Humanities (English)

The humanities encompass disciplines that study human identity, expression and communication: language, literature, culture, history, art history, religion and philosophy. An important part of this domain is also called “the arts.” Because of its peculiar nature and its relations with other scientific domains, the humanities are frequently the subject of debate. As of the 19th century, Germany has distinguished between Naturwissenschaften and Geisteswissenschaften, the former referring to things that can be explained, and the latter to things that can be understood (verstehen was the word Wilhelm Dilthey (1833-1911, pictured at the right) used for it).

Humanities and Digital Sciences

The Tilburg School of Humanities (TSH) was founded in 2007, a faculty that merged the Faculty of Philosophy (established in 1979) and the Arts Faculty (1981, renamed Communication and Culture in 2005) with elements from the Faculty of Theology. The TSH offers programs in Communication and Information Sciences, Culture Studies, Philosophy and teacher training programs in Dutch Language and Philosophy. The TSH is also in charge of the University College Tilburg and the Tilburg Cobbenhagen Center. The Faculty takes care of Philosophy lectures, focusing on Ethics or Philosophy of Science, in other Bachelor’s programs. Exploring the impact of modern technology and globalization, the TSH has a strong contemporary orientation. The Bachelor’s program in Culture Studies has focused on online culture since 2015. Communication and Information Sciences has programs on data science, business and governance and artificial intelligence. The TSH is also involved in Mindlab, which was launched in the Tilburg town center in 2017. The increasing importance of digitisation led to the decision to change the name in 2018 into Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital Sciences. The focus is on 'modern technolgy within the context of globalisation and the digital society'