Human science - Wikipedia Human science From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to navigation Jump to search It has been suggested that this article be merged with Humanities. (Discuss) Proposed since January 2021. Study of the philosophical, biological, social, and cultural aspects of human life. "Moral science" redirects here. For the ethical concept, see Science of morality. This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Human science" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (February 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) Human science, or the human sciences plural, studies the philosophical, biological, social, and cultural aspects of human life.[1] Human Science aims to expand our understanding of the human world through a broad interdisciplinary approach. It encompasses a wide range of fields - including history, philosophy, sociology, psychology, evolutionary biology, biochemistry, neurosciences, folkloristics, and anthropology. [2] It is the study and interpretation of the experiences, activities, constructs, and artifacts associated with human beings. The study of the human sciences attempts to expand and enlighten the human being's knowledge of their existence, its interrelationship with other species and systems, and the development of artifacts to perpetuate the human expression and thought. It is the study of human phenomena. The study of the human experience is historical and current in nature. It requires the evaluation and interpretation of the historic human experience and the analysis of current human activity to gain an understanding of human phenomena and to project the outlines of human evolution. Human science is the objective, informed critique of human existence and how it relates to reality. Contents 1 Meaning of 'science' 2 History 2.1 Early development 2.2 Later development 3 Objective vs. subjective experiences 4 Human science in universities 5 Human Science Lab 6 See also 7 References 8 Bibliography 9 External links Meaning of 'science'[edit] Ambiguity and confusion regarding usage of the terms 'science', 'empirical science', and 'scientific method' have complicated the usage of the term 'human science' with respect to human activities. The term 'science' is derived from the Latin scientia meaning 'knowledge'. 'Science' may be appropriately used to refer to any branch of knowledge or study dealing with a body of facts or truths systematically arranged to show the operation of general laws. However, according to positivists, the only authentic knowledge is scientific knowledge which comes from positive affirmation of theories through strict scientific method, the application of knowledge or mathematics. As a result of the positivist influence, the term science is frequently employed as a synonym for empirical science. Empirical science is knowledge based on the scientific method, a systematic approach to verification of knowledge first developed for dealing with natural physical phenomena and emphasizing the importance of experience based on sensory observation. However, even with regard to the natural sciences, significant difference exist among scientists and philosophers of science with regard to what constitutes valid scientific method[3][page needed]—for example, evolutionary biology, geology and astronomy, studying events that cannot be repeated, can use a method of historical narratives.[4] More recently, usage of the term has been extended to the study of human social phenomena. Thus, natural and social sciences are commonly classified as science, whereas the study of classics, languages, literature, music, philosophy, history, religion, and the visual and performing arts are referred to as the humanities. Ambiguity with respect to the meaning of the term science is aggravated by the widespread use of the term formal science with reference to any one of several sciences that is predominantly concerned with abstract form that cannot be validated by physical experience through the senses, such as logic, mathematics, and the theoretical branches of computer science, information theory, and statistics. History[edit] The phrase 'human science' in English was used during the 17th-century scientific revolution, for example by Theophilus Gale,[5] to draw a distinction between supernatural knowledge (divine science) and study by humans (human science). John Locke also uses 'human science' to mean knowledge produced by people, but without the distinction.[6] By the 20th century, this latter meaning was used at the same time[7] as 'sciences that make human beings the topic of research'.[8] Human science (also, human sciences, humanistic social science, moral science, and moral sciences) refers to the investigation of human life and activities via an interdisciplinary framework spanning the sciences and humanities. Underlying Human science is the relationship between various humanistic modes of inquiry within fields such as, history, sociology, folkloristics, anthropology and economics, and advances in such things as genetics, evolutionary biology and the social sciences for the purpose of understanding our lives in a rapidly changing world. Its use of an empirical methodology that encompasses psychological experience contrasts to the purely positivistic approach typical of the natural sciences which exclude all methods not based solely on sensory observations. Modern approaches in the human sciences integrate an understanding of human structure, function and adaptation with a broader exploration of what it means to be human. The term is also used to distinguish not only the content of a field of study from those of the natural sciences, but also its methodology.