Philosophy, Empiricism and Research Methods

Social Science and Philosophy

• Social science is a group of academic disciplines focusing on how individuals behave within society
• Social science attempts to explain how society works, from economic growth triggers to causes of unemployment, and what makes people happy
• Social science is a relatively new field of scientific study that rose to prominence in the 20th century
• Typical careers in social science include advertiser, economist, psychologist, teacher, manager, and social worker

Branches of Social Science

• Branches of social science include anthropology, economics, political science, sociology, and social psychology

Anthropology

• Anthropology is the study of the origins and development of human civilizations and cultures
• Anthropology began centuries ago, but gained prominence during the Age of Enlightenment due to a strong emphasis on expanding society and knowledge
• Understanding human behavior was deemed critical to achieving that aim

Economics

• Economics is a social science that looks at the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services
• Economics analyzes the choices that individuals, businesses, governments, and nations make to allocate resources
• Plato's view in "The Republic"— property, wealth, and the division of labor were shaped by his vision of a harmonious society where individuals worked for the common good
• Aristotle's "Politics" examined the role of exchange in the economy, emphasizing the importance of fairness and ethics in economic transactions
• Xenophon's "Oeconomicus” addresses the management of the household
• Adam Smith is considered the father of modern economics
• Adam Smith wrote "The Wealth of Nations" in 1776

Political science

• Political science is a social science subject that involves studying political institutions, government systems, and political behavior

Sociology

• Sociology entails the study of human society, relationships, and change
• Key elements of sociology include social institutions, social structure, social change, and social interaction

Social Psychology

• Social psychology uses scientific methods to understand how social influences impact human behavior
• Social Psychology explains how feelings, behavior, and thoughts are influenced by the actual, imagined or implied presence of other people

Philosophy

• Philosophy means "philo" (love) and "sophie" (wisdom)
• Philosophy seeks truth about the ultimate questions about reality, the good, and the meaning of life
• According to Plato, philosophy is the acquisition of knowledge
• According to Aristotle, philosophy is a science which discovers the real nature of supernatural elements
• According to Socrates, philosophy is a daily activity
• According to Levison, Philosophy is mental activity

Differences Between Philosophy and Social Science

• Social Science uses systematic observation, experimentation, and analysis to study human behavior, societies, and their institutions
• Socal science relies on data collection, statistical methods, and empirical research to draw conclusions
• Philosophy engages in critical and abstract thinking to explore fundamental questions about reality, knowledge, existence, ethics, and the nature of the mind
• Philosophical inquiry often involves conceptual analysis, logical reasoning, and argumentation
• Social Science includes the empirical study of human societies, behaviors, and institutions
• Examples of focus in social science are sociology, psychology, anthropology, economics, and political science
• Philosophy covers a wide range of topics, including metaphysics (the nature of reality), epistemology (the nature of knowledge), ethics (moral principles), logic (reasoning), aesthetics (the nature of beauty), and more
• Social Science employs a variety of research methods, including experiments, surveys, case studies, and statistical analyses
• Social scientists seek to develop theories and models that explain and predict social phenomena based on observable patterns
• Philosophy primarily relies on conceptual analysis, thought experiments, and logical reasoning
• Philosophers engage in critical reflection and argumentation to explore concepts, clarify ideas, and examine the foundations of knowledge and morality

Empiricism and Theory of Knowledge

• Empiricism is a philosophical and scientific concept that emphasizes the role of experience, evidence, and observation in the formation of knowledge.
• Empiricism asserts that knowledge is best gained through sensory experience
• Empiricism underpins the scientific method and has been applied across disciplines, including science, psychology, and economics
• Controlled experiments are when variables are manipulated within a lab environment to determine cause and effect relationship
• Observational studies are when researchers observe and record behaviors or phenomena to test their hypothesis
• Empirical thinkers believe knowledge is best gained through sensory experiences and observations
• Rationalists use deductive reasoning, which proceeds logically from a set of assumptions aimed at drawing new conclusions

