Science, as one of the forms of knowledge and explanation of the world, is constantly evolving: the number of its branches and directions is steadily growing. This trend is most clearly demonstrated by the development social sciences which open up more and more facets of the life of modern society. What are they? What is the subject of their study? Read more about this in the article.
social science
This concept appeared relatively recently. Scientists associate its occurrence with the development of science in general, which began in the 16-17th century. It was then that science embarked on its own path of development, uniting and absorbing the entire system of about scientific knowledge, which was formed at that time.
It should be noted that social science is an integral system of scientific knowledge, which at its core contains a number of disciplines. The task of the latter is a comprehensive study of society and its constituent elements.
The rapid development and complication of this category in the last couple of centuries poses new challenges for science. The emergence of new institutions, the complication of social ties and relations require the introduction of new categories, the establishment of dependencies and patterns, open up new branches and sub-sectors of this type of scientific knowledge.
What is he studying?
The answer to the question of what constitutes the subject matter of the social sciences is already embedded in itself. This part of scientific knowledge concentrates its cognitive efforts on such complex concept like a society. Its essence is most fully revealed thanks to the development of sociology.
The latter is quite often presented as a science of society. However, such a broad interpretation of the subject of this discipline does not allow one to obtain full view about her.
and sociology?
Many researchers of both modern and past centuries have tried to answer this question. can “boast” of a huge number of theories and concepts that explain the essence of the concept of “society”. The latter cannot consist of only one individual, an indispensable condition here is the totality of several beings, which must certainly be in the process of interaction. That is why today scientists present society as a kind of "clump" of all kinds of connections and interactions that entangle the world. human relations. Allocate a row distinctive characteristics societies:
- The presence of a certain social community that reflects the social side of life, the social identity of relations and different kind interactions.
- The presence of regulatory bodies, which sociologists call social institutions, the latter are the most stable connections and relationships. A striking example of such an institution is the family.
- Special social space. Territorial categories are inapplicable here, since society can go beyond them.
- Self-sufficiency is a characteristic that makes it possible to distinguish a society from other similar social formations.
Given the detailed presentation of the main category of sociology, it is possible to expand the idea of it as a science. This is no longer just a science of society, but also an integrated system of knowledge about various social institutions, relationships, and communities.
Social sciences study society, forming a versatile view of it. Each examines the object from its own side: political science - political, economics - economic, cultural studies - cultural, etc.
Causes
Starting from the 16th century, the development of scientific knowledge becomes quite dynamic, and by the middle of the 19th century, a process of differentiation is observed in the already separated science. The essence of the latter was that in line with scientific knowledge separate branches began to take shape. The foundation for their formation and, in fact, the reason for the separation was the allocation of the object, subject and methods of research. Based on these components, the disciplines were concentrated around two main areas human life: nature and society.
What are the reasons for separating from scientific knowledge what is today known as social science? First of all, these are the changes that took place in society in the 16th-17th centuries. It was then that its formation began in the form in which it was preserved until today. Outdated structures are being replaced by mass ones, which require increased attention, since it became necessary not only to understand, but also to be able to manage them.
Another factor contributing to the emergence of social sciences was the active development of natural sciences, which in some way "provoked" the emergence of the first. It is known that one of the characteristic features of scientific knowledge of the late 19th century was the so-called naturalistic understanding of society and the processes taking place in it. A feature of this approach was that social scientists tried to explain within the framework of the categories and methods of the natural sciences. Then sociology appears, which its creator, Auguste Comte, calls social physics. A scientist, studying society, tries to apply natural scientific methods to it. Thus, social science is a system of scientific knowledge that took shape later than natural science and developed under its direct influence.
Development of social sciences
The rapid development of knowledge about society in the late 19th - early 20th century was due to the desire to find the levers to control it in a rapidly changing world. The natural sciences, unable to cope with the explanation of processes, reveal their inconsistency and limitations. The formation and development of the social sciences make it possible to obtain answers to many questions of both the past and the present. New processes and phenomena that take place in the world require new approaches to study, as well as the use of the latest technologies and techniques. All this stimulates the development of both scientific knowledge in general and the social sciences in particular.
Considering that the natural sciences have become a stimulus for the development of the social sciences, it is necessary to find out how to distinguish one from the other.
Natural and social sciences: distinctive characteristics
The main difference that allows one or another knowledge to be attributed to certain group is, of course, an object of study. In other words, what the attention of science is directed to, in this case, these are two different spheres of being.
It is known that the natural sciences arose before the social sciences, and their methods influenced the development of the methodology of the latter. Its development took place in a different cognitive direction - by understanding the processes taking place in society, in contrast to the explanation offered by the sciences of nature.
