Social science. Topic: Science. types of sciences. The science. Main features of scientific thinking

Learning Objective : to reveal the subject of social science as a synthesis of social sciences, the specifics of the object of study, the significance of social knowledge for humans.

Lecture outline:

1. Social science and its subject. Fundamentals of social sciences included in social science.

2. The importance of social knowledge.

Social studies is a strange word!

It's not clear, but it seems familiar.

Society is all the people of the Earth,

People of the country and people of the family.

But here's an interesting strange thing:

How Man was born -

Biology will give you the exact answer.

Social science. Why is it important?

What does social science study?

What is secret knowledge?

We are starting to study a new subject called “social studies”. What kind of discipline is this? To begin with, let us note that this is not science in the full sense of the word. Scientists do not study social science, but sociology, philosophy, history, economics, political science, law and many other sciences that study human life and society. Therefore, strictly speaking, social science is academic discipline, the main task of which is to introduce you to the basics of social life. The above-mentioned sciences are the sources from which social science draws its material. But it is a science in the sense that the knowledge it provides is obtained, systematized and proven using methods used only by science.

What does social science study? To answer this question, let us introduce the concepts an object And item studying. Object The study of social studies is society as a whole. What does this mean?

Society is studied by many different sciences: history, sociology, philosophy, political science, law. They are also called humanities Unlike natural sciences. But they all explore separate spheres social life, for example, economic or spiritual life. Social science is interested in all aspects of social life. It is also important for him how people enter into relationships with nature, and how they connect with each other, how they learn, experience, and act. Therefore, to embrace society as a whole means to consider the economic life of society, social relations, relations of power and management, spiritual life, as well as the relationships between them.

Thus, by introducing the concept of “object of study,” we separated, on the one hand, the sphere of interests of social science from the sphere of interests of natural sciences sciences, and, on the other hand, they drew a line between social science and other humanities.

You already have experience in studying the humanities and at least know one discipline that also studies not nature, but society, and studies not individual parts of society, but society as a whole.

This is history. This is why the division into subject and object can be useful to us. After all, several sciences can study the same object. But each science, according to its interests, highlights in it those aspects that it considers essential. The set of essential properties, identified according to the goals of a particular science, is usually called the subject of science. It is possible to establish what is the subject of social science by comparing it with the science of “history”. Let's remember what she is studying. Usually historians study the area that is called"past". In addition, it is not difficult to notice that those aspects of social life that historians study are always tied to And specific place time.

So they are not interested in spiritual life in general, but in the spiritual life of the Greek polis or the Roman Empire. Now we can talk about subject of social studies. If its object is society as a whole, and not its individual parts, then its subject is general properties social life, preserved in space and time among diverse human associations. Figuratively speaking, historians study differences in society, and social scientists -

similarities. It is necessary to distinguish philosophical and sociological approach to the study of society. Sociology interested in what is denoted by the term “ social structure", those. the method of organizing and connecting individual elements of the social system into a single whole, the driving forces, the meaning and direction of the development of society. She studies issues of personality formation, its interaction with other people within large and small groups. The subject of sociology is the general and specific social patterns of organization, functioning and development of society. Philosophical the view of society is inseparable from the philosophical problems of man. He is interested in connections and patterns that unite people into a single whole, into a social organism. The subject of philosophy is a multi-problematic relationship"the world is man" those. she studies: 1) general principles world order; 2) a person’s attitude to the world. She is looking for answers to the following questions:

How does the world in general work? How does a person relate to the world? What is his place in it? How does he know it and how does he act in this world? IN philosophy seems to be something very far from real life. But that's not true. And before the philosopher and before a simple person the same questions and problems still exist. These problems are not “invented” by philosophers; they are posed by life itself. Philosophical thought is a thought about the eternal, about the meaning of life. And if life were only fun and celebration, if there was no place in it for worries, anxieties, or sorrows, philosophy, most likely, simply would not exist. People wouldn't have problems, and philosophy always solves problems.

Social studies is an academic discipline that studies the development of human society and the place of man in it. As we have already said, it includes knowledge from other branches of science, such as philosophy, sociology, political science, ethics, history, economics and law.

Political science deals with issues of the political system of society, power, and the structure of the state.

Economy examines the production, distribution, exchange and consumption of produced goods and services, production (economic) relations in society, economic systems, problems of the state's influence on the economy. It is well known that people's needs are limitless - they are constantly changing and increasing. Their limitlessness is due to the desire of people to increase consumption and make them more attractive own life. Unfortunately, economic resources are limited, therefore the most important problem of economic life is their distribution in such a way as to satisfy people's needs as best as possible.

