Under science it is customary to understand systematically organized knowledge based on facts obtained using empirical research methods based on the measurement of real phenomena. There is no consensus on the question of which disciplines belong to the social sciences. There are various classifications of these social sciences.
Depending on the connection with practice, sciences are divided into:
1) fundamental (find out the objective laws of the surrounding world);
2) applied (they solve the problems of applying these laws to solve practical problems in the production and social areas).
If we adhere to this classification, the boundaries of these groups of sciences are conditional and mobile.
The generally accepted classification is based on the subject of study (those connections and dependencies that each science directly studies). In accordance with this, the following groups of social sciences are distinguished.
Philosophy is the most ancient and fundamental science that establishes the most general patterns of development of nature and society. Philosophy performs a cognitive function in social science. Ethics - the theory of morality, its essence and impact on the development of society and people's lives. Morality and morality play a big role in motivating human behavior, his ideas about nobility, honesty, courage. Aesthetics- the doctrine of the development of art and artistic creativity, a way to embody the ideals of mankind in painting, music, architecture and other areas of cultureSo, we found out that there is no consensus on the question of which disciplines belong to the social sciences. However, to social sciences it is customary to attribute sociology, psychology, social psychology, economics, political science and anthropology. These sciences have much in common, they are closely related and form a kind of scientific union.
They are adjoined by a group of related sciences, which belong to humanitarian. This is philosophy, language, art history, literary criticism.
The social sciences operate quantitative(mathematical and statistical) methods, and humanitarian - quality(descriptive-evaluative).
Social sciencies otherwise social Sciences- explore different aspects public life person, but sometimes this term is used in the singular in the sense of general social science, and then it is synonymous with sociology (see). S. sciences are closely related to the humanities, which study the spiritual side of human life; some see in them only a special department of the humanities. The oldest of S. sciences must 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 means both general theories about the nature and structure of the state and about 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 in order to achieve certain practical goals. In the broad sense of the word, among political science 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 the national economy, as categories distinct from the category of the state, are studied by special cycles of the social sciences, which have independent significance along with the political sciences. Start jurisprudence(see) in the sense of the scientific study of law, it was laid by the Roman lawyers, who pursued more practical goals, but at the same time created the first beginnings of a 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 activity. Its close connection with the former "politics" was also reflected in its name, which, however, among the Germans is replaced by the names of "national economy" or "science of the national economy" ("Nationaloekonomie, Volkswirtschaftslehre"). Recently, the name "social economy" has also begun to spread, by which they mean either political economy in the old sense, or even a special science with a new formulation of economic questions. Thus, social sciences can be divided into political, legal, and economic categories according to the categories of state, law, and the national economy, not counting general social science, that is, sociology, which studies society from all aspects of its existence. The close relationship that exists in reality between the state, law and the national economy, of course, does not allow one to isolate one circle of knowledge from another, and in particular there are separate disciplines that equally fall into the field of at least two categories. These are, for example, public law, as a political-legal discipline, financial law, as a discipline both economic and political, etc. The social sciences cannot claim such perfection as the sciences of nature more or less differ. This depends: 1) on the greater complexity of social phenomena in comparison with phenomena of a physical nature, 2) on the longer-term subordination of the social 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 interests. passions and national, religious, class, etc. traditions, prejudices and prejudices. The idea that the imperfection of the social sciences depends on the complexity of the phenomena they study was first clearly expressed by Auguste Comte, who was the first to very clearly 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 exert any lasting influence on various branches of social science. Similarly, 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 move forward in any way. In the Middle Ages, political thinking was subordinated, like all philosophical and scientific activity, theology, but since the era of humanism (see), the secularization (see) of scientific thought began, 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 comes only from experience and observation. A rich supply of factual material for the social sciences can only be provided by sciences dealing with past and present reality, such as history, ethnography, and statistics. In their development, the individual sciences of science, however, were not in the same relation to history. The earliest and strongest connection with history was established in politics, which, even with Aristotle, had a purely historical basis; in the 18th century Montesquieu also intertwines politics 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 a political content. On the contrary, the science of law, beginning with the Roman jurists, was in a particularly close alliance with speculative philosophy, and the historical attitude to law was long hampered by the conviction that Roman law is "written reason" itself (ratio scripta). Only at the beginning of the XIX century. in the form of reaction against rationalistic "natural law" of former jurisprudence there was a historical school of the right (see). Political economy, as a special science, also originated 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 XIX 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 ground. 