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Differences between social science and natural science
Sociology Natural science is known as
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How can the difference in paradigms and thus the difference in explanations of the Kissidougou case be possible? Apparently, natural scientists look different to this case, in other words: from a totally different angle or view. But what is then exactly the difference between social and natural science? Social science is systematically studying human social relations, groups and societies (Appelbaum & Chambliss, 1997). This means social scientists are part of the reality they investigate. In short, social science studies the social world. The social sciences are guided by theory or observation and are believed to always use qualitative methods to study certain phenomena. Outcomes are believed to be interpretations of information. Generalizations …show more content…
Furthermore, the social sciences are believed to have multiple outcomes or truths, and are seen as having no laws. Natural sciences, on the other hand, are defined as disciplines that deal only with natural events (Ledoux, 2002). Thus, natural scientists do investigate something else than social scientists. In short, natural science investigates the natural world. The natural sciences are guided by theory and use quantitative methods. Outcomes are believed to be facts and generalisations of the outcomes of studies are universal (Appelbaum & Chambliss, 1997). Furthermore, natural science is believed to have one truth as outcome and is based on laws. It is important to note that the previous mentioned differences between the natural and social sciences are not that clear and distinct. Social sciences are also able to use quantitative methods to …show more content…
As we can conclude from the previous paragraph, natural scientists have and use different knowledge than social scientists do, because they research something else and thus use other information and sources to come to an understanding of their research question. But what is knowledge exactly? Different kinds of knowledge are different ways to put meaning to people’s experiences and ways to construe the world (Arce, ch9), but are there then multiple different worlds construed? I will now touch upon the following questions: How is social knowledge constructed? Do natural scientists construct knowledge in a different way? And for whom do social scientists and natural scientists construct
However opposing theorists (Ponterotto, 2005) have highlighted that even though the broad groupings in the social sciences are not derived from paradigms present in the natural sciences, the individual sub-disciplines may still be underpinned by a paradigm or a research programme with similar rese...
Earlier Science was treated as an institution but now, it includes many things like "scientific experiments, "theories" etc. The authors argue that this knowledge should viewed in terms of "socially constructed" and not the one known as "scientific truth". This article points that in the social constructivist view, the 'science' it is just another system of knowledge which contains empirical researches and studies. It is basically concerned with what is "truth", how it has emerged, accepted and explained in social domain. ...
In social science, there are several paradigms, each with its own unique ontological and epistemological perspective. Examples of paradigms include positivism which focuses on objectivity, know ability, and deductive logic. Its assumption is that society can and should be studied empirically and scientifically (Ritzer, 2004). Critical paradigm’s main emphasis is on power, inequality, and social change. It is of the assumption that social science can never be truly value-free and should be conducted with the express goal of social change in mind (Calhoun, 2007). Social constructionism paradigm’ s main emphasis is that truth as varying, socially constructed, and ever-changing and is of the assumption that reality is created collectively and that social context and interaction frame our realities (Berger, 1966).
Social science helps society bond our personal situations with our everyday life. This is shown through many topics such as sociological imagination and politics. Sociological Imagination is all about knowing the connection between personal experiences and society. Politics is what creates society. Studying these topics had brought a better idea of what social science is and how it impacts on me as a member of
The major difference between History and Human science is way in which the scientist uses tools while the historian uses facts and figures. Feyerabend explains that an allegory presented by the human scientist depends on egotism, ideals, and the perspective of other shape of knowledge, and are not enveloped by method, evidence, reason or argument (Anderson 259). There is a big debate to whether social science is actually a science. J.S.Mill believes that while we can justify and discover unpretentious regularities in the physical world, we can also explore the connections between actions thoughts through Mill’s Method on causation (Salmon). This allows us to interpret the change in human behavior over a period of time. Human science can become exact to physical science as human behavior can cause unknowable circumstances (Salmon).
