Social sciencies

otherwise social Sciences- study different aspects of human social life, but sometimes this term is used in the singular in the sense of general social science, and then it is synonymous with sociology (see). The sciences are closely related to the humanities, which study the spiritual side of human life; some see them only as a special branch of the humanities. The oldest of the S. sciences should be recognized politics(see) in the Aristotelian sense of the science of the state. With the development of specialization in the study of the state, even a special cycle of state (or political) sciences was formed, and this name includes general theories about the nature and structure of the state and the laws governing the phenomena that occur in its life, and historical investigations in the same area , and the doctrine of the norms of state life or the means of influencing this life to achieve certain practical goals. In the broad sense of the word, political sciences also include those legal and economic disciplines that in one way or another relate to the state: public and financial law, political economy, statistics. But in essence, law and national economy, as categories different from the category of the state, are studied in special cycles of social sciences, which have independent significance next to the political sciences. Start jurisprudence(see) in the sense of the scientific study of law was founded by Roman jurists, who pursued more practical goals, but at the same time created the first principles of the theoretical doctrine of law. Much later it became an independent science political Economy (see), studying the social relations of people, which owe their origin to their economic activities. Its close connection with the previous “politics” was also reflected in its name, which, however, among the Germans is replaced by the names of “national economy” or “science of national economy” (“Nationaloekonomie, Volkswirtschaftslehre”). Recently, the name “social economics” has begun to spread, which means either political economy in the old sense, or even a special science with a new formulation of economic issues. Thus, social sciences can be divided into political, legal, and economic according to the categories of state, law, and national economy, not counting general social science, that is, sociology, which studies society from all aspects of its existence. The close connection that actually exists between the state, law and the national economy, of course, does not allow isolating one circle of knowledge from another, and in particular there are individual disciplines that equally fall within the realm of at least two categories. Such are, for example, state law, as a political-legal discipline, financial law, as a discipline of both economic and political, etc. Social sciences cannot lay claim to such perfection as the natural sciences are more or less distinguished by. This depends: 1) on the greater complexity of social phenomena, compared with phenomena of a physical nature, 2) on the longer-term subordination of the scientific sciences to metaphysical speculations, 3) on the recent systematic development of their methodology, and 4) on the influence exerted on them by practical interests, party passions and national, religious, class, etc. traditions, prejudices and prejudices. The idea that the imperfection of social sciences depends on the complexity of the phenomena they study was first clearly expressed by Auguste Comte, who was the first to very definitely formulate the need to create a positive science of society (see Sociology), but only in the second half of the 19th century. his idea began to have any lasting influence on various branches of social science. Likewise, the question of the systematic development of the methodology of the social sciences was first raised only in the middle of the 19th century. in Mill's Logic, and only at the very end of the century did this development make any progress. In the Middle Ages, political thinking was subordinated, like all philosophical and scientific activity in general, to theology, but from the era of humanism (see) secularization began (see. ) scientific thought mainly in favor of rationalism (see), which built its theories of social phenomena through pure speculation, detached from connection with reality, while objectively reliable knowledge is given only by experience and observation. A rich supply of factual material for the social sciences can only be provided by sciences that deal with past and contemporary reality, such as history, ethnography, and statistics. In their development, individual scientific sciences were, however, not in the same relationship to history. The earliest and strongest connection was established with history in politics, which even with Aristotle had a purely historical basis; in the 18th century In Montesquieu, politics is also intertwined with history. That is why Comte considered both of these thinkers to be his predecessors in sociology. On the other hand, history in former times had almost exclusively political content. On the contrary, the science of law, starting with the Roman jurists, was in a particularly close alliance with speculative philosophy, and the historical attitude towards law was long hampered by the conviction that Roman law itself was “written reason” (ratio scripta). Only at the beginning of the 19th century. in the form of a reaction against the rationalistic “natural law” of the previous jurisprudence, the historical school of law arose (see). Political economy, as a special science, also arose in the era of rationalism, and therefore it was dominated by the conviction that scientific laws and practical principles found by deduction can be considered absolute. In the middle of the 19th century. political economy also formed its own historical school (see); The study of economic phenomena and scientific socialism of the second half of the 19th century placed the study of economic phenomena on the same historical basis. Further, sociology, which set itself the task of studying social evolution, drew the attention of lawyers and economists to the primitive forms of law and national economy, to which ethnography sheds light (on the importance that statistics has received for the economic sciences, see Statistics). Theoretical foundations began to be sought for introducing a historical point of view and a historical method into the social sciences. In the field of sociology, Comte first pointed them out, and in economics there was even a great polemic in the name of historicism against the abstract-deductive method of the “classical” school. An important moment in the history of the social sciences was, finally, the introduction into them of the comparative or comparative-historical (see) method, the general significance of which was already foreseen by Comte; Even special directions of comparative politics have been created (see. Freeman's famous work under this title), comparative law, etc. In general, in the middle of the 19th century. A great revolution took place in social sciences, mainly under the influence of positivism (see Comte) and new social ideas. The first introduced into the system of science the idea of ​​scientific regularity of social phenomena and the need to use the methods of positive science when studying them. Mill, who first spoke about the logic of the social sciences, was followed by a number of writers who explored this issue from different points of view (Bahn, Wundt, etc. in general works on logic and many purely sociological works). On the other hand, the first thought about the need for a positive science of society originated with Saint-Simon (q.v.), who was both the teacher of Auguste Comte, the founder of sociology, and one of the founders of socialism. Rationalistic theories in politics, jurisprudence and political economy of the 18th century. were distinguished by too individualistic character, in the 19th century the idea of ​​the public was put forward, taken, moreover, not in the exclusively political sense of the state, which this idea had in the 18th century. Society in the broad sense of the word, its division into classes, the struggle between the latter, this is the new theme posed to the social sciences under the influence of new social aspirations. This was also reflected in historical science, where a special direction of social history arose (see), different from political and cultural history (the same connotation belongs to the expressions S. politics, S. economics, etc.). As subjects of teaching, social sciences were hitherto concentrated in law faculties, but recently special schools of social sciences have begun to emerge: in Paris Collège libre des sciences sociales, in Hertford College of sociology, etc. See University, Faculty, Jurisprudence.