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 the national economy, on which ethnography sheds light (on the significance that statistics has received for the economic sciences, see Statistics). To introduce the historical point of view and the historical method into the social sciences, they also began to look for theoretical foundations. In the field of sociology, they were first pointed out by Comte, 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 S. sciences was, finally, the introduction into them of the comparative or comparative historical (see) method, general meaning which was foreseen by Comte; even special areas of comparative politics were created (see Freeman's famous work under this title), comparative law, etc. In general, in the middle of the 19th century. A major upheaval took place in the social sciences, mainly under the influence of positivism (see Comte) and new social ideas. He was the first to introduce into the system of science the ideas of the scientific regularity of social phenomena and the need to use the methods of positive science in their study. Mill, who first spoke about the logic of the social sciences, was followed by a number of writers who studied this issue from different points of view (Bahn, Wundt, and others in general writings 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 (see), who was 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. differed too much in the individualistic character, in the 19th century the idea of the public was put forward, moreover, not in the exclusively political sense of the state, which this idea had in the 18th century. Society in the broadest sense of the word, its division into classes, the struggle between the latter, such is the new theme posed by S. to the 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 of S. politics, S. economics, etc.). As subjects of teaching, the social sciences have hitherto been concentrated in law faculties, but recently special schools of social sciences have begun to emerge: in Paris, the Collège libre des sciences sociales, in Hertford, the College of Sociology, etc. See University, Faculty, Jurisprudence. Literature. In addition to histories of individual S. sciences, see Baerenbach, "Die Social Wissenschaften" (1882); Bain, "Logic" (department on social sciences; exists in Russian translation); Bougle, "Les sciences sociales en Allemagne" (there is a Russian translation); 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 the social sciences; there is a Russian translation); 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 and Comparative Method in jurisprudence and methods of studying law" (1880); V. Levitsky, "Problems and Methods of the Science of the 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. - St. Petersburg: Brockhaus-Efron.
1890-1907
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See what "Social Sciences" is 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 complex of disciplines that study the structure, functioning and dynamics of social systems (social communities) of various capacities. Unlike the social sciences, the social sciences focus on more than just 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) a scientific and philosophical method aimed at a way of knowing the individual, particular and 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 view semantic ... Wikipedia
The subdivision of sciences introduced by G. Rickert according to their subject and method. This subdivision coincides with the opposition of nomothetic science and idiographic science proposed by W. Windelband and elaborated by Rickert. In the last… … Philosophical Encyclopedia
The term used with ser. 19th century and denoting approximately the same as the sciences of culture (see SCIENCES ABOUT NATURE AND SCIENCES ABOUT CULTURE) or idiographic science. The expression "N. about 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)- A somewhat slower pace, compared with France, was the development of feudal relations in England. In England, by the middle of the 11th century. in the main, 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 being in the aspect 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 is also the interaction between the object and the subject of cognition. In other words, in contrast to the sciences of nature, technical and other sciences, in the very object of social cognition, its subject is also 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 objectified results of their activities. Both social and individual forces operate in society, 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 seek to satisfy their own needs, interests, and goals. This complexity of social life, its diversity and diversity of 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 Each level of sociological knowledge has its own research methodology. At the empirical level, sociological research is carried out, which is a system of logically consistent methodological, methodological and organizational-technical procedures, subordinated to a single goal to obtain accurate objective data about the social phenomenon under study. Theoretical Methods A significant place in sociology is occupied by the structural-functional method. The totality of the social experience of a social subject, crystallized in rational forms 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: a wide range and volume: it includes everything that is considered knowledge in society
Philosophical ideas about the social qualities of a person.
3. Man still remains 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 a person, the knowledge method of his comprehension. This world is represented by complexes of scientific and philosophical disciplines. Science and philosophy often challenged each other's heuristic possibilities and often claimed to be the only true reflection of a person. The complexity of distinguishing between scientific and philosophical approaches is largely due to the complexity of man as an object of study. Therefore, the modern philosopher argues: with 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 this phenomenon, would serve as its sufficient definition. Also 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, it is generally impossible for a person to indicate any border, limit, terminate it. In this sense, he is an infinite being that transcends any empirical finitude. In any person, we are faced with some kind of empirical infinity. The totality of ideas about a person expressed by philosophers is traditionally called philosophical anthropology. The relationship between philosophical anthropology and scientific comprehension of man can be represented by the following typical situations.
Man. Points of view on the origin of man. Human Sciences.
