Honestly being part f the booktuber community myself, we have such a tunnel vision about books and literature. It's amazing to see a fresh perspective on literature especially for someone who is pursuing a career in science but loves literature as well. Kudos to you. Can't wait for more videos from you.
As a man of science in every sense of the word lol, an empiricist, an advocate, someone truly passionate about the sciences, there is something so romantic about literature and the arts, it draws me. A longing for aesthetics I can't shake. I revere Dostoevsky, Proust and Nietzsche (although he called himself a psychologist) like I revere Darwin, Galileo or anyone else. I'm guessing you're Indian. If you are, we both know about this dichotomy presented to us. I don't see it in our western counterparts. Hope you continue to learn about the world in every way possible. A fellow moron on the internet
i wish i had friends like u 😭😭 wouldn't call myself smart type, but i like my curiousity being fed, or just learning something new. goodluck to ur channel!
А man cleans the streets near my house. This man recites Baudelaire by heart in French. And he smiles a happy smile. Of course, it does not mean that a passion for literature and art will lead someone to a career as a janitor. But I know far more successful people who are deeply unhappy. And they don't have time to read at all. I think the key is somewhere in understanding humanistic values. Thank you for the channel!)
I definitely needed to hear this as my wish is to go to university and study anthropology/ethnology, but many factors have been discouraging me from doing so. I'll try pursuing what I'm passionate about! ✨
the timing of this video is perfect - I was literally writing an essay about the value of the humanities and getting increasingly depressed, like "why am I even wasting my time on something not profitable" - so thank you!!!
Doing a business degree but I love to study philosophy, history, and literature whenever I can in my free time. Studying the Humanities has made me a more critical thinker and introduce me to great art.
@@hidepoin Nope just reading some books and watching video about literature and philosophy, a bit of an intellectual for me. I didn't want to be a professor or literary critic, it's just an intellectual pleasure for me.
@@mattjmjmjm4731 I see, that's kind of the same for me. Literature, psychology, books, reading, and philosophy all interest me, but I don't know if I could really pursue a career in them. They interest and intrigue me a lot, but I think I'll leave them as a pleasure for now perhaps and try to study something else for college.
@@hidepoin Yeah, I like reading literature but I hated doing essays on the deeper meaning of books in high school and academic philosophy seems too specialized and abstract for me plus I heard of many horror stories about studying philosophy.
@@mattjmjmjm4731 Analysis of literature in high school is so formulaic and just not what I am looking for personally. Studying philosophy from well, Reddit, I heard is kind of like a 50/50 depending on your professors. But, most of the time it's gonna be pretty bad and difficult I'm assuming at least.
As a Classics major that found your channel by chance I'm happy for you to be walking the path of Seneca and Marcus Aurelius. I'm sure it was a difficult decision, but as Plato said, "χαλεπὰ τὰ καλά". Beautiful things are difficult. Holding out for further content and updates!
This summer I switched from a chemistry degree to taking classes to transfer into a classics program for my upperclassmen years. Thank you for making me feel way more secure in my decision. Education to me had no value and was a means to a job. Now it's something I am doing for self-improvement and the start of my post-adolescent life.
Hi! I’m also in a similar situation and i’m still a bit insecure about whether or not to switch to classics 😅 You must’ve graduated by now. How are you feeling with your decision? Do you suggest to have a classics major?
in italy we learn latin and ancient greek in high school, from age 13 to 18 as well as philosophy and it's a very beautiful way of seeing the world because once you get out of high school you can pursue any kind of career with a strong classicist backbone supporting you as a person
Philosophy and Comparative Literature & Folklore Studies student here. I agree with everything you said, and while it may be difficult to pin down the practicality of an education like ours in a postmodern worldview, your points of self enlightening action rings particularly true, especially with the newfound emphasis on "doing" the humanities as is present in our field today. Keep it up, and good luck!