Thus, The subject of economic science is to substantiate ways of distributing limited resources in order to ensure the most complete satisfaction of the needs of society.

Jurisprudence studies the rules of behavior, problems of lawful behavior, offenses and punishments for them.

In modern society, the need and importance of social science are quite obvious and realized. From a scientific point of view, the need for social science lies in the fact that no science can replace it, because it gives a holistic view of society. By forming a holistic idea of ​​society, social science creates new knowledge, a new worldview. It absorbs the most important, fundamental and valuable of the social sciences, but is not a simple sum of them. It is thanks to social science that we have the opportunity to acquire knowledge about society and man, in which the diversity of information leads to ideological changes in consciousness associated with an understanding of society, which means social studies has scientific meaning.

In modern society, the need and importance of social science is realized, perhaps, by everyone. Let's take a closer look at what they are. Three aspects of need can be distinguished: scientific, humanitarian and civil.

From a scientific point of view, the need for social science lies in the fact that no science can replace it, that only it can give a holistic picture of society, not divided into dozens of sciences that have detailed information necessary only for narrow specialists. At the same time, social science is not a “hodgepodge”, not some kind of computer that simply collects information from all the humanities. By forming a holistic idea of ​​society, taking the most important, fundamental and valuable of the social sciences, social science creates new knowledge, because the whole is always larger, more complex than the simple sum of its parts and cannot be reduced to it.

Thus, thanks to social science, our knowledge about society increases. And in this sense, social science has scientific meaning.

From a humanitarian point of view, social science is necessary for formation of a highly moral personality. This is facilitated by the study of the spiritual sphere of society: culture in general, philosophy, religion, art and morality. By becoming familiar with spiritual values ​​and knowledge, a person expands and deepens his worldview horizon. Social studies, therefore, are personally significant, because they give young people the necessary knowledge, both in the sphere of morality and regarding the society in which they live. And in this sense, social science is necessary for everyone, regardless of the chosen specialty, because There is no individual without morality, just as there is no real citizen without knowledge of society.. Social studies contributes to the socialization of the individual and helps young people adapt to difficult social reality.

A modern democratic society cannot but be civil, i.e. it must be a collection having rights and having responsibilities citizens. A full-fledged citizen can be a person who is not only endowed with legal rights and responsibilities, but also has a sufficient level of self-awareness, i.e. conscious of himself, his place and role in society, actively participating in political life. Social studies contributes to the formation of a progressive civic position that reflects the needs of modern society. A conscious attitude towards one's civic duty and a true understanding of what it consists of is impossible without the body of knowledge about society that only the study of social science can provide. Democracy is impossible without a high level of self-awareness of citizens.

Related information.

Science is the basic form of human knowledge.

Scientific knowledge differs from everyday knowledge:

• the desire for maximum objectivity in the description of the objects and phenomena being studied;
• special (scientific) language used to describe objects of study;
• specific ways to substantiate the truth of the acquired knowledge;
• the desire to obtain knowledge that satisfies not only the immediate needs of society, but also those that are important for future generations.

Highlight two levels scientific knowledge - empirical And theoretical. The main task empirical level scientific knowledge is the description of objects and phenomena, and the main form of knowledge obtained is empirical (scientific) fact. At the theoretical level, the phenomena being studied are explained; the acquired knowledge is recorded in the form of laws, principles and scientific theories, which reveal the essence of cognizable objects.

Main methods, used in the process of empirical cognition, are observation, empirical description, experiment, etc.

Observation is a purposeful study of individual objects and phenomena, during which the observer gains knowledge about external properties and characteristics of the object being studied. Observation is based on such forms of sensory cognition as sensation, perception, and representation.

The result of the observation is empirical description, during which the received information is recorded using linguistic means or other symbolic forms.

Experiments occupy a special place among the above methods. An experiment is a method of studying phenomena that is carried out under strictly defined conditions, and the latter can, if necessary, be recreated and controlled by the subject of knowledge (scientist). A special kind experiment is thought experiment, in which the given conditions are imaginary, but necessarily comply with the laws of science and the rules of logic. When conducting a thought experiment, a scientist operates not with real objects of knowledge, but with their images or theoretical models. On this basis, this type of experiment is classified not as an empirical, but as a theoretical method of scientific knowledge. We can say that it is a link between two levels of scientific knowledge - theoretical and empirical.

Other methods used in the process of theoretical scientific knowledge include the method hypotheses, as well as the formulation scientific theory and etc.

