Humanities

===Citizenship and self-reflection===

Since the late 19th century, a central justification for the humanities has been that it aids and encourages self-reflection—a self-reflection that, in turn, helps develop personal consciousness or an active sense of civic duty.

[[Wilhelm Dilthey]] and [[Gadamer|Hans-Georg Gadamer]] centered the humanities' attempt to distinguish itself from the natural sciences in [[humankind]]'s urge to understand its own experiences. This understanding, they claimed, ties like-minded people from similar cultural backgrounds together and provides a sense of cultural continuity with the philosophical past.<ref>[[Dilthey|Dilthey, Wilhelm]]. ''The Formation of the Historical World in the Human Sciences'', 103.</ref>

Scholars in the late 20th and early 21st centuries extended that "narrative imagination"<ref>von Wright, Moira. "Narrative imagination and taking the perspective of others", ''Studies in Philosophy and Education'' 21, 4–5 (July, 2002), 407–416.</ref> to the ability to understand the records of lived experiences outside of one's own individual social and cultural context. Through that narrative [[imagination]], it is claimed, humanities scholars and students develop a [[conscience]] more suited to the multicultural world we live in.<ref name=autogenerated1>[[Martha Nussbaum|Nussbaum, Martha]]. ''[[Martha Nussbaum#Cultivating Humanity|Cultivating Humanity]]''.</ref> That conscience might take the form of a passive one that allows more effective [[self-reflection]]<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Harpham | first1 = Geoffrey | year = 2005 | title = Beneath and Beyond the Crisis of the Humanities | journal = [[New Literary History]] | volume = 36 | pages = 21–36 | doi=10.1353/nlh.2005.0022| s2cid = 144177169 }}</ref> or extend into active empathy that facilitates the dispensation of civic duties a responsible world citizen must engage in.<ref name=autogenerated1 /> There is disagreement, however, on the level of influence humanities study can have on an individual and whether or not the understanding produced in humanistic enterprise can guarantee an "identifiable positive effect on people".<ref>Harpham, 31.</ref>