Empiricism vs Rationalism

• Empiricism is the philosophical belief that all knowledge is derived from sensory experience
• The key proponents of empiricism were John Locke, George Berkeley, and David Hume
• Rationalism is a philosophical belief that reason and innate ideas are the primary sources of knowledge
• The key proponents of rationalism were René Descartes, Baruch Spinoza, and Gottfried Leibniz
• Empiricists believe that our senses are reliable and the primary means to acquire knowledge
• Empiricists generally reject the concept of innate ideas, asserting that the mind is a "tabula rasa" or blank slate at birth
• Rationalists believe that the senses can be deceiving and reason and logic should be used to gain knowledge
• Rationalists typically believe in innate ideas or principles that exist independently of sensory experience
• Empiricists use observation and experience as a method of gaining knowledge
• Rationalists use deductive reasoning and logical analysis as a method of gaining knowledge
• To empiricists, experience is central to acquiring knowledge
• To rationalists, experience is not necessary for knowledge, because some knowledge is innate or can be deduced via reason
• "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding" by John Locke is a notable work in Empiricism
• "Meditations on First Philosophy" by René Descartes is a notable work in Rationalism
• Empericism acknowledges the importance of empirical evidence and practical experimentation
• Rationalism emphasizes the role of logic and reason, which can be applied universally
• Empiricism may overlook the role of innate abilities, concepts, or knowledge
• Rationalism can overlook the importance and reliability of empirical evidence
• A major strength of empiricism is its reliance on actual evidence accessed via the senses which is called 'empirical' evidence
• Empiricism encourages critical thinking and skepticism, and promotes openness to new information as new evidence arises
• Empiricism assumes the senses are always reliable sources of information
• There are many variables that can affect the accuracy and objectivity of empirical data collection, such as observer bias, sampling errors, or environmental factors, which can lead to false conclusions
• Empiricism has a narrow focus on what can be experienced directly
• Empiricists dismiss intangible phenomena like emotions, values, or personal experience as unobservable which limits the scope of knowledge that they can acquire
• A major weakness associated with empiricism is its inability to make value judgments through observation alone
• To make moral judgments, it is essential to turn to other ways of thinking, such as philosophical concepts like normative ethics (e.g., value ethics, deontology, and consequentialism), or religious frameworks
• Empiricism has been a lynchpin for the rapid expansion of human knowledge and welfare since the rise of the scientific method as the gold standard in academic settings
• Despite its contributions to human wellbeing, one must be aware of its limitations, such as its inability to apply a moral framework

Sociological Imagination

• Sociological imagination involves visualizing yourself to be in another world to better understand the concept, which is vital in understanding society
• Charles W Mills described sociological imagination as the “quality of mind which allows one to grasp history and biography and the relations between the two within society.”
• The three components that make up the questions on sociological imagination:
  • Social Structure: the relationship of components in the social order and the meaning drawn out of its features
  • History: society's place in human history and the mechanics by which it is changing
  • Biography: the varieties of people prevailing in society at a certain period and the ways they are selected and formed Thinking involves four ways:
  • Factual Thinking: WHAT
  • Creative Thinking: IF
  • Rational Thinking: HOW
  • Evaluative Thinking: WHY

Sociological Perspective

• People can see the spectrum of social life and multi-level social interactions
• "Things are not what they seem” - Peter Berger
• The sociological perspective refers to the way a person looks at and understands the social world which entails:
  • Seeing the general in the particular
  • Seeing the strange in the familiar
  • Seeing personal choice in social context
  • Seeing social marginality
  • Seeing society in a global context
• Emile Durkheim argued that “Social phenomena do not derive from individual consciousness and hence, sociology is not a corollary of individual psychology... thus we must seek to explain social life in the nature of society itself"
• Durkheim rationalizes the need for sociological analysis and the proper treatment of social facts as real things
• Social facts are aspects of social life, external to the individual, that exert a coercive influence on people's thoughts, feelings, and actions
• Characteristics of Social Facts:
  • External to the individual
  • Constrain the individual
  • General throughout a given society
• To observe social facts, the first fundamental rule is to consider social facts as things
• One must seek separately the efficient cause which produces it and the function it fulfills