Hello Robin, I'm part of the "humanities nutcase club" :) - I'm so happy to hear/see this video. I can feel the passion in your speech, it's really comforting to see other people share this thirst for classics and explain so well how studia humanitatis are part of a great tradition. J'ai terminé mes études en Humanités il y a 1 an mais je pense les reprendre très vite, cette passion ne me quitte pas j'y pense constamment. Alors oui, on passe pour des aliens. Comme tu l'as si bien dit, c'est un chemin qui ne mène pas à une carrière toute tracée mais c'est un risque à prendre, ça en vaut tellement la peine ! Good luck for the future, and thanks for your videos I'm a big fan !
I appreciate all the hard work & personality you put into your videos. also I can't believe I've only been watching you for like a 5 month, and you grew from 5k to almost 50k. keep it up, you're one of the most inspiring youtubers I've found in so long and I'm so proud of you!!
You are going places man! I'm also a humanities student (English Literature) and I am always so inspired after I watch one of your videos. It can be an isolating field of study and im so glad you addressed this topic because it is something I have difficulty explaining to someone who couldn't care any less.
Humanities taught me one important aspect of life; the analysis of story, of narrative. Everything we see and experience is a story, and understanding that allows us to not only identify it, but also to reproduce it. I did my Bachelor's degree in English Literature and Linguistics, and will now do something even more obscure, I will study Luxembourgish (it's a Masters Program with the end goal of becoming a teacher, but includes Linguistics, Literature / Theory, Sociology, and Pedagogy). In the 3 years of my BA I was able to publish three short-stories (traditionally), a prof recruited me as an assistant, I had the opportunity to do an exchange semester in Heidelberg, got interviewed, and made friends with potential employers. Why? Because I did what I loved; I wrote my own narrative, and applied the skills I learned. This is coming from someone who failed three years of high school. So I completely agree with this video, do what you love, think, learn from the past, apply, analyse; have an interdisciplinary approach to everything, and things will become clear.. That is the power of humanities.
I've been studying Latin for 6 months at the university (that is unbelievably little time for such a grand language, of course), but I remember that while translating from Latin I literally FELT my brain WORK, as if it were a mechanism, inners of which started spinning more quickly. Wow, that was an unforgettable experience. Great video as usual, thank you! I don't usually write comments, so I'd like to use this chance to tell you how happy I am every time your video pops up. Everything you talk about is so precious and important to me, thank you, Robin!
Definitely recommend learning Latin. I studied it for 6 years and really enjoyed it. Not studying Ancient Greek (even though the option was open to me) is a bit regret of mine.
Just watched a documentary about the Renaissance and they where asking the question how come it was, that the "dark ages" knew nothing off the knowledge off the old greeks and old romans. It was explained that the barbarian Germanians, defeated the Romans and the "educated" fled to Constantinopel, when the Catholic Church attacked Costantinopel and weakend it, making it an easy target for the Ottoman Empire, the "educated" again fled to Florence and Italy, hence "creating" the Renaissance. The freak thing however is, that the Renaissance used known knowledge, which just got "lost" for hundreds of years and then kept on developing it. Today with political movements banning speech and even books, I ask myself if we reach a period of "digital time dark ages", where the "educated" (people who are interested in scientiffic progress and not in political nonsense) will again flee somewhere, so that the knowledge they create in exil will one day appear somewhere else. History is highly interesting, once looked at it from a point of view of know personal interest other than just the will to know, without the will to abuse it. My English is not that good, not my mothers tongue, just in case some will correct my spelling and stuff, thanks :)
The knowledge of the ancient Greeks and Romans was preserved by both the Catholic Church and her monks, as well as Muslim monks too. The Catholic Church actually loved Aristotle. The term dark ages is a very propagandistic term that no modern day history uses unironically. Overall it’s true that between the initial fall of Western Rome and the 1000s it was a truly dark time with less learning, less intellectuals, less things written down. After the 1000s things get much better though.
Ich würde gerne ein paar Beispiele hören von solch einer großen Zensur, oftmals wenn Leute von diesen Dingen sprechen, sind es nur Akkusationen ohne Handfeste Beweise dahinter oder sie zeigen ein paar Tweets von Twitter Usern, welches beide nicht grund genug für solch eine Sorge ist, deswegen bringe etwas vor, wenn du solche Aussagen aussprichst.
