I see Humanities as the way that we individually understand the world. Every person has their own form of understanding the world, which in turn creates our understanding of humanity in general. For example, someone living in rural Iowa still understands humanity, just through a different lens as an African American in the city of St. Louis. Besides race and location, philosophy, religion, music, history, and language also inform our understanding of humanities.
No one doesn’t understand humanities. We just all understand humanities differently. This can be problematic when we are trying to progress as a society. Since we all have our own viewpoint on how our world should be, all-around common ground is not feasible.
This might be an especially pessimistic approach towards humanities, but it’s realistic. Even if people aren’t learning in an academic setting, we experience daily “academic disciplines” every day. This means anyone is entitled to experience humanities and in turn understand their world through their schema.
Since we all experience humanities differently, it can also be implied that no one has the “correct” understanding of humanities. Essentially, humanities serve as our lens in which we navigate through our lives, likely associating our understandings with those who live similar lives as us.
