What is the difference between the social sciences and the humanities. Social (humanitarian) sciences that study society and man - Document

1. natural and social sciences and humanities

natural and social and humanitarian sciences study man. Its biological nature is being studied natural science, and social qualities human - public.
Natural and social sciences differ markedly from each other.
natural study nature that has existed and can exist independently of man. Public sciences cannot study society without studying the activities of the people living in it, their thoughts and aspirations. If in natural sciences object and subject are different, then in public- object and subject are the same => public sciences cannot be objective.
Similar to other areas scientific research, social sciences are aimed at comprehending the truth, discovering the objective laws of the functioning of society, the trends of its development.

2. Classification of social humanities

• historical sciences(National history, General history, archeology, ethnography, etc.)
• Economic Sciences (economic theory, Accounting, statistics, etc.)
• Philosophical Sciences(history of philosophy, logic, ethics, aesthetics, etc.)
• Philological sciences(linguistics, literary criticism, journalism, etc.)
• Legal Sciences(history of legal doctrines, constitutional law, etc.)
• Pedagogical Sciences(general pedagogy, history of pedagogy and education, etc.)
• Psychological sciences (general psychology, personality psychology, etc.)
• Sociological Sciences(theory, methodology and history of sociology, demography, etc.)
• Political science(theory of politics, political technologies, etc.)
• Culturology(theory and history of culture, museology, etc.)

Sociology- the science of general and specific social laws and patterns of development and functioning of historically defined social systems, about the mechanisms of action and forms of manifestation of these laws in the activities of people, social groups, classes, peoples.

In other words, sociology is the science of society as an integral system, the laws of its formation, functioning and development.

Political science (in the narrow sense) - one of the sciences that studies politics, namely - general theory politics, investigating the specific patterns of relations between social subjects about power and influence, a special type of interaction between those in power and those subject, those who govern and those who are governed.

Political science (in the broadest sense) includes all political knowledge and is a complex of disciplines that study politics: the history of political thought, political philosophy, political sociology, political psychology, etc.

In other words, in this interpretation, political science acts as a single, integral science that comprehensively studies politics. It is based on applied research that uses various methods, including those existing in sociology and other social sciences.

Social Psychology - studies the patterns of behavior and activities of people, due to the factor from inclusion in social groups, as well as psychological characteristics these same groups.

4. Specificity of philosophical knowledge

Eternal problems of philosophy - the questions that human thought posed a long time ago, they retain their significance.

Philosophy is always turned to history. The created new philosophical systems do not cancel the previously put forward concepts and principles, but continue to coexist with them in a single cultural and cognitive space, therefore philosophy is always pluralistic, is diverse in its schools and directions.

Philosophizing- This is a kind of speculative activity. Philosophy is different from science. Philosophical knowledge is multilayered. Within philosophy, relatively independent areas of knowledge were formed quite a long time ago: the doctrine of being - ontology; the doctrine of knowledge epistemology; the science of morality ethics; a science that studies the beautiful in reality, the laws of the development of art - aesthetics.

Philosophical knowledge includes such important areas for understanding society and man as philosophical anthropology- the doctrine of the essence and nature of man, of a specifically human way of being, as well as social philosophy.

Social philosophy makes its full contribution to the development great circle problems: society as an integrity; patterns community development; the structure of society as a system; the meaning, direction and resources of social development; the ratio of the spiritual and material aspects of the life of society; man as a subject of social action; features of social cognition.

Homework

1. The very term "socio-humanitarian knowledge" indicates that social science includes two types of knowledge: Social sciencies, focused on the study of structures, general connections and patterns and humanitarian knowledge with its installation on a concretely individual description of phenomena and events public life, human interactions and personalities.
2. For the social sciences, people are elements of the objective picture that these sciences determined, then for humanitarian knowledge, on the contrary, the forms scientific activity clarify their meaning as schemes included in the joint and individual life of people.
3. Social and humanitarian scientific disciplines have one common and at the same time the main link - a person. A certain number of people make up a society (it is studied by the social sciences), in which each person plays a role (this is studied by the humanities).

Social Sciences

Philosophy. Philosophy studies society from the point of view of its essence: structure, ideological foundations, correlation of spiritual and material factors in it. Since it is society that generates, develops and transmits meanings, the philosophy that explores meanings pays central attention to society and its problems. Any philosophical research necessarily touches on the topic of society, since human thought always unfolds in a social context that predetermines its structure.

