What is a humanity??In the wake of all this talk about EBacc

[katiestar]

In the wake of all this talk about EBacc which I'mnot even sure what it is (is it just a way of measuring schools or is it a a qualification?), I am wondering what actually constitutes a humanities subject.
I have done a quick Google and most sources say English Lit, History and geography some include classical studies and wikipedia includes physics?

We were told at option evening last night that at the moment they only count history or geography

A Michael Gove humanity is History or Geography - those of us in the real world may count it differently.

I would say that if a subject is mostly concerned with cultural constructs - language, literature, music, religion, material culture and so on, it is a humanity. If it is looking at society mostly through empirical methods, it is a social science - economics, sociology and psychology for example. If it is mainly concerned with the empirical study of material reality it is a science - biology and physics for example.

I don't consider Geography to be a humanity at all. Lots of it is about natural processes like erosion and so is science, and the parts about human behaviour are frequently empirical and use methods from the social sciences. Geography isn't considered to be a humanity for academic funding purposes, as far as I'm aware.

I do think the English Bacc should include a requirement to study a subject that is an art or humanity in the sense that it is primarily about human culture - philosophy, music, fine art and so on. I also think that Latin should be an alternative to History in the current English Bacc definition, and not an alternative to an MFL as it currently is.

oh the humanity

i always think this when govey goes off on one about the ebacc

For the purpose of the English Bacc, a humanity is history, geography or ancient history.

Geography is not a humanities subject! How strange to class it as such.

I agree Latin's not a good substitute for MFL but it would be for history as there is generally lots of ancient history and civ taught within it.