Another feature that emphasizes the differences between the natural and social sciences is to ensure the objectivity of the process of cognition. In the first case, the scientist is outside the subject of research, observing it "from the outside". In the second, he himself is often a participant in the processes that take place in society. Here objectivity is ensured by comparison with universal values and norms: cultural, moral, religious, political and others.
What are the social sciences?
Immediately, we note that there are some difficulties in determining where to attribute this or that science. Modern scientific knowledge gravitates toward the so-called interdisciplinarity, when the sciences borrow methods from each other. That is why it is sometimes difficult to attribute science to one group or another: both social and natural sciences have a number of characteristics that make them related.
Since the social sciences occurred later than the natural ones, at the initial stage of their development, many scientists believed that it was possible to study society and the processes taking place in it using natural scientific methods. A striking example is sociology, which was called social physics. Later, with the development of their own system of methods, the social (social) sciences moved away from the natural sciences.
Another feature that unites these is that each of them acquires knowledge in the same ways, among which:
- system of such general scientific methods like observation, simulation, experiment;
- logical methods of cognition: analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, etc.;
- reliance on scientific facts, consistency and consistency of judgments, unambiguousness of the concepts used and the rigor of their definitions.
Also, both spheres of science have in common what they differ from other types and forms of knowledge: the validity and consistency of the acquired knowledge, their objectivity, etc.
The system of scientific knowledge about society
The whole set of sciences that study society is sometimes combined into one, which is called social science. This discipline, being complex, allows you to form a general idea of society and the place of the individual in it. It is formed on the basis of knowledge about various: economics, politics, culture, psychology and others. In other words, social science is an integrated system of social sciences that forms an idea of such a complex and diverse phenomenon as society, the roles and functions of a person in it.
Classification of social sciences
Based on which social sciences belong to any level of knowledge about society or give an idea of almost all spheres of its life, scientists have divided them into several groups:
- the first includes those sciences that give general ideas about the society itself, the patterns of its development, the main components, etc. (sociology, philosophy);
- the second covers those disciplines that explore some one side of society (economics, political science, cultural studies, ethics, etc.);
- the third group includes the sciences that permeate all areas of the life of society (history, jurisprudence).
Sometimes social sciences are divided into two spheres: social and humanitarian. Both of them are closely interconnected, because one way or another they are related to society. The first characterizes the most general patterns of flow social processes, and the second refers to subjective level, which explores a person with his values, motives, goals, intentions, etc.
Thus, it can be indicated that the social sciences study society in a general, broader aspect, as part of material world, as well as in a narrow one - at the level of the state, nation, family, associations or social groups.
The most famous social sciences
Considering that modern society is a rather complex and diverse phenomenon, it is impossible to study it within the framework of one discipline. This situation can be explained based on the fact that the number of relationships and connections in society today is huge. We all come across in our lives such areas as: economics, politics, law, culture, language, history, etc. All this diversity is a clear manifestation of how diverse modern society is. That is why at least 10 social sciences can be cited, each of which characterizes one of the aspects of society: sociology, political science, history, economics, jurisprudence, pedagogy, cultural studies, psychology, geography, anthropology.
There is no doubt that the source of basic information about society is sociology. It is she who reveals the essence of this multifaceted object of study. In addition, today political science, which characterizes the political sphere, has gained sufficient fame.
Jurisprudence allows you to learn how to regulate relations in society with the help of rules of conduct, enshrined by the state in the form of legal norms. And psychology allows you to do this with the help of other mechanisms, studying the psychology of the crowd, group and person.
Thus, each of the 10 social sciences explores society from its own side with the help of own methods research.
Scientific publications publishing social science research
One of the most famous is the journal Social Sciences and Modernity. Today it is one of the few publications that allows you to get acquainted with a fairly wide range of the most different directions modern social science. There are articles on sociology and history, political science and philosophy, studies that raise cultural and psychological problems.
Home hallmark publication is an opportunity to accommodate and get acquainted with interdisciplinary research that is carried out at the junction of various scientific directions. Today, the globalizing world makes its own demands: a scientist must go beyond the narrow confines of his industry and take into account the current trends in the development of the world society as a single organism.
Modern means of natural science - the science of the laws, phenomena and properties of natural objects - make it possible to study many of the most complex processes at the level of nuclei, atoms, molecules, and cells. It is the fruits of comprehension of true knowledge about nature at such a deep level that are known to every educated person. Synthetic and composite materials, artificial enzymes, artificial crystals- all these are not only real objects of development of natural scientists, but also consumer products of various industries that produce a wide range of consumer goods. In this regard, the study of natural science problems at the molecular level within the framework of fundamental ideas - concepts - is undoubtedly relevant, useful and necessary for future specialists. highly qualified science and technical profile, as well as for those whose professional activities do not have direct relationship to natural science, i.e. for future economists, management specialists, commodity experts, lawyers, sociologists, psychologists, journalists, managers, etc.
