Difference between social and humanitarian knowledge.

An important part of science is social and humanitarian knowledge. What is their specificity? How does social knowledge differ from humanitarian knowledge?

Facts about social knowledge

Under social we mean knowledge about society, about the processes that take place in it. This can be the interaction of people with each other at the level of solving everyday issues, in the field of business, in the field of politics. Social knowledge is designed to provide a better understanding of the features of this interaction, as well as contribute to the successful resolution of the issues noted. This is possible by studying historical facts, conducting various studies, analyzing social processes.

The main scientific disciplines within the framework of social knowledge are sociology, history, political science. In some cases, scientists use tools from other sciences - for example, mathematics (as an option, if the task is to derive this or that statistics), economics (if it is necessary to identify the impact of economic processes on society), geography (to determine patterns characterizing social processes in certain regions).

The main resources of social knowledge can be considered:

  • an event reflecting the fact of interaction of people with each other (for example, it can be elections to the authorities, a rally, manifestation, procession, conference);
  • a process formed through the interaction of people with each other (negotiations, competition, migration).

Using the appropriate scientific tools, the researcher identifies what factors influence the course of certain events and processes, as well as how they can influence the development of society.

Facts about humanitarian knowledge

Under humanitarian we mean knowledge about a person as an independent subject of thinking and action. In most cases, they are associated with social processes, since people in one way or another interact with each other. But the study of human communications with other people in humanitarian knowledge is carried out primarily on the basis of consideration of personal motives, goals, spiritual values, priorities of the participants in the interaction.

The main scientific disciplines within the framework of humanitarian knowledge are philosophy, psychology, linguistics, anthropology. But, of course, a significant amount of historical, political and sociological knowledge also, in fact, studies humanitarian processes.

The main resource of humanitarian knowledge can be considered a certain primary source characterizing the actions and attitudes of a person or a group of people. It can be real and represent, for example, a quotation reflected in documents, a public speech, a diary, a work of art of a specific person or group of people. It can be abstract, expressed in the form of cultural heritage, legal traditions, customs. Through scientific tools, we study what influenced the formation of one or another primary source - real or abstract, and how this can affect the existing scientific approaches to understanding the essence of human actions and motives.

Comparison

The main difference between social knowledge and humanitarian is that the former study society, and the latter - a person. Of course, their object is largely the same, since a modern person in most cases is a part of society. Which, in turn, is made up of people.

Social knowledge is quite easily combined with humanitarian. Scientific methods, which are characteristic of the second direction of science, as a rule, can always be supplemented with concepts characteristic of the first scientific field - and vice versa. For example, anthropological research may look at the facts revealed by historians. In political science, in turn, to study trends in socio-political processes, knowledge from the field of psychology and linguistics may be required.

Having determined what is the difference between social and humanitarian knowledge, let us fix the conclusions in the table.

Table

Social knowledge Humanitarian knowledge
What do they have in common?
Social knowledge can be supplemented by humanitarian ones - and vice versa
Scientific methods characterizing social knowledge can be used in the study of various objects in the humanities - and vice versa
What is the difference between them?
They study mainly societyThey study mainly humans
Important disciplines - history, political science, sociologyThe main disciplines are psychology, linguistics, philosophy, anthropology
The main object of study is events and processes reflecting the interaction of people with each otherThe main the object of study is the primary sources reflecting human activity as an independent subject
.