To avoid becoming mere technicians of medicine, future physicians need to understand the human contexts of medical problems. Though courses in the medical humanities tend to range freely, the three disciplines most consistently drawn from are ethics, literature, and history. (Author/MLW)

The decline of the liberal arts, as signaled by declining enrollments, fewer majors, and the ascendency of preprofessional education, is discussed. Business is seen to be retraining students in logical thinking, the principles of cause and effect, human communication, reading, and writing--all traditional liberal arts objectives. (MLW)

Explains how history lessons focusing on the individual in various situations can help make distant events and peoples more important and believable, and dispel stereotyped images. (CK)

Folklore has traditionally been excluded from the definition of the humanities. The value of folklore to the humanities is in providing an opportunity to view the tension between tradition and creativity, an appreciation of oral power, and an appreciation of cultural diversity. (JMF)

The NEXA program at San Francisco State University seeks to span the gulf between the humanities and the sciences by offering interdisciplinary team-taught courses on concepts and issues in the liberal arts. Providing a rigorous and challenging curriculum for highly motivated students, the program is gradually finding a niche within the confines…

The National Humanities Center in Research Triangle Park, N.C., a major center of intellectual thought that has been established through a predominantly private effort, is described. The creation of a national center for the humanities, site selection, applicant selection, and the endowment campaign are discussed. (MLW)

Maintains that the works of popular culture present a means of understanding the philosophy of the times and function as tools for identifying and perpetuating the world that they reflect. (FL)

The author defends the statement made in SO 505 260 by pointing out that creationists falsely allege that a choice exists between creationist and evolutionist theories. Even in the late 1960s, schools in the West and Northwest showed religious films and avoided use of the word "evolution." For journal availability, see SO 505 260. (AV)

The concept of relevance in the humanities is addressed by this author, who says the key is to give primacy to teaching, grounded in respect for the variety of human experience. The humanities are discussed in several social and political contexts. (Editor/LBH)

Humanists must be aggressive in promoting their chosen fields without giving way to current dissatisfaction, suggests the author. A new federal program, the "State-Based" Program, has been established under the auspices of the National Endowment for the Humanities to encourage humanists to meet with the public to discuss specific issues.…

Describes the development and implementation of an educational program designed to teach the humanities to those living in poverty and thus help them responsibly enter the public world. The pilot program, focusing on philosophical thought and reflection, successfully helps many of its students rise above poverty and improve themselves. (GR)

Examines whether the Library of Congress Name Authority File (LCNAF) could enhance retrieval during individual name searching of humanities databases. Results demonstrate that the LCNAF has utility in name searching of humanities databases, and it could provide the humanities scholar and search intermediary with authoritative information about the…

Based on the results of a two-year study conducted by the Getty Art History Information Program of online searching by humanities scholars, implications are drawn for the design of information products. Topics include characteristics of humanities scholars; design and content of databases; indexing vocabulary; and interfaces and command languages.…

Explores the importance of college student attitudes towards the social-humanities disciplines. States it is necessary to: (1) improve the status of the social-humanities sciences; (2) teach the social-humanities; (3) change the social-humanities paradigms for content and target orientations; and (4) improve the teaching methodology for…

Argues that empirical questions about laws governing human activity do not have definite answers, but certain conceptional questions do; and many conceptual questions do not have definitive answers. Focuses on John Wilson's views on philosophy and moral education. Explores the implications for educational research. (CMK)