Social Sciences
Philosophy. Philosophy studies society from the point of view of its essence: structure, ideological foundations, correlation of spiritual and material factors in it. Since it is society that generates, develops and transmits meanings, the philosophy that explores meanings pays central attention to society and its problems. Any philosophical research necessarily touches on the topic of society, since human thought always unfolds in a social context that predetermines its structure.
Story. History examines the progressive development of societies, giving a description of the phases of their development, structure, structure, features and characteristics. Different schools of historical knowledge emphasize different aspects of history. The focus of the classic historical school religion, culture, worldview, social and political structure society, a description of the periods of its development and the most important events and actors in social history.
Anthropology. Anthropology - literally, "the science of man" - as a rule, explores archaic societies in which it seeks to find the key to understanding more advanced cultures. According to evolutionary theory, history is a single linear and unidirectional stream of development of society, and so on. "primitive peoples" or "savages" live to this day in the same social conditions that all mankind in ancient times. Therefore, by studying "primitive societies", one can obtain "reliable" information about the initial stages of the formation of societies that have passed in their development and other, later and "developed" stages.
Sociology. Sociology is a discipline whose main object is society itself, studied as a holistic phenomenon.
Political science. Political science studies society in its political dimension, exploring the development and change of power systems and institutions of society, the transformation of the political system of states, the change of political ideologies.
Culturology. Cultural studies considers society as a cultural phenomenon. In this perspective, social content manifests itself through the culture generated and developed by society. Society in cultural studies is the subject of culture and at the same time the field in which cultural creativity unfolds and in which cultural phenomena. Culture, understood in a broad sense, embraces the totality of social values that create a collective portrait of the identity of each particular society.
Jurisprudence. Jurisprudence mainly considers social relations in the legal aspect, which they acquire, being fixed in legislative acts. Legal systems and institutions reflect prevailing trends community development, combine the worldview, political, historical, cultural and value orientations of society.
Economy. Economics studies economic structure various societies, explores the impact of economic activity on social institutions, structures and relationships. The Marxist method of political economy makes economic analysis the main tool in the study of society, reducing social studies to elucidate their economic background.
Social science. Social science summarizes the approaches of all social disciplines. The discipline "Social Science" contains elements of all the above scientific disciplines that help to understand and correctly interpret the main social meanings, processes and institutions.
Where to go to study? Become social educator or choose humanitarian profession? But how to decide if the possibilities are huge, but it is quite difficult to understand what is what? Questions, questions, questions... And they concern many young people, and not only them. We will try to answer them and give the main indicators of what humanitarian sciences different from social ones.
Definition of Humanities and Social Sciences
Humanities - if you describe them plain language, then they study a person from the point of view of his spiritual, cultural, moral, social and mental sphere. There are also certain intersections with the social sciences, while at the same time being opposed to the exact or natural. If specificity and accuracy are necessary in mathematics, physics or chemistry, then in literature, psychology, ethics, etc. there are clear definitions, but at the same time the subject is given in all possible versatility and interpretation. So that each person can find something of their own in this. Among the humanities are: literature, law, history, pedagogy, aesthetics and many others.
Social sciences - there are certain similarities and intersections with such subjects as history, pedagogy, psychology, but the subject of study is presented from a slightly different position. In this group of academic disciplines, it is important to study aspects of a person's being in projection on his social activities. That is, not just in such and such a year such and such events occurred, but how exactly what happened affected a person’s life, and a person influenced events. What happened in the worldview, what were the shifts, conclusions and subsequent actions.
Social science is a subjective understanding of the issue for each person, despite the existence of clear definitions. And like the humanities cycle, they are very different from the exact disciplines with their specificity and objectivity.
Comparison between humanities and social sciences
First of all, it is worth noting the undoubted similarity of the social and humanitarian. One can even say that the social sciences are a kind of subsection of the humanities with their own specific features.
The social sciences are focused on society and specific people. The existence of a person and how it is connected with society is studied. In the same time humanitarian cycle involves the study of disciplines not necessarily related to specific people in terms of public activity. Here it is more important to consider the issue in such a way that each person can find something of his own.