4. There are three theories of the origin of man: religious, the theory of evolution by Darwin and Engels, and cosmic. Anthropogenesis is the science that studies the origin of man. The beginning of the process of becoming a man refers to the appearance of Ramapithecus 14-20 million years ago. Australopithecus appeared 5-8 million years ago. From them, about 2 million years ago, the first representative of Homo, Homo habilis, or intelligent man, originated. The species Homo erectus, 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 already approached modern man according to the external physical appearance, according to the level of intelligence, according to the interest in the beautiful, 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 certain person through his character, intellect, needs, abilities and interests. Personality - a human individual who is the subject of conscious activity, possessing a set of socially significant features, properties and qualities that he implements in public life. Not every person can be a person. A person becomes in the process of socialization. Socialization is a process carried out throughout the life of an individual, with the help of which people accumulate social experience of life in a particular society. Personality - is formed in the process of education and human activity, under the influence of a particular society and its culture. In science, there are two approaches to personality. The first considers the individual as an active participant in free actions. People evaluate a person through comparison with the norms established in society. The second direction considers the 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: main characteristics.
6. Activity is a form of interaction inherent only to a person with the outside world. Human activity is characterized by such features as consciousness, productivity, transformative and social character. These features distinguish man from animals. First, human activity is conscious in nature. A person consciously puts forward the goals of his activity. Secondly, the activity is productive. It is about 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, in human activity, its social character is manifested. In the process of activity, a person enters into various relationships with other people. Human activity is carried out to satisfy his needs. A need is a need experienced and realized by a person 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 the needs of a person in 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 what 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. A motive is a motive for an activity. At the same time, the same activity can be caused by different motives. Any activity appears before us as a chain of actions. An integral part or a 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 conditionality of activity by objective social prerequisites testifies to its concrete historical character.
Variety of activities and their features.
8. Allocate different types of activities. Practical activity is aimed at the transformation of real objects of nature and society. Spiritual activity is associated with a change in 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 singled out, as well as creative or destructive. Depending on the compliance of the activity with existing general cultural values, social norms, legal and illegal, moral and immoral activities are determined. In connection with the social forms of association of people in order to carry out activities, collective, mass, and individual activities are distinguished. Depending on the presence or absence of novelty of goals, results of activities, methods of its implementation, monotonous, template, monotonous activities are distinguished, which are carried out strictly according to the rules, instructions and innovative, inventive, creative activities. Depending on the public spheres in which the activity takes place, there are economic, political, social activities. Economic activity is characterized by production and consumer activities. Political is characterized by state, military and international activities. For the spiritual sphere of society - scientific, educational, leisure. There are external and internal activities. External activity is manifested in the form of movements, muscle efforts, actions with real objects. Internal occurs by means of mental actions.
Consciousness and activity.
9. Consciousness - the ability to reproduce reality in ideal images. Supporters of the natural-scientific approach consider consciousness, a manifestation of the functions of the brain, secondary in comparison with the bodily organization of a person. Supporters of religious-idealistic views consider consciousness to be primary, and the corporeal person is its derivative. Consciousness is formed by activity, which would at the same time influence this activity, determine and regulate it. Substantiating 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 the implementation of the set goals related to the satisfaction of his needs.
Man in training and labor activity.
10. The problem of teaching motivation appears when a person has realized the need for targeted training of the younger generation and has begun such training as a specially organized activity. This problem is one of the most important in modern psychology and pedagogy of education. To determine motivation learning activities it seems possible for us to shed more light on the interaction between the individual and the situation as the basis for understanding behavior and activity. The main provisions of H. Heckhausen's theory of personality 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 in relation to the severity of a particular personality trait remains the same in different situations. This manifests the supra-situational stability of the personality's behavior, determined by these dispositions. 3. Differences in people's behavior are determined by differences in the severity of personal traits. Man in the process of his activity is constantly included in extremely diverse relationships and spheres of public life. Even during one day of life, he can be a member of the most diverse social groups and, in accordance with this, perform more and more new social roles prescribed by one or another social group. The formation of social ties, 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 activity. Choice of profession and professional self-determination
11. For each stage of the development of society, its socio-economic structure, the achievements of scientific and technological progress, the emergence of new and the withering away of old types of labor activity is characteristic. This process is largely determined and reflected in changes in specific components of the activity and characteristics of the subject of labor self-awareness, self-determination of young people, etc. and human resources, the number, quality composition, etc., the content of labor tasks, the type of work loads, tools of labor, features of the conditions and organization of the labor process.
Formation of character, taking into account the peculiarities of character in communication and professional activities.