Rules of Sociological Method

• Durkheim states that a person must seek separately the efficient cause which produces a social fact and the function it fulfills:
  • The determining cause of a social fact should be sought among the social facts preceding it and not among the states of the individual consciousness
  • The function of a social fact ought always to be sought in its relation to some social end

Sociology and Anthropology

• According to behavioral scientist Fred N. Kerlinger, scientific research is a systematic, controlled, empirical, and critical investigation of a phenomenon

Sociological and Anthropological Research Methods

• Ethnographic Method - The participant researcher mainly conducts first-hand observation and immersion in human activities in a particular socio-cultural setting for the purpose of gaining an up-close and personal familiarity and understanding of the subjects being studied
• Case Study - This research involves extensive and in-depth documentation and analysis of a specific subject, in focus at a smaller scale, which is mainly conducted by interview of informants, ocular inspection of a location, and the comparison and analysis of available literature and databases
• Descriptive Method entails the systematic collection and analytic processing of statistical data by conducting a survey of a sample size of respondents in order to accurately describe a present existing socio-cultural condition or situation
• Historical Method entails the reconstruction of events by piecing together evidences of the past and examining reliable records in order to trace and explain the development or transformation of a socio-cultural situation, group, or community
• The researcher must be wary of the artificial or superficial response and behavior of their subjects being studied caused by a feeling of awkwardness, self-consciousness, and suspicious awareness brought about by the presence of the researcher
• The artificial environment or superficial research is called the Hawthorne Effect, a term coined in 1950 by Henry A. Landsberger who conducted an experimental method on employees working at the Hawthorne Works electrical factory in Illinois, USA

Culture

• Edward B. Tylor coined the term “culture,” defining it as a complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society
• Culture refers to the totality of what man has learned as a member of society

Three Layers of Culture

• Cultural Universals: Common or similar across cultures
• Mainstream Culture is the “cultural stem" of the society or the general prevailing culture which differentiates societies apart such as Filipino values, Filipino Traits, Filipino cuisine, national costume, etc
• Subculture: unique to respective particular groups of people in society that identify and distinguishes them from the rest such as gothic culture, gender culture, political culture, etc

Elements of Culture

• Knowledge- any information received and perceived to be true
• Beliefs- the perception of reality that is accepted
• Social Norms are established expectations of society as to how a person is supposed to act depending on the requirements of time, place, or situation
• Social norms are sources or bases of society's behavioral expectations:
  • Folkways are repetitive behaviors which become habitual and conventional part of living
  • Mores are the set of ethical standards and moral obligations as dictates of reason that distinguishes human acts such as right or wrong
  • Laws are sets of binding rules or measures that induce man to act or restrain him from acting
  • Values are anything held to be relatively worthy, important, desirable, or valuable
  • Technology- the practical application of knowledge in converting raw materials into finished products

System and Orientation Values

• A Value System is a set of standards or criteria by which people's choices, actions, and behavior are judged or evaluated according to their significant value
• Four criteria to test and identify what prevailing and dominating values are held by people in society, according to Robin M Williams:
  • Extensiveness: A certain value is recognized by a significantly large portion of the population
  • Duration: A certain value has been determined to be consistently and persistently held and practiced over a significantly long span of time
  • Intensity: A certain value is regarded and upheld with a high degree of demanding importance
  • Prestige of its Carrier: The person who exemplifies a certain value is worthy of admiration and emulation
• Values orientation refers to a person's mind setting towards concerns and preferences over certain combinations of outcomes to themselves and others
• Values drive decision-making and judgmental calls
• There are five types of social value orientations:
  • Altruistic - Individuals choose to select distributions of payoffs that favor their peers regardless of the payoff to themselves, thus maximizing the outcomes for other persons
  • Cooperative - Individuals select distributions of payoffs which maximizing outcomes that are beneficial for both of them
  • Individualistic - Individuals always select the distributions of payoffs for which they receive the greatest return and the best outcomes for them without concern towards other persons
  • Competitive - Individuals select distributions of payoffs for which the difference between their own returns and their peer's returns are maximized with advantageous outcomes against the disadvantage of others
  • Aggressive- Individuals always select the distribution of payoffs for which their peer receives the lowest return, thus minimizing the beneficial outcomes of other persons

