Social and humanitarian sciences are understood as a cycle of scientific disciplines aimed at studying social phenomena. They study a person in the sphere of his spiritual, mental, moral, cultural and social activities.
The object of social and humanitarian knowledge in the broad sense of the word is a set of social phenomena: social relations and the functioning of social institutions, social actions and interactions of people and their results, presented in monuments of material and spiritual culture, events and historical facts.
Just like the objects of other sciences, society exists independently of the will and consciousness of people. At the same time, there is a specific difference between the object of the social sciences and the humanities: If the processes of the physical world are completely independent of human consciousness, then the processes occurring in society are associated with the activities of people. These processes are carried out only through the activities of people, their actions, which require volitional efforts of a person and are associated with his aspirations, desires, hopes, needs and goals (are objectively subjective).
The subject of social and humanitarian cognition is the community of scientists or an individual individual. Scientific socio-humanitarian knowledge is carried out by specialists who have characteristic professional knowledge and skills.
Features of social and humanitarian knowledge:
As one of the spheres of general scientific knowledge, social sciences and humanities have all the characteristics of science in general. But they also have their own specifics.
One of the important features of the social sciences and the humanities is the need to take into account the phenomenon of freedom in them. The natural sciences study natural processes. These processes just happen. Social sciences and humanities study human activity in the economic, legal, political, artistic spheres. Human activity does not happen, but is performed. The processes of nature do not have freedom. Human activity is free. Therefore, it is less predictable than natural processes. In this regard, in the social sciences and the humanities there is less certainty and more hypotheticalness than in the natural sciences.
The second feature of social sciences and humanities is the need to study subjective reality. Natural sciences study material objects. Social sciences and humanities also investigate material systems, that is, objective social reality. But an essential component of all objects of social sciences and humanities is subjective reality - human consciousness. Two factors contribute to the difficulty in studying consciousness. The first of these is the sovereignty of consciousness. It consists in the fact that consciousness is directly given only to a given subject. For other people, consciousness this person unobservable. For them, only external manifestations of consciousness are observed - speech and human actions. By them we judge the content of the consciousness of another person, but he can mask his true experiences. The second difficulty lies in the fact that consciousness is not material, but ideal, that is, it does not have physical and chemical propertieswhat material objects have, for example, such properties as charge, mass, weight, valence. Consciousness is incorporeal and incorporeal, it is information, as it were, in its pure form.
Consciousness itself is given to a person exclusively in the form of subjective internal experiences. It cannot be fixed with a device, it can only be felt. However, the noted difficulties in studying the human spiritual world are not insurmountable. The study of the activities and speech of people, their brain processes allow science and philosophy to gain certain knowledge about the composition, structure and functions of consciousness.
The third feature of the social sciences and humanities is high degree the uniqueness of the studied objects. Uniqueness is a unique set of properties inherent in a given object. Each object is unique. Systems and processes (material and spiritual), events, and phenomena, and properties - everything that can be studied can act as objects of cognition. The degree of uniqueness of social and humanitarian objects is much higher than objects of nature or technology. For example, a physicist deals with two atoms, an engineer with two cars of the same make, a lawyer or teacher with two people. However, there are more differences between the objects of social and humanitarian disciplines.
Since objects and events studied by social and humanitarian disciplines are unique, it is necessary to use an individual approach in these sciences. In natural and technical sciences, it is optional, where the objects under study are basically of the same type, and one can abstract from their differences between themselves, since they are insignificant. But a lawyer, psychologist, teacher cannot abstract from the differences between people and their characteristics.
