Responsibilities of scientists and intellectuals

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Montefiore
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Power ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Special Responsibilities ◽  
Special Competence ◽  
Made In

Do scientists and intellectuals bear responsibilities peculiar to them? If an ‘intellectual’ is whoever has a committed interest in the truth or validity of ideas for their own sake and a ‘scientist’ anyone possessing a special competence in the natural or social sciences, they may indeed be more likely to find themselves in certain characteristic positions of responsibility. In the case of intellectuals, the importance of providing checkable justification of claims made in their pursuit of truth brings certain responsibilities. Scientists may be said to have responsibilities for pursuing truth in their own areas of competence, for wielding their social power appropriately, for making their results generally accessible and for using resources properly. But these apparently special responsibilities are nevertheless to be understood as rooted ultimately in those which any human being may, in the relevant circumstances, be thought to bear to their fellows.

Need of Human Rights as a Better Way of Life

Think India ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 72-83
Author(s):  
Tushar Kadian
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Basic Needs ◽  
Research Paper ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Labour Unions ◽  
The People ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Made In

Actually, basic needs postulates securing of the elementary conditions of existence to every human being. Despite of the practical and theoretical importance of the subject the greatest irony is non- availability of any universal preliminary definition of the concept of basic needs. Moreover, this becomes the reason for unpredictability of various political programmes aiming at providing basic needs to the people. The shift is necessary for development of this or any other conception. No labour reforms could be made in history till labours were treated as objects. Its only after they were started being treating as subjects, labour unions were allowed to represent themselves in strategy formulations that labour reforms could become a reality. The present research paper highlights the basic needs of Human Rights in life.

scholarly journals Znaczenie empirii jako podstawy wyjaśniania, prognozowania i praktyki w naukach społecznych

2021 ◽  
pp. 27-49
Author(s):  
Sebastian Kozłowski
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Social Reality ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Scientific Paradigm ◽  
Research Results ◽  
Contemporary Research ◽  
Scientific Dispute ◽  
The Subject

The considerations presented in the article are to be an impulse to reflect on the foundations on which modern scientific discoveries are based. The aim of the analysis is to present a number of doubts as to the accuracy and perfection of contemporary research results in social sciences, in particular in the discipline of political science. In social reality there are still many limitations both on the part of the human being as the subject examining reality and the imperfections of the tools he uses. The article discusses attitudes towards scientific dispute consisting in the clash of the scientific paradigm based on empiricism and positivism with postmodern interpretivism within the hermeneutic paradigm will soon end.

scholarly journals Social and Biological Context of Physical Culture and Sport

2010 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerzy Kosiewicz
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Biological Sciences ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Science Studies ◽  
Human Organism ◽  
Physical Culture ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Culture Studies ◽  
Cultural Character ◽  
Biological Context

Social and Biological Context of Physical Culture and SportAuthor underlines that biological sciences connected with the human being are traditionally - after MacFadden, among others - counted among physical culture sciences. Because of the bodily foundations of human physical activity, they perform - shortly speaking - a significant cognitive function: they describe natural foundations of particular forms of movement. In spite of the fact that knowledge in that respect is extremely important for multiform human activity in the field of physical culture, it is not knowledge of cultural character. From the formal (that is, institutional) viewpoint it is strictly connected with culture studies, but it has separate methodological and theoretical assumptions. Knowledge of that type is focused on the human organism and not on effects of mental, axiocreative, symbolic activity of the human being entangled in social relations. It includes auxiliary data which support practical - that is, in that case, physical, bodily - activity. Its reception of axiological (ethical and aesthetical), social (philosophical, sociological, pedagogical, historical {universal or strictly defined - referring e.g. to art and literature with the connected theories} or political) character is dealt with by the humanities (in other words: social sciences) constituting an immanent and the fundamental - and hence the most important - part of culture studies. Putting stress on alleged superiority and the dominating role of natural (biological in that case) sciences within physical culture sciences and the connected marginalization of the humanities - which constitute, after all, a necessary and hence an unquestionable foundation for culture studies, their essence and objectivisation - is, euphemistically speaking, a clear shortcoming in the field of science studies.The abovementioned exaltation and aspirations for superiority, as well as deepening and more and more aggressive marginalization of the humanities (understood in that paper as a synonym for social sciences) in the field of physical culture sciences may lead to the separation of biological sciences.

