Humanities, PIN-SAI
The humanities are those branches of knowledge that concern themselves with human beings and their culture. The humanities include the study of all languages and literatures, the arts, history, and philosophy.
Humanities Encyclopedia Articles By Title
Pinker, Steven
Steven Pinker is a Canadian-born American psychologist who advocates evolutionary explanations for the functions......
Pius II
Pius II was an outstanding Italian humanist and astute politician who as pope (reigned 1458â64) tried to unite......
Platonic criticism
Platonic criticism, literary criticism based on the philosophical writings of Plato, especially his views on art......
Platter, Thomas
Thomas Platter was a Swiss writer and humanist known for his autobiography. After years of hardship, spent as a......
Poe, Edgar Allan
Edgar Allan Poe was an American short-story writer, poet, critic, and editor who is famous for his cultivation......
Poggio Bracciolini, Gian Francesco
Gian Francesco Poggio Bracciolini was an Italian humanist and calligrapher, foremost among scholars of the early......
polar region
polar region, area around the North Pole or the South Pole. The northern polar region consists mainly of floating......
political economy
political economy, branch of social science that studies the relationships between individuals and society and......
political science
political science, the systematic study of governance by the application of empirical and generally scientific......
Poliziano
Poliziano was an Italian poet and humanist, a friend and protĂ©gĂ© of Lorenzo deâ Medici, and one of the foremost......
Pomponazzi, Pietro
Pietro Pomponazzi was a philosopher and leading representative of Renaissance Aristotelianism, which had developed......
Pontano, Giovanni
Giovanni Pontano was an Italian prose writer, poet, and royal official whose works reflect the diversity of interests......
Porter, Fairfield
Fairfield Porter was an American painter, printmaker, and writer best known for his naturalistic painting as well......
postindustrial society
postindustrial society, society marked by a transition from a manufacturing-based economy to a service-based economy,......
Pott, August
August Pott was a German linguist who was one of the founders of Indo-European historical linguistics. He established......
Pousseur, Henri
Henri Pousseur was a Belgian composer whose works encompass a variety of 20th-century musical styles. He wrote......
Powdermaker, Hortense
Hortense Powdermaker was a U.S. cultural anthropologist who helped to initiate the anthropological study of contemporary......
Powell, John Wesley
John Wesley Powell was an American explorer, geologist, and ethnologist, best known for his exploration of the......
Power
Power, in political science and sociology, the capacity to influence, lead, dominate, or otherwise have an impact......
Praetorius, Michael
Michael Praetorius was a German music theorist and composer whose Syntagma musicum (1614â20) is a principal source......
Pragmatics
Pragmatics is the philosophical and linguistic study of how utterances are typically used to communicate propositions,......
Pratolini, Vasco
Vasco Pratolini was an Italian short-story writer and novelist, known particularly for compassionate portraits......
price
Price refers to the amount of money required to purchase a product or service. Price can also be seen as a measure......
price discrimination
price discrimination, practice of selling a commodity at different prices to different buyers, even though sales......
price maintenance
price maintenance, measures taken by manufacturers or distributors to control the resale prices of their products......
Price Mars, Jean
Jean Price Mars was a Haitian physician, public official, diplomat, ethnologist, and historian of his countryâs......
price system
price system, a means of organizing economic activity. It does this primarily by coordinating the decisions of......
price-fixing
price-fixing, any agreement between business competitors (âhorizontalâ) or between manufacturers, wholesalers,......
Prichard, James Cowles
James Cowles Prichard was an English physician and ethnologist who was among the first to assign all the human......
Primatology
Primatology, the study of the primate order of mammalsâother than recent humans (Homo sapiens). The species are......
Prince, F.T.
F.T. Prince was a South African-born poet who wrote verse of quiet intensity. His work is best exemplified by his......
production chain
production chain, in economics, an analytical tool used to understand the nature of the production process (including......
production function
production function, in economics, equation that expresses the relationship between the quantities of productive......
production, theory of
theory of production, in economics, an effort to explain the principles by which a business firm decides how much......
propensity to consume
propensity to consume, in economics, the proportion of total income or of an increase in income that consumers......
propensity to save
propensity to save, in economics, the proportion of total income or of an increase in income that consumers save......