12. The character that has developed and strengthened under the influence of life influences and upbringing, a certain style of attitude of human behavior. Character expresses a certain warehouse of needs and interests of a person, aspiration and goals, feelings and will, manifested in the selectivity of his reality and his behavior in relationships and manners of behavior. Character properties: 1 moral upbringing - characterizes a person from the side of his relationships, forms of behavior. 2 completeness - the versatility of interests, the desire and passion for the diversity of human activities. 3 integrity - the internal unity of the psychological make-up of a person. 4 certainty - firmness and inflexibility of behavior that corresponds to the prevailing circumstances. 5 strength - the energy with which a person pursues his goal. 6 balance - favorable for activity and communication, the ratio of restraint and activity. For the formation of character, the direction of human activity and will play an important role. Orientation is a kind of experience experienced by a person, a selective attitude of activity.
Needs, abilities, interests of a person.
13. Need is a need experienced and realized by a person for what is necessary to maintain his body and develop his personality. Needs are: 1 Natural innate, biological, physiological, organic, natural. These include human needs for food, air, water, shelter, clothing, sleep, rest, etc. 2Social. Human needs for everything that is a product of social life in labor activity, 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 know the world around him and his place in it, the meaning of his existence. Abilities are individual personality traits that are subjective conditions for the successful implementation of a certain type of activity. Abilities are not limited to the individual's knowledge, skills and abilities. They are found in the speed, depth and strength of mastering the methods and techniques of some activity and are internal mental regulators that determine the possibility of acquiring them. Human interests are emotional manifestations of human cognitive needs. Satisfaction of interest can lead to strengthening and development. Dissatisfaction of interest can lead to depression. Interests are direct, directly related to any need, and indirect, in which the need is traced implicitly. Interests are also broad and narrow.
Narrow interest can be directed to a very specific object. Sometimes interests are small. This means that people are mainly interested in the satisfaction of natural needs: in food, drink, sleep and other sensual pleasures.
Human socialization. Self-awareness, self-realization and social behavior.
14. Socialization is a process carried out throughout the life of an individual, with the help of which people accumulate social experience of life in a particular society. In social psychology, socialization is understood as a process of social learning, which requires the approval of the group. There are two main stages of socialization. The first stage is characteristic of early childhood. At this stage, external conditions for the regulation of social behavior predominate. The second stage is characterized by the fact that external sanctions are replaced by internal control. The expansion and deepening of the socialization of the individual occurs in three main areas: 1 in the field of activity 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-consciousness, 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 a person capable of making independent decisions. One of the important signs is the readiness of a person to bear responsibility for the decisions made and the actions taken. Personality can manifest itself in the process of self-realization. This is the process of the most complete identification and implementation of their capabilities.
Purpose and meaning of human life.
15. An excellent property 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. The search for the meaning of life is a purely human occupation. 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 institutions of man's earthly existence. In the other, with values that are not connected 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. The philosophy of the Renaissance sought the meaning of life in human existence itself. I. Kant and G. Hegel linked the meaning of human life with moral quest, 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, but not useless. Man as a biological individual being is mortal. The essence of man 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 knowability comes from the real difficulties of knowing. In approaches to this problem, scientists are divided into optimists, pessimists and skeptics. Pessimists deny the intelligibility of the world. Optimists argue that the world is fundamentally knowable. Skeptics, recognizing that the 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. Proponents of epistemological optimism, without rejecting the difficulty of knowing the difficulty of revealing the essence of things, prove the inconsistency of agnosticism. Some note clarity and distinctness, others emphasize the general significance of the results obtained. Still others on 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 features of objects and processes; 2 perception - gives a holistic reflection of objects in the variety of their properties; 3 representation - a sensual image without direct impact. Representations may or may not be real. In the process of rational cognition, they use: 1 concept - this is a thought in which the general and essential features of things are fixed; 2 judgment - a thought that affirms or denies something about the objects of knowledge; 3 conclusion - a logical conclusion that connects two or more judgments.
Society is such a complex object that science alone cannot study it. Only by combining the efforts of many sciences, it is possible to 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 science. 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, scientific schools.
Social science, having arisen later than many other sciences, incorporates their concepts and specific results, statistics, tabular data, graphs and conceptual schemes, theoretical categories.
The whole set of sciences related to social science is divided into two varieties - social and humanitarian.
If the social sciences are the sciences of human behavior, then the humanities are the sciences of the spirit. In other words, the subject of the social sciences is society, the subject of the humanities is culture. The main subject of the 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. A group of other related disciplines adjoins it: philosophy, history, art history, cultural studies, and literary criticism. They are referred to 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 arbitrary. At their intersection, interdisciplinary sciences constantly arise, for example, social anthropology appeared at the intersection of sociology and anthropology, and economic psychology 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, and 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 activity of people, the relations of production, exchange, distribution and consumption that are formed in every society, formulates the foundations for the rational behavior of the producer and consumer 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, calculating our income and expenses, demanding payment of wages, and even going to visit, we - directly or indirectly - take into account the principles of economy.