At the same time, knowledge of individual things and processes is impossible without simultaneous knowledge of the universal, and the latter, in turn, is known only through the former. And any "private" law that we have discovered - if it is really a law, and not an empirical rule - is a concrete manifestation of universality. There is no such science, the subject of which would be exclusively universal without knowledge of the individual, just as a science is impossible, limiting itself only to the knowledge of the particular.
The universal connection of phenomena is the most general regularity of the existence of the world, which is the result and manifestation of the universal interaction of all objects and phenomena and is embodied as a scientific reflection in the unity and interconnection of sciences. It expresses the internal unity of all elements of the structure and properties of any integral system, as well as the infinite variety of relations of this system with other systems or phenomena surrounding it. Without understanding the principle of universal connection, there can be no true knowledge.
Natural science worldview - a system of knowledge about nature, formed in the minds of students in the process of studying natural science subjects, and mental activity to create this system.
The theoretical basis of the study is the work of such authors as Akimov O.S., Gorelov A.A., Gorokhov V.G., Dubnishcheva T.Ya., Kendrew J., Kun T., Mechnikov L.I., Naidysh V.M. ., Pavlov A.N., Petrosova R.A., Prigozhy I., Poincaré A., Selye G., Solomatin V.A., Tchaikovsky Yu.V., Laptin A.I.
Considering such a multifaceted phenomenon as science, three of its functions can be distinguished; branch of culture; way of knowing the world; a special institute (this concept includes not only a higher educational institution, but also scientific societies, academies, laboratories, journals, etc.).
Like other areas human activity, science has specific features.
Versatility- communicates knowledge that is true for the entire universe under the conditions under which they are obtained by man.
Fragmentation- studies not being as a whole, but various fragments of reality or its parameters; itself is divided into separate disciplines. In general, the concept of being as a philosophical concept is not applicable to science, which is a private knowledge. Each science as such is a certain projection onto the world, like a searchlight that highlights the areas of interest to scientists at the moment.
Validity-. the knowledge gained is suitable for all people; the language of science is unambiguous, fixing terms and concepts, which contributes to the unification of people.
impersonality- neither the individual characteristics of the scientist, nor his nationality or place of residence are represented in any way in end results scientific knowledge.
Systematic- science has a certain structure, and is not an incoherent collection of parts.
incompleteness- although scientific knowledge grows without limit, it cannot reach absolute truth, after the knowledge of which there will be nothing to investigate.
Continuity- new knowledge in a certain way and according to strict rules correlate with old knowledge.
criticality- willingness to question and reconsider one's own, even fundamental, results.
Reliability - scientific findings require, allow and pass the test according to certain formulated rules.
immorality- scientific truths are morally and ethically neutral, and moral assessments can relate either to the activity of obtaining knowledge (the ethics of a scientist requires him to be intellectually honest and courageous in the process of finding the truth), or to the activity of its application.
Rationality- obtaining knowledge based on rational procedures and laws of logic, the formation of theories and their provisions that go beyond the empirical level.
Sensuality- scientific results require empirical verification using perception and only after that are recognized as reliable.
These features of science form six dialectically interconnected pairs: universality - fragmentation, general significance - impersonality, systematicity - incompleteness, continuity - criticality, reliability - non-morality, rationality - sensibility.
In addition, science is characterized by its own special methods and structure of research, language, and equipment. All this determines the specifics of scientific research and the significance of science.
Engels called the social sciences human history, since every such science is, first of all, a historical science. Human history can be viewed in two ways: as the development of the whole society, in the interdependence of all its aspects and elements, and as the development of one or more of its structural aspects, isolated from their general interconnection. In the first case, the actual historical sciences in the narrow sense of the word. This is the history of individual stages in the development of society (from primitive to modern). This also includes archeology and ethnography. In the second case, a group of social sciences is formed, reflecting the relationship of individual parties or elements internal structure society; its economic basis and its superstructures - political and ideological. The objective sequence of the transition from the base to an ever higher superstructure determines the order in which the sciences of this group are arranged. Transition to philosophy in progress mental movement from the base to the superstructure and from the political to the ideological superstructure, there is at the same time a way out of the limits of the social sciences proper into the area of general worldview issues related to the science of the most general laws of any development, as well as to the science of thinking
The word "natural science" is a combination of two words - "nature" ("nature") and "knowledge". It can be replaced by the less commonly used synonymous word "natural studies", which comes from the common Slavic term "Veda" or "Veda" - science, knowledge. We still say "know" in the sense of knowing. But at present, natural science is primarily understood as the so-called exact natural science, i.e. already well-formed - often in mathematical formulas- "accurate" knowledge of everything that really is (or, according to at least, perhaps) in the Universe, and "natural science" (like the notorious "social science" or "science") is usually involuntarily associated with some other amorphous ideas about the subject of its "knowledge".