Literature. In addition to the histories of individual social sciences, see Baerenbach, “Die Social Wissenschaften” (1882); Bain, "Logic" (department of social sciences; exists in Russian translation); Bouglé, “Les sciences sociales en Allemagne” (Russian translation available); Caporali, "Filosofia delle scienze sociali" ("La nuova scienza", 1892); Fouillée, "La science sociale contemporaine" (there is a Russian translation), Gothein, "Gesellschaft und Gesellschaftswissenschaft" (in "Handwörterbuch der Staatswissenchaften"); Hauriou, "La science sociale traditionnelle" (1896); Krieken, "Ueber die Begriffe Gesellschaft, Gesellschaftsrecht u. Gesellschaftswissenschaft" (1882); Lewis, "A treatise on the methods of observation and reasoning in politics" (1852); Masaryk, "Versuch einer concreten Logik" (1887); Mayr, "Die Gesetzmässigkeit im Gesellschaftsleben" (1887; there is a Russian translation); S. Menger, “Untersuchungen über die Methode der Social Wissenschaften und der politischen Oekonomie insbesondere” (there is a Russian translation); J. S. Mill, “System of logic” (department on the logic of social sciences; Russian translation available); M. van der Rest, "Enseignement des sciences, sociales" (1889); Simmel, "Zur Methodik der Social wissenschaft" (Schmoller's "Jahrbuch"); Wundt, "Logik" (Methodenlehre); H. Kareev, "Introduction to the study of sociology" (1897); M. Kovalevsky, "Historical-comparative method in jurisprudence and methods of studying law" (1880); V. Levitsky, "Tasks and methods of the science of national economy" (1890); S. Muromtsev, "Definition and basic division of law" (1879); Novgorodtsev, "Historical school of lawyers" (1896); V. Sergeevich, “The task and method of state sciences” (1871).

N. Kareev.

Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron. - S.-Pb.: Brockhaus-Efron. 1890-1907 .

See what “Social Sciences” are in other dictionaries:

Sciences that study human society (history, political economy, statistics, etc.). Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Pavlenkov F., 1907 ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

SOCIAL SCIENCIES- a set of disciplines that study the structure, functioning and dynamics of social systems (social communities) of varying powers. Unlike the social sciences, the social sciences focus not simply on the general structure of society and... ... Philosophy of Science: Glossary of Basic Terms- This term has other meanings, see Comparison. Comparison in a number of social sciences (psychology, sociology, etc.) and in philosophy 1) scientific and philosophical method, aimed at the way of knowing the individual, the particular and the universal; plays... ... Wikipedia

This term has other meanings, see Frame. Frame is a concept used in the social and human sciences (such as sociology, psychology, communication, cybernetics, linguistics, etc.) meaning, in general, semantic ... Wikipedia

The division of sciences introduced by G. Rickert according to their subject and method. This division coincides with the opposition between nomothetic science and idiographic science proposed by V. Windelband and developed in detail by Rickert. In recent... ... Philosophical Encyclopedia

The term used with ser. 19th century and denoting approximately the same thing as the cultural sciences (see NATURAL SCIENCES AND CULTURAL SCIENCES) or idiographic science. The expression "N. o d." is a translation of the English term. philosophy of "moral science". TO… … Philosophical Encyclopedia

Social and political consequences of the Norman conquest of England and the further development of feudal relations in it (XI-XIII centuries)- Feudal relations in England developed at a somewhat slower pace than in France. In England by the middle of the 11th century. Basically, feudal orders already dominated, but the process of feudalization was far from over, and... ... The World History. Encyclopedia

1. Social sciences social sciences are a group of academic disciplines that study aspects of human existence in terms of his social activities. The specificity of this type of cognition lies, first of all, in the fact that the object here is the activity of the subjects of cognition themselves. That is, people themselves are both subjects of knowledge and real actors. In addition, the object of cognition also becomes the interaction between the object and the subject of cognition. In other words, in contrast to the natural sciences, technical and other sciences, in the very object of social cognition, its subject is initially present. Further, society and man, on the one hand, act as part of nature. On the other hand, these are the creations of both society itself and man himself, the materialized results of their activities. In society there are both social and individual forces, both material and ideal, objective and subjective factors; in it, both feelings, passions, and reason matter; both conscious and unconscious, rational and irrational aspects of human life. Within society itself, its various structures and elements strive to satisfy their own needs, interests and goals. This complexity of social life, its diversity and different quality determine the complexity and difficulty of social cognition and its specificity in relation to other types of cognition
Methods of social research. The importance of social knowledge.