The fourth feature of social and humanitarian disciplines is the need to take into account the nature of the laws of functioning of the objects under study. Both dynamic and statistical laws operate in nature; in social and humanitarian objects - as a rule, statistical laws. Dynamic laws are based on unambiguous causality, and statistical laws are based on probabilistic causality, in which a cause can generate one of several consequences. (The law of equality of action and reaction. Material bodies act on each other with forces equal in magnitude and opposite in direction)
Knowledge of dynamic laws makes it possible to make accurate (unambiguous) predictions, and knowledge of statistical laws opens up the possibility of only probabilistic predictions, when it is impossible to know which of the possible events will occur, but only the probabilities of these events can be calculated. In this regard, prediction in the social sciences and humanities is less accurate than in the sciences of nature and technology.
The fifth feature of the social sciences and the humanities is the limited use of experiment in them. In many cases, the experiment is simply impossible to carry out, for example, in the study of the history of a country where events have already taken place. It is impossible to carry out experiments in sociology when studying interethnic relations, in demography when studying, say, population migration. It is impossible for an experimental purpose to resettle peoples and other social groups, change their wages, living conditions, family composition, etc.
Scientific criteria: evidence (rationality), consistency, empirical (experimental, practical) verifiability, reproducibility of empirical material, general validity, consistency, essential.
Evidence in social sciences and humanities is less stringent than in natural sciences. This is due to the lack of facts and reliable theoretical positions. For this reason, intuition plays a more significant role in the social sciences and the humanities compared to the natural sciences, and many provisions of the social and humanitarian knowledge are introduced intuitively. The social sciences and humanities strive for the consistency of their knowledge, however, due to the versatility of the objects of study, the criterion of consistency is violated in them more often than in the sciences of nature.
Empirical testability in natural sciences is realized mainly through special testing experiments, and in the social sciences and humanities, methods of observation, questioning, interviews, and testing prevail.
The reproducibility of facts in the natural sciences is established mainly by repeating experiments to obtain statistically reliable results. In social sciences and humanities, when there are conditions, the experiment is also used. In the same areas of humanitarian knowledge, where an experiment is impossible, they use the analysis of evidence from many sources, for example, in history, jurisprudence, and pedagogy. Many sources or many witnesses are analogous to many observations and a large number of experiments.
General significance in the social sciences and humanities is much less than in the natural sciences. The variety of scientific schools and directions in these sciences is very great, but there is a tendency towards their synthesis.
The question of the uniqueness of social knowledge is the subject of discussion in the history of philosophical thought.
Social phenomena are subject to laws common to all reality. In their knowledge, you can use the exact methods of social research. Sociology kick science should be free of parallels with ideology, which requires separation of real facts from subjective assessments in the course of a specific study
Social phenomena should be comprehended in relation to goals, ideas and motives really acting people... Therefore, the center of study is the person himself and his perception of the world.
Social Sciences
Study of facts, laws, dependencies of the socio-historical process
Study of the goals and motives of a person's activity, his spiritual values, personal perception of the world
Research result
Social knowledge is an analysis of social processes and the identification of regular, recurring phenomena in them.
Humanitarian knowledge is an analysis of the goals, motives, orientation of a person and an understanding of his thoughts, motives, intentions.
Social and humanitarian knowledge are interpenetrating. There is no society without man. But a person also cannot exist without society.
Features of humanitarian knowledge: understanding; referring to the texts of letters and public speeches, diaries and policy statements, works of art and critical reviews, etc .; the impossibility of reducing knowledge to unambiguous, all recognized definitions.
Humanitarian knowledge is designed to influence a person, to inspire, transform his moral, ideological, worldview guidelines, to contribute to the development of his human qualities.
Social and humanitarian knowledge is the result of social cognition.
Social cognition is the process of acquiring and developing knowledge about a person and society.
Knowledge of society, the processes taking place in it, along with those common to the whole cognitive activities features, also significant differences from the knowledge of nature.
Features of social cognition
1. The subject and the object of cognition coincide. Social life is permeated with the consciousness and will of man, it is, in essence, subject-object, represents a subjective reality as a whole. It turns out that the subject cognizes the subject here (cognition turns out to be self-knowledge).
