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Human science (orhuman sciences in the plural) studies the philosophical,biological, social, justice, and cultural aspects of human life.[1] Human science aims to expand the understanding of thehuman world through a broad interdisciplinary approach. It encompasses a wide range of fields - includinghistory,philosophy,sociology,psychology, justice studies,evolutionary biology,biochemistry,neurosciences,folkloristics, andanthropology.[citation needed] It is the study and interpretation of the experiences, activities, constructs, and artifacts associated with human beings.[2][3] The study of human sciences attempts to expand and enlighten the human being's knowledge of its existence, its interrelationship with otherspecies and systems, and the development of artifacts to perpetuate thehuman expression andthought. It is the study of humanphenomena. The study of the human experience is historical and current in nature. It requires the evaluation and interpretation of the historic human experience and the analysis of current human activity to gain an understanding of human phenomena and to project the outlines ofhuman evolution. Human science is anobjective, informed critique of human existence and how it relates toreality.Underlying human science is the relationship between various humanistic modes of inquiry within fields such ashistory,sociology,folkloristics,anthropology, and economics and advances in such things asgenetics,evolutionary biology, and thesocial sciences for the purpose of understanding our lives in a rapidly changing world. Its use of anempiricalmethodology that encompasses psychological experience in contrastswith the purelypositivistic approach typical of thenatural sciences which exceeds all methods not based solely on sensory observations. Modern approaches in the human sciences integrate an understanding of human structure, function on and adaptation with a broader exploration of what it means to be human. The term is also used to distinguish not only the content of a field of study from that of the natural science, but also its methodology.[4]
Ambiguity and confusion regarding the usage of the terms 'science', 'empirical science', and 'scientific method' have complicated the usage of the term 'human science' with respect to human activities. The term 'science' is derived from the Latinscientia, meaning 'knowledge'. 'Science' may be appropriately used to refer to any branch of knowledge or study dealing with a body of facts or truths systematically arranged to show the operation of general laws.[citation needed]
However, according topositivists, the only authentic knowledge is scientific knowledge, which comes from the positive affirmation of theories through strict scientific methods the application of knowledge, or mathematics. As a result of the positivist influence, the termscience is frequently employed as a synonym forempirical science. Empirical science is knowledge based on thescientific method, a systematic approach to verification of knowledge first developed for dealing with natural physical phenomena and emphasizing the importance of experience based on sensory observation. However, even with regard to thenatural sciences, significant differences exist among scientists and philosophers of science with regard to what constitutes valid scientific method[5]—for example,evolutionary biology,geology andastronomy, studying events that cannot be repeated, can use the method of historical narratives.[6] More recently, usage of the term has been extended to the study of human social phenomena. Thus, natural and social sciences are commonly classified as science, whereas the study of classics, languages, literature, music, philosophy, history, religion, and the visual and performing arts are referred to as thehumanities. Ambiguity with respect to the meaning of the termscience is aggravated by the widespread use of the termformal science with reference to any one of several sciences that is predominantly concerned with abstract form that cannot be validated by physical experience through the senses, such as logic, mathematics, and the theoretical branches of computer science, information theory, and statistics.[citation needed]
The phrase 'human science' in English was used during the 17th-century scientific revolution, for example byTheophilus Gale,[7] to draw a distinction between supernatural knowledge (divine science) and study by humans (human science).John Locke also uses 'human science' to mean knowledge produced by people, but without the distinction.[8] By the 20th century, this latter meaning was used at the same time[9] as 'sciences that make human beings the topic of research'.[10]
The term "moral science" was used byDavid Hume (1711–1776) in hisEnquiry concerning the Principles of Morals to refer to the systematic study of human nature and relationships. Hume wished to establish a "science of human nature" based uponempirical phenomena, and excluding all that does not arise fromobservation. Rejectingteleological,theological andmetaphysical explanations, Hume sought to develop an essentially descriptive methodology; phenomena were to be precisely characterized. He emphasized the necessity of carefully explicating the cognitive content of ideas and vocabulary, relating these to their empirical roots and real-world significance.[11]
