• What are the social sciences?
• Characteristics of the social sciences
• History of the social sciences
• Object of study of the social sciences
• Importance of the social sciences
• Areas of social sciences
• Types of social sciences
• Natural Sciences

We explain what the social sciences are, its history, object of study, areas and other characteristics. Also, the natural sciences.

Each of the social sciences has its own methodological and epistemological framework.

What are the social sciences?

The social sciences are the diverse disciplines that scientifically study the Humans. They make up a set of knowledge completely different from the natural Sciences and the humanities, since they use the method of the former, but they deal with the same matter as the latter.

What is and what is not a social science, however, may differ from one academy to another. There is no single and universal criterion in this regard, although there is a certain margin of consensus. Some disciplines, such as HistoryFor example, they can be considered as a social science or one of the humanities depending on the country where we are.

As a whole, the social sciences are relatively young disciplines, at least compared to most of the natural sciences and to many traditions literate. Pose problems methodological and epistemological totally own and independent.

However, it is common for them to borrow different knowledge, tools or procedures. It may also happen that some social science goes to other distant areas of knowledge when it is convenient for them.

Characteristics of the social sciences

The social sciences can also use knowledge from the natural sciences.

Broadly speaking, the social sciences are characterized by the following:

• They start from the application of scientific method to the study of human beings, both in their material and immaterial instances, that is, their behaviors, behaviors group, institutions and own dynamics.
• Methodologically speaking, they can dabble in research basic (knowledge for its own sake) or applied (knowledge to solve problems concrete), since there is no consensus as to what should be the methodology typical of the social sciences.
• Similarly, they may be interested in types of analysis quantitative or qualitative, depending on the perspective on the human fact from which they start.
• They are often interdisciplinary, and their boundaries are often intertwined or permeate. They also tend to borrow humanistic or natural science knowledge.

They can be classified into three different epistemological approaches:

• The naturalistic approach. That aspires to achieve the margins of objectivity and knowledge full that the natural sciences handle around their objects of study. That is, they understand the human phenomenon from its possible causes.
• The interpretive approach. That, instead of aspiring to understand the causes, as if from a physical phenomenon involved, they aspire to understand the motivations behind the human.
• The critical approach. Heir to the school Marxist, which understands the human from its ideologies, its social and / or political forces, and the structure social dominant at the time of the investigation.

History of the social sciences

While the social sciences are formally a modern invention, many of them have diverse roots in science. philosophy of the Antiquity. At that time, there was no distinction between the exercise of math and the study of poetry wave history.

This differentiation of the areas of knowledge began with the Illustration and the birth of scientific thought. While the natural sciences come from the natural philosophy of the time, the social sciences come from the so-called moral philosophy.

In the 18th century, the birth of the social sciences was driven by French encyclopedists such as Denis Diderot (1713-1784) or Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778). Then, with the rise of positivism in the nineteenth century, came the idea of ​​understanding the issues surrounding the humanity under the same logic that scientists understood.

The French philosopher Augusto Comte (1798-1857) was the first to try to name this nascent field of knowledge, first calling it “social physics”. His followers used similar terminology: "social research," "social facts," and finally, "social science."

Object of study of the social sciences

The object of study of the social sciences is the human being in its different and complex facets. The specific perspective or the specific sector of its existence that each social science deals with is different depending on which discipline we refer to.

The sociology, for example, aspires to understand the whole of the dynamics of societies, while the psychology aims to understand and explain how the human mind operates. As a whole, the social sciences try to build the science of the human being.

Importance of the social sciences

Although verifiable experiments are not common in the social sciences, nor are universal and immovable laws of the human world discovered, the social sciences are the best tool available to humanity to understand itself. Thanks to them, the human being can study himself from a rigorous, empirical, scientific point of view, away from the subjectivities and metaphysics of the art.

In fact, with the social sciences, theoretical tools can be conceived that explain our deepest artistic and political phenomena. Without them, it would be impossible to account for such a complex, diverse and varied phenomenon as is existence human.

Areas of social sciences

Geography studies the natural environments of the human being.

The social sciences encompass a very diverse set of areas, around which there is not always an organized consensus, but rather an active debate in academies. So the following list from social studies should be taken tentatively, rather than definitively:

• Anthropology. It is about the science of the human being, that is, an attempt to understand humanity from a holistic point of view: combining in a single discipline both its biological and natural aspects, as well as its cultural aspects.
• Politology or Political Sciences. Dedicated to the study of praxis and political theory, that is, to the conception and application of Models management and administration of companies. Or put more easily, study the governments.
• Economy. It is dedicated to the study of the production, administration and distribution of goods and services within a society, that is, it attempts to respond to how societies go about satisfying the demands potentially infinite of their citizens, with a finite set of resources.
• Geography. In this case, it is about the approach to human societies and their natural environments, from a spatial perspective. Thus, study the different scenery in which the human being inhabits, but also the distribution of the species in the planet, or even the methods of representation of the land surface (mapping).
• History. There is dissent as to whether or not history is a social science. Those who advocate that it is, affirm that it is the scientific study of humanity's past, as well as its narration or elaboration. In other cases, on the other hand, it is preferred to place it between the letters or humanities.
• Linguistics. The science that is dedicated to the study of the origin, evolution and nature of language verbal, that is, the human capacity to communication by excellence. It should not be confused with modern languages, since linguistics studies dead and living languages ​​alike, and seeks to develop a linguistic theory that serves to explain the extremely complex phenomenon that is language.
• Psychology. Dedicated to the study of the human mind, she is interested in behavior, learning and the very diverse psychic processes that take place in the individual or collective mind. It is subdivided into a huge number of branches, each one dedicated to a specific area of ​​the mind or its social and practical applications.
• Sociology. It is dedicated to the scientific study of human societies, whether populations regional, large communities or nations. In his study, he contemplates the socio-cultural phenomena that originate in society, but also the historical-cultural context in which they are inserted.

All these areas have common borders and loans are granted when required, giving rise to sub-disciplines and composing a complex and diverse field of knowledge.

Types of social sciences

There are no "types" properly speaking of social sciences, nor universal classifications to think about them. However, it is common to classify them into three large groups, according to their object of study. Such groups are:

• Sciences that study the human cognitive system. That is, they are interested in the individual's way of functioning and his relationship with the reality. In that sense, they are interested in communication, the language, learning, and training of individuals. This often leads them to enter the humanistic field. For example: psychology or linguistics.
• Sciences that study human social interaction. In other words, they specialize in the constitution of communities and the relationship of the individual with them. For example: political science or sociology.
• Sciences that study the evolution of societies. That is, they take the broader perspective and often holistic of human society, and choose to understand it in its context temporary. For example: history wave anthropology.

Natural Sciences

Unlike the social sciences, the natural sciences, also called “pure” or “hard” sciences (which leads us to suppose that the social sciences are “soft”), are those that are dedicated to the study of the natural world, that is, they study the laws that make up the universe, without contemplating the human perspective.

To do this, they use the scientific method and often the experimentation direct, reproducing in the laboratory the phenomena observed in the natural environment. The physical, the chemistry, the astronomy and the biology they are examples of natural sciences.