I think everyone should ask themselves what is sociology? I believe that sociology is the scientific study of social behavior or society, including its origins, development, organization, networks, and institutions. This is a huge topic to cover. Sociology explains the way people act and think, based on
Social philosophy concentrates on social behavior and social issues. As Scott Hughes mentions in “Social Philosophy,” individualism, social interaction, motives for behavior, society as a whole, and many other social sciences make up the entity of social philosophy. Social philosophy also correlates to other philosophical domains such as epistemology, metaphysics, morality, and political philosophy. The analysis of human behavior concentrates on elements that influence social philosophy such as the study of cognitive skills, psychology, and sociology. Social philosophy can relate to motives of one's decision making or how certain situations can make one react a certain way; it directly relates to a person's everyday life. In addition, social philosophy addresses various ways that people are grouped together – fashion, fads, cults, and crowds (Hughes). On a higher level, social philosophy can relate to the ethics between people and institutions (Frederick Rauscher). These institutions can include businesses, markets, and private associations. The social situation or environment in these places accommodates personal interests and the well-being of various workers or citizens. For instance, a board of director may choose to keep racial diversion equal so that there is no accusation of unfair employments among employees.
Science is the observation of natural events and conditions in order to discover facts about them and to formulate laws and principles based on these facts. Academic Press Dictionary of Science & Technology --------------------------------------------------------------------- Science is an intellectual activity carried on by humans that is designed to discover information about the natural world in which humans live and to discover the ways in which this information can be organized into meaningful patterns. A primary aim of science is to collect facts (data).
The issue that arises in this discussion is that is there a valid difference between science and other types of knowledge or are they both interrelated in some specific terms? Does science have a sister that encompasses the same rules and regulations and follows the same methodology or does science stand alone, with all other types of knowledge as a separate entity.
In conclusion conceptual relativism sets out to explain the world in term of the human mind to construct realities, and is concerned with truth and knowledge and radical Social constructionism is concerned with the idea that a variety of phenomena’s are socially constructed. This is then linked with the idea of radical anti-realism in relation to reality and the validity of science. Both are definitely problematic for any claim that the social sciences produce reliable knowledge for if knowledge is only meaningful to one group how can that have the same meanings to another group each individual sees the world through their own glasses so each and every individual holds a different opinion and no one opinion can be correct. How can any methods of research be correct if there is no real truth?
There is a very crucial point in the social sciences which make the events and phenomenons more clear. Therefore we as the students of these areas can have the chance seeing the backgrounds of what happens in the world and noumenon of the events. Another important aspect of social sciences is its holistic structure which interconnects different disciplines and they move together helping each other in the area. The purpose of the social sciences is to set up an available and strong method and thus to get the ability of reading the social world.
By the definition, science is the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment (Oxford dictionary). This crude definition is elaborated further by world-famous sociologist Anthony Giddens as ‘the scientific study of human social life, groups, and societies. It is a dazzling and compelling enterprise, as its subject matter is our own behavior as social beings. The scope of sociological study is extremely wide, ranging from the analysis of passing encounters between individuals on the street to the investigation of global social processes such as the rise of Islamic fundamentalism.’ (Giddens: 2006).
The arguments on both sides include reason and causes, introspection verse observation and holism verse reduction. For social science is the distinction between reason and causes. For social scientist argument is that we should be concern with the purity of causes and not with reasons. An example would be to study what cause people to do the things they do and not study the reason for what people do. The inner argument is we should look into reason why people do thing because it cause people to do the things they do. If we do not look at the whole story, we will miss out. Natural science side believes they should explain the world reasons for purpose and goals rather the causal forces. Example: Why the sun move across the sky verse what the sun want to do. Another example would be is the reason why the birds’ beak is formed to catch food. A cause is, it formed to eat seeds. They believe we should take the purpose and intent out and understand it in a...
The social sciences have always face ridicule from many other of its scientific partners and colleagues of different disciplines, in fact the “fields of social science have occupied a shifting, liminal position within the academy. Condemned by one set of observers for being insufficiently scientific, they are condemned by the other side for being too scientific.”(Gerring xxiii) Although it has faced ridicule for it legitimacy it has held true to studying human society and societal relationships. There are many functioning definitions for social science, but the best one that I have come across state that “Social science is the collection of academic disciplines which study any aspect of soc...
Nature of science or NOS is a term that refers to the epistemic knowledge of science, the knowledge of constructs and values that are intrinsic to the subject. The constructs and values include historical groundwork to scientific discovery and social incorporation such as sociology, philosophy, and history of science (“Nature of Science”). Nature of science, in my opinion, should not be explicitly taught in high school science curriculum. The basis for my standing on the issue is representative of the lack of a fundamental standard understanding of what Nature of Science is, as well as the lack of effectiveness in explicitly teaching Nature of Science which I will expand on further in