Story. History examines the progressive development of societies, giving a description of the phases of their development, structure, structure, features and characteristics. Different schools of historical knowledge emphasize different aspects of history. The focus of the classical historical school is religion, culture, worldview, the social and political structure of society, a description of the periods of its development and the most important events and actors public history.

Anthropology. Anthropology - literally, "the science of man" - as a rule, explores archaic societies in which it seeks to find the key to understanding more advanced cultures. According to evolutionary theory, history is a single linear and unidirectional stream of development of society, and so on. "primitive peoples" or "savages" live to this day in the same social conditions as all mankind in ancient times. Therefore, by studying "primitive societies", one can obtain "reliable" information about the initial stages of the formation of societies that have passed in their development and other, later and "developed" stages.

Sociology. Sociology is a discipline whose main object is society itself, studied as a holistic phenomenon.

Political science. Political science studies society in its political dimension, exploring the development and change of power systems and institutions of society, the transformation of the political system of states, the change of political ideologies.

Culturology. Cultural studies considers society as a cultural phenomenon. In this perspective, social content manifests itself through the culture generated and developed by society. Society in cultural studies is the subject of culture and at the same time the field in which cultural creativity unfolds and in which cultural phenomena are interpreted. Culture, understood in a broad sense, embraces the totality of social values ​​that create a collective portrait of the identity of each particular society.

Jurisprudence. Jurisprudence mainly considers social relations in the legal aspect, which they acquire, being fixed in legislative acts. Legal systems and institutions reflect the prevailing trends in social development, combine the worldview, political, historical, cultural and value orientations of society.

Economy. Economics studies the economic structure of various societies, explores the impact of economic activity on social institutions, structures and relationships. The Marxist method of political economy makes economic analysis the main tool in the study of society, reducing social studies to clarifying their economic background.

Social science. Social science summarizes the approaches of all social disciplines. The discipline "Social Science" contains elements of all the above scientific disciplines that help to understand and correctly interpret the main social meanings, processes and institutions.

Where to go to study? Become a social educator or choose a humanitarian profession? But how to decide if the possibilities are huge, but it is quite difficult to understand what is what? Questions, questions, questions... And they concern many young people, and not only them. We will try to answer them and give the main indicators of how the humanities differ from the social sciences.

Definition of Humanities and Social Sciences

Humanities - if you describe them plain language, then they study a person from the point of view of his spiritual, cultural, moral, social and mental sphere. There are also certain intersections with the social sciences, while at the same time being opposed to the exact or natural. If specificity and accuracy are necessary in mathematics, physics or chemistry, then in literature, psychology, ethics, etc. there are clear definitions, but at the same time the subject is given in all possible versatility and interpretation. So that each person can find something of their own in this. Among the humanities are: literature, law, history, pedagogy, aesthetics and many others.
Social sciences - there are certain similarities and intersections with such subjects as history, pedagogy, psychology, but the subject of study is presented from a slightly different position. In this group of academic disciplines, it is important to study aspects of a person's being in projection on his social activities. That is, not just in such and such a year such and such events occurred, but how exactly what happened affected a person’s life, and a person influenced events. What happened in the worldview, what were the shifts, conclusions and subsequent actions.
Social science is a subjective understanding of the issue for each person, despite the existence of clear definitions. And like the humanities cycle, they are very different from the exact disciplines with their specificity and objectivity.

Comparison between humanities and social sciences

First of all, it is worth noting the undoubted similarity of the social and humanitarian. One can even say that the social sciences are a kind of subsection of the humanities with their own specific features.
The social sciences are focused on society and specific people. The existence of a person and how it is connected with society is studied. At the same time, the humanitarian cycle involves the study of disciplines not necessarily related to specific people in terms of public activity. Here it is more important to consider the issue in such a way that each person can find something of his own.
Sociology is not only a theory, but also a practice - various studies, surveys, testing personal qualities person. Humanitarian subjects are more theoretical, and where practice is required, there is no clear focus on society, and abstract concepts are often considered.

TheDifference.ru determined that the difference between the humanities and the social sciences is as follows:

The social sciences are oriented towards man in terms of his social activities, and the humanities often pursue abstract goals and consider abstract concepts.
In the social sciences, there are practical tools that are focused on the study of society and the individual, while in the humanities this is often not required.

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Books

• , . Social and natural sciences in the historical relationship of their methods, essays on the history and methodology of the social sciences. Scientific notes of the Imperial Moscow University. Department…
• Social and natural sciences in the historical relationship of their methods, . This book will be produced in accordance with your order using Print-on-Demand technology. Social and natural sciences in the historical relationship of their methods, essays on the history and ...