Sociology is not only a theory, but also a practice - various studies, surveys, testing personal qualities person. Humanitarian subjects in more degree theoretical, and where practice is required, there is no clear orientation to society, and abstract concepts are often considered.
TheDifference.ru determined that the difference between the humanities and the social sciences is as follows:
The social sciences are oriented towards man in terms of his social activities, and the humanities often pursue abstract goals and consider abstract concepts.
In the social sciences, there are practical tools that are focused on the study of society and the individual, while in the humanities this is often not required.
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 are theoretical forms knowledge, such 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, applying its own specific methods research. 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 seen as dynamic system relations social groups different degrees of generality. Categories « social group», « social relations"," socialization " become a method of sociological analysis 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 opposed as ontologically alien spheres, as different areas 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 natural sciences Oh.
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. Depth of understanding historical era depends on the genius of the researcher. The subjectivity of the historian is not an obstacle to knowledge public 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, applying natural scientific methods for their knowledge.
Human history appears as 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 the metaphysical studies of society, and create a "positive", demonstrative, universally valid social theory in the likeness of natural science, which has already basically reached the "positive" stage of development. However, on the basis of this kind of research, racist conclusions were drawn about the natural division of people into higher 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 fate capitalist society, a the most important subject- post-industrial, "mass society" and 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 purpose and ways to achieve it.
The most developed of modern social theories is concept 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 whole line research, 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, possessing high level knowledge and education.
Agrarian, industrial and post-industrial societies are not stages of social development, but are 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 thus appears as a dynamic, progressive 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 economy. 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 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. Cause modern 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 tension only under the condition of 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.
Concepts such as “employment”, “ workplace”, “unemployment”, non-profit organizations in the field of human development, 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 toward 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, merging 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, and personal orientation to 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, societies where the customs and way of life, public 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 personalist social utopia opposes the concepts of "affluent society", "consumer society", " legal society", the basis of which are different kinds 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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Public (social) sciences- sciences about society (society); a major classification group corresponding to:
b) in the context of the utilitarian tasks of managing and planning the educational process, the organizational structure of educational institutions, categorization and rubrication of areas of science for applied needs (for example, bibliography, see UDC) - a certain set disciplines, compiled on the basis of the object (subject) of study: attitude towards society, its social groups and individuals.
Basic social sciences: jurisprudence, economics, psychology, philology, linguistics, rhetoric, sociology, history, political science, pedagogy, cultural studies, geography, anthropology.
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Attribution to the social sciences may vary depending on the difference between tasks (fundamental, utilitarian-applied) and, in part, objects (areas covered by the knowledge of mankind in the course of the general civilizational process, on the one hand, and discipline in the educational and academic understanding, on the other) .
Methodology and principles underlying this or that utilitarian classification, may differ for reasons: state-specific, religious-cult, historical (opportunistic), subjective-authorial, etc. At the same time, regardless of the wording presupposed for such lists of sciences, when comparing them one should bear in mind the inevitable influence of utilitarian and / or highly specific tasks of the "customer" and / or "consumer" of a particular classification.
Remaining correct in the context of the conditions of its appearance and the tasks facing it, none of the variants of the utilitarian classification can claim absolute objectivity. Pairwise comparison of options can be useful, for example, in terms of improving a particular national-state classification system. However, beyond this goal-setting, disputes over “which classification is more correct” are most often unscientific and scholastic. Neither can any attempt to oppose any of the utilitarian classifications to the fundamental epistemological one: the latter is formulated on a qualitatively different philosophical level, which implies an abstraction not only from the national-cultural, but also from, in in a certain sense, historical specifics (simultaneously covering the entire history of knowledge, from the undivided philosophy of antiquity to the deeply differentiated system of modern sciences).
The place of philosophy in the system of scientific knowledge
Most a prime example collisions of fundamental and utilitarian approaches - determination of the place of philosophy in the system of scientific knowledge.