Psycholinguistics
Psycholinguistics, the study of psychological aspects of language. Experiments investigating such topics as short-term......
Ptolemy
Ptolemy was an Egyptian astronomer, mathematician, and geographer of Greek descent who flourished in Alexandria......
Pufendorf, Samuel, Freiherr von
Samuel, baron von Pufendorf was a German jurist and historian, best known for his defense of the idea of natural......
purchasing power parity
purchasing power parity (PPP), a measure of the relative value of currencies that compares the prices of purchasing......
Putnam, Frederic Ward
Frederic Ward Putnam was an American anthropologist who was a leader in the founding of anthropological science......
Putnam, Samuel
Samuel Putnam was an American editor, publisher, and author, best known for his translations of works by authors......
PĂ©rez de GuzmĂĄn, FernĂĄn
FernĂĄn PĂ©rez de GuzmĂĄn was a Spanish poet, moralist, and historian, author of the first important work of history......
pâBitek, Okot
Okot pâBitek was a Ugandan poet, novelist, and social anthropologist whose three verse collectionsâSong of Lawino......
Qualia
Qualia, in linguistics, and specifically the theory of generative lexicon pioneered by the American computational......
quantity theory of money
quantity theory of money, economic theory relating changes in the price levels to changes in the quantity of money.......
quarter days
quarter days, the days that begin each quarter of the year. In England they are March 25 (Lady Day), June 24 (Midsummer......
Quimby, Harriet
Harriet Quimby was an American aviator, the first female pilot to fly across the English Channel. Quimbyâs birth......
Rabelais, François
François Rabelais was known to his contemporaries as an eminent physician and humanist. Today, he is remembered......
Radcliffe-Brown, A.R.
A.R. Radcliffe-Brown was an English social anthropologist of the 20th century who developed a systematic framework......
Radin, Paul
Paul Radin was a U.S. anthropologist who was influential in advancing a historical model of social structures based......
Radlov, Vasily
Vasily Radlov was a German scholar and government adviser who made fundamental contributions to the knowledge of......
Rahv, Philip
Philip Rahv was a Ukrainian-born American critic who was cofounder (1933) with William Phillips of The Partisan......
Raine, Kathleen
Kathleen Raine was an English poet, scholar, and critic noted for her mystical and visionary poetry. Raine studied......
Rameau, Jean-Philippe
Jean-Philippe Rameau was a French composer of the late Baroque period, best known today for his harpsichord music,......
Ramus, Petrus
Petrus Ramus was a French philosopher, logician, and rhetorician. Educated at Cuts and later at the CollĂšge de......
Ramusio, Giovanni Battista
Giovanni Battista Ramusio was an Italian geographer who compiled an important collection of travel writings, Delle......
Ranke, Leopold von
Leopold von Ranke was a leading German historian of the 19th century, whose scholarly method and way of teaching......
rational choice theory
rational choice theory, school of thought based on the assumption that individuals choose a course of action that......
Ratzel, Friedrich
Friedrich Ratzel was a German geographer and ethnographer and a principal influence in the modern development of......
Read, Sir Herbert
Sir Herbert Read was a poet and critic who was the chief British advocate and interpreter of modern art movements......
Reaganomics
Reaganomics, popular term for the economic policies of U.S. Pres. Ronald Reagan. The word is a portmanteau of Reagan......
rebate
rebate, retroactive refund or credit given to a buyer after he has paid the full list price for a product or for......
Reclus, ĂlisĂ©e
ĂlisĂ©e Reclus was a French geographer and anarchist who was awarded the gold medal of the Paris Geographical Society......
Redfield, Robert
Robert Redfield was a U.S. cultural anthropologist who was the pioneer and, for a number of years, the principal......
Reed College
Reed College, Private liberal-arts college in Portland, Ore. Founded in 1909, it is named after Simeon Reed, a......
