Diss Lesson 1

Emergence of
Social Science
Aristotle
 Who wrote that “man is a rational animal”

 We are all born and raised in a society
 Man is a social being (Gadamer)
 We interact with one another and build
relationship in the hope of pursuing better life
 We may share a distinct culture, same
political dynamics, or similar institutions
 As a rational animal, hence, we use our
reason in order to satisfy our curiosity and
discover the “how and why” of so many
things around us
The Human Knowledge
 In our contemporary times, the

human knowledge has so many
point of view to use in order to see
things
 There exist several classification of
the human knowledge that has
broad categories such as social
science, natural science and
humanities
Natural Science
 In this source of knowledge this

includes biology, chemistry, earth
sciences, physics
 Natural science actually explain
and attempt to predict various
phenomena in nature such
cellular composition, atomic
particles, weather conditions and
earthquake patterns
Philosophy
 Itis an Active realization of truth (Indian

Philosophy)
 This includes Metaphysics, Epistemology,
Theodicy, Phenomenology
 In every branches, it studies everything
through everything at the same time
 Metaphysics: Being
 Epistemology: Knowledge
 Theodicy: God
 Phenomenology: Experience and meaning
Humanities
Itis a branch of knowledge

that tends to humanize
human as they express
themselves in various forms
This includes art and art
history; literature, and
music among others
Contemporary Sources of Knowledge
 These are the domains pertain to the applied

professions that involves practical application
of the theories of knowledge to a actual or
situational phenomena which is applicable for a
domain
 Examples: Business Administration,
Communications, Technology Criminal Justice,
Education, Engineering, Law, Social Work,
Nursing and Medicine
 Social Sciences and Natural Sciences which are
based on empirical knowledge – evident
phenomena and can be tested for its accuracy
Society
 Defined as “people in general thought of living

together in organized communities with shared
laws, traditions and values” (Merriam-Webster)
 A group of people may be regulated by the same
set of norms with shared values and tradition
 Interaction of people they may gain benefits
which are impossible when they work individually
 The term ‘social’ is closely related human society
as it refers to the interaction of individuals and
groups as well as the welfare of humans as
members of the society
Science
 Pertains to “knowledge about or study of the

natural world based on facts learned through
experiments and observation” in the strict sense
– a body of knowledge
 Refers to the different methods or modes of
inquiry utilized in order t obtain knowledge
 Often times the scientific study related with
matter, rocks, plants, constellations, motion that
in cam be utilized systematically to study
intricacies of human experience, such as
attitudes, behaviour, opinions, feeling, and
ideologies among others.
Important Characteristics of Science
 Empirical – a phenomenon should be observable

using the different senses
 Propositional – things are explained in the form
of statements of generalizations
 Logical – employs the rules of logic in order to
validate inferences
 Public – ideas are communicated from one
scientist to another
 Problem-solving – presents rational explanations
about unexplained observations
 Continuous – knowledge is built upon by
previous and future research on the subject
The Importance of Social Sciences
 The social sciences may help us to

figure out the complexities of human
behaviour and relations as it
attempts to solve the
aforementioned societal problems
 Social science is significant in the
society as it may help researchers
solve the complexities of human
behaviour in order to help alleviate
problems and improve human
Anthropology
The rise of Western

imperialism in 18th and 19th
centuries prompted interest
in the study of ulture of the
colonies
Key Personalities: Franz Boas,
Bronislaw Malinowski
Economics
Became a separate
discipline with the
publication of Adams
Smith’s The Wealth of
Nations in 1776
Key personalities: Adams
Smith, Karl Marx
Geography
Became academic discipline in

Europe during 18th and 19
centuries while many
geographic societies were
founded in the 19th century
Key personalities: Immanuel
Kant, Alexader von Humboldt,
Carl Ritter
History
The Greeks were the first

writers of history is one of the
oldest of the social sciences
Key Personalities: Herodotus
(the father of
History),Thucydides, Leopold
von Ranke
Linguistics
Modern linguistics started to

develop in the 18 century with
philology reaching its zenith in
the 19 century
Key personalities: Ferdinand
de Saussure, Jacques Derrida,
Hans Georg- Gadamer, Jurgen
Habermas
Political Science
 As an academic discipline. Political

Science is a relatively new field that
was principally worked on by
American scholars in the 19th and
20th centuries
 Key personalities: Plato, Aristotle,
Augustine of Hippo, Niccolo
Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes, John
Locke
Sociology
 As a formal academic field of study

was founded by Emile Durkheim
during late 19th century with
establishment of the first sociology
department in Europe
 Key Personalities: Auguste Comte,
Karl Marx, Herbert Spencer, Emile
Durkheim
Psychology
 In 1879, Wilhelm Wundt established

the first psychological laboratory in
Leipzig (Germany) thereby
effectively making Psychology a
formal field of study
 Key personalities: Wilhelm Wundt, G.
Stanley Hall, John Dewey, Sigmund
Freud
Demography
The 19th century saw the

emergence of demography
when it separated from
statistics as field of study
Key personalities: Thomas
Malthus, Adolphe Quetelet,
William Farr

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Emergence of

 Who wrote that “man is a rational animal”

 In our contemporary times, the

 In this source of knowledge this

 Itis an Active realization of truth (Indian

Itis a branch of knowledge

 These are the domains pertain to the applied

 Defined as “people in general thought of living

 Pertains to “knowledge about or study of the

 Empirical – a phenomenon should be observable

 The social sciences may help us to

The rise of Western

Became academic discipline in

The Greeks were the first

Modern linguistics started to

 As an academic discipline. Political

 As a formal academic field of study

 In 1879, Wilhelm Wundt established

The 19th century saw the

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