AAP Definition of Humanities and Social Sciences Categories
Cultural Analysis
Courses in this area study human life in particular cultural contexts through interpretive analysis of individual behavior, discourse, and social practice. Topics include belief systems (science, medicine, religion), expressive arts and symbolic behavior (visual arts, performance, poetry, myth, narrative, ritual), identity (nationality, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality), social groups and institutions (family, market, community), power and politics (states, colonialism, inequality).
Major-specific information:
- B.Arch. students can apply Art History and Art studio offerings in the Department of Art toward the humanities requirement, if not being applied toward the art studio requirement.
- URS students can count Art History and Art studio offerings in the Department of Art as Cultural Analysis.
Foreign Language
Courses in this area are offered by the following departments: Africana Studies and Research Center (AS&RC – language only), Asian Studies (BENGL, BURM, CHIN, HINDI, INDO, JAPAN, KHMER, KOREA, SANSK, TAG, THAI, and VIET), Classics (CLASS – language only), German Studies (GERST – language only, DUTCH, and SWED), Linguistics (LING – languages only), Near Eastern Studies (NES - languages only), Romance Studies (CATAL, FRROM, ITALA, PORT, QUECH, and SPANR), and Russian Studies(RUSSA, HUNGR, POLSH, SEBCR, and UKRAN).
Major specific information:
- B.Arch. students can apply FL classes toward the humanities requirement.
- B.F.A. students can apply foreign language classes toward the humanities and social sciences requirement.
- URS students can apply foreign language classes toward the foreign language requirement, if not satisfied prior to matriculation. Foreign language classes cannot be applied toward the URS distribution requirements.
Historical Analysis
Courses in this group interpret continuities and changes—political, social, economic, diplomatic, religious, intellectual, artistic, scientific—through time. The focus may be on groups of people, dominant or subordinate, a specific country or region, an event, a process, or a time period.
Major-specific information:
- B.F.A. students can apply Architectural History offerings (ARCH 1801, 1802, and 3810 - 3823) toward the humanities requirement.
- URS students can count Architectural History offerings (ARCH 1801, 1802, and 3810 - 3823) as hisorical analysis.
Knowledge, Cognition, and Moral Reasoning
Offerings in this area investigate the bases of human knowledge in its broadest sense, ranging from cognitive faculties shared by humans and animals such as perception, to abstract reasoning, to the ability to form and justify moral judgments. Courses investigating the sources, structure, and limits of cognition may use the methodologies of science, cognitive psychology, linguistics, or philosophy. Courses focusing on moral reasoning explore ways of reflecting on ethical questions that concern the nature of justice, the good life, or human values in general.
Literature and the Arts
Offerings in this area explore literature and the arts in two different but related ways. Some courses focus on the critical study of artworks and on their history, aesthetics, and theory. These courses develop skills of reading, observing, and hearing and encourage reflection on such experiences; many investigate the interplay among individual achievement, artistic tradition, and historical context. Other courses are devoted to the production and performance of artworks (in creative writing, performing arts, and media such as film and video).
Major-specific information:
- B.Arch. students can apply Art studio offerings in the Department of Art toward the humanities requirement, if not being applied toward the art studio requirement.
- B.F.A. students can count Architectural History offerings (ARCH 1801, 1802, and 3810 - 3823) as literature and the arts.
- URS students can count Architectural History offerings (ARCH 1801, 1802, and 3810 - 3823) and Art studio offerings in the Department of Art as literature and the arts.
Social and Behavioral Analysis
Courses in this area examine human life in its social context through the use of social scientific methods, often including hypothesis testing, scientific sampling techniques, and statistical analysis. Topics studied range from the thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and attitudes of individuals to interpersonal relations between individuals (e.g., in friendship, love, conflict) to larger social organizations (e.g., the family, society, religious or educational or civic institutions, the economy, government) to the relationships and conflicts among groups or individuals (e.g., discrimination, inequality, prejudice, stigmas, conflict resolution). Please note that DEA 1500 can be applied toward the SBA requirement.
Major specific information:
- B.Arch. students can apply first- and second-year core offerings in the Department of City and Regional Planing (CRP 1100 , 1101 , 2000 , and 2010 ) toward the humanities requirement.
- B.F.A. students can count first- and second-year core offerings in the Department of City and Regional Planing (CRP 1100 , 1101 , 2000 , and 2010 ) as social and behaviorial analysis.