The Humanities in the Eyes of the Humanists – From the Early Modern Period to the Present Day

Abstract

This article aims to trace the transformation, which the term “humanities” (“human sciences”) was subject to from the early modern era to modern times. Its scope is limited to an indication of some of the key turning points in the history of understanding of the humanities by the humanists themselves, and to an identification of key categories that define the humanities (they include: paideia, studia humanitatis, république des lettres, and Bildung). The arguments contained herein are to serve rather as a voice, a contribution to the debate over the “crisis of the humanities”, which has been conducted more and more intensively for at least several decades.