As can be seen from the list below, utilitarian classification philosophy by subject placed in the category of social sciences along with with other social sciences. However, when solving the issue of classification of sciences in its fundamental The science of science distinguishes between two principles: objective(when the connection of sciences is derived from the connection of the objects of study themselves), and subjective when the classification of sciences is based on the features of the subject. At the same time, methodologically, the very principles of classification are distinguished according to how the connection between the sciences is understood (as external- when the sciences are only placed next to each other in a certain order, or as internal, organic - when they are necessarily derived and developed from one another).
The question of the relationship between philosophy and particular sciences is a kind of core of the whole history of the classification of sciences. Three main stages are distinguished in this history, corresponding to: 1) the undivided philosophical science of antiquity (and partly of the Middle Ages); 2) differentiation of sciences in the XV-XVIII centuries. (analytical division of knowledge into separate branches); 3) reintegration (synthetic reconstruction, linking the sciences into a single system of knowledge), which has been observed since the 19th century. According to these stages, the search for the very principles of the classification of science is also being carried out.
Taking, as an example, the so-called. an encyclopedic series compiled by Saint-Simon and developed by Comte (here the sciences are classified according to the transition from simpler and more general phenomena to more complex and particular ones, and the mechanics of earthly bodies is included in mathematics, psychology is included in physiology, and sociology Comte is one of the creators of this science - takes away special place):
we see that philosophy, on the one hand, as if absorbed by sociology, but on the other hand, it is present in mathematics in the form logic. Later, as the reintegration (and the realization of its necessity came in the 20th century due to the emergence of many sciences that are “at the junction” of previously differentiated categories) of scientific knowledge, the coil closed dialectically, and science of science came to the need to single out philosophy - not so much as “historically the first”, how much as a backbone, into a separate category.
Soviet science of science adhered to this principle as well. The table below ( source: TSB, article "Science") is one of options linear forms of representation of the hierarchy of sciences (it corresponds to a complex two-dimensional scheme, where many connecting lines are drawn that are not reflected here, demonstrating the relationship between sciences).
Philosophical Sciences Dialectics Logics Mathematical Sciences mathematical logic and practical mathematics, including cybernetics Mathematics Natural and technical sciences Astronomy and astronautics Astrophysics Physics and technical physics Chemical physics Physical chemistry Chemistry and chemical-technological sciences with metallurgy Geochemistry Geophysics Geology and mining Physiography Biology and s.-x. Sciences human physiology and medical sciences Anthropology Social sciencies Story Archeology Ethnography public geography Socio-economic statistics Base and superstructure sciences: political Economy, sciences of state and law, art history and art criticism, etc. Linguistics Psychology and pedagogical science The conflict lies in the fact that, recognizing philosophy as a special place in the entire system of scientific knowledge within the framework of fundamental classification, upon transition to utilitarian schemes Soviet science scholars - like modern systematizers - were forced to place philosophy to one system group with political economy, scientific communism, etc. curricula, organizational structure In universities, this group appeared under the name of the departments of social sciences (KON; in technical schools and vocational schools - commissions on social sciences). This, we repeat, is not a contradiction, but functional difference due to utilitarian necessity; both approaches - both fundamental and utilitarian - have equal right to exist in the context of the tasks they aim to solve.
Comment: the term "Social sciences" is used in the original source as a synonym for "social sciences" (partly due to the need to formally avoid this conflict). The descriptive term "Sciences of the basis and superstructures" roughly corresponds to modern political science. The didactic and illustrative task was the main one in compiling the table, and therefore general list The sciences indicated in it do not claim to be exhaustive. At the same time, some of the names corresponding to known independent sciences were used as collective ones, under which supposed whole groups of "sub-sectors" - for example, astronautics.
Antagonistic collisions
Antagonistic, that is, irresolvably contradicting each other (see Laws of Philosophy) collisions in the classification of certain sciences (including social Sciences) bring to the sensitive issues of the relationship between the concepts of "science" and "pseudoscience". Some examples of such antagonism are generated fundamental differences basic forms worldview: idealistic and materialistic. Taking a detached position, it is impossible to give a positive answer to the question whether some of the disciplines studied in religious educational institutions, to the category social sciences? Is the discipline "Scientific Communism", which appears in the diplomas of tens of millions of students, a social science? Soviet specialists with higher education? Based on the principle of respect for the personal right of everyone to own worldview, protected by the rules of Wikipedia, here are these (and similar ones) aggressive opposition on ideological and worldview grounds should be recognized as inappropriate. Leaving behind everyone choice the “correct” answer - in the literature of the corresponding worldview direction, where this answer is properly substantiated in the system of those categories of world knowledge that this or that current of social thought operates with.