Making Materials: The Case of Elaborating Qualities of Bioplastics

Design Issues ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 64-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Damla Tonuk
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Production Process ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Alternative Route ◽  
New Materials ◽  
Technology Studies ◽  
Properties Of Materials ◽  
Made In

This article focuses on materials by taking an alternative route into considering their relationships to products. I draw on approaches from social sciences, especially studies influenced by science and technology studies, and conceptualise materials (and products) as made in their social and technical environment, and their properties as enacted in different environments of which they become a part, such as production and branding. Building on this framework, I focus on the production process in which materials, namely bioplastics, are produced and are transformed into products and so material-product relationships are formed, and new materials are substituted with existing ones. As such this study shows that actually products make materials as well, and that properties of materials are not intrinsic to them so as to be to chosen by designers, but that properties of materials are partly made in relation to the products into which they are made.

Kwestia wolnego wyboru i zdeterminowania decyzji w wybranych koncepcjach nauk społecznych

1970 ◽  
Vol 23 (301) ◽  
pp. 35-52
Author(s):  
Wiktor Szewczak
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Rational Choice ◽  
Symbolic Interactionism ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Marxist Approach ◽  
The Subject

The subject of the article concerns the determinations of choices made by a person and their sources. Upon analysing the concepts that have appeared in social sciences to date, three model approaches were distinguished: (1) voluntarism, which assumed a lack of determination and pure volition of the source of the decision; (2) internal determinism, which searches for the source of the decision in factors within the human being itself, but not controlled by it; (3) fatalism, seeing the decisions made by persons as products of the environment in which they function. Next, the article presents the manner of approaching this issue as displayed by the most typical, in this respect, concepts in modern social sciences: sociological symbolic interactionism, sociologism with the idea of homo sociologicus, psychological behaviourism and psychoanalysis, sociobiology with evolutionary inclinations, the theory of rational choice and the Marxist approach.

Writing History: Problems of Neutrality

2020 ◽  
pp. 87-126
Author(s):  
Donald Bloxham
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Moral Evaluation ◽  
Important Case ◽  
Fourth Section ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Social ◽  
Value Judgements ◽  
Historical Accounts ◽  
Value Neutrality ◽  
Made In

Part 2 Writing History: Problems of Neutrality This Part of the book challenges widespread assumptions that, where it matters, it is possible or desirable for historians to avoid value judgements and the sorts of evocative descriptions that imply or could reasonably be expected to prompt such judgements. The first section distinguishes between History and particular traditions within the social sciences in order to show why the ‘rules’ about moral evaluation can be different in these differing endeavours. The second section establishes the widespread existence of evocations and evaluations in the very labelling and description of many historical phenomena, suggesting not just how peculiar works of History would look in their absence of evocations and appraisals, but that their absence would often distort what is being reported. These arguments are key to the distinction made in the third section about rejecting value neutrality as a governing ideal while insisting on truthfulness as a historian’s primary duty. The fourth section highlights the nature of most historical accounts as composites of a range of perspectives as it considers questions of context, agency, outcome, and experience. The composition gives rise to the overall impression, evaluative or evocative, provided by the work. The fifth section brings together a number of the chapter’s themes as it examines an important case of the historian’s judgement—judgement about the legitimacy of power in past worlds where legitimacy could be as contested as often today.

Political Power and Bargaining Theory

2019 ◽  
pp. 47-82
Author(s):  
Keith Dowding
Keyword(s):  
Bargaining Power ◽  
Social Power ◽  
Power Index ◽  
Bargaining Model ◽  
Bargaining Theory ◽  
Index Approach ◽  
Study Power ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Made In

The chapter opens with some distinctions made in the study of power and semi-formally defines ‘outcome’ and ‘social’ or ‘power to’ and ‘power over’ showing the latter is a subset of the former. It argues both are legitimate ways of examining power. It argues that whilst ‘social power’ is often our concern, especially when discussing issues of freedom, domination and inequality we need to start by considering outcome power. Understanding why people can fail in their aims even when others are not acting against them – failure in their outcome power – is necessary for to understand the scope of social power. The chapter then examines the relationship between outcome power and freedom and discussesMorriss’s distinction between ability and ableness. Power is a dispositional concept and the ability that people have need to be distinguished from their exercise of their powers. It argues that if we only look at abilities we could eliminate the term power from our language since all we would need to is to look at their capacities or resources, but we also need to examine the way that agents change others incentives to act. The chapter introduces the formal aspects of the power index approach and through that discussion distinguishes power and luck. It then introduces bargaining power, formally distinguishes threats and offers and explains Harsanyi’s bargaining model of power and the extra element of reputation. It then discusses the relationship of luck and group power introducing the notion of systematic luck. It then concludes by discussing how we can study power in society.