2. Methods of social research At each level of sociological knowledge there is its own research methodology. At the empirical level, sociological research is carried out, which is a system of logically consistent methodological, methodological, organizational and technical procedures, subordinated to the single goal of obtaining accurate objective data about the social phenomenon being studied. Theoretical methods The structural-functional method occupies a significant place in sociology. The totality of the social experience of a social subject, crystallized in forms that are rational in a broad sense. In the context of our study, it is considered as a system forming the substance of culture, the self-organization of which underlies cultural self-organization is characterized by: the widest possible range and volume: it includes everything that is considered knowledge in society
Philosophical ideas about the social qualities of man.

3. A person still remains a terra incognita for himself. And this despite the fact that there are many ways to comprehend a person. Such, for example, is art, which comprehends a person in artistic images. But in this case we are interested in the world of knowledge about man, the knowledge-based way of comprehending him. This world is represented by complexes of scientific and philosophical disciplines. Science and philosophy often challenged each other’s heuristic capabilities and often claimed to be the only true representation of man. The difficulty of distinguishing between scientific and philosophical approaches is largely due to the complexity of man as an object of study. Therefore, the modern philosopher asserts: despite all the seemingly empirical evidence and clarity of what we call a person, in empirical reality it is impossible to find a sign that would fully determine the essence and boundaries of a given phenomenon and would serve as its sufficient definition. Even in ancient philosophy, man was considered as a microcosm, a small cosmos, the universe, which is identical to the macrocosm of the universe, the natural whole. In terms of modern philosophical language, it sounds like this: in the empirical world, a person cannot be given any boundaries, limited, or terminated. In this sense, he is a limitless being, going beyond any empirical finitude. In any person we are faced with some kind of empirical infinity. The set of ideas about man expressed by philosophers is traditionally called philosophical anthropology. The relationship between philosophical anthropology and the scientific understanding of man can be represented by the following typical situations.
Human. Points of view about the origin of man. Human Sciences.

4. There are three theories of the origin of man: religious, the theory of evolution of Darwin and Engels, and cosmic. Anthropogenesis is the science that studies the origins of man. The beginning of the process of human development dates back to the appearance of Ramapithecus 14-20 million years ago. Australopithecus appeared 5-8 million years ago. From them, about 2 million years ago, came the first representative of Homo - Homo habilis, or intelligent man. The species Homo erectus, a homo erectus, appears 1-1.3 million years ago. He had a brain volume in the range of 800-1200 cm3, had direct speech, mastered fire, and made hunting tools. Homo sapiens Homo sapiens 150-200 thousand years ago. He was at the stage of Cro-Magnon man 40-50 thousand years ago; he had already approached modern man in terms of external physical appearance, level of intelligence, interest in beauty, and the ability to experience a feeling of compassion for one’s neighbor.
Individual. Personality.

5. An individual is a single representative of the human race. Individuality is a holistic characteristic of a particular person through his character, intelligence, needs, abilities and interests. Personality is a human individual who is a subject of conscious activity, possessing a set of socially significant traits, properties and qualities that he realizes in public life. Not every person can be an individual. One becomes a person through the process of socialization. Socialization is a process that takes place throughout an individual’s life, through which people accumulate social experience of life in a particular society. Personality is formed in the process of upbringing and human activity, under the influence of a particular society and its culture. There are two approaches to personality in science. The first considers the individual as an active participant in free actions. People evaluate personality through comparison with established norms in society. The second direction considers personality through a set of functions or roles. A person manifests himself in a variety of circumstances, depending not only on individual traits, but also on social conditions.
Human activity: basic characteristics.

6. Activity is a form of interaction with the outside world inherent only to humans. Human activity is characterized by such features as consciousness, productivity, transformative and social character. These features distinguish humans from animals. Firstly, human activity is conscious. A person consciously puts forward the goals of his activity. Secondly, the activity is productive. It is aimed at getting results. Thirdly, activity is transformative in nature: in the course of activity, a person changes the world around him and himself - his abilities. Fourthly, human activity reveals its social character because In the process of activity, a person enters into various relationships with other people. Human activity is carried out to satisfy his needs. Need is a person’s experienced and perceived need for what is necessary to maintain his body and develop his personality. Natural needs are the needs of people for everything that they need for their existence. Social needs are human needs for everything that is a product of social life. Ideal needs are the needs of people for everything that is necessary for their spiritual development.
Structure of activity, motivation of activity.

7. Any human activity is determined by the goals that he sets for himself. A goal is something a person strives for. Certain means of activity help to achieve the desired result. In the course of activity, certain products of activity arise. These are material and spiritual benefits, forms of communication between people, abilities, skills and knowledge of the person himself. Motive is the motivating reason for an activity. Moreover, the same activity can be caused by different motives. Any activity appears before us as a chain of actions. A component or separate act of activity is called an action. Under the influence of strong feelings and other stimuli, a person is capable of acting without a sufficiently conscious goal. Such actions are called little conscious or impulsive. The conditioning of activity by objective social prerequisites indicates its specific historical nature.
Variety of activities and their characteristics.