@@pierrolunar3002 Die Zensur kommt in Form von "cancel culture". Von staatlicher Seite gibt es kaum eine Zensur, deshalb sprach ich auch von "political movements", John Stuart Mill wies darauf hin, dass zivile Bevölkerungen seitaus tyranischer sein könnem, als die Machthaber selbst, weil sie bis in die intimsten Spheren eindringen können, was wir zur Zeit auch erleben. Wenn du "konkrete Beispiele" haben willst, dann gibt es genug, man muss sich nur ansehen, was manche politische Bewegungen mit Jordan B Peterson Debatten oder Diskussionen angestellt jat, sogar Slavoj Zizek wurde von solchen Gruppen angegriffen, auch Noam Chomsky, in Deutschland versuchen Trotzkisten Baberowski aus der Uni zu hauen und Frauen mit Migrationshintergrund, die gegen patriarchale Strukturen in den Communities, in welche sie zu Welt gekommen sind, schreiben, werden dauernd von politischen Gruppen angegriffen, in Österreich "störten" die Identitären eine Theateraufführung, weil manche Darsteller Flüchtlinge waren, komm Mal runter und vergiss bitte nicht, der Ton macht die Musik. Es gibt genug Authoren die darüber schreiben und nochmal, nicht der Staat zensiert, sondern politische Bewegungen.
I graduated in 2019 with a BA in comparative literature (focus on Spanish and German literatures) and a minor in education. I loved my humanities education and learning about the human condition through the study of texts. But my main passion was actually in education (bilingual/language K-12 Ed) and has led me to now purse an urban teaching masters to hopefully teach middle school English and social studies ( or elementary school! I’m getting multiple credentials). Humanities education can lead to many paths! For me personally it was my passion and love of learning that made me want to encourage others to learn and grow as well, and younger students are so rewarding to work with, despite the hardships of being a public school teacher in the United States :’) So yeah chose my degree and career on passion alone and I feel pretty good about it! humanities are so incredibly important in this day and age and to any other humanities students who love working with children (huge pre-requisite!!) I would say don’t feel ashamed for choosing to go into K-12 education, we need good quality humanities teachers for our children! Teaching K-12 is challenging but it is not a career to be demeaned or to be considered a failure if you go into it!! We need to start rethinking what “success” means and I love how RC has described the value of studying humanities with a purpose. I am incredibly biased but I feel like one of the places to learn about humanity at its purest and rawest form is with children. For me nothing has been as transformative and humbling as being in front of 30 8th graders trying to get them to care about literature and world history! But they are precious so it’s not a career for the faint of heart as my program professors constantly remind us!! But really I just wanted to say that I don’t want people to feel undervalued or like failures for going into teaching after a humanities degree. :’) and one of the most important aspects of humanities is COMMUNITY!!
An extremely pertinent and timely video, given the Australian government’s been so actively trying to dissuade people from studying the humanities (and just entering higher education in general) at the moment!
You've hit the nail right on the head, my friend. I lament that a deep drink from the well of philosophy and other largely important fields of liberal study are not ingrained in today's public schools as much as they were in the noble British academies of the Victorian era.
Truly an inspiration ! I found you channel today, was feeling bad cause i was swiping and swiping in youtube till i found this magnificient channel ! Thank you for sharing your way of thinking with us ^^! I really needed it
It is really beautiful how you have been discovering yourself and showing your growth trajectory. Philosophy, literature, classics ... it is very beautiful how you pursue this desire to indulge your curiosities and really be completely satisfied with your knowledge.
Hey Robin, just wishing you the best of luck on the journey your're about to begin with this new path on humanities. Hope you get a wider and wiser understanding of the world this way. Love and salute from El Salvador
I discovered this channel two days ago and have watched almost all of the videos ever since then. Love the content that you bring out to us, and I'm pretty sure your channel will make it big soon :-) Also, you're almost at 50K, so congratulations in advance!
achhhh i love this so much!! i really like the way you worded and explained your view, it is quite similar to mine but said quite differently. it's nice to know that there are like-minded people out there. also idk why but this was so claming to watch and listen to (ur voice is very calming lol), so thanks for that!