[9] Early development[edit] The term moral science was used by David Hume (1711-1776) in his Enquiry concerning the Principles of Morals to refer to the systematic study of human nature and relationships. Hume wished to establish a "science of human nature" based upon empirical phenomena, and excluding all that does not arise from observation. Rejecting teleological, theological and metaphysical explanations, Hume sought to develop an essentially descriptive methodology; phenomena were to be precisely characterized. He emphasized the necessity of carefully explicating the cognitive content of ideas and vocabulary, relating these to their empirical roots and real-world significance.[10] A variety of early thinkers in the humanistic sciences took up Hume's direction. Adam Smith, for example, conceived of economics as a moral science in the Humean sense.[11] Later development[edit] Partly in reaction to the establishment of positivist philosophy and the latter's Comtean intrusions into traditionally humanistic areas such as sociology, non-postivistic researchers in the humanistic sciences began to carefully but emphatically distinguish the methodological approach appropriate to these areas of study, for which the unique and distinguishing characteristics of phenomena are in the forefront (e.g. for the biographer), from that appropriate to the natural sciences, for which the ability to link phenomena into generalized groups is foremost. In this sense, Johann Gustav Droysen contrasted the humanistic science's need to comprehend the phenomena under consideration with natural science's need to explain phenomena, while Windelband coined the terms idiographic for a descriptive study of the individual nature of phenomena, and nomothetic for sciences that aim to define the generalizing laws.[9] Wilhelm Dilthey brought nineteenth-century attempts to formulate a methodology appropriate to the humanistic sciences together with Hume's term "moral science", which he translated as Geisteswissenschaft - a term with no exact English equivalent. Dilthey attempted to articulate the entire range of the moral sciences in a comprehensive and systematic way.[12]:Chap. I Meanwhile, his conception of “Geisteswissenschaften” encompasses also the abovementioned study of classics, languages, literature, music, philosophy, history, religion, and the visual and performing arts. He characterized the scientific nature of a study as depending upon:[12]:Chapter XI The conviction that perception gives access to reality The self-evident nature of logical reasoning The principle of sufficient reason But the specific nature of the Geisteswissenschaften is based on the "inner" experience (Erleben), the "comprehension" (Verstehen) of the meaning of expressions and "understanding" in terms of the relations of the part and the whole – in contrast to the Naturwissenschaften, the "explanation" of phenomena by hypothetical laws in the "natural sciences".[13]:p. 86 Edmund Husserl, a student of Franz Brentano, articulated his phenomenological philosophy in a way that could be thought as a basis of Dilthey's attempt. Dilthey appreciated Husserl's Logische Untersuchungen[14] (1900/1901, the first draft of Husserl's Phenomenology) as an “epoch making“ epistemological foundation of his conception of Geisteswissenschaften.[13]:p. 14 In recent years, 'human science' has been used to refer to "a philosophy and approach to science that seeks to understand human experience in deeply subjective, personal, historical, contextual, cross-cultural, political, and spiritual terms. Human science is the science of qualities rather than of quantities and closes the subject-object split in science. In particular, it addresses the ways in which self-reflection, art, music, poetry, drama, language and imagery reveal the human condition. By being interpretive, reflective, and appreciative, human science re-opens the conversation among science, art, and philosophy."[15] Objective vs. subjective experiences[edit] Since Auguste Comte, the positivistic social sciences have sought to imitate the approach of the natural sciences by emphasizing the importance of objective external observations and searching for universal laws whose operation is predicated on external initial conditions that do not take into account differences in subjective human perception and attitude. Critics argue that subjective human experience and intention plays such a central role in determining human social behavior that an objective approach to the social sciences is too confining. Rejecting the positivist influence, they argue that the scientific method can rightly be applied to subjective, as well as objective, experience. The term subjective is used in this context to refer to inner psychological experience rather than outer sensory experience. It is not used in the sense of being prejudiced by personal motives or beliefs. Human science in universities[edit] Since 1878, the University of Cambridge has been home to the Moral Sciences Club, with strong ties to analytic philosophy.