Social and humanitarian knowledge is ... Specificity of social and humanitarian knowledge

Social and humanitarian knowledge is the mastery of the peculiarities of the structure of society. Let's try to understand the specificity of such knowledge.

Nuances of social and humanitarian sciences

At present, there is such a problem as the classification of social and human sciences. Some authors recommend to subdivide them into humanitarian and social disciplines. Others believe that such a division is inexpedient. This disagreement in views was an excellent reason for the Institute of Social and Humanitarian Knowledge to work.

Feature of social sciences

They represent a detailed study of society, as well as all of its existing areas: legal, political, economic. In order to get acquainted with the specifics of this humanitarian direction, researchers conduct sociological surveys, analyze the change in the composition of the administration. Among the social sciences there are jurisprudence, political science, history, philosophy, economics.

Humanitarian sciences

They include religious studies, cultural studies, psychology, and pedagogy. There are many similarities between humanitarian and social disciplines, therefore this direction is a special region of cognition.

Symptoms

If social and humanitarian knowledge is a separate direction of scientific knowledge, certain attributes must be present. Among the features of social and human sciences, let us emphasize the importance of taking into account the phenomenon of freedom. If the sciences of nature (chemistry, biology, physics) are aimed at studying natural processes associated with living nature, then social and humanitarian knowledge is first of all the study of human activity in artistic, legal, economic activity. The work of man does not happen, it is done. If natural processes do not have freedom, then human activity is completely independent. That is why social and humanitarian knowledge is a minimum of certainty, a maximum of hypotheticality.

Features of social and humanitarian sciences

The specificity of this direction is that it is important to study subjective reality. If the object of study of natural sciences are material objects, then the humanities are engaged in the study of material systems, hence the analysis of objective reality. The social and humanitarian profile is related to the person's consciousness. Since it is sovereign, that is inherent in some particular subject, it is rather difficult to conduct research in this direction. For many people, the consciousness of a particular subject is not available. They can see only external manifestations in the form of speech and actions that are controlled by consciousness. It is for them to assess the interlocutor. But the problem is that under external decency, either a real criminal or a very vulnerable person may well be hiding.

Problems

The Institute of Social and Humanitarian Knowledge also faces such a problem as the ideality of consciousness. It does not have certain chemical and physical properties, for example, the degree of oxidation, valence, and nuclear charge. Its peculiarity is that it is incorporeal, bodiless. In fact, information is provided in an ideal form, regardless of the direct carrier - the brain. It is for these reasons that it is impossible to fix consciousness with objective methods. Man's feelings can not be measured by a ruler, determined by a dynamometer. A variety of medical and physical instruments make it possible to record only the physiological brain processes that are carriers of consciousness. For example, you can set the frequency of excitation of nerve cells, their spatial structure. Consciousness to man is given as inner, subjective experiences. It can not be defined by instruments, you can only feel it. Despite all the difficulties that exist in the study of human spirituality, they can not be considered insurmountable. The social and humanitarian profile presupposes a detailed study of people's speech and activities, obtaining knowledge about the structure, composition, functions of human consciousness.

Methods

The structure of social and humanitarian knowledge is impossible without the most important methods: empathy and introspection. Introspection in translation from the Latin language means introspection, the study of the personal spiritual life of a person, the analysis of one's own experiences. It allows you to get an idea of your own mind. Without the existence of this method, a person could not study it, manage it.

Empathy (in English translation sounds like empathy) is the penetration of one person into the inner world of another, the perception of other people's thoughts and feelings as their personal qualities. The Institute for Social and Humanitarian Knowledge pays special attention to the identification of similar emotions in a group of like-minded people who together have suffered some dangers and difficulties. This method is based on sympathy, that is, the internal position (empathy) for a person.

Sympathy

It can be considered emotionally colored unconscious positive evaluation of human actions, based on the experience of communication. With its help there is a commonality between different people. Specificity of socio-humanitarian knowledge is that only it involves the use of empathy and introspection. When studying natural processes, such methods are not applied.