Once upon a time, the extremely common Latin term "nature" (natura) entered the Russian language as a synonym for the word "nature". But only in European countries, for example, in Germany, Sweden and Holland, the corresponding term “Naturwissenschaft” was formed on its basis, i.e. literally - the science of nature, or natural science. It also became the basis of the essentially international term "natural philosophy" (philosophy of nature).
Problems of the device, origin, organization or organic nature everything that is in the Universe (in the Cosmos), i.e. all problems of natural science, cosmology and cosmogony, originally belonged to "physics" or "physiology". In any case, Aristotle (384-322 BC) called his predecessors who dealt with these problems "physicists" or "physiologists", because the ancient Greek word "physis" or "fusis", very close to the Russian word "nature" , originally meant "origin", "birth", "creation".
Hence, the natural (organic, natural, original) interconnection of all natural science (including cosmology and cosmogony) with physics, which is, as it were, the initial basis of the science of Nature.
But if the question of the origin of the word "natural science" is easily resolved, then the question of what natural science itself is as a science, that is, the question of the content and definition of this concept, cannot be called simple.
The fact is that there are two widely used definitions of this concept: 1) “natural science is the science of Nature as a single entity” and 2) “natural science is the totality of the sciences of Nature, taken as a single whole”.
As you can see, these two definitions are different from each other. The first one speaks of one unified science about Nature, emphasizing the unity of Nature itself, its indivisibility. Whereas the second definition speaks of natural science as a totality, i.e. about the multitude of sciences that study Nature, although it contains an indication that this multitude must be considered as a single whole.
There is not much difference between these two definitions. For "the totality of the sciences of Nature, taken as a single whole", i.e., not just as the sum of disparate sciences, but precisely as a single complex of closely interconnected natural sciences that complement each other - this is one science. Only generalized or integrative science (from the Latin "integer" - whole, restored).
The subject of natural science is facts and phenomena that are perceived by our senses. The scientist's task is to generalize these facts and create a theoretical model that includes the laws that govern natural phenomena. It is necessary to distinguish between the facts of experience, empirical generalizations and theories that formulate the laws of science. Phenomena, for example, gravitation, are directly given in experience; the laws of science, for example, the law of universal gravitation - options for explaining phenomena. The facts of science, once established, retain their constant value; laws can be changed in the course of the development of science, as, say, the law of universal gravitation was corrected after the creation of the theory of relativity.
The significance of feelings and reason in the process of finding truth is a complex philosophical issue. In science, that position is recognized as true, which is confirmed by reproducible experience. The basic principle of natural science is that knowledge of nature must be subject to empirical verification. Not in the sense that every particular statement must necessarily be empirically verified, but in the sense that experience is ultimately the decisive argument for accepting a given theory.
Natural science differs from the technical sciences in its focus on knowledge, and not on helping to transform the world, and from mathematics in that it studies natural, and not sign systems.
Natural science is a set of sciences about the phenomena and laws of nature, including many natural science branches.
Humanities - a set of sciences about man and relations between people, study the phenomena of objects that have arisen as a result of human activity.
The main criterion of scientific character in natural science is causality, truth, relativity.
The main criterion of scientific character in humanities
this is an understanding of the processes, the scientific character is affected by a person.
Natural science is the science of the phenomena and laws of nature. Modern natural science includes many natural science branches: physics, chemistry, biology, physical chemistry, biophysics, biochemistry, geochemistry, etc. It covers wide range questions about the various properties of objects of nature, which can be considered as a whole.
In our time, natural science knowledge has become a sphere of active actions and represents the basic resource of the economy, which in its importance surpasses material resources: capital, land, labor, etc. Natural science knowledge and based on them modern technologies form a new way of life, and a highly educated person cannot distance himself from fundamental knowledge about the world around him without risking being helpless in his professional activities.
Among the numerous branches of knowledge, natural science knowledge is knowledge
One should take into account the difference between natural and technical sciences, on the one hand, and fundamental and applied sciences, on the other. Fundamental sciences - physics, chemistry, astronomy - study the basic structures of the world, while applied sciences are engaged in applying the results fundamental research for solving both cognitive and socio-practical problems. In this sense, all technical sciences are applied, but not all applied sciences are technical. Such sciences as metal physics, semiconductor physics are theoretical applied disciplines, and metal science, semiconductor technology are practical applied sciences.