The above conflicts should be distinguished from attempts to supplement the "official" list of social sciences with categories constructed for the purely commercial purposes of extracting income from the sale of knowledge from an allegedly "new" field of science. An example of this is euphemisms, which hide a set of disciplines previously sold under other "brand names": marketing, PR, NLP, etc. Spamming advertising for them paid courses under the guise of articles about the relevant "sciences" climbs with enviable persistence on the pages of Wikipedia. Without giving specific names, here we can recommend an effective litmus indicator that allows you to distinguish true science from pseudoscience: study the list (and origin) of publications displayed search engines when entering a disputed name in English or another common foreign language.
Other collisions
A number of collisions, that is, inconsistencies or, conversely, unjustified intersections in the definitions and interpretations of the concept of "social sciences" and its accompanying categories, are due to the following main groups of reasons: a) linguistic, b) cross-cultural, c) subjective-academic.
Linguistic center around the concepts public" and " social". Historically, the term "social sciences" came to Russian from European languages, where most often it is formed on the basis of the Latin proto-forms scientia = knowledge, and soci(etas) = society (cf. English social sciences, fr. sciences sociales, etc.). Simultaneous introduction in the 19th century into the Russian language, along with " public", concepts " social» was not conditioned objective necessity(for example, descriptions of a qualitatively new object, previously unknown to this language culture). Despite the obvious harm (unjustified confusion with cognate Latin terms from the series " socialist”), the term “ social” has not gone out of circulation. In a number of cases, with his participation, new concepts were formed at the end of the 20th century, for example. "social sphere".
Having a long history of using social" as a synonym for Russian " public" (in conjunction with " sciences”) makes it impossible to oppose one another, forming on their basis qualitatively different categorical series. Such attempts would be far-fetched and their results counterproductive. Without denying the equality of categories " social Sciences" and " Social sciencies", apparently, preference should be given to Russian" public» - due to the above-mentioned intersection with other categorical series, ascending to the same Latin soci (etas).
Cross-cultural collisions, as a result of the national-state isolation of the processes of formation of systems of scientific knowledge, are observed in Wikipedia. Comparing the Russian, English, Italian versions of this page with each other, it is easy to see that the lists of “social sciences” given on them as sets are by no means congruent; they are only "largely overlapping." Blindly copying from one national page to another, or taking any of them as a model, is unacceptable. Seeming “omissions” are most often the result not of an oversight, but of the national specificity of the formation of lists of academic disciplines for utilitarian purposes. The expediency of their unification, bringing them under a single "world standard" (in fact, the transition to someone else's, already existing) is also doubtful: the fight against the national specifics of the processes of scientific world knowledge would mean de facto recognition of the anti-scientific hypothesis of the presence of a "monopoly on truth" (which also goes contrary to the democratic right to the uniqueness of philosophical and ideological positions, especially at the aggregate level of the sovereign state components of modern civilization).
Subjective academic conflicts arise, as a rule, between the developments of competing scientific schools, although sometimes the authors of disputed classifications can also be individual scientists seeking to say a new word in science. It is unscientific and unproductive to evaluate these attempts a priori (especially in the system of emotional-subjectivist criteria of "ambition" of one side and "inertia" of the other side). Ascertaining the absence of a monopoly on truth and democratic freedoms, and based on the presumption of scientific good faith, it is possible to compare them with each other, for example, on the basis of ultimate expediency. Like other sciences, social sciences do not stand still, in their development they inevitably invade the field of previously “alien” sciences, causing, sooner or later, the need for differentiation or, conversely, integration.
Correlation of categories of social and human sciences
Use of the phrase " humanitarian disciplines» in Russian is limited to a highly specific area of organization educational process in classical universities, that is, educational institutions, which include faculties of both "natural" (physics, chemistry, biology) and other sciences - philosophy, linguistics, geography, etc.