2. The received social knowledge is always associated with the interests of individuals-subjects of cognition. Social cognition directly affects the interests of people.
3. Social knowledge is always loaded with evaluation, it is value knowledge. Natural science is instrumental through and through, while social science is a service to truth as value, as truth; natural science - "truths of reason", social science - "truths of the heart".
4. The complexity of the object of knowledge - a society that has a variety of different structures and is in constant development. Therefore, the establishment of social laws is difficult, and open social laws are probabilistic in nature. Unlike natural science, predictions are impossible (or very limited) in social science.
5. Since social life changes very quickly, in the process of social cognition we can talk about establishing only relative truths.
6. The possibility of using such a method of scientific knowledge as an experiment is limited. The most widespread method of social research is scientific abstraction; in social cognition, the role of thinking is exceptionally great.
To describe and understand social phenomena allows the correct approach to them. This means that social cognition should be based on the following principles:
- to consider social reality in development;
- to study social phenomena in their diverse connections, in interdependence;
- to identify the general (historical patterns) and the particular in social phenomena.
Any knowledge of society by a person begins with the perception of real facts of economic, social, political, spiritual life - the basis of knowledge about society, human activities.
Science distinguishes between the following types of social facts:
1) actions, deeds of people, individuals or large social groups;
2) products of human activity (material and spiritual);
3) verbal (verbal) actions: opinions, judgments, assessments.
For a fact to become scientific, it must be interpreted (lat. Interpretatio - interpretation, explanation). First of all, a fact is subsumed under some scientific concept. Further, all the essential facts that make up the event are studied, as well as the situation (situation) in which it occurred, the diverse connections of the fact under study with other facts are traced.
Thus, the interpretation of a social fact is a complex multi-stage procedure for its interpretation, generalization, and explanation. Only an interpreted fact is a truly scientific fact. The fact, presented only in the description of its features, is just a raw material for scientific conclusions.
FROM scientific explanation the fact is also related to its assessment, which depends on the following factors:
- properties of the studied object (event, fact);
- correlation of the studied object with others, of the same order, or ideal;
- cognitive tasks set by the researcher;
- personal position of the researcher (or just a person);
- the interests of the social group to which the researcher belongs.
A very significant and equally unique area of \u200b\u200bscientific knowledge is the social and humanitarian sciences, often united by the concept of social and humanitarian sciences, and even more broadly - social and humanitarian knowledge. The content of such knowledge is society (society) and a person in the most various aspects... Social sciences in the narrow sense are sociology, economics, legal science, political science. But these areas cannot be considered outside the general cultural context, outside the cultural world created by society - by whole generations of people, each of which makes its own contribution, and by individuals. A number of sciences can be classified as social, which are usually called humanitarian: anthropology, art sciences, history, cultural history, cultural studies. If we separate these two types of sciences, then the most important features will be: Subject: social sciences study the structure of society and general social laws, humanitarian studies study a person and his world. Method: social sciences are based on explanation, humanities are based on understanding. Subject and method at the same time. We can also talk about the division into research programs, which includes a number of components: general characteristics subject, general prerequisites scientific theory, research methods, ways of transition from general premises (including general cultural, philosophical, etc.) to scientific constructions. The scientific program, in contrast to the theory, claims to universal coverage of all phenomena and is conceptual73. In social and humanitarian knowledge, naturalistic and culture-centric programs stand out most clearly. The first, noting the difference between the subjects of the sciences about society and about nature, at the same time believes that social sciences can and should apply the methods of natural science. The second, making culture logically and value-wise the first object of research, is based on an individualizing approach and special methods research. Often, both programs are intertwined with each other, there is a conscious or not fully reflected "grafting" of their methods to each other, especially when discussing practical problems. One program examines the goals and values \u200b\u200bof the subject, the other - the patterns and mechanisms that could lead to their implementation. We can say - one explores phenomena at the macro