College, Missouri, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Paradigms, Disciplines, Theoretical, Practical, Structure, Argument, Logic
