The natural vs. The human sciences: myth, methodology and ontology

Discusiones Filosóficas 14 (22):25-41 (2013)
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Abstract

I argue that the human sciences (i.e. humanities, social- and behavioural sciences) should not try to imitate the methodology of the natural sciences. The human sciences study meaningful phenomena whose nature is decisively different from the merely physical phenomena studied by the natural sciences, and whose study therefore require different methods; meaningful phenomena do not obviously obey natural laws while the merely physical necessarily does. This is not to say that the human sciences do not study an objective reality about which we cannot have genuine knowledge. The notion of objective reality is discussed, and it is suggested that social constructions can be understood as objectively real entities.

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Rognvaldur Ingthorsson
University of Helsinki

References found in this work

Ontology and Social Construction.Sally Haslanger - 1995 - Philosophical Topics 23 (2):95-125.
The Same, Only Different.Susan Haack - 2002 - The Journal of Aesthetic Education 36 (3):34.

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