Essence hypothesis method is to put forward and justify certain assumptions with the help of which they hope to explain those empirical facts that do not fit into the framework of previous teachings. The purpose of testing a hypothesis is to formulate laws, principles or theories that explain phenomena in the surrounding world. Such hypotheses are called explanatory. Along with them, there are so-called existential hypotheses, i.e., assumptions about the existence of phenomena that are not yet known to science, but may soon be discovered (an example of such a hypothesis is the assumption about the existence of elements of D.I. Mendeleev’s periodic table that have not yet been discovered).

The construction of scientific theories is based on testing hypotheses. Scientific theory is a logically consistent description of the phenomena of the surrounding world, which is expressed by a special system of concepts. Any scientific theory performs not only a descriptive, but also a prognostic function: it helps determine the direction further development society, as well as the phenomena and processes occurring in it. This is its main meaning.

Social sciences, their classification

Society is such a complex object that science alone cannot study it. Only through the joint efforts of many sciences can it be possible to fully and consistently study and describe the most complex formation that exists in this world - human society. The set of sciences that study society as a whole is called social science. These sciences include philosophy, history, sociology, economics, political science, psychology and social psychology, anthropology and cultural studies. These are fundamental sciences, consisting of many subdisciplines, sections, directions, and scientific schools.

Having emerged later than many other sciences, social science absorbs their concepts and specific results - statistics, tabular data, graphs, conceptual schemes and theoretical categories.

In the totality of sciences related to social science, there are two types - social And Humanities.

If Social sciencies is the science of human behavior, then Humanities- These are the sciences of the spirit. It can be said differently, the subject of the social sciences is society, and the subject of the humanities is culture. The main subject of social sciences is people's behavior.

Sociology, psychology, social psychology, economics, political science, as well as anthropology and ethnography (the science of peoples) are classified as social sciences. They have a lot in common, they are closely related and form a kind of scientific union. Adjacent to it is a group of other related disciplines - philosophy, history, art history, cultural studies, literary studies. They are classified as humanitarian knowledge.

Since related sciences constantly interact and enrich each other with new knowledge, the boundaries between social philosophy, social psychology, economics, sociology and anthropology can be considered very conditional. At their intersection, interdisciplinary sciences are constantly emerging - for example, social anthropology appeared at the intersection of sociology and anthropology, and economic psychology appeared at the intersection of economics and psychology. In addition, there are such integrative disciplines as legal anthropology, sociology of law, economic sociology, cultural anthropology, psychological and economic anthropology, historical sociology.

The leading social sciences include:

Economy- the science that studies the principles of organization economic activity people, relations of production, exchange, distribution and consumption that are formed in every society, formulates the basis for the rational behavior of the producer and consumer of goods. Economics also studies the behavior of large masses of people in a market situation. In small and large - in public and private life - people cannot take a step without affecting economic relations. When negotiating a job, buying goods on the market, counting our income and expenses, demanding payment of wages, and even going on a visit, we one way or another take into account the principles of saving.

Sociology- a science that studies the relationships that arise between groups and communities of people, the nature of the structure of society, problems of social inequality and the principles of resolving social conflicts.

Political science- a science that studies the phenomenon of power, the specifics of social management, as well as the relationships that arise in the process of carrying out government activities.

Psychology- the science of the laws, mechanisms and facts of the mental life of humans and animals. The main theme of psychological thought in antiquity and the Middle Ages is the problem of the soul. Psychologists study stable and repetitive behavior in individual behavior. The focus is on problems of perception, memory, thinking, learning and development human personality. In modern psychology there are many branches of knowledge, including psychophysiology, zoopsychology and comparative psychology, social psychology, child psychology and educational psychology, developmental psychology, occupational psychology, creativity psychology, medical psychology and etc.

Anthropology- the science of the origin and evolution of man, the formation of human races, and the normal variations in the physical structure of man. She studies primitive tribes that have survived from primitive times in the lost corners of the planet: their customs, traditions, culture, and behavior patterns.

Social psychology studies small groups. The role of a small group can be a family, a group of friends, or a sports team. Social psychology is a frontier discipline. It was formed at the intersection of sociology and psychology, taking on tasks that these sciences could not solve. It turned out that a large society does not influence the individual directly, but through an intermediary - small groups. This world of friends, acquaintances and relatives closest to a person plays an exceptional role in our lives. In general, we do not live in large worlds, but in small ones - in a specific house, family, company, etc. The small world sometimes influences us even more than the big one. That is why science appeared and began to study it closely.