8. There are different types of activities. Practical activities are aimed at transforming real objects of nature and society. Spiritual activity is associated with changing people's consciousness. When human activity is correlated with the course of history, with social progress, then a progressive or reactionary orientation of activity is distinguished, as well as creative or destructive. Depending on the compliance of the activity with existing general cultural values ​​and social norms, legal and illegal, moral and immoral activities are determined. In connection with social forms of bringing people together for the purpose of carrying out activities, collective, mass, and individual activities are distinguished. Depending on the presence or absence of novelty of goals, results of activity, methods of its implementation, a distinction is made between monotonous, template, monotonous activity, which is carried out strictly according to the rules, instructions, and innovative, inventive, creative activity. Depending on the public spheres in which activities take place, economic, political, and social activities are distinguished. Economic activity is characterized by production and consumption activities. Political activities are characterized by state, military and international activities. For the spiritual sphere of society's life - scientific, educational, leisure. There are external and internal activities. External activity manifests itself in the form of movements, muscle efforts, and actions with real objects. Internal occurs through mental actions.
Consciousness and activity.

9. Consciousness - the ability to reproduce reality in ideal images. Proponents of the natural scientific approach consider consciousness, a manifestation of brain functions, to be secondary in comparison with the bodily organization of a person. Supporters of religious-idealistic views consider consciousness to be primary, and the physical person as its derivative. Consciousness is formed by activity in order to at the same time influence this activity, determine and regulate it. Justifying the unity of activity and consciousness, domestic science has developed a doctrine of activity, which is leading for each age period of a person’s life.
Conscious activity is a person’s activity aimed at achieving set goals related to the satisfaction of his needs.
Man in educational and work activities.

10. The problem of learning motivation appears when a person realized the need for targeted training of the younger generation and began such training as a specially organized activity. This problem is one of the most important in modern psychology and teaching pedagogy. To determine the motivation for educational activity, it seems possible to us to shed light on the interaction of the individual and the situation as the basis for understanding behavior and activity. The main provisions of H. Heckhausen's theory of personal dispositions: 1. Human behavior is determined by a set of stable latent variable traits, dispositions, which are designated in psychology as personality and character traits, abilities, attitudes, value orientations, needs, motives. 2. The serial number of the subject regarding the severity of a specific personality trait remains the same in different situations. This reveals the supra-situational stability of a person’s behavior, determined by these dispositions. 3. Differences in people's behavior are determined by differences in the expression of personal traits. In the course of his activities, a person is constantly involved in extremely diverse relationships and spheres of social life. Even during one day of life, he can be part of a variety of social groups and, in accordance with this, fulfill more and more new social roles prescribed by one or another social group. The formation of social connections, the most mobile, changeable production teams at the level of small social groups and relatively stable macrostructure at the level of class, national and other relations, is the result of the historical development of society.
Types of professional activities. Choice of profession and professional self-determination
11. Each stage of the development of society, its socio-economic structure, and the achievements of scientific and technological progress is characterized by the emergence of new and the withering away of old types of labor activity. This process is largely determined and reflected in changes in the specific components of the activity and characteristics of the subject of labor, self-awareness, self-determination of youth, etc. and human resources, number, qualitative composition, etc., the content of labor tasks, type of workloads, tools, features of the conditions and organization of the labor process.
Formation of character, taking into account character traits in communication and professional activities.

12.Character developed and strengthened under the influence of life influences and upbringing, a certain style of human behavior. Character expresses a certain set of needs and interests of a person, aspirations and goals, feelings and will, manifested in the selectivity of his reality and his behavior in relationships and manners. Character traits: 1 moral education - characterizes a person in terms of his relationships, forms of behavior. 2 completeness - versatility of interests, desire and passion for the variety of human activities. 3 integrity - the internal unity of a person’s psychological make-up. 4 certainty - firmness and inflexibility of behavior that corresponds to the prevailing circumstances. 5 strength - the energy with which a person pursues the goal he has set for himself. 6 balance - favorable for activity and communication, the ratio of restraint and activity. For the development of character, the direction of a person’s activity and will play a big role. Direction is a unique, experienced by a person, selective attitude of activity.
Needs, abilities, interests of a person.

13.Need is a person’s experienced and perceived need for what is necessary to maintain his body and develop his personality. Needs are: 1Natural, innate, biological, physiological, organic, natural. These include human needs for food, air, water, housing, clothing, sleep, rest, etc. 2Social. Human needs for everything that is a product of social life in work, consciousness, creativity, social. activity, communication with other people, recognition, achievements. 3Ideal spiritual or cultural. This is all that is necessary for the spiritual development of people, the need for self-expression, the creation and development of cultural values, the need for a person to understand the world around him and his place in it, the meaning of his existence. Abilities are individual properties of a person, which are subjective conditions for the successful implementation of a certain type of activity. Abilities are not limited to the knowledge, skills and abilities an individual has. They are revealed in the speed, depth and strength of mastering the methods and techniques of certain activities and are internal mental regulators that determine the possibility of their acquisition. Human interests are emotional manifestations of human cognitive needs. Satisfying interest can lead to strengthening and development. Failure to satisfy interest can lead to depression. Interests can be direct, directly related to any need, and indirect, in which the need is traced implicitly. Interests can also be broad and narrow.
A narrow interest can be directed towards a very specific object. Sometimes interests are small. This means that people are mainly interested in satisfying natural needs: food, drink, sleep and other sensual pleasures.
Human socialization. Self-awareness, self-realization and social behavior.

