Definition of Humanities and Social Sciences Categories
Cultural Analysis (CA)
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).
Foreign Language (FL)
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 FL information:
- B.Arch. students can apply FL courses toward the humanities requirement.
- B.F.A. students can apply FL courses toward the required out-of-college elective requirement.
- URS students can apply FL courses toward the foreign language requirement, if not satisfied prior to matriculation. FL courses cannot be applied toward the URS distribution requirements.
Historical Analysis (HA)
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.
Knowledge, Cognition, and Moral Reasoning (KCM)
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 (LA)
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). These courses emphasize the interaction among technical mastery, cognitive knowledge, and creative imagination.
Major-specific LA information:
- B.Arch. students can apply Art studio courses toward the LA requirement, if not being applied toward the art studio requirement.
- B.F.A. students can apply Architectural History (ARCH 1801, 1802, and 3810 - 3823), art history electives taken in Rome and NYC (ART 3801-3805), and transfer survey of art history courses toward the LA requirement.
- URS students can apply Architectural History (ARCH 1801, 1802, and 3810 - 3823) and Art studio courses toward the LA requirement.
Social and Behavioral Analysis (SBA)
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 SBA information:
- B.Arch. students can apply offerings in the Department of City and Regional Planing toward the SBA requirement (CRP 1100 , 1101 , 2000 , and 2010 ).
- B.F.A. students can apply offerings in the Department of City and Regional Planing toward the SBA requirement (CRP 1100 , 1101 , 2000 , and 2010 ).