Story- one of the most important sciences in the system of social and humanitarian knowledge. The object of its study is man and his activities throughout the existence of human civilization. The word “history” is of Greek origin and means “research”, “searching”. Some scholars believed that the object of studying history is the past. The famous French historian M. Blok categorically objected to this: “The very idea that the past as such can be an object of science is absurd.” Is it so?

The emergence of historical science dates back to the times of ancient civilizations. The “father” of history is considered to be the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, who compiled a work dedicated to the Greco-Persian wars. However, this is hardly fair: Herodotus used not so much historical data as legends, legends and myths, so his work cannot be considered completely reliable. There are much more reasons to consider Thucydides, Polybius, Arrian, Tacitus, and Marcellinus to be the “fathers” of history. These ancient historians used documents, their own observations, and eyewitness accounts to describe events. All ancient peoples considered themselves historiographers and revered history as a teacher of life. Polybius wrote: “Lessons drawn from history most surely lead to enlightenment and prepare us for engaging in public affairs; the story of the trials of other people is the most intelligible and the only teacher that teaches us to courageously endure the vicissitudes of fate.”

And although over time people began to doubt that history could teach subsequent generations not to repeat the mistakes of previous ones, the importance of studying this science was not disputed. The famous Russian historian V. O. Klyuchevsky wrote in his reflections on history: “History teaches nothing, but only punishes for ignorance of the lessons.”

Culturology I am primarily interested in the world of art - painting, architecture, sculpture, dance, entertainment and mass performances, educational and scientific institutions. The subjects of cultural creativity are individuals, small and large groups. In this sense, cultural studies covers all types of associations of people, but only to the extent that it concerns the creation of cultural values.

Demography studies population - the entire multitude of people who make up human society. Demography is primarily interested in how people reproduce, how long they live, why and in what numbers they die, and where large masses of people move. She looks at man partly as a natural, partly as a social being. All living things are born, die and reproduce. These processes are regulated primarily by biological laws. For example, science believes that a person cannot live more than 110–150 years. This is its biological resource. However, most people live to an average age of 60–70 years. But this is today, and two hundred years ago average duration life did not exceed 30–40 years. Even today, people in poor and underdeveloped countries live less than in rich and developed countries. The life expectancy of a person is determined both by biological and hereditary characteristics, and by social conditions (life, work, rest, nutrition).

Social and humanitarian knowledge

Social cognition- this is knowledge of society. Understanding society is a very complex process for a number of reasons.

1. Society is the most complex of objects of knowledge. In social life, all events and phenomena are so complex and diverse, so different from each other and so intricately intertwined that it is very difficult to detect certain patterns in it.
2. In social cognition, not only material (as in natural science), but also ideal, spiritual relationships are studied. They are much more complex, diverse and contradictory than connections in nature.
3. In social cognition, society acts both as an object and as a subject of cognition: people create their own history and they also know it.

When talking about the specifics of social cognition, extremes should be avoided. On the one hand, it is impossible to explain the reasons for Russia’s historical lag using Einstein’s theory of relativity. On the other hand, one cannot assert that all the methods by which nature is studied are unsuitable for social science.

The primary and elementary method of social cognition is observation. But it is different from the observation that is used in natural science. In social science, cognition concerns animate objects endowed with consciousness. And if, for example, the stars, even after many years of observation of them, remain completely unperturbed in relation to the observer and his intentions, then in public life everything is different. As a rule, a reverse reaction is detected on the part of the object being studied, which either makes observation impossible from the very beginning, or interrupts it somewhere in the middle, or introduces such interference into it that significantly distorts the results of the study. That's why non-participant observation in social science gives insufficiently reliable results. Another method is needed, which is called participant observation. It is carried out not from the outside, not from the outside in relation to the object being studied (social group), but from within it.

For all its significance and necessity, observation in social science demonstrates the same fundamental shortcomings as in other sciences. While observing, we cannot change the object in the direction that interests us, regulate the conditions and course of the process being studied, or reproduce it as many times as required to complete the observation. Significant shortcomings of observation are largely overcome in experiment.

The experiment is active and transformative. In an experiment we interfere with the natural course of events. According to V. A. Shtoff, experiment can be defined as a type of activity undertaken for the purpose of scientific knowledge, the discovery of objective laws and consisting of influencing the object (process) under study using special tools and devices. Thanks to the experiment, it is possible to: 1) isolate the object under study from the influence of side, unimportant phenomena that obscure its essence and study it in pure form; 2) repeatedly reproduce the course of the process under strictly fixed, controllable and accountable conditions; 3) systematically change, vary, combine various conditions in order to obtain the desired result.