Sociology- a science that studies the relationships that arise between groups and communities of people, the nature of the structure of society, the 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, relations that arise in the process of implementing state-power activities.
Psychology- the science of the patterns, mechanism and facts of the mental life of humans and animals. The main theme of the psychological thought of antiquity and the Middle Ages is the problem of the soul. Psychologists study persistent and repetitive behavior in individuals. The focus is on the problems of perception, memory, thinking, learning and development of the human personality. There are many branches of knowledge in modern psychology, including psychophysiology, animal psychology and comparative psychology, social psychology, child psychology and educational psychology, age-related psychology, psychology of work, psychology of creativity, 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 constitution of man. She studies primitive tribes that have survived today from primitive times in the lost corners of the planet: their customs, traditions, culture, manners of behavior.
Social Psychology studies small group(family, group of friends, sports team). Social psychology is a borderline discipline. She was formed at the intersection of sociology and psychology, taking on those tasks that her parents were unable to solve. It turned out that a large society does not directly affect 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 life. We generally live in small, not in big worlds- in concrete house, in a particular family, in a particular firm, etc. The small world sometimes affects us even more than the big one. That is why science appeared, which came to grips with it very seriously.
Story- one of the most important sciences in the system of social and humanitarian knowledge. The object of its study is man, 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 study of history is the past. The well-known French historian M. Blok categorically objected to this. "The very idea that the past as such is capable of being the 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 devoted 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. Thucydides, Polybius, Arrian, Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Ammianus Marcellinus have much more reason 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: “The lessons learned from history most truly lead to enlightenment and prepare for engaging in public affairs, the story of the trials of other people is the most intelligible or only mentor that teaches us to courageously endure the vicissitudes of fate.”
And although, over time, people began to doubt that history could teach future 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 in his reflections on history wrote: “History does not teach anything, but only punishes for ignorance of the lessons.”
Culturology primarily interested in the world of art - painting, architecture, sculpture, dance, forms of entertainment and mass spectacles, educational institutions and science. The subjects of cultural creativity are a) individuals, b) small groups, c) large groups. In this sense, culturology covers all types of people's associations, but only to the extent that it concerns the creation of cultural values.
Demography studies the population - the whole set of people that make up human society. Demography is primarily interested in how they reproduce, how long they live, why and in what quantity they die, where large masses of people move. She looks at man partly as a natural, partly as a social being. All living beings 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. Such is its biological resource. However, the vast majority of people live up to 60-70 years. But this is today, and two hundred years ago, the average life expectancy did not exceed 30-40 years. In poor and underdeveloped countries, even today people live less than in rich and very developed ones. In humans, life expectancy is determined both by biological, hereditary characteristics, and by social conditions (life, work, rest, nutrition).
3.7 . Social and humanitarian knowledge
social cognition is the knowledge of society. Cognition of 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 relations are explored. These relations are much more complex, diverse and contradictory than the 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 cognize it.
Speaking about the specifics of social cognition, extremes should be avoided. On the one hand, it is impossible to explain the reasons for the historical backwardness of Russia with the help of Einstein's theory of relativity. On the other hand, one cannot assert that all those 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, knowledge concerns animate objects endowed with consciousness. And if, for example, the stars, even after observing them for many years, remain completely unperturbed in relation to the observer and his intentions, then in public life everything is different. As a rule, a back reaction is detected on the part of the object under study, something makes observation impossible from the very beginning, or interrupts it somewhere in the middle, or introduces into it such interference that significantly distorts the results of the study. Therefore, non-participant observation in social science gives insufficiently reliable results. Another method is needed, which is called included observation. It is carried out not from the outside, not from the outside in relation to the object under study (social group), but from within it.
For all its importance and necessity, observation in social science demonstrates the same fundamental shortcomings as in other sciences. Observing, we cannot change the object in the direction we are interested in, regulate the conditions and course of the process under study, reproduce it as many times as is required for the completion of the observation. Significant shortcomings of observation are largely overcome in experiment.
