Definition of Social Sciences
Miscellanea / / July 04, 2021
By Gabriel Duarte, in Dec. 2008
Social sciences are the different bodies of systematically organized knowledge that have as their object the study of man in society. It should be noted that unlike the natural sciences, the social sciences have a less objective character; This is why the former are called hard sciences and the latter, soft. However, beyond this clarification, the social sciences try to fulfill the requirements of the scientific method.
Some examples from social studies are: the psychology, which studies the human mind; the sociology, which studies the behavior of human groups; the anthropology, which focuses on the study of man; the right, which studies the legal regulations that regulate companies; the economy, which studies the supply and demand of goods and services; the linguistics, who studies verbal communication; the Politic science, which studies government systems and authority building processes; and finally, the geography, which studies the environment in which man develops.
The problem with the social sciences is their difficulty in establishing universal laws to account for the phenomena they study. This does not happen with the so-called hard sciences. Indeed, in a discipline Like physics, laws are continuously established that must then be contrasted with empirical evidence; in other words, the law it may be correct or incorrect, but it is necessary for this field of knowledge to advance. In the area of social disciplines, this practice is hampered to the extent that what is studied involves human will and freedom. However, some degree of rigor is still possible for these sciences.
Despite all the above, the social sciences are extremely interesting and are necessary to understand some circumstances that are usually presented to us. That is why they never stopped thriving.
Topics in Social Sciences