14. Socialization is a process that takes place throughout an individual’s life, through which people accumulate social experience of life in a particular society. In social psychology, socialization is understood as a process of social learning that requires the approval of a group. There are two main stages of socialization. The first stage is characteristic of early childhood. At this stage, external conditions for regulating social behavior predominate. The second stage is characterized by the replacement of external sanctions with internal control. The expansion and deepening of an individual’s socialization occurs in three main areas: 1 in the field of activity it is carried out as an expansion of its types. 2 in the sphere of communication, the circle of human communication is enriched. 3 in the sphere of self-awareness, the formation of the image of one’s own Self as an active subject of activity is carried out. Self-awareness is an understanding of oneself as an individual capable of making independent decisions. One of the important signs is a person’s willingness to take responsibility for decisions made and actions taken. A personality can manifest itself in the process of self-realization. This is the process of most fully identifying and realizing one’s capabilities.
The purpose and meaning of human life.

15. An excellent characteristic of a person can be recognized as his desire for a philosophical understanding of the world and himself - the search for the meaning of life. Finding the meaning of life is a purely human activity. In the history of philosophy, two approaches to the problem of the meaning of human life can be distinguished. In one case, the meaning of life is associated with the moral principles of human existence on earth. In the other - with values ​​not associated with earthly life, which is fleeting and finite. All philosophers have different opinions about the meaning of life. Aristotle said that everyone strives for happiness. Renaissance philosophy sought the meaning of life in human existence itself. I. Kant and G. Hegel connected the meaning of human life with moral quests, self-development and self-knowledge of the human spirit. N. Trubnikov said that the meaning of life is revealed in the process of this life, although of course it is not useless. Man as a biological individual being is mortal. The essence of a person is expressed in creativity, in which he asserts himself and through which he ensures his social and longer existence.

The problem of cognition of the world, methods of cognitive activity
16. The problem of cognition arises from the real difficulties of cognition. In their approaches to this problem, scientists are divided into optimists, pessimists and skeptics. Pessimists deny the knowability of the world. Optimists argue that the world is fundamentally knowable. Skeptics, recognizing that knowledge of the world may express doubt about the reliability of the knowledge received. Agnosticism is a philosophical doctrine that denies the possibility of knowledge. Supporters of epistemological optimism, without rejecting the complexity of knowledge and the difficulty of identifying the essence of things, prove the inconsistency of agnosticism. Some note clarity and distinctness, others focus on the general significance of the results obtained. Still others point to the impossibility of human existence without knowledge. There is sensual and rational knowledge. Forms of sensory knowledge: 1 sensation - i.e. reflection of individual properties, individual characteristics of objects and processes; 2 perception - gives a holistic reflection of objects in the diversity of their properties; 3rd representation - a sensual image without direct impact. Representations may or may not be real. In the process of rational cognition they use: 1 concept - a thought in which the general and essential features of things are recorded; 2 judgment - a thought that affirms or denies something about the objects of knowledge; 3 inference - a logical conclusion connecting two or more judgments.

Related information.

The humanities and social sciences represent a complex of many disciplines, the subject of study of which is both society as a whole and man as its member. These include political science, philosophy, philology, psychology, economics, pedagogy, law, cultural studies, ethnology and other theoretical knowledge.

Specialists in these areas are trained and graduated by scientists, which can be either a separate educational institution or a division of any humanities university.

social sciences

First of all, they explore society. Society is considered as an entity that develops historically and represents associations of people that have developed as a result of joint actions and have their own system of relations. The presence of different groups in society allows us to see how interdependent individuals are on each other.

Social sciencies: research methods

Each of the disciplines listed above applies characteristics unique to it. Thus, political science, when studying society, operates with the category “power”. Culturology considers culture and the forms of its manifestation as an aspect of society that has value. Economics studies the life of society from the perspective of organizing the economy.

For this purpose, it uses categories such as market, money, demand, product, supply and others. Sociology views society as a constantly evolving system of relations that develop between social groups. History studies what has already happened. At the same time, trying to establish the order of events, their relationships, and causes, it is based on all kinds of documentary sources.

The formation of social sciences

In ancient times, social sciences were mainly included in philosophy, since it studied both man and the entire society at the same time. Only history and jurisprudence were partially separated into separate disciplines. The first social theory was developed by Aristotle and Plato. During the Middle Ages, social sciences were considered within the framework of theology as knowledge of the undifferentiated and embracing absolutely everything. Their development was influenced by such thinkers as Gregory Palamas, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and John of Damascus.

Starting from the New Age (since the 17th century), some social sciences (psychology, cultural studies, political science, sociology, economics) are completely separated from philosophy. In higher educational institutions, faculties and departments are opened in these subjects, specialized almanacs, magazines, etc. are published.