level, the other at the micro level, one is focused on "reification", the other - on "humanization." There is reason to assert that any knowledge is social, since it is socio-culturally conditioned (we see this in the example of natural science), moreover, any knowledge is humanitarian, since it is directly or indirectly connected with a person. In itself, the concept of social and humanitarian knowledge does not raise objections, there is a serious divergence of opinions on the question of whether this area of \u200b\u200bknowledge can claim the status of scientific? Can we talk not only about social and humanitarian knowledge, but also social and humanitarian sciences? The most skeptical attitude is shown here by people with a scientistic mindset, representatives of natural, and especially technical sciences. They believe that only knowledge built on the classical model of natural science is scientific - the most strict, objective, free from the imprint of the cognizing subject, although even natural science (non-classical, and even more post-non-classical) was forced to abandon the illusions of such knowledge. On the other hand, representatives of humanitarian knowledge often believe that history (be it socio-economic, political, cultural history) is an irrational process in which millions of efforts, aspirations, wills, and unpredictable accidents are involved. Each event in history is unique, each spiritual action is individual and therefore inaccessible to generalization. Experiments are impossible in history (although how to say!), Not a single historical event or act of spiritual activity can be repeated, there are no laws similar to the laws of nature, except that only regularities can be revealed. And yet this is the area of \u200b\u200btrue knowledge, since it includes aspects that are inexpressible in scientistic models, requiring the subject to get used to and empathize, to include his attitude to the world - in all the richness of their colors and contradictions. These disputes between "physicists" and "lyricists", which flared up especially vividly in the 60s of the last century and imperceptibly came to naught, as we see, are not new. The confrontation between humanitarian and scientistic knowledge even led to a kind of separation of the “natural sciences” and “cultural sciences” at the end of the 19th century. (more on that below). Of course, it should be borne in mind that social and humanitarian knowledge includes not only a description and explanation of phenomena from a scientific standpoint, but also such areas as art criticism, journalism, essayism. It includes common sense based on life experience, on the centuries-old traditions of culture and social life. Thus, we come to a vast and very interesting problem of the difference between science and unscientific (extra-scientific, pre-scientific) knowledge. If their influence and interpenetration is observed even in natural science, then it is all the more inevitable in the social and humanitarian sphere. Highlighting the common thing that makes science a science, one should first of all name the cognitive attitudes that underlie scientific activities, namely, science is determined by the fact that it studies everything as an object. The state of affairs here does not change, and the recognition of the subjective component of scientific activity - after all, it can and should also be studied by the methods of science - like any object of research. Further, recognizing that knowledge about the world - nature, society, spiritual activity - is also present at the level of everyday consciousness (penetrating into scientific thinking, whether we like it or not), it should be borne in mind that everyday knowledge does not go beyond the existing historical experience, i.e. e. of today's practice. Science, while increasing scientific knowledge, goes beyond this framework. To do this, she has to create theoretical constructs, new concepts, often abstract. Are these attitudes inherent in social and humanitarian knowledge? In any case, it cannot be denied that it has its object and its own conceptual apparatusallowing you to create your own special "worlds", predict or foresee various phenomena in their field. And this area, one way or another, is the whole world.
More on the topic The concept of social sciences and humanities and social and humanitarian knowledge:
- SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY, ITS SUBJECT, MEANING, FUNCTIONS AND PLACE IN THE SYSTEM OF SOCIAL AND HUMANITARIAN KNOWLEDGE
- Formation of the disciplinary structure of social and humanitarian knowledge
Social cognition is carried out by a group of sciences, called social (economic theory, sociology, political science, jurisprudence, etc.). Sometimes they are referred to the humanities, putting an equal sign between the names "social" and "humanitarian". For instance: " Humanitarian sciences - social sciences, history, philosophy, philology and others, not natural and not technical. "From this definition, we can conclude that knowledge about society (social knowledge) is knowledge of the humanities. However, there is a narrower understanding of humanitarian knowledge as knowledge about humanistic -personal in a person. With this understanding, the social sciences are humanities to the extent that they consider subjective factor social development - a person as a person, as a bearer of individual qualities.