However, it is impossible in principle to draw a clear line between the natural, social and technical sciences, since there are a number of disciplines that occupy an intermediate position or are complex in nature. So, at the junction of natural and social sciences there is economic geography, at the junction of natural and technical - bionics, and a complex discipline that includes both natural, social and technical sections is social ecology.
2 The problem of two cultures in science: from confrontation to cooperation
Modern science is a complex and diverse system of separate scientific disciplines. Science scholars number several thousand of them, which can be combined into the following two areas: fundamental and applied sciences.
Fundamental sciences have as their goal the knowledge of the objective laws of the world as they exist "by themselves" regardless of the interests and needs of man. The fundamental ones include: mathematical sciences, natural sciences (mechanics, astronomy, astrophysics, physics, chemical physics, physical chemistry, chemistry, geochemistry, geology, geography, biochemistry, biology, anthropology, etc.), social sciences (history, archeology, ethnography, economics, statistics, demography, state sciences, law, art history, etc.), humanities ( psychology and its branches, logic, linguistics, philology, etc.). Fundamental sciences are called fundamental because they determine the content of the scientific picture of the world with their fundamental conclusions, results, theories.
Applied Science
are aimed at developing ways to apply the obtained fundamental science knowledge of the objective laws of the world to meet the needs and interests of people. Applied sciences include: cybernetics, technical sciences (applied mechanics, technology of machines and mechanisms, strength of materials, technical physics, chemical and technological sciences, metallurgy, mining, electrical sciences, nuclear energy, astronautics, etc.), agricultural sciences (agronomic , zootechnical); medical sciences; pedagogical science, etc. AT applied sciences fundamental knowledge acquires practical value, is used for the development of the productive forces of society, the improvement of the objective sphere of human existence, material culture.
Each science is characterized by its own characteristics of cognitive activity. The sciences differ in the subject of cognition, means and methods of cognition, forms of the result of cognition, those systems of values, ideals, methodological guidelines, styles of thinking that function in a given science and determine the attitude of scientists to the process of cognition, and to the socio-cultural background of science.
The totality of such value systems, ideals, methodological attitudes, thinking styles inherent in individual sciences and their complexes is sometimes called scientific culture; talk about culture humanitarian knowledge, the culture of natural science knowledge, the culture of technical knowledge, etc. The nature of scientific culture determines a lot both in the problems of the organization of science and in the problems of the relationship between science and society. Here are questions of the moral responsibility of a scientist, features of the "ethics of science", the relationship of science and ideology, science and law, features of the organization scientific schools and research management, etc. The most contrasting are such differences in "scientific cultures" between the cultures of the humanities and the natural sciences.
There are widespread ideas about "two cultures" in science - natural science culture and humanitarian culture. The English historian and writer C. Snow wrote a book about the "two cultures" that exist in modern industrial and post-industrial society, - natural-scientific and humanitarian-artistic. He laments over the huge gulf that is observed between them and every year it grows. Scientists who have devoted themselves to the study of the humanities and exact branches of knowledge, more and more do not understand each other. According to Snow, this is a very dangerous trend that threatens to destroy the entire human culture. Despite the excessive categoricalness and disputability of some of Snow's judgments, on the whole one cannot but agree with the existence of a problem and an assessment of its importance.
Indeed, there are considerable differences between the natural sciences and the humanities. Natural science is oriented toward the repetitive, the general and the universal, the abstract; humanitarian knowledge - into special, concrete and unique, unrepeatable. The goal of natural science is to describe and explain its object, to limit its dependence on socio-historical factors and to express knowledge from the standpoint of timeless principles of being, to express not only qualitative, but also quantitative characteristics object. The goal of the humanities is, first of all, to understand their object, to find ways of concrete historical, personal experience, interpretation and content of the object of knowledge and one's attitude to it, etc. In the 1960s and 1970s in mass consciousness, in the youth, student environment, these differences were reflected in the forms of various kinds of disputes between "physicists" focused on strictly rationalistic and transpersonal canons of natural science ("only physics is salt, everything else is zero"), and "lyricists" brought up on the ideals of the humanitarian knowledge, which includes not only an objective reflection of social processes and phenomena, but also their subjective-personal experience and interpretation.
There are two aspects to Snow's problem. The first is connected with the patterns of interaction between science and art, the second - with the problem of the unity of science.
First about the first of them. The artistic-figurative and scientific-rational ways of reflecting the world do not at all exclude each other. A scientist must have the ability not only to conceptual, but also to figurative creativity, which means to have a subtle artistic taste. So, many scientists are well versed in art, painting, literature, play musical instruments, deeply experience beauty. Moreover, just scientific creativity appears to them as a form of art. In any, even exclusively abstract branches of physical and mathematical natural science, cognitive activity contains artistic and figurative moments. That is why it is sometimes right to speak of the "poetry of science." On the other hand, the artist, the artist creates not arbitrary, but typical artistic images, suggesting the process of generalization, knowledge of reality. Thus, the cognitive moment is organically inherent in art, woven into the production of ways of imaginative experience of the world. Intuition and logic are inherent in both science and art. In the system of spiritual culture, science and art do not exclude, but presuppose and complement each other when it comes to the formation of an integral harmonious personality, the completeness of the human worldview.