[16] The Human Science degree is relatively young. It has been a degree subject at Oxford since 1969. At University College London, it was proposed in 1973 by Professor J. Z. Young and implemented two years later. His aim was to train general science graduates who would be scientifically literate, numerate and easily able to communicate across a wide range of disciplines, replacing the traditional Classics training for higher-level government and management careers. Central topics include the evolution of humans, their behaviour, molecular and population genetics, population growth and ageing, ethnic and cultural diversity and the human interaction with the environment, including conservation, disease and nutrition. The study of both biological and social disciplines, integrated within a framework of human diversity and sustainability, should enable the human scientist to develop professional competencies suited to address such multidimensional human problems. In the United Kingdom, Human Science is offered at degree level at several institutions, these include: University of Oxford[17] University College London (as Human Sciences and as Human Sciences and Evolution)[18] King's College London (as Anatomy, Developmental & Human Biology) University of Exeter[19] Durham University (as Health and Human Sciences) Cardiff University (as Human and Social Sciences) Osaka University[20] Human Science Lab[edit] This section contains information of unclear or questionable importance or relevance to the article's subject matter. Please help improve this section by clarifying or removing indiscriminate details. If importance cannot be established, the section is likely to be moved to another article, pseudo-redirected, or removed. Find sources: "Human science" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) The Human Science Lab (HSL) is a global centre for world-leading research on evolutionary, biological and behavioural aspect of human species. It is located in Oxfordshire and London. [21] Its current research focus are human cognition, motivation, intelligence, leadership, critical thinking, learning, ergonomics and human well-being.[22] It adopts a multi-disciplinary approach for most of its research incorporating neuroscience, anthropology, psychology, evolutionary biology, genetics, and physiology.[23] See also[edit] History of the Human Sciences (journal) Social science References[edit] ^ "Human Sciences". University of Oxford. Retrieved 3 March 2017. ^ "History of the Human Sciences". SAGE Publications Inc. Retrieved 3 March 2017. ^ Popper, Karl, Logic of Scientific Discovery, Routledge, 2002. ^ Mayr, Ernst. Darwin's Influence on Modern Thought. Archived 2006-07-17 at the Wayback Machine ^ Theophilus Gale (1677). The Court of the Gentiles, Or, A Discourse Touching the Original of Human Literature: Both Philologie and Philosophie, from the Scriptures & Jewish Church : in Order of a Demonstration Of, I. The Perfection of Gods Word, and Church-light. II. The Imperfection of Natures Light ... III. The Right Use of Human Learning ... H. Hall. pp. 3–. ^ John Locke (1753). An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. S. Birt. pp. 170–. ^ Herbert Spencer Jennings (1930). The Biological Basis of Human Nature. W.W. Norton, Incorporated. ^ United States. Congress. House. Committee on Education (1928). Proposed department of education: Hearing[s] before the Committee on education, House of Representatives, Seventieth Congress, first session on H. R. 7, a bill to create a department of education and for other purposes. April 25, 26, 27,28 and May 2, 1928. U.S. Govt. print. off. ^ a b Georg Henrik von Wright, Explanation and Understanding, ISBN 0-8014-0644-7, pp. 4–7 ^ "David Hume", Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy ^ Book Review of Jeffrey T. Young's Economics As a Moral Science: The Political Economy of Adam Smith ^ a b Wilhelm Dilthey, An Introduction to the Human Sciences, Princeton Press ^ a b Wilhelm Dilthey, Gesammelte Schriften, vol. VII ^ Edmund Husserl, Logical Investigations, 1973 [1913], Findlay, J. N., trans. London: Routledge ^ "Saybrook Graduate School". Saybrook.edu. Retrieved 2019-03-19. ^ "The Moral Sciences Club (A Short History)". Cambridge Faculty of Philosophy. ^ "Human Sciences | University of Oxford". Ox.ac.uk. 2019-03-07. Retrieved 2019-03-19. ^ "Subject areas | UCL London's Global University". Ucl.ac.uk. Retrieved 2019-03-19. ^ "Human Sciences | Undergraduate Study | University of Exeter". Exeter.ac.uk. Retrieved 2019-03-19. ^ "Graduate School of Human Sciences / School of Human Sciences Osaka University". Hus.osaka-u.ac.jp. Retrieved 2019-03-19. ^ "Introduction". Human Science Lab. Retrieved 26 February 2017. ^ "Research at Human Science Lab". Human Science Lab. Retrieved 26 February 2017. ^ "About Human Science Lab". Human Science Lab. Retrieved 26 February 2017. Bibliography[edit] Flew, A. (1986). David Hume: Philosopher of Moral Science, Basil Blackwell, Oxford Hume, David, An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals External links[edit] Institute for Comparative Research in Human and Social Sciences (ICR) -Japan Human Science Lab -London Human Science(s) across Global Academies Marxism philosophy v t e Social sciences Outline History Index Primary Anthropology (archaeology cultural linguistics social) Economics (microeconomics macroeconomics econometrics mathematical) Geography (human integrative) History cultural auxiliary sciences economic human military political social) Law (jurisprudence legal history legal systems public law private law) Political science (international relations comparative theory public policy) Psychology (abnormal cognitive developmental personality social) Sociology (criminology demography internet rural urban) Interdisciplinary Administration (business public) Anthrozoology Area studies Business studies Cognitive science Communication studies Community studies Cultural studies Development studies Education Environmental (social science studies) Food studies Gender studies Global studies History of technology Human ecology Information science International studies Linguistics Media studies Philosophy of science (economics history psychology social science) Planning (land use regional urban) Political ecology Political economy Public health Regional science Science and technology studies Science studies historical Quantum social science Social work Vegan studies List List of social science journals Other categorizations Humanities Geisteswissenschaft Human science Category Commons  Society portal Wikiversity v t e Positivism Perspectives Antihumanism Empiricism Rationalism Scientism Declinations Legal positivism Logical positivism / analytic philosophy Positivist school Postpositivism Sociological positivism Machian positivism (empirio-criticism) Rankean historical positivism Polish positivism Russian Machism Principal concepts Consilience Demarcation Evidence Induction Justification Pseudoscience Critique of metaphysics Unity of science Verificationism Antitheses Antipositivism Confirmation holism Critical theory Falsifiability Geisteswissenschaft Hermeneutics Historicism Historism Human science Humanities Methodological dualism Problem of induction Reflectivism Related paradigm shifts in the history of science Non-Euclidean geometry (1830s) Uncertainty principle (1927) Related topics Behavioralism Post-behavioralism Critical rationalism Criticism of science Epistemology anarchism idealism nihilism pluralism realism Holism Instrumentalism Modernism Naturalism in literature Nomothetic–idiographic distinction Objectivity in science Operationalism Phenomenalism Philosophy of science Deductive-nomological model Ramsey sentence Sense-data theory Qualitative research Relationship between religion and science Sociology Social science Philosophy Structural functionalism Structuralism Structuration theory Positivist-related debate Method Methodenstreit (1890s) Werturteilsstreit (1909–1959) Positivismusstreit (1960s) Fourth Great Debate in international relations (1980s) Science wars (1990s) Contributions The Course in Positive Philosophy (1830) A General View of Positivism (1848) Critical History of Philosophy (1869) Idealism and Positivism (1879–1884) The Analysis of Sensations (1886) The Logic of Modern Physics (1927) Language, Truth, and Logic (1936) The Two Cultures (1959) The Universe in a Nutshell (2001) Proponents Richard Avenarius A. J. Ayer Alexander Bogdanov Auguste Comte Eugen Dühring Émile Durkheim Ernst Laas Ernst Mach Berlin Circle Vienna Circle Criticism Materialism and Empirio-criticism (1909) History and Class Consciousness (1923) The Logic of Scientific Discovery (1934) The Poverty of Historicism (1936) World Hypotheses (1942) Two Dogmas of Empiricism (1951) Truth and Method (1960) The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962) Conjectures and Refutations (1963) One-Dimensional Man (1964) Knowledge and Human Interests (1968) The Poverty of Theory (1978) The Scientific Image (1980) The Rhetoric of Economics (1986) Critics Theodor W. Adorno Gaston Bachelard Mario Bunge Wilhelm Dilthey Paul Feyerabend Hans-Georg Gadamer Thomas Kuhn György Lukács Karl Popper Willard Van Orman Quine Max Weber Concepts in contention Knowledge Objectivity Phronesis Truth Verstehen Category Authority control GND: 4481515-3 NDL: 01080825 Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Human_science&oldid=997996621" Categories: Human sciences Hidden categories: Webarchive template wayback links Articles to be merged from January 2021 All articles to be merged Articles with short description Short description matches Wikidata Short description is different from Wikidata Articles needing additional references from February 2011 All articles needing additional references Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from October 2012 Articles containing German-language text Wikipedia articles with GND identifiers Wikipedia articles with NDL identifiers Navigation menu Personal tools Not logged in Talk Contributions Create account Log in Namespaces Article Talk Variants Views Read Edit View history More Search Navigation Main page Contents Current events Random article About Wikipedia Contact us Donate Contribute Help Learn to edit Community portal Recent changes Upload file Tools What links here Related changes Upload file Special pages Permanent link Page information Cite this page Wikidata item Print/export Download as PDF Printable version In other projects Wikimedia Commons Languages العربية Asturianu Deutsch Eesti Español Frysk Galego 한국어 Latina Lëtzebuergesch Македонски Bahasa Melayu Nederlands 日本語 Português Shqip සිංහල Simple English Српски / srpski Suomi Tagalog தமிழ் Tiếng Việt 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 3 January 2021, at 07:10 (UTC). Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers Contact Wikipedia Mobile view Developers Statistics Cookie statement