Natural and social sciences: differences and similarities

This problem has been solved ambiguously in history. Thus, Kant’s followers divided all sciences into two types: those studying nature and culture. Representatives of such a movement as the “philosophy of life” generally sharply contrasted history with nature. They believed that culture is the result of the spiritual activity of mankind, and it can only be understood by experiencing and understanding those eras and the motives of their behavior. In modern times, science and natural sciences are not only opposed, but also have points of contact. This is, for example, the use of mathematical research methods in philosophy, political science, history; application of knowledge from the field of biology, physics, astronomy in order to establish the exact date of events that occurred in the distant past.

Social sciences, their classification

Society is such a complex object that science alone cannot study it. Only by combining the efforts of many sciences can we fully and consistently describe and study the most complex formation that exists in this world, human society. The totality of all sciences that study society as a whole is called social studies. These include philosophy, history, sociology, economics, political science, psychology and social psychology, anthropology and cultural studies. These are fundamental sciences, consisting of many subdisciplines, sections, directions, and scientific schools.

Social science, having emerged later than many other sciences, incorporates their concepts and specific results, statistics, tabular data, graphs and conceptual diagrams, and theoretical categories.

The entire set of sciences related to social science is divided into two types - social And humanitarian.

If the social sciences are the sciences of human behavior, then the humanities are the sciences of the spirit. It can be said differently, the subject of social sciences is society, the subject of humanities is culture. The main subject of social sciences is study of human behavior.

Sociology, psychology, social psychology, economics, political science, as well as anthropology and ethnography (the science of peoples) belong to social sciences . They have a lot in common, they are closely related and form a kind of scientific union. Adjacent to it is a group of other related disciplines: philosophy, history, art history, cultural studies, literary studies. They are classified as humanitarian knowledge.

Since representatives of neighboring sciences constantly communicate and enrich each other with new knowledge, the boundaries between social philosophy, social psychology, economics, sociology and anthropology can be considered very conditional. At their intersection, interdisciplinary sciences are constantly emerging, for example, social anthropology appeared at the intersection of sociology and anthropology, and economic psychology appeared at the intersection of economics and psychology. In addition, there are such integrative disciplines as legal anthropology, sociology of law, economic sociology, cultural anthropology, psychological and economic anthropology, historical sociology.

Let's get acquainted more thoroughly with the specifics of the leading social sciences:

Economy- a science that studies the principles of organizing the economic activities of people, the relations of production, exchange, distribution and consumption that are formed in every society, formulates the grounds for the rational behavior of producers and consumers of goods. Economics also studies the behavior of large masses of people in a market situation. In small and large - in public and private life - people cannot take a step without affecting economic relations. When negotiating a job, buying goods on the market, counting our income and expenses, demanding payment of wages, and even going on a visit, we - directly or indirectly - take into account the principles of saving.

Sociology– a science that studies the relationships that arise between groups and communities of people, the nature of the structure of society, problems of social inequality and the principles of resolving social conflicts.

Political science– a science that studies the phenomenon of power, the specifics of social management, and the relationships that arise in the process of carrying out government activities.

Psychology- the science of the laws, mechanisms and facts of the mental life of humans and animals. The main theme of psychological thought in antiquity and the Middle Ages is the problem of the soul. Psychologists study stable and repetitive behavior in individual behavior. The focus is on problems of perception, memory, thinking, learning and development of the human personality. There are many branches of knowledge in modern psychology, including psychophysiology, zoopsychology and comparative psychology, social psychology, child psychology and educational psychology, developmental psychology, occupational psychology, creativity psychology, medical psychology, etc.

Anthropology - the science of the origin and evolution of man, the formation of human races, and the normal variations in the physical structure of man. She studies primitive tribes that have survived today from primitive times in the lost corners of the planet: their customs, traditions, culture, behavior patterns.

Social Psychology studies small group(family, group of friends, sports team). Social psychology is a frontier discipline. She was formed at the intersection of sociology and psychology, taking on tasks that her parents were unable to solve. It turned out that a large society does not directly influence the individual, but through an intermediary - small groups. This world of friends, acquaintances and relatives closest to a person plays an exceptional role in our lives. In general, we live in small, not large worlds - in a specific house, in a specific family, in a specific company, etc. The small world sometimes influences us even more than the big one. That is why science appeared, which took it closely and very seriously.

Story- one of the most important sciences in the system of social and humanitarian knowledge. The object of its study is man and his activities throughout the existence of human civilization. The word “history” is of Greek origin and means “research”, “search”. Some scholars believed that the object of studying history is the past. The famous French historian M. Blok categorically objected to this. “The very idea that the past as such can be an object of science is absurd.”

The emergence of historical science dates back to the times of ancient civilizations. The “father of history” is considered to be the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, who compiled a work dedicated to the Greco-Persian wars. However, this is hardly fair, since Herodotus used not so much historical data as legends, legends and myths. And his work cannot be considered completely reliable. There are much more reasons to consider Thucydides, Polybius, Arrian, Publius Cornelius Tacitus, and Ammianus Marcellinus to be considered the fathers of history. These ancient historians used documents, their own observations, and eyewitness accounts to describe events. All ancient peoples considered themselves historiographers and revered history as a teacher of life. Polybius wrote: “lessons drawn from history most surely lead to enlightenment and prepare us for engaging in public affairs; the story of the trials of other people is the most intelligible or the only teacher that teaches us to courageously endure the vicissitudes of fate.”