Social sciences strive to identify objective laws that express essential, universal and necessary connections to the phenomenon of processes. Social knowledge as a product of these sciences is, first of all, knowledge about relatively stable and systematically reproduced relations between peoples, classes, socio-demographic and professional groups, etc. For example, economic theory reveals a stable relationship, on the one hand, between the ratio of supply and demand in the market , and on the other hand, the price of the goods; sociology reveals recurring essential links between demographic processes and socio-economic development; political science reveals the natural connections of politics with the interests of classes, nations and other subjects of social and political life, etc., since social laws, in contrast to the laws of nature, are implemented through the activities of people.
and it is carried out in different conditions. Social laws act as a tendency, not as constant values.
Social knowledge also has other features generated by the specifics of social cognition (this was discussed above).
If a representative of social sciences - a historian, sociologist, philosopher - refers to facts, laws, dependencies of the socio-historical process, the result of his research is social knowledge. If he considers the human world, goals and motives of activity, his spiritual values, personal perception of the world, his scientific result is humanitarian knowledge. When a historian takes into account social trends in the progressive development of mankind, he functions as a social scientist, and when he studies individual-personal factors, he acts as a humanist. Thus, social and humanitarian knowledge are interpenetrating. There is no society without a person. But there is no man without society. A deserted story would look strange. But without studying natural processes, without an explanation of the historical development, it would not be a science. Philosophy refers to humanitarian knowledge insofar as it is addressed to the spiritual world of man.
The humanist considers reality in terms of goals, motives, human orientation. His task is to understand her thoughts, motives, intentions. Understanding is one of the features of humanitarian knowledge. Referring to the texts of letters and public speeches, diaries and policy statements, works of art and critical reviews, philosophical works and publicistic articles, the humanist seeks to understand the meaning that the author has put in them. This is possible only by considering the text in the context of the environment in which its creator lived, in attachment to his life world.
Understanding the text cannot be as strict as explaining objective social connections. On the contrary, possible interpretations of the text are not necessary, the only correct, undoubted, but which have the right to exist. Moreover, Shakespeare's plays by today's audience are filled with a different content than that which was perceived by the playwright's contemporaries. Therefore, humanitarian knowledge does not have the accuracy of natural and technical sciences, it actively uses mathematical calculations.
The ability to provide texts with different meanings, a significant number of casual relationships, the impossibility of reducing knowledge to unambiguous, universally recognized definitions do not devalue humanitarian knowledge. On the contrary, such knowledge addressed to inner peace a person, capable of influencing her, spiritualizing, transforming her moral, ideological, worldview guidelines, promoting the development of all human qualities in a person.
Social sciences, which provide social and humanitarian knowledge, help a person to comprehend himself, to find the "human dimension" of natural and social processes. They contribute to the formation of the way of thinking and acting of a person who knows society and understands other people who know how to live in modern world with his diversity of cultures and ways of life, overcoming his own egoism, realizes the consequences of his activities.
Basic concepts
Social cognition. It is the historical approach. Social fact.
Interpretation of a social fact. Social Sciences. Humanitarian sciences.
Self-test questions
1. How does the knowledge of society differ from the knowledge of nature?
2. What explains the difficulties of social cognition?
3. What opportunities in social cognition does the concrete historical approach open up?
4. What is a social fact? How is a social fact interpreted?
b. How is a social fact evaluated?
6. How social and humanitarian knowledge differs from natural science?
1. Scientists often repeat the expression: “There is no abstract truth, the truth is always concrete.” How do you understand it? What judgment can be considered true: “The most effective is an army based on general military duty” or “The most effective is a professional army”?