Best of luck for you, I went through exactly the same experience three years ago when i finished my undergrad in modern history, i felt unhappy and unfulfilled. Following that up with a MA in Classics and Ancient History really made me appreciate where my true passion is. Look forward to you doing some vids on that content,
There's something subtly glowing about the humanities, about philosophy, that I found in University that never quite loses its lustre; it also makes me sad we live in an irreverent age (disrespectful or disinterested in the fundamental questions of life). Or maybe that contrast has always been there through every age, and there are just types of people like us who are drawn to these things and others who find them bland.
Kudos from Italy! I am actually going to start university in September, studying Humanities (lettere classiche in Italian). Latin and Ancient Greek have been a part of my life for five years now, since I was fourteen. Studying this languages has thought me so much about my roots, who I am and were I come from, but also about who I could become. The values of the Ancients are extremely modern, still valid today. Thanks to our ancestors I have acquired a different perspective on life and what it means to be a human being, to struggle and be in pain, but still to have a strong dignity and moral strenght. I hope this comment made sense ahah, it's difficult for me to sum up something so important as Humanities in a few words. Could probably talk about it for ages if I wanted. I also know that this will not be an easy journey, Latin and Ancient Greek are extremely difficult languages to learn and fully understand (I am still not able to translate almost anything without my dictionaries lol), but I love them and I am ready to do whatever I can to become a teacher. We are going to start studying Humanities at the same time, so I wish you (and me) the best of luck
I wish you the best of luck on this big change!!! Universities work very differently in my country. I study a literature degree and my orientation is towards foreign and English literature, but I was able to take many courses on the classics. I've taken Latin and Ancient Greek courses, and I loved the languages, especially Greek. And last summer I took a summer class on Ancient Greek literature. It was literally the best course I've had so far. I didn't even feel like studying, I was having so much fun! I hope you have a similar experience! I wish you the best!
As someone who's starting a Classical Philology degree in September this was very reassuring! Good luck with Latin and Greek, I'm sure you'll enjoy them!
Very happy to hear that you are going to study something you really love! I'm currently studying communication and advertising (I'm from Brazil, so I'm no quite sure on how to translate the name of my course haha) but I dream to go to film school someday, so this is very inspirational.
I'm excited to start learning about your journey. I have a tendency to view my struggles as solitary, but it's always a nice reminder that in bits of history and stories from people living right now like you my struggles become elucidated as part of a larger story that's been lived many times in many ways. (that's my pretentious way of saying good video hehehe)
Hi, I discovered this beautiful account the last week and I fell in love with it. As a classicist, I appreciate a lot how you talked about this subjects. As Professor Keating said in "Dead Poet Society": "We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for." These words and the following poem written by Whitman were so inspirational for the little me, who had to decide what to do in her life. I studied latin, ancient greek, italian literature and english literature for the last five years of high school and this month I will start my university course in the same subjects. I also have passion for history of art, and I hope I will graduate also in it. Only God knows if I will be able to do everything I want. To conclude I just want to tell you that your work is great. Keep it up! P.s. I LOVE how you pronounce "studia humanitatis", it sounds great! ✨
I've chosen The Humanities for high school and I've been receiving so many critics about it, but I know what I want, and I might not be the best at it but I'll do my best, and what is life if not doing your best in what you love the best. also I'm so happy to hear there are still universities that teach Latin and Ancient Greek. Of course I haven't looked it up but I just thought people don't think these things are useful anymore. Good luck with everything you're gonna do in 2021. :)
R.C, studying Classics put you not distant from the future at all. I have 20 years working in the Technology Industry and what is becoming quite clear right now is that Artificial Intelligence will soon (very soon) change the nature of jobs, especially tech jobs. So there is a movement in the tech industry to get back to Humanities studies and get less focus on coding and computing. Why? Because computers will do this. Meanwhile, people will be asked to create (which computers are not "yet" able to do). So the "designers" are the new software engineer now! And being a designer asks you to understand human nature and be emphatic about it.
Btw sorry for long text but I think is important for the audience. I am seeing many people saying that are happy with your video because now they are safer to pursue what they love. And that is the point: with the advance of technology, we will be DEMAND to do what we love. Because what we love is to create and solve problems: this is the core of human nature. I study for 3 years at university and just gave up. The reason: the learning process was too slow for me. I learned computing science by myself. I learned Spanish and English alone. Since I was a kid I was fascinated by Humanities studies. My father said: "go for tech because is the future ... Humanities won't give you a career". It turns out that I am very successful in the tech industry due to my abilities in questioning and reasoning about human behavior.