Reinhardt, Ad
Ad Reinhardt was an American painter who painted in several abstract styles and influenced the Minimalist artists......
religions, classification of
classification of religions, the attempt to systematize and bring order to a vast range of knowledge about religious......
Renaissance man
Renaissance man, an ideal that developed in Renaissance Italy from the notion expressed by one of its most-accomplished......
Rennell, James
James Rennell was the leading British geographer of his time. Rennell constructed the first nearly accurate map......
Reuchlin, Johannes
Johannes Reuchlin was a German humanist, political counselor, and classics scholar whose defense of Hebrew literature......
revealed preference theory
revealed preference theory, in economics, a theory, introduced by the American economist Paul Samuelson in 1938,......
Reynolds, Joshua
Joshua Reynolds was a portrait painter and aesthetician who dominated English artistic life in the middle and late......
Rhenanus, Beatus
Beatus Rhenanus was a German humanist, writer, and advocate of Christian reform whose editorial work helped to......
Ribas, Ăscar
Ăscar Ribas was an Angolan folklorist and novelist, who recorded in Portuguese the oral tradition of the Mbundu......
Ricardo, Cassiano
Cassiano Ricardo was a poet, essayist, literary critic, and journalist, one of the most versatile 20th-century......
Rich, Adrienne
Adrienne Rich was an American poet, scholar, teacher, and critic whose many volumes of poetry trace a stylistic......
Richards, Audrey I.
Audrey I. Richards was an English social anthropologist and educator known chiefly for her researches among several......
Richthofen, Ferdinand Paul Wilhelm, Freiherr von
Ferdinand Paul Wilhelm, baron von Richthofen was a German geographer and geologist who produced a major work on......
Riemann, Hugo
Hugo Riemann was a German musicologist whose works on music harmony are considered to have been the foundation......
right to repair
right to repair, legal concept that the owner of a piece of equipment, such as a vehicle or an electronic device,......
Ripley, George
George Ripley was a journalist and reformer whose life, for half a century, mirrored the main currents of American......
Ritschl, F.W.
F.W. Ritschl was a German classical scholar remembered for his work on Plautus and as the founder of the Bonn school......
Ritter, Carl
Carl Ritter was a German geographer who was a cofounder, with Alexander von Humboldt, of modern geographical science.......
Rivers, W H R
W. H. R. Rivers was an English medical psychologist and anthropologist known principally for The Todas (1906),......
Rivet, Paul
Paul Rivet was a French ethnologist who suggested Australian and Melanesian origins for the Indigenous peoples......
Robinson, James Harvey
James Harvey Robinson was a U.S. historian, one of the founders of the ânew historyâ that greatly broadened the......
Roget, Peter Mark
Peter Mark Roget was an English physician and philologist remembered for his Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases......
Roman republican calendar
Roman republican calendar, dating system that evolved in Rome prior to the Christian era. According to legend,......
Romanticism
Romanticism, attitude or intellectual orientation that characterized many works of literature, painting, music,......
Rosenberg, Harold
Harold Rosenberg was an American art critic known for championing the work of such painters as Jackson Pollock.......
Rossetti, William Michael
William Michael Rossetti was an English art critic, literary editor, and man of letters, brother of Dante Gabriel......
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques
Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Swiss-born philosopher, writer, and political theorist whose treatises and novels inspired......
rule
rule, in political science, a principle to which action should conform or a widely accepted standard of behaviour.......
Ruskin, John
John Ruskin was an English critic of art, architecture, and society who was a gifted painter, a distinctive prose......
Rymer, Thomas
Thomas Rymer was an English literary critic who introduced into England the principles of French formalist Neoclassical......
RĂłheim, GĂ©za
GĂ©za RĂłheim was a Hungarian-American psychoanalyst who was the first ethnologist to utilize a psychoanalytic approach......
Sachs, Curt
Curt Sachs was an eminent German musicologist, teacher, and authority on musical instruments. In his youth Sachs......
Saint Olaf College
Saint Olaf College, private coeducational institution of higher learning in Northfield, southeastern Minnesota,......
Saint Peterâs University
Saint Peterâs University, private, coeducational institution of higher learning in Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S.......