scholarly journals Scientific Discoveries and the Cognitive Progress of Philosophy

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-39
Author(s):  
Nikolai S. Rozov
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Theoretical Knowledge ◽  
Analytical Philosophy ◽  
The Social ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Reliable Knowledge ◽  
Positive Knowledge

For a long time discoveries were recognized only in natural sciences. We can talk about “discoveries” in the social sciences only in some other sense. At the same time the accumulation of general theoretical knowledge in economics and sociology is not in doubt. Eleven criteria of “positive knowledge” (respectively, “discoveries” when such knowledge is first acquired) are formulated. Three groups of scientific and philosophical disciplines with similar indicators according to these criteria are distinguished. In philosophy (with the exception of logic and analytical philosophy) it is difficultto talk about discoveries and knowledge due to the lack of agreement regarding any non-trivial judgments with a philosophical level of generality and abstractness. At the same time the development of philosophy is more than the accumulation of ideas as optional opinions. To solve this difficulty the metaphor of “a lock” (obstacles to cognition), “a key” (intellectual means selected and created to obtain reliable knowledge) and “a view” (holistic meaningful image on “opening different doors”) was used. Even if philosophy does not produce full-fledged discoveries and generally accepted knowledge it progressively develops its ideas as heuristic “keys” for scientific research and as “views” that generalize heterogeneous, accumulated scientific knowledge connecting them with changing self-consciousness and values in human generations.

scholarly journals Astrobioethics

2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
Octavio A. Chon-Torres
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Ethical Aspects ◽  
Field Of Study ◽  
Planetary Protection ◽  
Protection Policy ◽  
The Social

AbstractAstrobiology is a discipline that is expanding its field of investigation not only in the natural sciences, but also in the social sciences. It is for this reason that the ethical aspects are progressively emphasized leading to a point where the whole field requires a specific handling. The appellation ‘astrobioethics’ is now considered as not only relevant, but also a true issue for the future of Astrobiology. Astrobioethics is the subsection within astrobiology that is accountable for studying the moral implications of, for example, bringing humans to Mars, the Planetary Protection Policy, the social responsibility of the astrobiologist to society, etc. It is in this way that the present article outlines a path for astrobioethics, as being a fertile field of study and an opportunity to trade scientific knowledge in a transdisciplinary way.

scholarly journals Social Science, Philosophy and Education

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-155
Author(s):  
Robin Barrow
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Arts And Humanities ◽  
The Arts ◽  
The Social ◽  
Science Philosophy ◽  
Individual Success

This essay argues for the urgent need for philosophy as the necessary first step in any educational undertaking. Philosophy is involved with making fine distinctions which are necessary to clarify concepts and terms. The paper focuses primarily on the problems with an overreliance on scientific research in the social sciences, with special emphasis on the dangers posed in educational research. Three specific problems are identified. First, the emphasis on scientific research downgrades non-scientific research, which may be more appropriate as modes of inquiry in many aspects of education. Second, the emphasis on scientific research distorts research in areas such as the arts and humanities because individual success as a scholar is largely measured by criteria that make sense in the natural sciences but not necessarily in the arts. Third, and most significantly, the paper questions whether social action and interaction can be investigated in a truly scientific manner.

scholarly journals A reflection on modeling and the nature of knowledge

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Zazueta
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Scientific Knowledge ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Knowledge Generation ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Right

We reflect on the criticism that the methods in the natural sciences have been an object of and argue that these very methods, seen from the right perspective, are crucial to the progress of social science. We propose a knowledge generation framework that sets the minimum requirementsfor a claim to be considered scientific knowledge and sketchan ontology of the objects of study. We present science as an accumulating yet self-revising process and present examples in the social sciences.

Defending the Difference

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
True Nature ◽  
Natural Entities ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Methodological Difference ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The One

Dreyfus argues that there is a basic methodological difference between the natural sciences and the social sciences, a difference that derives from the different goals and practices of each. He goes on to argue that being a realist about natural entities is compatible with pluralism or, as he calls it, “plural realism.” If intelligibility is always grounded in our practices, Dreyfus points out, then there is no point of view from which one can ask about or provide an answer to the one true nature of ultimate reality. But that is consistent with believing that the natural sciences can still reveal the way the world is independent of our theories and practices.