Science, as one of the forms of knowledge and explanation of the world, is constantly evolving: the number of its branches and directions is steadily growing. This trend is especially clearly demonstrated by the development of social sciences, which open up more and more new facets of the life of modern society. What are they? What is the subject of their study? Read more about this in the article.

social science

This concept appeared relatively recently. Scientists associate its occurrence with the development of science in general, which began in the 16-17th century. It was then that science embarked on its own path of development, uniting and absorbing the entire system of about scientific knowledge, which was formed at that time.

It should be noted that social science is an integral system of scientific knowledge, which at its core contains a number of disciplines. The task of the latter is a comprehensive study of society and its constituent elements.

The rapid development and complication of this category in last couple centuries poses new challenges to science. The emergence of new institutions, the complication of social ties and relations require the introduction of new categories, the establishment of dependencies and patterns, open up new branches and sub-sectors of this type of scientific knowledge.

What is he studying?

The answer to the question of what constitutes the subject matter of the social sciences is already embedded in itself. This part of scientific knowledge concentrates its cognitive efforts on such a complex concept as society. Its essence is most fully revealed thanks to the development of sociology.

The latter is quite often presented as a science of society. However, such a broad interpretation of the subject of this discipline does not allow one to get a complete picture of it.

and sociology?

Many researchers of both modern and past centuries have tried to answer this question. can boast huge amount theories and concepts that explain the essence of the concept of "society". The latter cannot consist of only one individual, an indispensable condition here is the totality of several beings, which must certainly be in the process of interaction. That is why today scientists present society as a kind of "clump" of all kinds of connections and interactions that entangle the world of human relations. There are a number of distinctive characteristics of society:

• The presence of a certain social community, reflecting the social side of life, the social originality of relations and various kinds of interactions.
• The presence of regulatory bodies, which sociologists call social institutions, the latter are the most stable connections and relationships. A prime example such an institution is the family.
• Special social space. Territorial categories are inapplicable here, since society can go beyond them.
• Self-sufficiency is a characteristic that makes it possible to distinguish a society from other similar social formations.

Given the detailed presentation of the main category of sociology, it is possible to expand the idea of ​​it as a science. It is no longer just a science of society, but also an integrated system of knowledge about various social institutions, relationships, communities.

Social sciences study society, forming a versatile view of it. Each examines the object from its own side: political science - political, economics - economic, cultural studies - cultural, etc.

Causes

Starting from the 16th century, the development of scientific knowledge becomes quite dynamic, and by the middle of the 19th century, a process of differentiation is observed in the already separated science. The essence of the latter was that in line with scientific knowledge separate branches began to take shape. The foundation for their formation and, in fact, the reason for the separation was the allocation of the object, subject and methods of research. Based on these components, the disciplines were concentrated around two main areas of human life: nature and society.

What are the reasons for separating from scientific knowledge what is today known as social science? First of all, these are the changes that took place in society in the 16th-17th centuries. It was then that its formation began in the form in which it was preserved until today. Outdated structures are being replaced by mass ones, which require increased attention, since it became necessary not only to understand, but also to be able to manage them.

Another factor contributing to the emergence of social sciences was the active development of natural sciences, which in some way "provoked" the emergence of the first. It is known that one of characteristic features scientific knowledge of the late 19th century was the so-called naturalistic understanding of society and the processes taking place in it. A feature of this approach was that social scientists tried to explain within the framework of the categories and methods of the natural sciences. Then sociology appears, which its creator, Auguste Comte, calls social physics. A scientist, studying society, tries to apply natural scientific methods to it. Thus, social science is a system of scientific knowledge that took shape later than natural science and developed under its direct influence.

Development of social sciences

The rapid development of knowledge about society in the late 19th - early 20th century was due to the desire to find the levers to control it in a rapidly changing world. The natural sciences, unable to cope with the explanation of processes, reveal their inconsistency and limitations. The formation and development of the social sciences make it possible to obtain answers to many questions of both the past and the present. New processes and phenomena that take place in the world require new approaches to the study, as well as the application the latest technologies and methodologies. All this stimulates the development of both scientific knowledge in general and the social sciences in particular.

Considering that the natural sciences have become a stimulus for the development of the social sciences, it is necessary to find out how to distinguish one from the other.

Natural and social sciences: distinctive characteristics

The main difference that makes it possible to attribute this or that knowledge to a certain group is, of course, the object of study. In other words, what the attention of science is directed to, in this case, is two various areas being.