Social experiment has a number of significant features.

1. The social experiment is of a concrete historical nature. Experiments in the field of physics, chemistry, biology can be repeated in different eras, in different countries, because the laws of natural development do not depend on the form and type of production relations, or on national and historical characteristics. And social experiments aimed at transforming the economy, national government structure, education and training systems, etc., in various historical eras, in different countries can give not only different, but also directly opposite results.
2. The object of a social experiment has a much lesser degree of isolation from similar objects remaining outside the experiment and from all the influences of a given society as a whole. Here, such reliable isolating devices as vacuum pumps, protective screens, etc., used in the process of a physical experiment, are impossible. This means that a social experiment cannot be carried out with a sufficient degree of approximation to “pure conditions”.
3. A social experiment places increased demands on compliance with “safety precautions” during its implementation compared to natural science experiments, where even experiments carried out by trial and error are acceptable. A social experiment constantly has a direct impact on the well-being, well-being, physical and mental health of the people involved in the “experimental” group. Underestimation of any detail, the slightest failure during the experiment can have a detrimental effect on people, and no good intentions of its organizers can justify this.
4. A social experiment should not be conducted for the purpose of directly obtaining theoretical knowledge. Conducting experiments (experiments) on people is inhumane in the name of any theory. A social experiment is an experiment that establishes, confirms or denies.

One of the theoretical methods of cognition is historical method research, i.e., a method that reveals significant historical facts and stages of development, which ultimately makes it possible to create a theory of the object, revealing the logic and patterns of its development.

Another method is modeling. Under modeling understand a method of scientific knowledge in which research is carried out not on the object that interests us (the original), but on its substitute (analogue), similar to it in certain respects. As in other branches of scientific knowledge, modeling in social science is used when the subject itself is not available for direct study (say, it does not yet exist, as, for example, in predictive studies) or this direct study requires enormous costs, or is generally impossible due to ethical considerations.

In his goal-setting activities, from which history is formed, man has always strived to comprehend the future. Interest in the future has intensified in the modern era due to the emergence of the information and computer society, as well as due to those global problems that call into question the very existence of humanity. Foresight came out on top.

Scientific foresight represents such knowledge about the unknown, which is based on already known knowledge about the essence of the phenomena and processes that interest us and about the trends in their further development. Scientific foresight does not claim to have absolutely accurate and complete knowledge of the future and to mandatory reliability: even carefully verified and balanced forecasts are justified only with a certain degree of reliability.

The science– one of the forms of spiritual culture.

Historically, science arose from practice and develops on its basis.
The main driver of the development of science is social needs and, above all, the needs of material production.
The most profound discoveries in our time can be made either at the junction of sciences or at the junction of their interweaving.

Modern science is an essential component of the scientific and technological revolution (STR), its driving force.

NTR- these are fundamental shifts in the system of scientific knowledge and technology, inextricably linked with the historical process of human development.
Achievements of NTR:
- Application of robots (automatically controlled machines);
- Use of fundamentally new materials with specified properties (plastics, artificial fibers);
- Introduction of ultrasonic and other processing methods into production;
- Use of new types of energy;
- Use of lasers in technology;
- Space exploration.

But: it is possible to combat the harmful consequences of scientific and technological revolution only with the help of scientific and technological revolution itself.

Lecture:

Concept, types and functions of science

One of the social institutions of the spiritual sphere of society is science. Science received state and public recognition in Russia only at the beginning of the 18th century. On January 28 (February 8), 1724, by decree of Peter I, the first scientific institution, the Academy of Sciences and Arts, was founded in St. Petersburg. Science plays a significant role in the life of an individual and society as a whole. Thus, a person’s professional success directly depends on the degree of mastery of scientific knowledge. And the progressive development of society cannot be imagined without the achievements of science. What is science? The first word associated with science is knowledge - the basis of science, without which it loses its meaning. Knowledge is created as a result research activities scientists and social institutions (scientific institutions). Therefore, we formulate and remember the following definition:

The science is a special system of knowledge about man, society, nature, technology, obtained as a result of the research activities of scientists and scientific institutions.

The diversity of real world phenomena has led to the emergence of many types of sciences. There are about 15 thousand of them. They are all divided into:

• natural – natural sciences, including astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology, etc.;
• social and humanitarian – sciences about society and man, including history, sociology, political science, economics, jurisprudence, etc.;
• technical types – sciences of technology, which include computer science, agronomy, architecture, mechanics, robotics and other sciences of technology.