2. Among social scientists there are different points of view on the possibilities of social cognition. One is that science is designed to describe facts as accurately as possible, and it cannot interpret them, because explanations and evaluations are always free.
The other assumes that the description of a fact cannot be accurate, because complete data can never be collected, and also because different researchers distinguish significant unequal features of an event, therefore everything depends on the interpretation of the fact. The third is that the researcher can approach the truth by conscientiously studying the facts in their connection and reasonably explaining them, but must refrain from evaluating, since it distorts the true picture of the incident.
Do you agree with any of these statements? Give the pros and cons of individual judgments and illustrate with an example.
3. Formulate the questions that need to be answered in order to implement a concrete-historical approach when studying the reform of 1861. In the Russian Empire.
4. Can you agree with the statement: "The monarchy played a negative role in social development"? Give reasons for your answer.
Social sciences, their classification
Society is such a complex object that science alone cannot study it. Only by combining the efforts of many sciences, it is possible to fully and consistently describe and study the most complex education that only exists in this world, human society. The totality of all sciences that study society as a whole is called social studies... These include philosophy, history, sociology, economics, political science, psychology and social psychology, anthropology and cultural studies. These are fundamental sciences, consisting of many sub-disciplines, sections, directions, scientific schools.
Social science, having arisen later than many other sciences, absorbs their concepts and specific results of statistics, tabular data, graphs and conceptual schemes, theoretical categories.
The entire set of sciences related to social science is divided into two types - socialand humanitarian.
If the social sciences are the sciences of human behavior, then the humanities are the sciences of the spirit. In other words, the subject of the social sciences is society, the subject of the humanities is culture. The main subject of the social sciences is study of human behavior.
Sociology, psychology, social psychology, economics, political science, as well as anthropology and ethnography (the science of peoples) belong to social sciences ... They have a lot in common, they are closely related and constitute a kind of scientific union. A group of other related disciplines adjoins him: philosophy, history, art studies, cultural studies, literary criticism. They are referred to humanitarian knowledge.
Since representatives of neighboring sciences constantly communicate and enrich each other with new knowledge, the boundaries between social philosophy, social psychology, economics, sociology and anthropology can be considered very arbitrary. At their intersection, interdisciplinary sciences constantly arise, for example, at the junction of sociology and anthropology, social anthropology appeared, at the junction of economics and psychology - economic psychology. In addition, there are such integrative disciplines as legal anthropology, sociology of law, economic sociology, cultural anthropology, psychological and economic anthropology, historical sociology.
Let's take a closer look at the specifics of the leading social sciences:
Economy - a science that studies the principles of organizing the economic activity of people, the relations of production, exchange, distribution and consumption that are formed in every society, formulates the foundations of the rational behavior of the producer and consumer of goods. Economy also studies the behavior of large masses of people in a market situation. In small and large - in public and privacy - people cannot step even without affecting economic relations... When negotiating work, buying goods on the market, calculating our income and expenses, demanding payment of wages and even going to visit, we - directly or indirectly - take into account the principles of economy.
Sociology- a science that studies the relationships that arise between groups and communities of people, the nature of the structure of society, problems of social inequality and the principles of resolving social conflicts.
Political science- a science that studies the phenomenon of power, the specifics of social management, relations arising in the process of carrying out state-power activities.
Psychology - the science of the laws, mechanism and facts of the mental life of man and animals. The main theme of psychological thought in antiquity and the Middle Ages is the problem of the soul. Psychologists study persistent and repetitive behavior in individual behavior. At the center of attention are the problems of perception, memory, thinking, learning and development of the human personality. IN modern psychology many branches of knowledge, including psychophysiology, zoopsychology and comparative psychology, social psychology, child psychology and educational psychology, age-related psychology, labor psychology, psychology of creativity, medical psychology, etc.
Anthropology - science of the origin and evolution of man, education human races and about normal variations physical structure human. She studies the primitive tribes that have survived today from primitive times in the lost corners of the planet: their customs, traditions, culture, behavior.
