Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and problems for Arts and Humanities

Characteristics of Humanism

During the 15^th century, Humanism emerged in Italy. It was an intellectual movement that gave rise to a change in worldview, contrasting with that of the Middle Ages. It had two basic features:

• Classical antiquity was taken as a model. The philosophical, literary, scientific, and artistic works produced by the Greeks and Romans were studied, disseminated, and used as a source of inspiration.
• Mankind was conceived as being at the center of the world (Anthropocentrism). In the medieval period, a theocentric view of life prevailed, in which God was conceived as being at the center. The humanists or intellectuals, in contrast, advocated an anthropocentric view along with human values such as freedom and reason. They also

Motivations for Charitable Giving

1. Politicians

   To gain public recognition and support their political careers. They often claim to fight misery, but there can be a hidden purpose behind their help.

2. Wealthy Individuals

   Often motivated by tax avoidance or seeking publicity for self-promotion. Examples include Bill Gates and Oprah.

3. Religious Beliefs

   Some individuals believe that helping others will lead to blessings or is a way to avoid divine punishment.

4. Highly Educated Individuals

   These individuals often possess an authentic desire to create change and develop effective strategies for assistance.

5. Grateful Individuals

   People who are grateful for their own blessings often wish to give back by sharing what they have with those in need.

6. Charity Organizations

   Composed

Impressionism

A group of artists renowned for their innovative painting techniques and approach to using colour in art and light in nature. They abandoned the conventional idea that the shadow of an object was made up from its colour with brown or black added. The Impressionists capture the atmosphere of a particular time of day or the effects of different weather conditions on the landscape.

Dadaism

A form of artistic anarchy born out of disgust for the social, political, and cultural values of the time. It embraced elements of art, music, poetry, theatre, dance, and politics.

Surrealism

Was the 20th-century art movement that sought to liberate creativity from the limitations of rational thought by exploring the hidden depths of the 'unconscious... Continue reading "Key Art Movements of the 19th & 20th Centuries" »

• Promote parallel thinking
• Encourage thought in all its breadth
• Separate

Compare and contrast customer needs, wants, and demands. Describe the need versus the want for the following products: McDonald's, Sony TV, Nestle Water, iPod, Pizza Hut, Nike, and Rolex.

Understanding Needs, Wants, and Demands

1. Needs: The most basic concept underlying marketing is the satisfaction of needs. These include basic physical needs for food, clothing, warmth, and safety; social needs for belonging; and individual needs for knowledge and self-expression. These are states of felt deprivation.
2. Wants: Human needs as they are shaped by culture and individual personality. For example, while everyone needs food, individuals want different dishes to fulfill their hunger. People in India may want spicy rice, while people in Kuwait may want regular

English-Catalan Job Interview and Employment Vocabulary

This bilingual table lists key English words and phrases used in job interviews, CVs and employment, with their Catalan equivalents.

The Naturalists' View on Meaning

Ancient Greek philosophers who advocated this position viewed naming as a natural relationship between the signs and what these signs signified. They thought that the form of words was thus related to their meaning. This relationship was said to emanate from rigidly fixed inviolable principles on which man had no control.

The existence of a number of onomatopoeic words in natural languages, that is, words whose phonetic form is an imitation of the original sound they refer to such as cuckoo, splash, crush, and hoot in English, backed up the view held by the naturalist school.

The Conventionalists' View on Meaning

Greek philosophers who argued for the conventionalist explanation viewed the relationship of naming... Continue reading "Semantic Theory: Naturalists vs. Conventionalists" »

Themes

Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.

Americans Abroad

Daisy Miller was one of James’s earliest treatments of one of the themes for which he became best known: the expatriate or footloose American abroad. Americans abroad was a subject very much at the moment in the years after the Civil War. The postwar boom, the so-called Gilded Age, had given rise to a new class of American businessman, whose stylish families were eager to make “the grand tour” and expose themselves to the art and culture of the Old World. Americans were visiting Europe for the first time in record numbers, and the clash between the two cultures was a novel and widespread phenomenon.

James was of two minds about the American... Continue reading "Henry James's Core Literary Themes Analyzed" »

Eddie Carbone: A Tragic Protagonist

Eddie Carbone, the protagonist of Arthur Miller's The View from the Bridge, is a complex and tragic figure. A longshoreman living in Red Hook, Brooklyn, Eddie is a man of limited intelligence and self-awareness, whose tragic flaw is his inability to escape the bubble of his own constructed world.

Eddie's Secret Lust for Catherine

Eddie harbors a secret lust for his orphaned niece, Catherine, which ultimately leads to his downfall. This lust is hinted at throughout the play, but it is not until the end that Eddie fully comprehends his feelings. Beatrice, Eddie's wife, is the first to express this possibility, and Alfieri, the play's narrator, also realizes Eddie's feelings during his first conversation with him.... Continue reading "The View from the Bridge: A Tragic Tale of Love, Betrayal, and Redemption" »