It is known that natural Sciences arose earlier than social ones, and their methods influenced the development of the methodology of the latter. Its development took place in a different cognitive direction - by understanding the processes taking place in society, in contrast to the explanation offered by the sciences of nature.

Another feature that emphasizes the differences between the natural and social sciences is to ensure the objectivity of the process of cognition. In the first case, the scientist is outside the subject of research, observing it "from the outside". In the second, he himself is often a participant in the processes that take place in society. Here objectivity is ensured by comparison with universal values ​​and norms: cultural, moral, religious, political and others.

What are the social sciences?

Immediately, we note that there are some difficulties in determining where to attribute this or that science. Modern scientific knowledge gravitates toward the so-called interdisciplinarity, when the sciences borrow methods from each other. That is why it is sometimes difficult to attribute science to one group or another: both social and natural sciences have a number of characteristics that make them related.

Since the social sciences occurred later than the natural ones, initial stage of its development, many scientists believed that it was possible to study society and the processes taking place in it using natural scientific methods. A striking example is sociology, which was called social physics. Later, with the development of their own system of methods, the social (social) sciences moved away from the natural sciences.

Another feature that unites these is that each of them acquires knowledge in the same ways, among which:

• a system of such general scientific methods as observation, modeling, experiment;
• logical methods of cognition: analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, etc.;
• reliance on scientific facts, consistency and consistency of judgments, the unambiguity of the concepts used and the rigor of their definitions.

Also, both spheres of science have in common what they differ from other types and forms of knowledge: the validity and consistency of the acquired knowledge, their objectivity, etc.

The system of scientific knowledge about society

The whole set of sciences that study society is sometimes combined into one, which is called social science. This discipline, being complex, allows you to form a general idea of ​​society and the place of the individual in it. It is formed on the basis of knowledge about various: economics, politics, culture, psychology and others. In other words, social science is an integrated system of social sciences that forms an idea of ​​such a complex and diverse phenomenon as society, the roles and functions of a person in it.

Classification of social sciences

Based on which social sciences belong to any level of knowledge about society or give an idea of ​​almost all spheres of its life, scientists have divided them into several groups:

• the first includes those sciences that give general ideas about society itself, the laws of its development, the main components, etc. (sociology, philosophy);
• the second covers those disciplines that explore some one side of society (economics, political science, cultural studies, ethics, etc.);
• the third group includes the sciences that permeate all areas of the life of society (history, jurisprudence).

Sometimes social sciences are divided into two spheres: social and humanitarian. Both of them are closely interconnected, because one way or another they are related to society. The first characterizes the most general patterns of social processes, and the second refers to the subjective level, which examines a person with his values, motives, goals, intentions, etc.

Thus, it can be indicated that the social sciences study society in a general, broader aspect, as part of material world, as well as in a narrow one - at the level of the state, nation, family, associations or social groups.

The most famous social sciences

Considering that modern society is a rather complex and diverse phenomenon, it is impossible to study it within the framework of one discipline. This situation can be explained based on the fact that the number of relationships and connections in society today is huge. We all come across in our lives such areas as: economics, politics, law, culture, language, history, etc. All this diversity is a clear manifestation of how versatile modern society. That is why at least 10 social sciences can be cited, each of which characterizes one of the aspects of society: sociology, political science, history, economics, jurisprudence, pedagogy, cultural studies, psychology, geography, anthropology.

There is no doubt that the source of basic information about society is sociology. It is she who reveals the essence of this multifaceted object of study. In addition, today political science, which characterizes the political sphere, has gained sufficient fame.

Jurisprudence allows you to learn how to regulate relations in society with the help of rules of conduct, enshrined by the state in the form of legal norms. And psychology allows you to do this with the help of other mechanisms, studying the psychology of the crowd, group and person.

Thus, each of the 10 social sciences explores society from its own side with the help of its own research methods.

Scientific publications publishing social science research

One of the most famous is the journal Social Sciences and Modernity. Today it is one of the few publications that allows you to get acquainted with enough a wide range various directions modern science about society. There are articles on sociology and history, political science and philosophy, studies that raise cultural and psychological problems.

Home hallmark publications is an opportunity to place and get acquainted with interdisciplinary research, which is carried out at the junction of various scientific fields. Today, the globalizing world makes its own demands: a scientist must go beyond the narrow confines of his industry and take into account modern tendencies development of the world society as a single organism.