Study Guide: Discipline and Ideas in Social Sciences PDF

Study Guide Discipline and Ideas in Social Sciences Defining Social Science as the Study of Society There is so much happening in the world right now. Every day, we hear about news of recent events people are experiencing in various parts...

Study Guide Discipline and Ideas in Social Sciences Defining Social Science as the Study of Society There is so much happening in the world right now. Every day, we hear about news of recent events people are experiencing in various parts of the world. For example, from news programs about the COVID-19 pandemic to the memes on social media of people’s everyday life in the new normal, we can tell that these experiences are both personal and social. We experience these events regardless of class, age, gender, and social status. In all of these instances, social sciences are tools that can be used to have a better understanding of the world we live in. In this lesson, we will talk about what the social sciences are and how they are relevant to our day-to-day living. Alongside this, we will talk about the various disciplines within the social sciences and how it is a unique branch of knowledge that can be useful to students. The Social Science The social sciences are disciplines that deal with the affairs of people—both as individuals and as a society. There are different periods of development of the social sciences: The social sciences began as early as Ancient Greece where philosophy was distinct from science. The Middle Ages suppressed the growing interest of people in understanding social events and its impact on people. The Scientific Revolution became a fresh start for social sciences to prosper. The Age of Enlightenment provided a venue for social scientists to introduce different ideas and theories. Industrialization and capitalism in the 19th century propelled numerous social thinkers to examine society. Social science became an integral part of academe in the 20th century. The social sciences in the 21st century saw a proliferation of new fields of study and the convergence of social science disciplines. The humanities are a branch of knowledge that seeks to understand human reactions to events and the meanings humans impose on experiences. The natural sciences are a branch of knowledge that aims to predict and explain all natural phenomena. Society and Science Society- group of people who occupy a particular territory and speak common language Science- a body of knowledge organized in a logical manner The history of the social sciences begun in the roots of ancient philosophy. In ancient history, there was no difference between Mathematics and the study of history, poetry or politics, only with the development of mathematical proof did there gradually arise a perceived difference between “scientific” disciplines and others such as the “humanities” or “liberal arts.” The Age of Enlightenment saw a revolution within natural philosophy, changing the basic framework by which individuals understood what was “scientific”. In some quarters, the accelerating trend of mathematical studies presumed a reality independent of the observer and worked by its own rules. Social sciences came forth from the moral philosophy of the time and were influenced by the Age of Revolution, such as the Industrial Revolution and the French Revolution. The Social Sciences developed from the sciences (experimental and applied), or the systematic knowledge - bases or prescriptive practices, relating to the social improvement of a group of interacting entities. Defining Human Knowledge “In our contemporary times, the human knowledge has so many points of view to use in order to see things” Classification of Human Knowledge Social Science Humanities Natural Science Social Science study of social phenomena relating to human groups and their socio-physical environment Disciplines under Social Science anthropology economics political science psychology sociology history linguistic geography demography Natural Sciences attempts to understand nature’s phenomenon by relying greatly on measurable experiments Discipline under Natural Science Chemistry Biology Physics Earth science Humanities aim to produce wisdom by understanding social realities Disciplines under Humanities Music Literature Philosophy Creative writing The Humanities and the Natural Sciences In the previous sections, we discussed the definition of social sciences and how they developed through time. In this section, let us look at the other two major branches of knowledge—the humanities and the natural sciences. The humanities are a branch of knowledge that seeks to understand human reactions to events and the meanings humans impose on experience as a function of culture, historical era, and life history. The humanities are a body of disciplines that covers both memory and imagination. History plays a central role in the humanities, and its main sources of knowledge are written texts and human behavior. The ideas that surround humanities consist of human behavior and the events that influence them, with a great emphasis on the setting of an event. Examples of disciplines under the humanities are literature, creative writing, and language studies. Natural sciences help us understand humans and other things. According to Jerome Kagan, the natural sciences are a school of thought that aims “to predict and explain all natural phenomena.” Generally, the natural sciences deal with how measurable occurrences are interrelated and transformed objectively. Historical events do not influence the natural sciences as much as the social sciences and the humanities. Disciplines under the natural sciences use mathematical concepts to understand natural phenomena in biology, physics, and chemistry. Compared to social sciences where ideas come from behaviors and events that are not always set in a controlled environment, the ideas related to natural sciences are usually observations from controlled experiments. Other than biology, physics, and chemistry, mathematics is also a discipline under the natural sciences.