The second aspect of this problem is related to the unity of science. Science as a whole is multifaceted and at the same time systemic education, all the individual components of which (concrete sciences) are closely related. There is constant interaction between different sciences. The development of science requires mutual enrichment, the exchange of ideas between different, even seemingly distant, areas of knowledge. For example, in the XX century. biology received a powerful impetus for its development precisely as a result of the application of mathematical, physical and chemical methods research. At the same time, biological knowledge helps engineers create new types of automatic devices and design new generations. aviation technology. The unity of the sciences is ultimately determined by the material unity of the world.
Natural scientific methods of cognition are increasingly being used in the social sciences and the humanities. For example, in historical research they provide a reliable basis for clarifying the dates of historical events, open up new opportunities for a quick analysis of a mass of sources, facts, etc. They allow archaeologists to recreate the significance of astronomical knowledge in the everyday life of people of different eras, cultures, ethnic groups, in different natural geographical environment, to identify patterns of historical development of astronomy (archaeoastronomy). Without the application of the methods of the natural sciences, it would be unthinkable outstanding achievements modern science of the origin of man and society. New prospects for the mutual enrichment of natural scientific and humanitarian knowledge open up with the creation latest theory self-organization - synergetics.
One of the general patterns of the historical development of science is the dialectical unity of differentiation and integration of science. The formation of new scientific directions, individual sciences is combined with the erasure of sharp lines separating different branches of science, with the formation of integrating branches of science (cybernetics, systems theory, informatics, synergetics, etc.), mutual exchange of methods, principles, concepts, etc. Science as a whole is becoming an increasingly complex unified system with a rich internal division, where the qualitative originality of each specific science is preserved. Thus, not the confrontation of different "cultures in science", but their close unity, interaction, interpenetration is a natural trend of modern scientific knowledge.
3 Traditional and problematic research
In science, one can single out empirical and theoretical levels of research and organization of knowledge. The elements of empirical knowledge are facts obtained through observations and experiments and stating the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of objects and phenomena. Stable repeatability and relationships between empirical characteristics are expressed using empirical laws, often of a probabilistic nature. The theoretical level of scientific knowledge presupposes the presence of special abstract objects (constructs) and theoretical laws connecting them, created for the purpose of an idealized description and explanation of empirical situations, i.e., with the aim of understanding the essence of phenomena. Operation with objects theoretical level, on the one hand, can be carried out without resorting to empiricism, and on the other hand, it implies the possibility of a transition to it, which is realized in the explanation of existing facts and the prediction of new facts. The existence of a theory that explains in a uniform way the facts subject to it is a necessary condition for the scientific nature of knowledge. The theoretical explanation can be both qualitative and quantitative, widely using the mathematical apparatus, which is especially typical for modern stage development of natural science.
The formation of the theoretical level of science leads to a qualitative change in the empirical level. If, before the formation of a theory, the empirical material that served as its prerequisite was obtained on the basis of ordinary experience and natural language, then with access to the theoretical level, it is “seen” through the prism of the meaning of theoretical concepts that begin to guide the setting up of experiments and observations - the main methods empirical research. At the empirical level of knowledge, comparison, measurement, induction, deduction, analysis, synthesis, etc. are widely used. The theoretical level is also characterized by such cognitive techniques like hypothesis, modeling, idealization, abstraction, generalization, thought experiment etc.
All theoretical disciplines one way or another, have their historical roots in practical experience. However, in the course of the development of individual sciences, they break away from their empirical base and develop purely theoretically (for example, mathematics), returning to experience only in the sphere of their practical applications.
The entire history of science is permeated by a complex dialectical combination of processes of differentiation and integration; the development of ever new areas of reality and the deepening of knowledge lead to the differentiation of sciences, to its fragmentation into more and more specialized areas of knowledge; at the same time, the need for the synthesis of knowledge constantly finds expression in the tendency towards the integration of sciences. Initially, new branches of science were formed according to subject matter- in accordance with the involvement in the process of cognition of new areas and aspects of reality.
For modern science, the transition from subject to problem orientation is becoming more and more characteristic, when new areas of knowledge arise in connection with the advancement of a certain major theoretical or practical problem. Thus, a significant number of butt (boundary) sciences such as biophysics, etc. arose. Their appearance continues the process of differentiation of sciences in new forms, but at the same time gives new foundation to integrate previously disparate scientific disciplines.