Social Psychology studies small group (family, group of friends, sports team). Social psychology is a borderline discipline. She was formed at the intersection of sociology and psychology, taking on the tasks that her parents were unable to solve. It turned out that a large society does not directly affect the individual, but through an intermediary - small groups. This world of friends, acquaintances and relatives closest to a person plays an exceptional role in our life. We generally live in small ones, not in big worlds - in a specific house, in a specific family, in a specific company, etc. The small world affects us sometimes even more than the big one. That is why science appeared, which took it closely and very seriously.
History - one of the most important sciences in the system of social and humanitarian knowledge. The object of its study is man, his activity throughout the existence of human civilization. The word "history" is of Greek origin and means "research", "search". Some scholars believed that the object of the study of history is the past. The well-known French historian M. Blok categorically objected to this. "The very idea that the past as such is capable of being an object of science is absurd."
Emergence historical science dates back to the times of ancient civilizations. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus is considered to be the "Father of History", who composed a work devoted to the Greco-Persian wars. However, this is hardly fair, since Herodotus used not so much historical data as legends, traditions and myths. And his work cannot be considered completely reliable. Thucydides, Polybius, Arrian, Publius Cornelius Tacitus, Ammianus Marcellinus have much more reason to be considered the fathers of history. These ancient historians used documents, their own observations, and eyewitness accounts to describe events. All ancient peoples considered themselves peoples-historiographers and revered history as a teacher of life. Polybius wrote: "the lessons learned from history most faithfully lead to enlightenment and prepare for engaging in public affairs, the story of the trials of other people is the most intelligible or the only mentor who teaches us to courageously endure the vicissitudes of fate."
And although, over time, people began to doubt that history could teach subsequent generations not to repeat the mistakes of previous ones, the importance of studying history was not disputed. The famous Russian historian VO Klyuchevsky wrote in his reflections on history: "History teaches nothing, but only punishes for ignorance of the lessons."
Culturology he is primarily interested in the world of art - painting, architecture, sculpture, dance, forms of entertainment and mass performances, institutes of education and science. The subjects of cultural creativity are a) individuals, b) small groups, c) large groups. In this sense, culturology encompasses all types of people unification, but only to the extent that it concerns the creation of cultural values.
Demography studies the population - the whole set of people that make up human society. Demography is primarily interested in how they multiply, how long they live, why and in what quantity they die, where large masses of people move. She looks at a person partly as a natural, partly as a social being. All living beings are born, die and multiply. These processes are influenced primarily by biological laws. For example, science has proven that a person cannot live for more than 110-115 years. This is its biological resource. However, the vast majority of people live to be 60-70 years old. But this is today, and two hundred years ago, the average life expectancy did not exceed 30-40 years. In poor and underdeveloped countries, people live less today than in rich and highly developed ones. In humans, life expectancy is determined by both biological, hereditary characteristics and social conditions (life, work, rest, nutrition).
Social cognition is the knowledge of society. Learning about society is a very difficult process for a number of reasons.
1. Society is the most complex of the objects of knowledge. In social life, all events and phenomena are so complex and diverse, so unlike each other and so intricately intertwined that it is very difficult to find certain patterns in it.
2. In social cognition, not only material (as in natural science), but also ideal, spiritual relations are investigated. These relationships are much more complex, diverse and contradictory than relationships in nature.
3. In social cognition, society acts both as an object and as a subject of cognition: people create their own history, and they also cognize it.
When speaking about the specifics of social cognition, one should avoid extremes. On the one hand, it is impossible to explain the reasons for Russia's historical lagging behind with the help of Einstein's theory of relativity. On the other hand, it cannot be argued that all the methods by which nature is investigated are unsuitable for social science.