The experiment is active, transformative. In the 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 patterns and consisting in influencing the object (process) under study by means of special tools and devices. Thanks to the experiment, it is possible to: 1) isolate the object under study from the influence of secondary, insignificant and obscuring its essence phenomena and study it in a “pure” form; 2) repeatedly reproduce the course of the process in 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 has a concrete historical character. Experiments in the field of physics, chemistry, biology can be repeated in different epochs, in different countries, because the laws of the development of nature do not depend either on the form and type of production relations, or on national and historical characteristics. Social experiments aimed at transforming the economy, the national-state system, the system of upbringing and education, etc., can give in different historical epochs, in different countries, not only different, but also directly opposite results.
2. The object of a social experiment has a much lesser degree of isolation from similar objects remaining outside the experiment and all the influences of a given society as a whole. Here, such reliable insulating devices as vacuum pumps, protective screens, etc., used in the course of a physical experiment, are impossible. And this means that the social experiment cannot be carried out with a sufficient degree of approximation to "pure conditions".
3. A social experiment imposes increased requirements for observing “safety precautions” in the process of its implementation compared to natural science experiments, where even experiments performed 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 people involved in the "experimental" group. Underestimation of any detail, any failure in the course of 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 carried out in order to obtain directly theoretical knowledge. To put experiments (experiments) on people is inhumane in the name of any theory. A social experiment is a stating, confirming experiment.
One of the theoretical methods of cognition is historical method research, that is, a method that reveals significant historical facts and stages of development, which ultimately allows you to create a theory of the object, reveal the logic and patterns of its development.
Another method is modeling. Modeling is understood as such a method of scientific knowledge, in which the study is carried out not on the object of interest to us (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, it 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 reasons. considerations.
In his goal-setting activity, which makes history, man has always sought to comprehend the future. Interest in the future in the modern era has become especially aggravated in connection with the formation of the information and computer society, in connection with those global issues that call into question the very existence of humanity. foresight came out on top.
scientific foresight is 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 of their further development. Scientific foresight does not claim to be absolutely accurate and complete knowledge of the future, to its obligatory reliability: even carefully verified and balanced forecasts are justified only with a certain degree of certainty.
Social (social-humanitarian) sciences- a complex of scientific disciplines, the subject of study of which is society in all manifestations of its life and a person as a member of society. The social sciences include such theoretical forms of knowledge as philosophy, sociology, political science, history, philology, psychology, cultural studies, jurisprudence (jurisprudence), economics, art history, ethnography (ethnology), pedagogy, etc.
Subject and methods of social sciences
The most important subject of research in social science is society, which is considered as a historically developing integrity, a system of relations, forms of associations of people that have developed in the process of their joint activities. Through these forms, the comprehensive interdependence of individuals is represented.
Each of the above disciplines examines social life from different angles, from a certain theoretical and philosophical position, using its own specific research methods. So, for example, in the tool for studying society is the category "power", due to which it appears as an organized system of power relations. In sociology, society is viewed as a dynamic system of relations social groups different degrees of generality. Categories « social group”, “social relations”, “socialization” become a method of sociological analysis of social phenomena. In cultural studies, culture and its forms are considered as valuable aspect of society. Categories "truth", "beauty", "good", "benefit" are ways of studying specific cultural phenomena. , using categories such as "money", "commodity", "market", "demand", "supply" etc., explores the organized economic life of society. studies the past of society, relying on the surviving various sources about the past, in order to establish the sequence of events, their causes and relationships.
First explore the natural reality by means of a generalizing (generalizing) method, identifying Nature laws.
Second through the individualizing method, non-repeatable, unique historical events are studied. The task of the historical sciences is to understand the meaning of the social ( M. Weber) in various historical and cultural contexts.
AT "philosophy of life" (W. Dilthey) nature and history are separated from each other and contrasted as ontologically alien spheres, as different spheres being. Thus, not only the methods, but also the objects of knowledge in the natural and human sciences are different. Culture is a product of the spiritual activity of people of a certain era, and in order to understand it, it is necessary to experience it. the values of this era, the motives of people's behavior.
Understanding how direct, direct comprehension of historical events is opposed to inferential, indirect knowledge in the natural sciences.
Understanding sociology (M. Weber) interprets social action, trying to explain it. The result of such an interpretation are hypotheses, on the basis of which the explanation is built. History thus appears as a historical drama, the author of which is the historian. The depth of understanding of the historical era depends on the genius of the researcher. The subjectivity of the historian is not an obstacle to the knowledge of social life, but a tool and method for understanding history.
The separation of the sciences of nature and the sciences of culture was a reaction to the positivist and naturalistic understanding of the historical existence of man in society.
Naturalism considers society from the standpoint vulgar materialism, does not see fundamental differences between cause-and-effect relationships in nature and in society, explains social life by natural, natural causes, using natural scientific methods for their knowledge.