And although, over time, people began to doubt that history could teach subsequent generations not to repeat the mistakes of previous ones, the importance of studying history was not disputed. The most famous Russian historian V.O. Klyuchevsky wrote in his reflections on history: “History teaches nothing, but only punishes for ignorance of the lessons.”

Culturology I am primarily interested in the world of art - painting, architecture, sculpture, dance, forms of entertainment and mass spectacles, institutions of education and science. The subjects of cultural creativity are a) individuals, b) small groups, c) large groups. In this sense, cultural studies covers all types of associations of people, but only to the extent that it concerns the creation of cultural values.

Demography studies population - the entire multitude of people who make up human society. Demography is primarily interested in how they reproduce, how long they live, why and in what numbers they die, and where large masses of people move. She looks at man partly as a natural, partly as a social being. All living things are born, die and reproduce. These processes are influenced primarily by biological laws. For example, science has proven that a person cannot live more than 110-115 years. This is its biological resource. However, the vast majority of people live to be 60-70 years old. But this is today, and two hundred years ago the average life expectancy did not exceed 30-40 years. Even today, people in poor and underdeveloped countries live less than in rich and highly developed countries. In humans, life expectancy is determined both by biological and hereditary characteristics, and by social conditions (life, work, rest, nutrition).

3.7 . Social and humanitarian knowledge

Social cognition- this is knowledge of society. Understanding society is a very complex process for a number of reasons.

1. Society is the most complex of the objects of knowledge. In social life, all events and phenomena are so complex and diverse, so different from each other and so intricately intertwined that it is very difficult to detect certain patterns in it.

2. In social cognition, not only material (as in natural science), but also ideal, spiritual relationships are studied. These relationships are much more complex, diverse and contradictory than connections in nature.

3. In social cognition, society acts both as an object and as a subject of cognition: people create their own history, and they also know it.

When talking about the specifics of social cognition, extremes should be avoided. On the one hand, it is impossible to explain the reasons for Russia’s historical lag using Einstein’s theory of relativity. On the other hand, one cannot assert that all the methods by which nature is studied are unsuitable for social science.

The primary and elementary method of cognition is observation. But it differs from the observation that is used in natural science when observing the stars. In social science, cognition concerns animate objects endowed with consciousness. And if, for example, the stars, even after many years of observation of them, remain completely unperturbed in relation to the observer and his intentions, then in public life everything is different. As a rule, a reverse reaction is detected on the part of the object being studied, something that makes observation impossible from the very beginning, or interrupts it somewhere in the middle, or introduces interference into it that significantly distorts the results of the study. Therefore, non-participant observation in social science does not provide sufficiently reliable results. Another method is needed, which is called participant observation. It is carried out not from the outside, not from the outside in relation to the object being studied (social group), but from within it.

For all its significance and necessity, observation in social science demonstrates the same fundamental shortcomings as in other sciences. While observing, we cannot change the object in the direction that interests us, regulate the conditions and course of the process being studied, or reproduce it as many times as required to complete the observation. Significant shortcomings of observation are largely overcome in experiment.

The experiment is active and transformative. In an experiment we interfere with the natural course of events. According to V.A. Stoff, an experiment can be defined as a type of activity undertaken for the purpose of scientific knowledge, the discovery of objective laws and consisting of influencing the object (process) under study using special tools and devices. Thanks to the experiment, it is possible to: 1) isolate the object under study from the influence of side, insignificant phenomena that obscure its essence and study it in its “pure” form; 2) repeatedly reproduce the course of the process under strictly fixed, controllable and accountable conditions; 3) systematically change, vary, combine various conditions in order to obtain the desired result.

Social experiment has a number of significant features.

1. The social experiment is of a concrete historical nature. Experiments in the field of physics, chemistry, biology can be repeated in different eras, in different countries, because the laws of natural development do not depend on the form and type of production relations, or on national and historical characteristics. Social experiments aimed at transforming the economy, the national-state structure, the system of upbringing and education, etc., can give not only different, but also directly opposite results in different historical eras, in different countries.

2. The object of a social experiment has a much lesser degree of isolation from similar objects remaining outside the experiment and from all the influences of a given society as a whole. Here, such reliable isolating devices as vacuum pumps, protective screens, etc., used in the process of a physical experiment, are impossible. This means that a social experiment cannot be carried out with a sufficient degree of approximation to “pure conditions”.

3. A social experiment places increased demands on compliance with “safety precautions” during its implementation compared to natural science experiments, where even experiments carried out by trial and error are acceptable. A social experiment at any point in its course constantly has a direct impact on the well-being, well-being, physical and mental health of the people involved in the “experimental” group. Underestimation of any detail, any failure during the experiment can have a detrimental effect on people and no good intentions of its organizers can justify this.

4. A social experiment may not be conducted for the purpose of obtaining direct theoretical knowledge. Conducting experiments (experiments) on people is inhumane in the name of any theory. A social experiment is an ascertaining, confirming experiment.