A variety of early thinkers in the humanistic sciences took up Hume's direction.Adam Smith, for example, conceived of economics as a moral science in the Humean sense.[12]
Partly in reaction to the establishment ofpositivist philosophy and the latter'sComtean intrusions into traditionally humanistic areas such as sociology, non-positivistic researchers in the humanistic sciences began to carefully but emphatically distinguish the methodological approach appropriate to these areas of study, for which the unique and distinguishing characteristics of phenomena are in the forefront (e.g., for the biographer), from that appropriate to thenatural sciences, for which the ability to link phenomena into generalized groups is foremost. In this sense,Johann Gustav Droysen contrasted the humanistic science's need tocomprehend the phenomena under consideration with natural science's need toexplain phenomena, whileWindelband coined the termsidiographic for a descriptive study of the individual nature of phenomena, andnomothetic for sciences that aim to defthe generalizing laws.[4]
Wilhelm Dilthey brought nineteenth-century attempts to formulate a methodology appropriate to the humanistic sciences together with Hume's term "moral science", which he translated asGeisteswissenschaft - a term with no exact English equivalent. Dilthey attempted to articulate the entire range of the moral sciences in a comprehensive and systematic way.[13]: Chap. I Meanwhile, his conception of “Geisteswissenschaften” encompasses also the abovementioned study of classics, languages, literature, music, philosophy, history, religion, and the visual and performing arts. He characterized the scientific nature of a study as depending upon:[13]: Chapter XI
But the specific nature of theGeisteswissenschaften is based on the "inner" experience (Erleben), the "comprehension" (Verstehen) of the meaning of expressions and "understanding" in terms of the relations of the part and the whole – in contrast to theNaturwissenschaften, the "explanation" of phenomena byhypothetical laws in the "natural sciences".[14]: p. 86
Edmund Husserl, a student ofFranz Brentano, articulated his phenomenological philosophy in a way that could be thought as a thesis of Dilthey's attempt. Dilthey appreciated Husserl'sLogische Untersuchungen[15] (1900/1901, the first draft of Husserl'sPhenomenology) as an “ep"epoch-making"istemological foundation of fors conception of Geisteswissenschaften.[14]: p. 14
In recent years, 'human science' has been used to refer to "a philosophy and approach to science that seeks to understand human experience in deeply subjective, personal, historical, contextual, cross-cultural, political, and spiritual terms. Human science is the science of qualities rather than of quantities and closes the subject-object split in science. In particular, it addresses the ways in which self-reflection, art, music, poetry, drama, language and imagery reveal the human condition. By being interpretive, reflective, and appreciative, human science re-opens the conversation among science, art, and philosophy."[16]
SinceAuguste Comte, the positivisticsocial sciences have sought to imitate the approach of the natural sciences by emphasizing the importance of objective external observations and searching for universal laws whose operation is predicated on external initial conditions that do not take into account differences in subjective humanperception and attitude. Critics argue thatsubjective human experience and intention plays such a central role in determining human social behavior that an objective approach to the social sciences is too confining. Rejecting the positivist influence, they argue that the scientific method can rightly be applied to subjective, as well as objective, experience. The term subjective is used in this context to refer to innerpsychological experience rather than outersensory experience. It is not used in the sense of being prejudiced by personal motives or beliefs.
Since 1878, theUniversity of Cambridge has been home to theMoral Sciences Club, with strong ties toanalytic philosophy.[17]
The Human Science degree is relatively young. It has been a degree subject atOxford since 1969. AtUniversity College London, it was proposed in 1973 by ProfessorJ. Z. Young and implemented two years later. His aim was to train general science graduates who would be scientifically literate, numerate and easily able to communicate across a wide range of disciplines, replacing the traditional classical training for higher-level government and management careers. Central topics include the evolution ofhumans, their behavior,molecular and populationgenetics, population growth and aging, ethnic and cultural diversity, and human interaction with theenvironment, including conservation, disease, andnutrition. The study of bothbiological and social disciplines, integrated within a framework of human diversity and sustainability, should enable the human scientist to develop professional competencies suited to address such multidimensional human problems.
In theUnited Kingdom, Human Science is offered at the degree level at several institutions which include:
In other countries:
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