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Source: https://artsandhumanities.fas.harvard.edu/ Parent: https://college.harvard.edu/admissions/why-harvard/arts-humanities

Office Hours with the Dean

New Introductory Courses in the Humanities

Dive into the world of Arts & Humanities with our new exciting introductory courses

The Arts & Humanities at Harvard

Strategic Planning Process

The A&H Strategic Planning Process is a multi-tiered, multi-year initiative to assess the structure of the Division of Arts & Humanities and make sure our departmental organization is best equipped to support the intellectual interests and administrative needs of our community.

Office for Academic Culture and Community

The Office for Academic Culture and Community serves as a resource and partner to departments, faculty, staff, and researchers to foster a culture rooted in care, curiosity, and collaboration.

The Taliesin Prize

The Taliesin Prize for Distinction in the Art of Learning—named for the early poet famed for enlightenment and inspiration—was established by the Division of Arts & Humanities in 2020. It is awarded to three graduating seniors who best exhibit a spirit of intellectual adventure in their curricular paths as Harvard undergraduates.

Hero Pagination

The Division of Arts & Humanities is one of the four academic divisions of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences at Harvard University. Led by Sean D. Kelly, Teresa G. and Ferdinand F. Martignetti Professor of Philosophy and Dean of Arts & Humanities, the Division is made up of fifteen departments, six interdisciplinary committees, and multiple secondary fields. We also oversee a number of Centers and interdisciplinary initiatives. The faculty, staff, and students that make up the Division are dedicated to pursuing and promoting the wonders and values of aesthetic and humanistic learning. We strive to cultivate an inclusive community of curious, intrepid, compassionate, and socially engaged learners.

Why Study Arts & Humanities

Welcome to the Arts and Humanities at Harvard!

The works that we teach, study, and build here are at the center of what makes any culture great. If you want to be involved in building something great yourself – whether it is in business, technology, literature, politics, science, entertainment or someplace else – you should want to think about the works that our faculty promote and preserve. Let me tell you why.

We, human beings, do not just liveour lives; we seek worthy lives that achieve a significance larger than ourselves. One might find significance in caring for others, in being a great friend, in protecting the rule of law, in perfecting a craft, in leading a country or a business, or in producing great works of art yourself. But what makes these activities significant, and how do we pursue them well? What new activities could make our lives worthwhile? These questions are the mystery at the core of what we study in the arts and humanities. As they are at the heart of human life itself. The arts and humanities, in this way, are the soul of higher education: they animate the significance of everything we do.

Imagine a world without this kind of significance. In such a world, you live your life – you go about the daily slog. But none of your favorite stories, none of the music you love, none of what you consider most beautiful, is there. You have no model of greatness, kindness, or creativity. The question what is good gets no genuine purchase. At best, these wondrous mysteries become dusty abstractions; at worst the questions about them are no longer asked at all. If you can imagine such a dystopia, and if you want to make sure it never happens, then it’s time to consider the arts and humanities.

The arts and humanities protect us from such a chaos. No STEM technology on its own can build our picture of greatness, kindness, or moral good. No financial model or social policy can justify the story about social worth that it presupposes. Even the scientific study of the universe tells us only whatis true; it doesn’t tell us whywe should care. I don’t mean to criticize. Like you, I am fascinated by many of the questions at the center of natural science, social science, and applied science. We should all want to learn about them. But these pursuits, as amazing as they are, are only the body, not the soul of an education: they proceed on assumptions about our worth and significance, but rarely manage to ask whether those assumptions are worth embracing.

The questionof our worth and significance, the mystery at the center of human being, is kept alive in the arts and humanities. The great works of literature, poetry, music, art, and philosophy hold secret wisdom regarding this question. This wisdom has been pursued by cultures across the world and over the course of history. We must learn from it, but also learn to surpass it, to build an authentic wisdom of our own.

The significance of our culture and time depends upon our building such a tradition. Come build the meaning of what is now and what is to come. Come study the arts and humanities.

Sean D. Kelly\ Dean of Arts & Humanities\ Teresa G. and Ferdinand F. Martignetti Professor of Philosophy\ Department of Philosophy