One of the theoretical methods of cognition is historical method research, i.e., a method that reveals significant historical facts and stages of development, which ultimately makes it possible to create a theory of the object, revealing the logic and patterns of its development.

Another method is modeling. Modeling is understood as a method of scientific knowledge in which research is carried out not on the object of interest to us (the original), but on its substitute (analogue), similar to it in certain respects. As in other branches of scientific knowledge, modeling in social science is used when the subject itself is not available for direct study (say, does not yet exist at all, for example, in predictive studies), or this direct study requires enormous costs, or it is impossible due to ethical considerations.

In his goal-setting activities, from which history is formed, man has always strived to comprehend the future. Interest in the future has especially intensified in the modern era in connection with the formation of the information and computer society, in connection with those global problems that call into question the very existence of humanity. Foresight came out on top.

Scientific foresight represents such knowledge about the unknown, which is based on already known knowledge about the essence of the phenomena and processes that interest us and about the trends in their further development. Scientific foresight does not claim absolutely accurate and complete knowledge of the future, or its mandatory reliability: even carefully verified and balanced forecasts are justified only with a certain degree of reliability.

Cognition. Part II.

Content elements

Scientific knowledge.

Social and humanitarian knowledge.

Types of human knowledge.

Knowledge is information about the world around us, accumulated during the life of mankind. Forms of knowledge:

a) depending on the form of social consciousness - everyday (everyday), mythological, scientific, philosophical, religious;

b) depending on the form of consolidation - conceptual, symbolic, artistic and figurative;

c) depending on the degree of scientificity - scientific (generalized systematized knowledge, operating with laws, corresponding to the existing scientific picture of the world) and non-scientific (non-scientific knowledge - scattered, unsystematic knowledge that is not formalized and not described by laws and is in conflict with the existing scientific picture of the world ) Forms of non-scientific knowledge:

A) myths– tales of ancient peoples about the origin and essence of the world, about natural phenomena, about gods and legendary heroes;

b) life practice (experience)– forms practical information about the world around us, they are a by-product of everyday practice;

V) folk wisdom– achievements of practice, recorded in the form of descriptions (sayings, riddles, aphorisms);

G) common sense– people’s views on the surrounding reality and themselves that spontaneously develop under the influence of everyday experience (obvious, clear, unambiguous information);

d) parascience(pair - near-, during-, after-) - various forms of scientific activity aimed at studying paranormal phenomena (unusual ones, the authenticity of which has not been confirmed by modern science). It uses information that is not confirmed by experiment and does not fit into existing theories. Parascience is intolerant of traditional science, claims to be universal, and uses pseudoscientific terminology;

e) artistic knowledge– knowledge of the world with the help of artistic images (a generalized reflection of reality, clothed in the form of a specific, individual phenomenon). With the help of an image, the essence is revealed in a single, transitory

Scientific knowledge.

Scientific knowledge is the process of obtaining objective, true knowledge.

Distinctive features of scientific knowledge:

a) the objectivity of the principles and laws discovered by science, the correlation of scientific concepts with experience,

b) reproducibility of the obtained result under the same conditions,

c) the systematic nature of the provisions put forward, their validity, evidence,

d) openness of scientific theory, ideas to any rational criticism,

e) the use of special methods and methods of cognitive activity, a special language that clearly captures the meaning of concepts.

Two levels of scientific knowledge - empirical and theoretical. The main task of empirical knowledge is the description of phenomena and objects, and the main form of knowledge obtained is an empirical scientific fact. Empirical knowledge involves methods of observation and experiment. Observation is a purposeful study of individual objects and phenomena, during which knowledge is obtained about the external properties and characteristics of the object being studied. The result of observation is an empirical description. An experiment is a method of studying phenomena, which is carried out under strictly defined conditions (the latter can, if necessary, be recreated and controlled by the subject of knowledge). Experiments can be research (aimed at obtaining new knowledge), control (theoretical assumptions are tested) and mental (the given conditions are imaginary; the scientist operates not with real objects, but with their theoretical images). A thought experiment is a link between the empirical and theoretical levels of knowledge.

The theoretical level of knowledge is an explanation of the phenomena being studied, revealing their essence. Methods: creation of mental models (a model is something that can replace the subject being studied in a certain respect), putting forward a hypothesis (an assumption with the help of which one can explain empirical facts that do not fit into the framework of previous explanations), discovery of scientific laws (objective, universal, necessary and the essential connection of phenomena and objects, which is characterized by stability and repeatability), the formulation of scientific theories (a logically consistent description of the phenomena and processes of the surrounding world, which is expressed by a special system of concepts).

Social sciences, their classification.

Social (public) sciences are a system of sciences about society, about the forms and laws of its development. Philosophy is the science of the universal laws of development of nature, society and thinking (but it underlies all sciences and cannot be called only social). Sociology is the science of society as an integral system and of individual social institutions, processes, social groups and communities, relationships between the individual and society. Certain areas of social life are studied by economics, history (the development of society), political science, jurisprudence (law), cultural studies, religious studies, ethics (the science that studies morality), aesthetics (the science of the beautiful and the ugly).