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As the question title says, I can't seem to find what the difference is
between 人文科学 and 文系. I've seen both used and JP dictionaries aren't helpful
here. Is one more colloquial than the other?
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2022-11-16T16:34:27.920
97240
2022-11-16T19:46:28.780
2022-11-16T19:14:36.690
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38831
question
word-choice nuances
Difference between 人文科学 and 文系
文系 is one of the two major categories which Japanese high schoolers have to
choose from normally at the end of their first year of high school, the other
being 理系. Once a student commits to one of them, the curriculum they take in
the following 2 years will follow from that, as well as the subjects they get
tested on in their university entrance exams. Japanese students have to choose
their major they would like to study in university when they apply. And the
majors are put in these two rough categories. For example, 東大 has
理科一類、二類、三類、文科一類、二類、三類, which correspond to law, engineering, sciences etc.
When people talk about 文系/理系 it is **always** about this separation in high
school and by extension the ensuing separation in their higher education. And
they are used to talk about students (people).

人文科学 means the humanities referring to the actual disciplines. This term
mostly applies in the context of post high school higher education
(university, graduate school, etc.), rather than about people. This is a term
used in the academia. Mind you, it is not a term without ambiguity. In an
American academic context, to me at least, the humanities refer to disciplines
such as history, the arts, languages, linguistics, etc. But I think in Japan
there is significant overlap between 人文科学 and social sciences and a lot of
people use 人文科学 to refer to disciplines that I would consider social sciences
such as political science, sociology, etc.
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2022-11-16T19:46:28.780
97246
2022-11-16T19:46:28.780
30454
97240
answer