Humanities

Interconnected aspects of Human cultures

We come from contradictions and agreements, like languages and words with diverse sources and etymologies, like foods gathering components from all over the globe, our identities are of extreme complexity. Our values, virtues, and priorities are nothing but relative leading us to diverse perceptions and definitions of many aspects of Life on this rotating blue planet where Math is still not enough to explain all emotions, where Time and Beauty are still far from a clear description, where Wisdom and Love have different accesses.

Philosophy

‘The love of wisdom’

Chronology of philosophical concepts

• 623 BC Thales water holds the fundamental principles of the universe.

• 570 BC Pythagoras the deepest reality to be composed of numbers and souls are immortal. 

• 500 BC Heraclitus the existence is in a continuous dynamism.

• 495 BC Zeno self-mastery is the mean to achieve a virtuous life, stoicism.

• 469 BC Socrates the pursuit of knowledge is the pathway toward a virtuous life.

• 460 BC Hippocrates treatment of diseases, father of modern medicine.

• 460 BC Democritus all matter consist of indivisible particles or atoms.

• 428 BC Plato a transcendent realm of perfect ideas is the guiding light.

• 384 BC Aristotle logical reasoning is indispensable to understand the world.

• 365 BC Euclid ‘The Elements’ describes Euclidian geometry.

• 287 BC Archimedes a force is applied by water on floating bodies.

• 150 BC Mochus all matter consist of divisible particles or toms.

• 374 AD Augstine time is present in, and measured by the mind.

• 1466  D. Erasmus                 humanism, advocate of free will.

• 1469  N. Machiavelli               political realism.

• 1473  N. Copernicus                philosophy of Science.

• 1478  T. More                         humanist, creator of the term "utopia".

• 1596  R. Descartes              heliocentric, mind-body dualism, rationalism.

• 1623  B. Pascal                          physicist, scientist. Noted for Pascal's wager.

• 1623  M. Cavendish             materialist, feminist.

• 1632  B. Spinoza                      Rationalism.

• 1694  Voltaire                           freedoms of religion and expression.

• 1712  J–J Rousseau                 social contract political philosopher.

• 1713  D. Diderot                      new materialism, encyclopedia.

• 1717  J. d'Alembert             precision attends mathematical abstraction

• 1723  A. Smith                          economic theorist, member of Scottish Enlightenment.

• 1724  I. Kant                            metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and aesthetics.

• 1749  P-S Laplace                 determinist.

• 1770  G. Hegel                      idealist.

• 1770  A. Schopenhauer      pessimism, Critic, Absurdist.

• 1798  A. Comte                         social philosopher, positivist.

• 1818  K. Marx                        socialist, historical materialism.

• 1844  F. Nietzsche                  naturalistic philosopher, influence on Existentialism.

• 1854  H. Poincaré                    conventionalist.

• 1856  S. Freud                           neurologist, founded psychoanalysis, structural model of mind.

• 1859  E. Husserl                    founder of phenomenology.

• 182     B. Russell                        analytic philosopher, nontheist, influential.

• 1873  G. E. Moore                  common sense theorist, ethical non–naturalist.

• 1884  G. Bachelard                 historical epistemology.

• 1889  M. Heidegger               phenomenologist.

• 1898  C. S. Lewis                      naturalism, dualism, and theism.

• 1899  F. Hayek                          political philosophy.

• 1905  J-P Sartre                     humanism, existentialism.

• 1913  Albert Camus                absurdist.

Philokalia

‘The love of beauty’ 

Seven arts

Painting | Sculpture | Literature | Music | Theater | Film | Architecture

A chronology of a few famous artists and some of their masterpieces

Sculpture

• 1435 Donatello              Bronze David

• 1502 Michelangelo          Marble David

• 1880 Auguste Rodin              The thinker

• 1886 F. A. Bartholdi    Statue of Liberty

• 1922 Paul Landowski Christ the Redeemer 

Painting

• 1510 Raphael                   The School of Athens

• 1511 Leonardo da Vinci  Mona Lisa

• 1665 Johannes Vermeer Girl with a Pearl Earring

• 1889 Vincent van Gogh   The Starry Night

• 1874 Claude Monet          Sunrise, impressionism

• 1931 Salvador Dali           The persistence of memory  

• 1937 Pablo Picasso Guernica, cubism

Literature

• 1623 William Shakespeare    Hamlet

• 1666 Moliere Le Misanthrope

• 1876 Mark Twain              The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

• 1887 Leo Tolstoy              Anna Karenina

• 1890 Oscar Wilde The Picture of Dorian Gray

• 1907 Marcel Proust          À la recherche du temps perdu

• 1913 G. B. Shaw Pygmalion

• 1915 Franz Kafka             The metamorphosis

• 1934 Agatha Christie Murder on the orient express

• 1942 Albert Camus          The stranger

• 1943 Saint-Exupery         Le petit prince

• 1950 C. S. Lewis              The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

• 1862 Victor Hugo             Les Misérables

• 1857 Gustave Flaubert Madame Bovary

• 1923 Gebran K Gebran    The pophet

• 1949 George Orwell Nineteen Eighty-Four

• 1971 Jean d’Ormesson La Gloire de l’Empire

Music

• 1607 Monteverdi L'Orfeo

• 1720 Vivaldi    The Four Seasons

• 1748 Bach        The Mass

• 1791 Mozart    Requiem

• 1798 Haydn     The Nelson Mass

• 1815 Schubert Erlkönig

• 1823 Beethoven  Symphony No. 9

• 1829 Chopin     The Wish

• 1870 Wagner  The Ring Cycle

• 1875 Tchaikovsky The seasons

*Unlike pure sciences characterized by being objective and rational, arts are subjective, emotion- and interest-dependent.    