Race in Global Perspective

Sociology ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aurora Vergara-Figueroa
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Field Work ◽  
Global Perspective ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Race And Racism ◽  
Legal Studies ◽  
The Social ◽  
Vast Literature ◽  
The 19Th Century ◽  
Made In

Race and racism are key analytical constructs that express fundamental issues not only of power and inequality, but also of justice, democracy, equity, and emancipation. The study of race in the social sciences is an established, dynamic, multidisciplinary, and international field. Work began at the end of the 19th century. To study race with a global perspective, it is necessary to have a transdisciplinary view to read critically the phenomena that intersect with this variable. This field includes contributions from sociology, history, philosophy, legal studies, anthropology, cultural studies, political science, epidemiology, and journalism, among others. Several declarations have been made in recent years about the alleged end of racism or the end of a race-coded era. However, even though they are not new, every time they resurge these doxas underline new regimes of truth, reconfigure racisms, and strength inequality. The vast literature produced by scholars in this field provides evidence of how race is based on narratives created to enslave, subordinate, exploit, and exclude millions of human beings across the globe.

scholarly journals Ocean Optimism: Moving Beyond the Obituaries in Marine Conservation

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 479-499
Author(s):  
Nancy Knowlton
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Marine Conservation ◽  
Conservation Strategies ◽  
Marine Habitats ◽  
Single Solution ◽  
Important Progress ◽  
Made In

While the ocean has suffered many losses, there is increasing evidence that important progress is being made in marine conservation. Examples include striking recoveries of once-threatened species, increasing rates of protection of marine habitats, more sustainably managed fisheries and aquaculture, reductions in some forms of pollution, accelerating restoration of degraded habitats, and use of the ocean and its habitats to sequester carbon and provide clean energy. Many of these achievements have multiple benefits, including improved human well-being. Moreover, better understanding of how to implement conservation strategies effectively, new technologies and databases, increased integration of the natural and social sciences, and use of indigenous knowledge promise continued progress. Enormous challenges remain, and there is no single solution; successful efforts typically are neither quick nor cheap and require trust and collaboration. Nevertheless, a greater focus on solutions and successes will help them to become the norm rather than the exception.

Studentischer Radikalismus: Politische Sozialisation oder Generationskonflikt? / Student Radicalism: Political Socialization or Conflict of Generations? Vorschlag zur Relativierung der Ergebnisse einer Untersuchung über studentischen Protest aufgrund einer Sekundäranalyse / Proposal to relativize the results of a study on student protest due to a secondary analysis

1977 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Heinz Sahner
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Secondary Analysis ◽  
Critical Discussion ◽  
Student Protest ◽  
Social Decisions ◽  
Immanent Critique ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
Politische Sozialisation ◽  
To Come ◽  
Made In

AbstractAccording to a widespread understanding of science, theories cannot be empirically founded, but rather require methodologically regulated social decisions which should be confronted with continuous criticism (critical rationalism). In the field of the empirically-oriented social sciences, the validity of theories is not determined within a competitive „scientific community“ but rather on an highly individual basis. One possibility to satisfy the meta-theoretical postulate of intersubjective control, that is to intensify criticism and to come to social decisions about theories, is seen in the method of secondary analysis. An attempt to demonstrate the usefulness of this approach shall be made in a critical discussion of several hypotheses presented by Klaus Allerbeck in his study „Zur Soziologie radikaler Studentenbewegungen“. The results of (a) an immanent critique and (b) a secondary analysis lead to a reformulation of Allerbeck’s conclusions. Finally the uncritical reception of Allerbeck’s study is discussed and an attempt is made to integrate the seemingly conflicting results.

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