Uniqueness of studied objects

The system of social and humanitarian knowledge possesses a high degree of uniqueness of the objects under consideration. They have a unique set of certain properties, which adds to the challenges in creating a unified research system in the humanitarian field. If a physicist confronts only a few terms, a biologist with two pines, then the teacher or lawyer should work with two completely different people. Comparing the chemical reaction with the growth of birch and with economic reform, we note that for their detailed study, different methods will be required. For technical and natural directions, the application of an individual approach is not necessary, because the objects considered in these sciences are of the same type. The differences are mostly insignificant, so they can be missed. But the teacher, psychologist, lawyer does not have the ability to abstract from the characteristics of a person. The classification of social and human sciences is multifaceted, since there are many varieties in every science.

Explanation of socio-humanitarian facilities

To do this, it is necessary to establish the features of the manifestation in a particular object of a certain law. Otherwise, it will not be possible to fully explain the object, to conduct practical actions with it. To identify the socio-psychological characteristics of an individual or a social group, the category of mentality is currently applied. Such a study is much more complicated than the study of the individual spiritual world of man. To reveal the mentality means to define the unique from the individual, that is, to choose socio-psychological signs.

Algorithm of studying

Institute for Social and Humanitarian Knowledge (Kazan) for a long time worked on the development of a sequence of actions aimed at studying the unique features of a living subject. As a result, two main stages were identified:

• Identification of features of various subjects, as well as their degree of severity;
• A comparison of their different subjects, a definition based on this specific characteristics, identifying for each mentality.

If this comparison is not carried out, it will be a question of studying the personality, consciousness, but not about the mentality. Psychologists and sociologists understand the importance of taking into account the laws of the functioning of the objects under study. In the social and humanitarian sphere, static laws are applied. They have probabilistic causality, it is supposed that generation is the cause of one of the different actions. That is why all the predictions in the social and humanitarian science are approximate, and in technology and nature - precise and precise.

Among the features of the direction under consideration, we also single out the limited use of a full-fledged experiment in them. For example, when studying the history of a particular country, talking about the experiment is inappropriate, because the events have already occurred. It is impossible to use research in sociology for the analysis of interethnic relations. The experiment is also inappropriate when studying population migration. It is incorrect to specifically resettle people, change their housing conditions, the level of wages, the composition of the family, in order to get some result. In addition, there are ethical restrictions for carrying out research in the social and human sciences. Experiments that may harm the health of people, humiliate human dignity, infringe upon authority are forbidden. Because of the limited experience, the empirical base in this area will be less reliable than in technical disciplines. The social direction uses certain criteria of scientific character:

• rationality;
• Evidence;
• Experimental and practical verifiability;
• The possibility of reproducing empirical material;
• Essentiality.

The evidence base in the socio-humanitarian cycle is less serious and strict than in the exact sciences. The reason is the lack of theoretical provisions and established facts. Often, instead of laws, psychologists and educators act intuitively to study certain objects.

Conclusion

In the humanitarian sphere, empirical verifiability implies the use of observations, interviews, questionnaires, and testing. Reproduction of the facts is possible only if there are results of statistical research on the identified topic. If the experiment can not be carried out, its evidence is considered to be evidence from several sources. For example, in jurisprudence, pedagogy use the testimony of the participants in the event. All objects of the social and humanitarian sphere are complex multi-level hierarchically constructed systems. In order to fully study the systems, a significant time gap is required.

The German philosopher V. Dilthey said that the main criterion for distinguishing the sciences of a diverse species is the method used. It was the German scientist who proposed to subdivide all sciences into those that study the spirit, and those that study the laws of nature. Not only an analysis of the person himself, but also an acquaintance with the texts, old manuscripts are widely used in the social and humanitarian cycle. Understanding and interpreting certain information helps psychologists, teachers, lawyers, cope with the tasks assigned to them, first of all, to study the individual characteristics of each individual person.