The primary and elementary method of cognition is observation... But it differs from the observation that is used in natural science, observing the stars. In social science, cognition concerns animate objects endowed with consciousness. And if, for example, the stars, even after many years of observation, remain completely unperturbed in relation to the observer and his intentions, then in public life everything is different. As a rule, a reverse reaction is found on the part of the object under study, something makes observation impossible from the very beginning, or interrupts it somewhere in the middle, or introduces such interference into it that significantly distorts the research results. Therefore, observation that is not included in social science gives insufficiently reliable results. Another method is needed, which is called included surveillance... It is carried out not from the outside, not from the outside in relation to the studied object (social group), but from within it.
For all its importance and necessity, observation in social science demonstrates the same fundamental shortcomings as in other sciences. Observing, we cannot change the object in the direction of interest to us, regulate the conditions and the course of the studied process, reproduce it as many times as is required for the completion of the observation. Significant disadvantages of observation are largely overcome in experiment.
The experiment is active and transformative. In an experiment, we interfere with the natural course of events. According to V.A. Shtoff, an experiment can be defined as a type of activity undertaken for the purpose of scientific knowledge, the discovery of objective regularities and consisting in influencing the object (process) under study through special tools and devices. Thanks to the experiment, it is possible: 1) to isolate the investigated object from the influence of secondary, insignificant and obscuring its essence of phenomena and to study it in a "pure" form; 2) reproduce the course of the process many times under strictly fixed conditions that can be controlled and accounted for; 3) systematically change, vary, combine various conditions in order to obtain the desired result.
Social experiment has a number of significant features.
1. The social experiment has a concrete historical character. Experiments in physics, chemistry, biology can be repeated in different epochs, in different countries, for the laws of the development of nature do not depend on the form and type of production relations, or on national and historical characteristics. Social experiments aimed at transforming the economy, the national state structure, the system of upbringing and education, etc., can give in different historical epochs, in different countries, not only different, but also directly opposite results.
2. The object of a social experiment has a much lesser degree of isolation from similar objects that remain outside the experiment and all the influences of a given society as a whole. Here, such reliable insulating devices as vacuum pumps, protective screens, etc., used in the process of a physical experiment, are impossible. This means that a social experiment cannot be carried out with a sufficient degree of approximation to "pure conditions".
3. A social experiment makes increased demands on the observance of "safety measures" in the process of its implementation in comparison with natural science experiments, where even experiments made by trial and error are permissible. A social experiment at any point in its course constantly has a direct impact on the well-being, well-being, physical and mental health of the people involved in the "experimental" group. Underestimation of any detail, any failure in the course of an experiment can have a detrimental effect on people, and no good intentions of its organizers can justify this.
4. A social experiment has no right to be carried out in order to obtain direct theoretical knowledge. Putting experiments (experiments) on people is inhuman in the name of any theory. A social experiment is an experiment that states, confirms.
One of the theoretical methods of cognition is historical method research, that is, a method that identifies significant historical facts and stages of development, which ultimately allows you to create a theory of the object, to reveal the logic and patterns of its development.
Another method is modeling. Modeling is understood as a method of scientific cognition in which research is carried out not on the object of interest to us (original), but on its substitute (analogue), similar to it in certain respects. As in other branches of scientific knowledge, modeling in social science is used when the subject itself is not available for direct study (say, does not exist at all, for example, in predictive research), or this direct study requires colossal costs, or it is impossible due to ethical considerations.
In his goal-setting activity, from which history is formed, man has always sought to comprehend the future. Interest in the future has become especially acute in the modern era in connection with the formation of the information and computer society, in connection with those global problemsthat call into question the very existence of humanity. Foresight came out on top.
Scientific foresight represents such knowledge about the unknown, which is based on already known knowledge about the essence of the phenomena and processes of interest to us and about their tendencies further development... Scientific foresight does not pretend to absolutely exact and complete knowledge of the future, to its obligatory reliability: even carefully verified and balanced forecasts are justified only with a certain degree of reliability.