Guide to Africa Bibliography

2020 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. xxix-xxx
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Development Studies ◽  
Environmental Sciences ◽  
African Government ◽  
The Social ◽  
To Receive ◽  
Cover Material

This bibliography records publications on Africa of interest to students of Africa, principally in the social and environmental sciences, development studies, humanities and arts. Some items from the medical, biological and natural sciences are included. The criterion used is potential relevance to a reader from a social sciences/arts background. The whole continent and associated islands are covered, with selective coverage of the diaspora. This volume aims to cover material published in 2019 together with items from earlier years not previously listed. The editor is always very glad to hear of any items omitted so that they may be included in future volumes. He would be particularly pleased to receive notification of new periodicals, print or online. African government publications and works of creative literature are not normally listed.

Assessing Contemporary Crises: Aligning Safety Science and Security Studies

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bibi van den Berg ◽  
Ruth Prins ◽  
Sanneke Kuipers
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Everyday Life ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Security Studies ◽  
Nation States ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Safety Science ◽  
Key Topics

Security and safety are key topics of concern in the globalized and interconnected world. While the terms “safety” and “security” are often used interchangeably in everyday life, in academia, security is mostly studied in the social sciences, while safety is predominantly studied in the natural sciences, engineering, and medicine. However, developments and incidents that negatively affect society increasingly contain both safety and security aspects. Therefore, an integrated perspective on security and safety is beneficial. Such a perspective studies hazardous and harmful events and phenomena in the full breadth of their complexity—including the cause of the event, the target that is harmed, and whether the harm is direct or indirect. This leads to a richer understanding of the nature of incidents and the effects they may have on individuals, collectives, societies, nation-states, and the world at large.

Pluralism in Education and Education in Pluralism

1998 ◽  
Vol 180 (3) ◽  
pp. 67-84
Author(s):  
Stanley L. Jaki
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Trojan Horse ◽  
Religion And Theology ◽  
The Social ◽  
Fundamental Understanding ◽  
Rational Thought ◽  
Scientific Ideas ◽  
Theology And Philosophy

The physicist and historian and philosopher of science Stanley L. Jaki first notes that the word “pluralism” has become a euphemism or Trojan horse for relativism. Valid, sound pluralism ought to entail an education in the plurality of subject matters and a respect and understanding for their separate, irreducible integrities and also their rational relatedness to one another. A non-relativist epistemology of universal validity and scope underlies and relates all the great bodies of knowledge and learning—the natural sciences, the social sciences, the humanities, religion and theology, and philosophy itself. Unfortunately the term “pluralism” as now commonly used has confused or obscured this fundamental understanding, the invaluable legacy of rational thought since Plato. The misunderstanding of Einstein's conception of relativity is particularly damaging but typical of the misuse of modern scientific ideas by thinkers in other fields; Einstein's idea of relativity is unfortunately named, as it has nothing to do with epistemological or moral relativism, for neither of which it provides any warrant. All the subsets of rationality—the plurality of subject matters—comprise the universal set of rationality itself, a fact that Plato well understood and that needs to be understood today—perhaps now more than ever. Education need to safeguard and develop the invaluable common-sense human intuitions of the true and good as universal realities.

scholarly journals Guide to Africa Bibliography

2019 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. xxiii-xxiv
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Development Studies ◽  
Environmental Sciences ◽  
African Government ◽  
The Social ◽  
To Receive ◽  
Cover Material

This bibliography records publications on Africa of interest to students of Africa, principally in the social and environmental sciences, development studies, humanities and arts. Some items from the medical, biological and natural sciences are included. The criterion used is potential relevance to a reader from a social sciences/arts background. The whole continent and associated islands are covered, with selective coverage of the diaspora. This volume aims to cover material published in 2018 together with items from earlier years not previously listed. The editor is always very glad to hear of any items omitted so that they may be included in future volumes. He would be particularly pleased to receive notification of new periodicals, print or online. African government publications and works of creative literature are not normally listed.

The Mathematics of Society: Variation and Error in Quetelet's Statistics

1985 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodore M. Porter
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Sphere ◽  
The Social

“Let us apply to the political and moral sciences the method founded upon observation and upon calculus, the method which has served us so well in the natural sciences.” The social sciences have known no truer follower of Laplace's dictum than Adolphe Quetelet. His mécanique sociale, later physique sociale, was conceived as the social analogue to Laplace's mecanique celeste, and embodied the results of an unswerving commitment not only to the presumed method of celestial physics, but even to its concepts and vocabulary. It is too weak to say that Quetelet's goal was the transmission of the achievements of celestial physics into the social sphere. He aspired to nothing less than imitation.

Methods and Status of Scientific Research with Particular Application to the Social Sciences

1931 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 334
Author(s):  
John D. Black ◽  
Walter Earl Spahr ◽  
Rinehart John Swenson
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Scientific Research ◽  
The Social
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