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Episode 8: The Natural and the Social Sciences - a Comparison
In this episode my aim is a comparison of the natural and the social sciences.
My purpose is to understand the similarities and dissimilarities between the natural and the social sciences. Their respective remit is to understand the natural and the social world. How do they achieve understanding of their respective areas of research? They both employ explanation and prediction as tools. These are the similarities. But explanation and prediction in the social sciences are not the same as in the natural sciences. The reason, I propose, has to do with the regularities, which they employ. The natural sciences employ natural laws but, for reason I explain, there are no social laws, whose status would be comparable to natural laws. The regularities of the social sciences are (statistical) trends and patterns of behaviour. They can be reversed or modified but the laws of nature cannot be changed.
Literature:
The material in this episode is based on Friedel Weinert, Copernicus, Darwin & Freud: Revolutions in the History and Philosophy of Science (2009). A nice introduction to the philosophy of the social sciences is Peter T. Manicas, A Realist Philosophy of Social Science: Explanation and Understanding (2006).
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By Friedel Weinert (Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, University of Bradford)In this episode my aim is a comparison of the natural and the social sciences.
My purpose is to understand the similarities and dissimilarities between the natural and the social sciences. Their respective remit is to understand the natural and the social world. How do they achieve understanding of their respective areas of research? They both employ explanation and prediction as tools. These are the similarities. But explanation and prediction in the social sciences are not the same as in the natural sciences. The reason, I propose, has to do with the regularities, which they employ. The natural sciences employ natural laws but, for reason I explain, there are no social laws, whose status would be comparable to natural laws. The regularities of the social sciences are (statistical) trends and patterns of behaviour. They can be reversed or modified but the laws of nature cannot be changed.
Literature:
The material in this episode is based on Friedel Weinert, Copernicus, Darwin & Freud: Revolutions in the History and Philosophy of Science (2009). A nice introduction to the philosophy of the social sciences is Peter T. Manicas, A Realist Philosophy of Social Science: Explanation and Understanding (2006).