Important integrating functions in relation to individual branches of science are performed by philosophy, which generalizes the scientific picture of the world, as well as individual scientific disciplines such as mathematics, logic, cybernetics, arming science with a system of unified methods.
Development of the scientific method for a long time was the privilege of philosophy, which continues to play a leading role in the development of methodological problems, being common methodology Sciences. In the 20th century methodological means become much more differentiated and in their concrete form are increasingly being developed by science itself. These are the new categories put forward by the development of science (for example, information), as well as specific methodological principles (for example, the correspondence principle). An important methodological role in modern science is played by such branches of science as mathematics and cybernetics, as well as specially developed methodological approaches (for example, a systematic approach).
As a result, the structure of relations between science and its methodology has become very complicated, and the development of methodological problems has become increasingly important in the system of modern research.
Conclusion
One of the old mottos says: "knowledge is power." Science makes man powerful before the forces of nature. With the help of natural science, man exercises his dominance over the forces of nature, develops material production, and improves social relations. Only through knowledge of the laws of nature can a person change and adapt natural things and processes so that they satisfy his needs.
Natural science is both a product of civilization and a condition for its development. With the help of science, a person develops material production, improves social relations, educates and educates new generations of people, heals his body. The progress of natural science and technology significantly changes the way of life and well-being of a person, improves the living conditions of people.
Natural science is one of the most important engines social progress. How the most important factor natural science is a powerful revolutionary force in material production. Great scientific discoveries(and technical inventions closely related to them) have always had a tremendous (and sometimes completely unexpected) impact on the fate of human history. Such discoveries were, for example, discoveries in the 17th century. the laws of mechanics that made it possible to create the entire machine technology of civilization; discovery in the nineteenth century. electromagnetic field and the creation of electrical engineering, radio engineering, and then radio electronics; creation in the twentieth century, theories atomic nucleus, and after him - the discovery of means of releasing nuclear energy; expansion in the middle of the twentieth century. molecular biology the nature of heredity (DNA structure) and the possibilities of genetic engineering to control heredity that have opened up as a result; and etc. Most of modern material civilization would not be possible without participation in its creation scientific theories, scientific and design developments, technologies predicted by science, etc.
AT modern world science causes people not only admiration and admiration, but also fears. You can often hear that science brings a person not only benefits, but also the greatest misfortunes. Atmospheric pollution, catastrophes at nuclear power plants, an increase in the radioactive background as a result of nuclear weapons tests, an “ozone hole” above the planet, a sharp reduction in plant and animal species - people tend to explain all these and other environmental problems by the very fact of the existence of science. But the point is not in science, but in whose hands it is, what social interests stand behind it, what public and state structures guide its development.
The growth of global problems of mankind increases the responsibility of scientists for the fate of mankind. The question of the historical fate and the role of science in its relation to man, the prospects for its development has never been so sharply discussed as at the present time, in the conditions of increasing global crisis civilization. old problem The humanistic content of cognitive activity (the so-called “Rousseau problem”) has acquired a new concrete historical expression: can a person (and if so, to what extent) count on science in solving the global problems of our time? Is science able to help humanity in getting rid of the evil that modern civilization technologicalization of people's way of life?
1.
Natural and social sciences and humanities
Natural and social and humanitarian
sciences study man. Its biological nature is being studied natural science, and the social qualities of a person - public.
Natural and social sciences differ markedly from each other.
Natural study nature that has existed and can exist independently of man. Public sciences cannot study society without studying the activities of the people living in it, their thoughts and aspirations. If in natural sciences object and subject are different, then in public- object and subject are the same => public
sciences cannot be objective.
Similar to other areas scientific research, social sciences are aimed at comprehending the truth, discovering the objective laws of the functioning of society, the trends of its development.
2. Classification of social sciences and humanities
- historical sciences(National history, General history, archeology, ethnography, etc.)
- Economic Sciences (economic theory, accounting, statistics, etc.)
- Philosophical Sciences(history of philosophy, logic, ethics, aesthetics, etc.)
- Philological sciences(linguistics, literary criticism, journalism, etc.)
- Legal Sciences(story legal teachings, constitutional law, etc.)
- Pedagogical Sciences (general pedagogy, history of pedagogy and education, etc.)
- Psychological sciences(general psychology, personality psychology, etc.)
- Sociological Sciences(theory, methodology and history of sociology, demography, etc.)
- Political science(theory of politics, political technologies, etc.)
- Culturology(theory and history of culture, museology, etc.)
Sociology- the science of general and specific social laws and patterns of development and functioning of historically defined social systems, about the mechanisms of action and forms of manifestation of these laws in the activities of people, social groups, classes, peoples.
In other words, sociology is the science of society as complete system, about the laws of its formation, functioning and development.