I absolutely love your channel. I just found it yesterday but I've watched so many videos. Your channel is so different and amazing. I really want to study humanities but I was pressured into taking science to become an engineer. Hopefully I'll be able to study it some day. Thank you for this video!!
“The fruit of liberal education is not learning, but the capacity and desire to learn, not knowledge but power.” - Charles W. Eliot. Years ago when I was a sophomore History BA in my university, I saw this quote down the hallway. This struck me at the heart of why my degree is valuable. I realized since then how a humanities/social science degree is not about just training us as salaried workers. But more crucially, it is also a form of “equipping.” That is, equipping not just ourselves, but also the rest of humanity in finding what it truly means to be human anew.
This is a wonderful distillation for why studying the humanities is so important. I'm attending a private Buddhist school that offers a Liberal Arts education that covers classics from around the world, and I signed up without really having a solid reason why. On the first day, when the new students were asked "Why are you here?" the best answer I could give was "To figure out who I want to be, and how I'm going to get there." At the time it felt like a cobbled together, last-minute answer, but in the time since then I've realized it's a pretty accurate description of why a lot of people study liberal arts. The next time someone asks me why studying the humanities is worthwhile, I'm going to send them this video. Good luck at your new school!
Good video. Congratulations! I wish I had done that!!! Nice dorm room, but I miss the books! Good luck in college!!! Best thoughts and prayers from South Carolina, USA
From my Italian perspective and as a graduate in Humanities it's super cool to find out on RU-vid a guy from the opposite side of the planet who loves Latin and ancient Greek and who wants to study Humanities no matter Starbucks or whatever! Bravo🤩
You make content with a really good quality. I enjoy your videos. Please go for subjects like writing a poem, what are the best sources to read about history and how to know more about literary schools and influential figures.
I heard an explanation once for "education" which, whether it's true or not, has stayed with me. The word "education" comes from the Latin "educare," which could be broken up into "e" and "ducare." Second part first, "ducare" roughly means "leader," or "one who leads." And "e" implies "going somewhere," as in "going to the store, or to the beach, or to the mountain-top." So in this telling, it roughly means, "to lead" combined with "going somewhere," or put another way, the teacher is the one who "takes you" somewhere else. This explanation may be a little off, but once I heard it, it stayed with me. My best teachers took my mind on journeys into new and unfamiliar territory. Those journeys sparked a hunger in me to ask, "what else might be out there?" I think once we reach that point of curiosity, we become the person who wants to explore on our own. To me, that's what education is really all about, exploring literature and philosophy and history and the arts and all the rest of it for its own sake, for the joy of it. Really love your channel, and your many videos. Thanks so much, and keep up the great work!
I was about to comment it!! I'm in 10th this year and wanted to take humanities in 11-12, but my parents are convincing me to take either science or commerce!
I don't know who first described life like this, but, many said to me during my undergraduate in Religion, Philosophy and Ethics, that life is much like a great big cocktail party. And, what are you doing there, other than drinking? Talking. You're talking and stimulating each others minds. In that, there's something intrinsically worthwhile in the sense that it cultivates a personality and an intellect which can intuitively grasp the core ideas of, probably, any subject. And, I reckon, many people forget that some of the best innovations in history come from places of informal synergy. In places like the Stoa's and Forums of classic civilisations.
Great stuff you are doing, R.C. Waldun - feels like a far away friend whose spirit seems quite akin to mine. Keep the great content up - according to our beloved dude Nietzsche: magna anima prodigus. With lovely greetings from Germany!
I'm trying to teach myself latin and it would be super helpful if you made a video about the approach taken in a classroom setting when it comes to learning ancient languages
Great channel! Did you study Latin and Greek in high school? In Europe, Latin is still pretty common (I struggled with Ovid though). Studying both is becoming quite rare. I wish you all the best in your studies and your channel! At least you are not recommending 5 personal finance/self help books as the '5 books that changed my life'. That's refreshing.