Social and humanitarian knowledge is the possession of the features of the structure of society. Let's try to understand the specificity of such knowledge.
The nuances of the social sciences
Currently, there is such a problem as the classification of social sciences and humanities. Some authors recommend dividing them into humanitarian and social disciplines. Others believe that such a division is impractical. Such a disagreement in views was an excellent reason for the institution 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 features of this humanitarian direction, researchers conduct sociological surveys, analyze the change in the composition of the administration. Among the social sciences, jurisprudence, political science, history, philosophy, economics are distinguished.
Humanitarian sciences
They include religious studies, cultural studies, psychology, pedagogy. There are many similarities between humanitarian and social disciplines; therefore, this direction is a special region of knowledge.
Signs
Since social and humanitarian knowledge is a separate area of scientific knowledge, certain signs must be present in it. Among the features of the social sciences and humanities, we highlight the importance of taking into account the phenomenon of freedom. If nature sciences (chemistry, biology, physics) are aimed at studying the natural processes associated with living nature, then social and humanitarian knowledge is primarily the study of human activity in artistic, legal, and economic activities. The work of man does not occur; it is being accomplished. If natural processes do not have freedom, then human activity is completely independent. That is why socio-humanitarian knowledge is a minimum of certainty, a maximum of hypothetical.
Features of social sciences
The specificity of this area is that it is important to study subjective reality. If the objects of the study of the natural sciences are material objects, then the humanities are engaged in the study of material systems, and therefore the analysis of objective reality. The social and humanitarian profile is associated with human consciousness. Since it is sovereign, that is, inherent in any particular subject, it is rather difficult to conduct research in this direction. For many people, the consciousness of a particular subject is inaccessible. They can only see external manifestations in the form of speech and actions that are controlled by consciousness. It is on them that others evaluate the interlocutor. But the problem lies in the fact that either a real criminal or a very vulnerable person may well be hiding under external decency.
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, oxidation state, valency, nuclear charge. Its peculiarity is that it is incorporeal, incorporeal. In fact, the information is provided in perfect form, regardless of the immediate medium - the brain. It is for these reasons that it is not possible to fix consciousness with objective methods. Human feelings can not be measured with a ruler, determined by a dynamometer. A variety of medical and physical devices make it possible to record only physiological brain processes that are carriers of consciousness. For example, you can set the frequency of excitation of nerve cells, their spatial structure. Consciousness is given to man as internal, subjective experiences. It can not be determined by instruments, you can only feel. Despite all the difficulties that exist in the study of human spirituality, they cannot be considered insurmountable. Socio-humanitarian profile involves a detailed study of speech and human 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 translated from Latin means self-observation, the study of a person’s personal spiritual life, analysis of his own experiences. It allows you to get an idea of your own consciousness. Without the existence of this method, a person would not be able to study it, manage it.
Empathy (translated from English 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 of Social and Humanitarian Knowledge pays special attention in conducting research to identifying similar emotions in a group of like-minded people who together endured some dangers and difficulties. This method is based on sympathy, that is, internal disposition (empathy) for some person.
Sympathy
We can consider an emotionally colored unconscious positive assessment of a person’s actions based on communication experience. With its help, a community appears between different people. The specificity of social and humanitarian knowledge lies in the fact that only it involves the use of empathy and introspection. In the study of natural processes, such methods are not used.
The uniqueness of the studied objects
The system of social and humanitarian knowledge has a high degree of uniqueness of the objects under consideration. They have a unique combination of certain properties, which adds to the problems in creating a unified research system in the humanitarian sphere. If a physicist is faced with only a few terms, a biologist with two pine trees, then the teacher or lawyer must work with two completely different people. Comparing the chemical reaction with birch growth and economic reform, we note that different methods will be required to study them in detail. For the technical and natural areas, 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 minor, so you can skip them. But the teacher, psychologist, lawyer does not have the opportunity to abstract from the characteristics of a person. The classification of the social sciences and humanities is multifaceted, since there are many varieties in each science.
Explanation of social and humanitarian objects
For this, it is necessary to establish the features of the manifestation of a specific law in a particular object. Otherwise, it will not be possible to fully explain the object, to carry out practical actions with it. To identify the socio-psychological characteristics of an individual or social group, the category of mentality is currently used. Such a study is much more complicated than the study of the individual spiritual world of a person. To identify the mentality means to identify the unique from the individual, that is, to choose socio-psychological characteristics.
Learning algorithm
The Institute of Social and Humanitarian Knowledge (Kazan) for a long period of time has been developing a sequence of actions aimed at studying the unique characteristics of a living subject. As a result, two main stages were identified:
- identification of signs of various subjects, as well as their severity;
- comparing their different subjects, determining on the basis of this specific characteristics, identifying for each mentality.
If such a comparison is not made, we will talk about the study of personality, consciousness, but not about mentality. Psychologists and sociologists understand the importance of taking into account the laws of functioning of the studied objects. In the social and humanitarian sphere, static laws are applied. They have probabilistic causality; it is allowed to cause one of different actions by the cause. That is why all the predictions in the social and humanitarian sciences are approximate, and in technology and nature - clear and precise.
Among the features of the considered direction, we also highlight the limited use of a full-fledged experiment in them. For example, when studying the history of a particular country, it is inappropriate to talk about an experiment, because events have already occurred. You can not use research in sociology to analyze interethnic relations. Inappropriate experiment in the study of population migration. It is incorrect to specifically resettle people, change their living conditions, wages, family composition in order to get some kind of result. In addition, there are ethical limitations for research in the social sciences and humanities. Experiments that can harm human health, demean human dignity, and infringe authority are prohibited. Due to the limited experience, the empirical base in this area will be less reliable than in technical disciplines. The social direction uses certain criteria of science:
- rationality;
- evidence;
- experienced and practical verifiability;
- the ability to reproduce empirical material;
- essentiality.
The evidence base in the social and humanitarian cycle is less serious and rigorous 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 verification involves the use of observations, interviews, questionnaires, and testing. The reproduction of facts is possible only if there are results of statistical studies on a particular topic. If the experiment fails, evidence of several sources is considered its alternative. For example, in jurisprudence, pedagogy use the testimony of participants in the event. All objects of the social and humanitarian sphere are complex multilevel hierarchically built systems. In order to fully study the system, a significant time period is required.
The German philosopher V. Dilthey said that the main criterion for distinguishing various types of sciences is the method used. It was a German scientist who proposed to subdivide all sciences into those that study the spirit, and those that study the laws of nature. Not only analysis of the person himself, but also familiarity with texts and ancient manuscripts are widely used in the social and humanitarian cycle. Understanding and interpreting certain information helps psychologists, educators, lawyers, cope with the tasks assigned to them, primarily to study the individual characteristics of each individual person.