*Concerning visual arts, a proportion of x²=x+1 i.e. 'the golden ratio', creates a balanced ratio between parts of the work. The value of this number is 1.618.

Human sciences

Human knowledge driven by human interactions and interests.

Seven human sciences

Geography | History | Anthropology | Economy | Sociology | Laws | Politics 

Evolution of Economic Thought

Around Renaissance

Physiochracy is the first economic thought built by François Quesnay. As an accomplished surgeon, he was familiar with the mechanics of blood circulation. He drew a direct parallel between the flow of blood in the body and the flow of money and goods in the economy. Then, physiocracy was known as inherent natural order governing society based on land and its natural products as the only true source of wealth.

Mercantilism appeared later with Jean-Baptiste Colbert and wealth was seen as accumulation of bullion. Note that trade surplus policies dominated. In the meantime, Jean Bodin advocated strong centralized economies. Mercantilism was an economic practice where nations sought to increase wealth through export surplus and controlled trade. The system emphasized accumulating precious metals and often used military force to protect trade interests and enforce monopolistic practices.

Industrial Revolution

1750-1870 - Classical Economics           

Adam Smith,  considered as the father of modern economics. His work is regarded as the foundation of the relationship between society, politics, commerce and prosperity. His inquiry into the Nature and causes of the wealth of nations led to concepts like free markets and division of labour, "invisible hand." Several thinkers followed the same trend adding their own contributions. David Ricardo known for comparative advantage, labour theory of value. Jean-Baptiste Say known for Say law where offer creates demand. Thomas Robert Malthus and John Stuart Mill thought about population and capital accumulation.

1870-1930 - Marxism

Karl Marx criticized capitalism creating class struggle, exploitation, and surplus value. He focused on historical materialism and social change allowing socialists and anarchists thoughts to spread across Europe.

1870-1930 - Neoclassical Economics

Marginalism emerged stating that value from marginal utility, not just labour. William Stanley Jevons, Léon Walras, Alfred Marshall focused on rational individuals and equilibrium. Birth of modern microeconomics.

1930-1970 - Keynesianism            

John Maynard Keynes thought that state intervention is needed to stabilize demand. Foundations of macroeconomics: focus on employment, interest, investment. Growth of public policy and welfare economics.

1970s-2000s - Monetarism, Neoliberalism, Globalization 

Milton Friedman: monetarism, control money supply to curb inflation. He allowed the rise of neoliberalism: deregulation, privatization, free trade. Public choice theory, rational expectations.

2000s-today - Digital Age, Green Transition, Post-Neoliberalism

Behavioral economics challenges rational agent model (Kahneman, Thaler). Post-Keynesian, ecological and feminist economics gain traction. Concerns with inequality, sustainability, platform capitalism.

Evolution of Money

Around Renaissance

Before Renaissance, barter transformed into commodity money e.g., livestock or grain than coinage e.g. gold or silver in Greece. Coins spread across the Roman empire and banking emerged in Italian cities.

During Renaissance era, bills of exchange and early credit instruments appear for long-distance trade. Coinage and early paper money expanded e.g. China. National mints and currencies raised and bills of exchange grew with international trade.

Industrial Revolution

Classical Economics

Gold and silver standards dominated. Rise of central banking and trust in paper currency appeared as finance expanded to fund industrial ventures e.g. railroads, factories.

Marxism

A continued reliance on gold standard accompanied the expansion of commercial banking and international financial networks. Money was seen as a form of social power and alienation in Marxist theory.

Neoclassical Economics

Gold standard became an international norm. Cheques, clearinghouses, and central banks gained influence, and money was viewed as neutral in long-term economic models.

Keynesianism

After Bretton Woods system in 1944, exchange rates were fixed, and USD pegged to gold. Credit and global finance have shown an expansion.

Monetarism, Neoliberalism, Globalization

The abandonment of Bretton Woods into floating exchange rates happened in 1970. Electronic banking, credit cards, and derivatives markets emerged, and international capital mobility and financialization raised.

Digital Age, Green Transition, Post-Neoliberalism

Cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum) and blockchain, Mobile payments, digital wallets, fintech revolution, CBDCs (central bank digital currencies) in development globally.

Unlike pure sciences characterized by being objective and rational, human sciences are subjective and interest-dependent.                         

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