Political science (in the narrow sense) - one of the sciences that studies politics, namely - general theory politics, exploring the specific patterns of relations social actors about power and influence special type interactions between the ruling and the ruled, the rulers and the ruled.
Political science (in the broadest sense) includes all political knowledge and is a complex of disciplines that study politics: the history of political thought, political philosophy, political sociology, political psychology, etc.
In other words, in this interpretation, political science acts as a single, integral science that comprehensively studies politics. She relies on applied research which use various methods, including those existing in sociology and other social sciences.
Social Psychology - studies the patterns of behavior and activities of people, due to the factor of inclusion in social groups, as well as the psychological characteristics of these same groups.
4. Specificity of philosophical knowledge
Eternal problems of philosophy - the questions that human thought posed a long time ago, they retain their significance.
Philosophy is always turned to history. The created new philosophical systems do not cancel the previously put forward concepts and principles, but continue to coexist with them in a single cultural and cognitive space, therefore philosophy is always pluralistic, is diverse in its schools and directions.
Philosophizing- This is a kind of speculative activity. Philosophy is different from science. Philosophical knowledge is multilayered. Within philosophy, relatively independent areas of knowledge were formed quite a long time ago: the doctrine of being - ontology; the doctrine of knowledge epistemology; the science of morality ethics; a science that studies the beautiful in reality, the laws of the development of art - aesthetics.
To philosophical knowledge include such important areas for understanding society and man as philosophical anthropology- the doctrine of the essence and nature of man, of a specifically human way of being, as well as social philosophy.
Social philosophy makes its full contribution to the development of a wide range of problems: society as an integrity; patterns of social development; the structure of society as a system; the meaning, direction and resources of social development; the ratio of the spiritual and material aspects of the life of society; man as a subject social action; features of social cognition.
Homework
- The very term "socio-humanitarian knowledge" indicates that social science includes two types of knowledge: Social sciencies oriented to the study of structures, common ties and patterns and humanitarian knowledge with its installation on a concretely individual description of phenomena and events public life, human interactions and personalities.
- For the social sciences, people are elements of the objective picture that these sciences determined, then for humanitarian knowledge On the contrary, the forms of scientific activity clarify their meaning as schemes included in the joint and individual life of people.
- Social and humanitarian scientific disciplines have one common and at the same time the main link - a person. A certain number of people make up a society (it is studied by the social sciences), in which each person plays a role (this is studied by the humanities).
- — EN social science The study of society and of the relationship of individual members within society, including economics, history, political science, psychology, anthropology, and …
social science- social sciences - sciences about the human person and society. humanitarian. ▼ philology … Ideographic Dictionary of the Russian Language
Management Science- (more precisely, a complex of sciences dealing with management issues) social, social science about the principles and patterns of managing social production at its various levels. The degree of scientific management is determined by ... Economic and Mathematical Dictionary
management science- More precisely, a complex of sciences dealing with management issues, a social, social science about the principles and patterns of managing social production at its various levels. The degree of scientific management is determined by the depth of knowledge ... ... Technical Translator's Handbook
A special type of cognitive activity aimed at developing objective, systematically organized and substantiated knowledge about the world. Interacts with other types of cognitive activity: everyday, artistic, religious, mythological ... Philosophical Encyclopedia
A voluntary association of citizens that arose on their initiative to realize their interests. Political Science: Dictionary Reference. comp. Prof. floor of sciences Sanzharevsky I.I.. 2010 ... Political science. Dictionary.
PUBLIC PSYCHOLOGY- - social psyche - a set of group, collective, mass mental phenomena, conditions and processes in society, forming a system of psychosocial reflection of reality. Based on O.p. emerging and developing economic, ... ... Political psychology. Dictionary-reference
I Science is the sphere of human activity, the function of which is the development and theoretical systematization objective knowledge about reality; one of the forms public consciousness. In the course of historical development, N. turns into ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
Main article: Science Content 1 History of science in Russia 2 Russian science the day before October revolution... Wikipedia
Books
- Invisible hands, Russian experience and social science. Ways to explain systemic failure, Stefan Hedlund. This book explores situations in which national and international levels leads to catastrophic consequences, and the complex analytical models of social science ...
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.
Encyclopedic YouTube
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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-author's, 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. cannot lead to positive result and attempts to oppose any of the utilitarian classifications with fundamental epistemological ones: the latter is formulated at 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 Maths 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 physical geography Biology and s.-x. science 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 a 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 the general list of the sciences indicated in it does 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 their own worldview, protected by the rules of Wikipedia, here these (and similar) 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 that were previously sold under other "brand names": marketing, PR, NLP, etc. 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 it is most often 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 a given 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 proceeding from 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.