Asian and Filipino Values

• Asians generally value communitarianism
• Dr Felipe Landa Jocano showed evidence that individualism is not part of the traditional Filipino culture, pointing out to the elements of pakikitungo, pakikisama, and pakikiramay
• Dr. Jocano identified the elements that constitute the Filipino value system:
  • Halaga is the evaluative aspect as to what Filipinos find most virtuous, which constitutes three dimensions: pagkatao, pakikipagkapwa-tao, pagkamakatao
  • Asal is the expression of the evaluative aspect of the Filipino value system which constitutes three standards: kapwa, damdamin, dangal
  • Diwa refers to the kalooban or inner self, which in essence is intertwined by reason and emotion
• Much of Filipino values are stirred with emotions and concerned of their affective end-results It could be why Filipinos tend to always put in their minds the concepts of hiya or shame, amorpropio or self-esteem, delicadeza or circumspection, palabra de honor or word of honor, and utangnaloob or debt of gratitude
• According to Dr. Felipe Jocano, even an unguarded/unintentional comment, stare, or reprimand can cause serious, often fatal conflicts
• Emotionalism is given higher premium than rationalism in handling situations or in coping with conditions
• Filipino rationality often involves deep emotionalism, particularly having to do with personal honor, dignity, and moral principles
• Filipino values orientation lean towards having a fatalistic outlook
• Filipino values include expressions like bahalana or come what may, itinadhanangDiyos or God has destined, igunuhitngtadhana or destiny has written, and napasubo or forced by controllable circumstances
• Filipino values also tend to have greater attachment on personalities and group affiliations such as regionalism or stronger sense of provincial affiliation
• Unswerving loyalty and commitment is given to persons with relational ties, such as kamag-anak, compadre, kasamahan, or kapatiran
• Filipino values support the palakasan system or alignment to those in power as shown by a loyalist, kapartido, and kaalyado
• Filipino values also have the characteristics of being ambivalent
• It can have both positive and negative judgment resulting from having a double standard mentality
• Philosophy textbook author Ramon B. Agapay suggests some criteria enumerated to serve as a practical guide in choosing values: Preference for long-term over temporary things of value Preference for things of value favored by many Preference for essential over optional things of value Preference for things of value that give greater satisfaction

Cyberculture

• The Internet is a system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard internet protocol
• Cyberculture is a set of shared attitudes, practices, and goals associated with the world of computers and the Internet
• Cyberculture has evolved its own norms and expectations on the appropriate use of the internet called netiquette
• Netiquette disapproves of spamming, flooding, shouting, and flaming

Characteristics of Culture

• Learnable - Culture is cumulatively learned; it is neither biologically inherited nor instinctive, but is acquired through training, instruction, observation, and imitation
• Transmittable - Culture influences other attitudes, habits, and behavior through language, social contacts, and interactions
• Universal- Culture is shared in common by members of a society, which prescribes expectations on everybody
• Diverse- this characteristic of culture gives rise to different cultural identities or ethnic groups

Functions of Culture

• Adaptation- Culture empowers humans to adapt and integrate to their environment by being creative and resourceful in coming up with ways and means of survival
• Behavioral - Culture establishes patterns of acceptable social behavior such as etiquette, protocols, good manners and right conduct, roles and duties, etc. as established by folkways, mores, and laws
• Communication - Culture conveys and facilitates meanings through verbal and non-verbal communication, written and non-written language, forms of expression, and symbolisms
• Material- Culture produces man-made things such as clothing, tools, instruments, machines, equipment, structures, etc. made possible by technological know-how
• Utilitarian- Culture contributes to overall human satisfaction as people develop ways to make life more enjoyable, comfortable, easier, and rewarding, such as with recreational activities, luxury and leisure, entertainment and arts, etc

Cultural Variations and Perception

• There are three viewpoints by which to perceive cultural variations:
  • Cultural Relativism - this views culture as relative, meaning culture only has meaning when taken into context
  • Ethnocentrism - the perception and assumption through comparison that one's own culture is far more advanced or superior to another one's
  • Xenocentrism - the perception that one's own culture is comparatively inferior to others