Human Sciences

“The only possible conclusion the social sciences can draw is: some

do and some don’t.”

Ernest Rutherford

What are the Human Sciences?

• Psychology• Economics• Anthropology• Sociology• Political ScienceIn short they are all based on observation

and seek to discover laws and theories of human nature.

Problems with studying human behavior

• Humans possess unique qualities that can be hard to study– Language– Reason– Free-will– Creativity

Problems with Experiments in the Human Sciences

• Human Scientists try to make sense of complex real-world situations in which it is simply impossible to run in a controlled environment.

• The artificiality of some experiments that can be conducted distort the behavior of the participants.

• There are ethical reasons for not conducting experiments that have a negative effect on the people who participate in them.

Relationship between Natural Sciences and Human

Sciences• Reductionism

– Seeks to explain one subject in terms of other more fundamental ones.

– Ex: one might be able understand economics in terms of psychology and psychology in terms of neuroscience.

Relationship between Natural Sciences and Human

Sciences• Holism

– The only way to make sense of things is to look at the whole problem.

– Ex: you cannot understand a group in terms of the individual or an action independent of the context in which it takes place.

Verstehen Position

• The main aim of the Human Sciences is to understand the meaning of various social practices from the inside as they are understood by the agents themselves.– You cannot simply observe the movements

of people you must get inside the heads of people and understand how they see the situation.

Problems within the Human Sciences

Observation 1. We cannot directly observe the minds of people

2. Questionnaires may be misleading or bias

3. Observing people may affect the way they behave.

Measurement 4. Social phenomena are difficult to measure

Hypothesis 5. The act of prediction may affect the behavior predicted.

Experiments 6. Human sciences study complex social situations in which it is difficult to run in controlled experiments.

7. Various moral considerations limit our willingness to experiment.

Laws 8. Human Sciences are not very good at predicting things.

9. Human Sciences usually uncover trends rather than laws

10. Science laws are probabilistic in nature.

Linking Questions

Your linking question is posted on my wikispace. Please go to the discussion board to complete the assignment.