Human Sciences

Description

The human sciences include a diverse range of disciplines, such as psychology, social and cultural anthropology, economics, political science, and geography. These disciplines share a common focus on the study of human existence and behavior.

The diversity of the disciplines included within the human sciences can itself be a stimulus for interesting TOK discussions, as can the coexistence of different approaches within a single discipline (for example psychodynamic versus behaviorist versus humanistic approaches in psychology). Other potentially interesting discussions might include:

whether there are fundamental differences between the human sciences and the natural sciences.
the use of questionnaires and polls in the human sciences.
the ways in which social, political, cultural or financial factors may affect research in the human sciences
the purpose and context within which knowledge is pursued in the human sciences

(Adapted from the IB Theory of Knowledge Subject Guide)

Key Vocabulary

Statistical Reasoning
Reliability
Social Forces

Social Fact
Operationalize
Models

Prediction
behavior
paradigm/worldview

Knowledge Framework

Scope

How do we decide whether a particular discipline should be regarded as a human science?
Do the human sciences and literature provide different types of knowledge about human existence and behavior?
Are predictions in the human sciences inevitably unreliable?
What are the main difficulties that human scientists encounter when trying to provide explanations of human behavior?
Is human behavior too unpredictable to study scientifically?
Do the boundaries between different disciplines and different areas of knowledge help or hinder understanding?
Is it possible to discover laws of human behavior in the same way that the natural sciences discover laws of nature?

Perspectives

To what extent is it legitimate for a researcher to draw on their own experiences as evidence in their investigations in the human sciences?
Is it possible to eliminate the effect of the observer in the pursuit of knowledge in the human sciences?
How might the beliefs and interests of human scientists influence their conclusions? How can we know when we have made progress in the search for knowledge in the human sciences?
If two competing paradigms give different explanations of a phenomenon, how can we decide which explanation to accept?
What forms of protection against research error and bias are available to human scientists?

Methods & Tools

What role do models play in the acquisition of knowledge in the human sciences?
Are observation and experimentation the only two ways in which human scientists produce knowledge?
What assumptions underlie the methods used in the human sciences?
To what extent are the methods used to gain knowledge in the human sciences “scientific”?
How does the use of numbers, statistics, graphs and other quantitative instruments affect the way knowledge in the human sciences is valued?
To what extent can the human sciences use mathematical techniques to make accurate predictions?

Ethics

To what extent are the methods used in the human sciences limited by the ethical considerations involved in studying human beings?
Do researchers have different ethical responsibilities when they are working with human subjects compared to when they are working with animals?
What are the moral implications of possessing knowledge about human behaviour?
Should key events in the historical development of the human sciences always be judged by the standards of their time?
What values determine what counts as legitimate inquiry in the human sciences? Can knowledge be divorced from the values embedded in the process of creating it?
Is the role of the human scientist only to describe what the case is or also to make judgements about what should be the case?

Connections to the Core Theme

How does advertising utilize knowledge of human psychology to influence and persuade us? (scope)
What is it about a theory that gives it the power to destabilize our view of ourselves and of the world? (perspectives)
How might the language used in polls and questionnaires influence the conclusions that are reached? (methods and tools)
What moral obligations to act or not act do we have if our knowledge is tentative, incomplete or uncertain (ethics)

Quotes about The Human Sciences

Coming Soon!

Report abuse