Human history appears as a "natural process", and the laws of history become a kind of laws of nature. So, for example, supporters geographical determinism(geographical school in sociology), the main factor of social change is the geographical environment, climate, landscape (Ch. Montesquieu , G. Bockl, L. I. Mechnikov) . Representatives social darwinism reduce social patterns to biological ones: they consider society as an organism (G. Spencer), and politics, economics and morality - as forms and methods of struggle for existence, a manifestation of natural selection (P. Kropotkin, L. Gumplovich).
naturalism and positivism (O. Comte , G. Spencer , D.-S. Mill) sought to abandon the speculative, scholastic reasoning characteristic of metaphysical studies of society, and create a "positive", demonstrative, generally valid social theory in the likeness of natural science, which had already basically reached the "positive" stage of development. However, on the basis of this kind of research, racist conclusions were made about the natural division of people into superior and inferior races. (J. Gobineau) and even about the direct relationship between class and anthropological parameters of individuals.
At present, we can talk not only about the opposition of the methods of the natural and human sciences, but also about their convergence. In the social sciences are actively used mathematical methods, which are feature natural sciences: in (especially in econometrics), in ( quantitative history, or cliometry), (political analysis), philology (). In solving the problems of specific social sciences, techniques and methods taken from the natural sciences are widely used. For example, to clarify the date historical events, especially remote in time, knowledge from the field of astronomy, physics, biology is used. There are also scientific disciplines that combine the methods of the social sciences and the natural sciences, for example, economic geography.
The rise of the social sciences
In antiquity, most of the social (social-humanitarian) sciences were included in philosophy as a form of integrating knowledge about man and society. To some extent, we can talk about separating into independent disciplines about jurisprudence ( Ancient Rome) and history (Herodotus, Thucydides). In the Middle Ages, the social sciences developed within the framework of theology as an undifferentiated comprehensive knowledge. In ancient and medieval philosophy, the concept of society was practically identified with the concept of the state.
Historically, the first most significant form of social theory is the teachings of Plato and Aristotle I. In the Middle Ages, thinkers who made a significant contribution to the development of social sciences include Augustine, John of Damascus, Thomas Aquinas , Gregory Palamu. An important contribution to the development of the social sciences was made by figures renaissance(XV-XVI centuries) and new time(XVII century): T. More ("Utopia"), T. Campanella"City of Sun", N. Machiavellian"Sovereign". In modern times, the final separation of the social sciences from philosophy takes place: economics (XVII century), sociology, political science and psychology (XIX century), cultural studies (XX century). University departments and faculties in the social sciences arose, specialized journals devoted to the study of social phenomena and processes began to appear, associations of scientists engaged in research in the field of social sciences were created.
The main directions of modern social thought
In social science as a set of social sciences in the XX century. two approaches have emerged: scientist-technocratic and humanistic (anti-scientist).
The main theme of modern social science is the fate of capitalist society, and the most important subject is post-industrial, “mass society” and the features of its formation.
This gives these studies a clear futurological tone and journalistic passion. Assessments of the state and historical perspective modern society can be diametrically opposed: from foresight global catastrophes to predicting a stable, prosperous future. worldview task such research is the search for a new common goal and ways to achieve it.
The most developed of modern social theories is concept of post-industrial society , the main principles of which are formulated in the works D. Bella(1965). The idea of a post-industrial society is quite popular in modern social science, and the term itself combines a number of studies, the authors of which seek to determine the leading trend in the development of modern society, considering the production process in various, including organizational, aspects.
In the history of mankind stand out three phase:
1. pre-industrial(agrarian form of society);
2. industrial(technological form of society);
3. post-industrial(social stage).
Production in a pre-industrial society uses raw materials rather than energy as the main resource, extracts products from natural materials, and does not produce them in the proper sense, intensively uses labor, not capital. The most important public institutions in the pre-industrial society are the church and the army, in the industrial society - the corporation and the firm, and in the post-industrial society - the university as a form of knowledge production. The social structure of post-industrial society loses its pronounced class character, property ceases to be its basis, the capitalist class is supplanted by the ruling class. elite, with a high level of knowledge and education.
Agrarian, industrial and post-industrial societies are not stages community development, but represent coexisting forms of organization of production and its main trends. The industrial phase begins in Europe in the 19th century. Post-industrial society does not displace other forms, but adds a new aspect related to the use of information, knowledge in public life. The formation of a post-industrial society is associated with the spread in the 70s. 20th century information technologies, which radically influenced production, and, consequently, the way of life itself. In the post-industrial (information) society, there is a transition from the production of goods to the production of services, a new class of technical specialists arises, who become consultants, experts.
The main source of production is information(in a pre-industrial society it is raw materials, in an industrial society it is energy). Science-intensive technologies are replaced by labor-intensive and capital-intensive ones. Based on this distinction, it is possible to single out the specific features of each society: pre-industrial society is based on interaction with nature, industrial society is based on the interaction of society with transformed nature, post-industrial society is based on interaction between people. Society, therefore, appears as a dynamic, progressively developing system, the main driving trends of which are in the sphere of production. In this regard, there is a certain closeness between post-industrial theory and Marxism, which is determined by the general ideological prerequisites of both concepts - educational worldview values.
Within the framework of the post-industrial paradigm, the crisis of modern capitalist society appears as a gap between a rationalistically oriented economy and a humanistically oriented culture. The way out of the crisis should be the transition from the domination of capitalist corporations to research organizations, from capitalism to the knowledge society.
In addition, many other economic and social shifts are planned: the transition from an economy of goods to an economy of services, an increase in the role of education, a change in the structure of employment and orientation of a person, the formation of a new motivation for activity, a radical change in the social structure, the development of the principles of democracy , the formation of new policy principles, the transition to a non-market welfare economy.
In the work of the famous modern American futurologist O. Toflera“Shock of the Future” notes that the acceleration of social and technological changes has a shock effect on the individual and society as a whole, making it difficult for a person to adapt to a changing world. The cause of the current crisis is the transition of society to the civilization of the "third wave". The first wave is an agrarian civilization, the second is an industrial one. Modern society can survive in existing conflicts and global tensions only under the condition of a transition to new values and new forms of sociality. The main thing is the revolution in thinking. Social changes are caused, first of all, by changes in technology, which determines the type of society and the type of culture, and this influence is carried out in waves. The third technological wave (associated with the growth of information technologies and a radical change in communication) significantly changes the way and style of life, the type of family, the nature of work, love, communication, forms of economy, politics, and consciousness.
The main characteristics of industrial technology, based on the old type of technology and division of labor, are centralization, gigantism and uniformity (mass character), accompanied by oppression, squalor, poverty and ecological catastrophes. Overcoming the vices of industrialism is possible in the future, post-industrial society, the main principles of which will be integrity and individualization.
Such concepts as “employment”, “job”, “unemployment” are being rethought, non-profit organizations in the field of humanitarian development are gaining ground, there is a rejection of the dictates of the market, of narrow utilitarian values that led to humanitarian and environmental disasters.
Thus, science, which has become the basis of production, is entrusted with the mission of transforming society, humanizing social relations.
The concept of a post-industrial society has been criticized from various points of view, and the main reproach was that this concept is nothing more than apology for capitalism.
An alternative route is suggested in personalistic concepts of society , in which modern technologies (“machinization”, “computerization”, “robotization”) are evaluated as a means of deepening self-alienation of man from of its essence. Thus, anti-scientism and anti-technism E. Fromm allows him to see the deep contradictions of the post-industrial society that threaten the self-realization of the individual. Consumer values of modern society are the cause of depersonalization and dehumanization of social relations.
The basis of social transformations should be not a technological, but a personalist revolution, a revolution in human relations, the essence of which will be a radical value reorientation.
The value orientation towards possession (“to have”) must be replaced by a worldview orientation towards being (“to be”). The true vocation of a person and his highest value is love. . Only in love is the attitude to being realized, the structure of a person's character changes, and the problem of human existence finds a solution. In love, a person's respect for life increases, the feeling of attachment to the world, fusion with being is sharply manifested, the alienation of a person from nature, society, another person, from oneself is overcome. Thus, the transition from egoism to altruism, from authoritarianism to genuine humanism in human relations is carried out, and personal orientation towards being appears as the highest human value. The project of a new civilization is being built on the basis of criticism of modern capitalist society.
The purpose and task of personal existence is the construction personalistic (communal) civilization, a society where customs and lifestyle, social structures and institutions would correspond to the requirements of personal communication.
It should embody the principles of freedom and creativity, consent (while maintaining the distinction) and responsibility . The economic basis of such a society is the gift economy. The personalistic social utopia opposes the concepts of "affluent society", "consumer society", "legal society", which are based on various types of violence and coercion.
Recommended reading
1. Adorno T. Towards the logic of the social sciences
2. Popper K.R. The logic of the social sciences
3. Schutz A. Methodology of social sciences
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