Philosophy of Social Sciences: An Introduction

By Muhammad Anwar Farooq and Dr. Samina Sarwat

Authors: M Anwar Farooq & Dr Samina Sarwat
First of all, thank you for choosing this book. This book contains a simple introduction to the philosophy of social sciences, its different schools of thought and modes of social inquiry. We taught an introductory course ‘Philosophy of Social Sciences’ in university classes. This book is a collection of handouts that we prepared as course material to facilitate our students. We hope this collection would help the reader to understand the basic concepts in social sciences.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Muhammad Anwar Farooq
• Release date: May 3, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005570088

Muhammad Anwar Farooq

Mr. Muhammad Anwar Farooq is a university lecturer having Sixteen years of teaching and research experience. He is a good researcher and column writer. He is a non-fiction writer. He has written good books on philosophy, logic, science, history and politics. He is good at writing introductory books on several disciplines. His books start at elementary stage and progress, in some places, to intermediate stage. His books are first-rate study guides. He writes in a way that makes the books interesting and easily understandable. This book is a collection of handouts which he prepared for his class. Hopefully this introductory work would help the reader to grab basic concepts in the field.

Book preview

Philosophy of Social Sciences

An Introduction

Copyright 2021 Muhammad Anwar Farooq

Published by Muhammad Anwar Farooq at Smashwords

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ISBN: 9781005886295

Philosophy of Social Sciences

An Introduction

By

Muhammad Anwar Farooq

&

Dr. Samina Sarwat

ISBN: 9781005886295

Table of Contents

Dedications

Foreword

Chapter 01 – Natural Sciences and Social Sciences

Chapter 02 – Historical and Philosophical Roots of Social Sciences

Chapter 03 – Modes of Social Inquiry

Chapter 04 – Cultural Ideals and Values in Social Sciences

Chapter 05 – Rational Choice Theory

Chapter 06 – Philosophy of Subjects

Bibliography

About the Author – Muhammad Anwar Farooq

Other Books by Muhammad Anwar Farooq

Connect with Muhammad Anwar Farooq

About the Author – Dr Samina Sarwat

Connect with Dr Samina Sarwat

Dedications

I think continually of those who were truly great.

Who, from the womb, remembered the soul’s history

Through corridors of light, where the hours are suns,

Endless and singing. Whose lovely ambition

Was that their lips, still touched with fire,

Should tell of the Spirit, clothed from head to foot in song.

And who hoarded from the Spring branches

The desires falling across their bodies like blossoms.

(Stephen Spender)

We dedicate this book to those who were truly great…

Foreword

First of all, thank you for choosing this book. This book contains a simple introduction to the philosophy of social sciences, its different schools of thought and modes of social inquiry. We taught an introductory course ‘Philosophy of Social Sciences’ in university classes. This book is a collection of handouts that we prepared as course material to facilitate our students. We hope this collection would help the reader to understand the basic concepts in social sciences.

Chapter 1

Natural Sciences And Social Sciences

What is Philosophy?

Quite literally, the term philosophy means, love of wisdom. In a broad sense, philosophy is an activity people undertake when they seek to understand fundamental truths about themselves, the world in which they live, and their relationships to the world and to each other. As an academic discipline philosophy is much the same. Those who study philosophy are perpetually engaged in asking, answering, and arguing for their answers to life’s most basic questions.

Natural Science

The scientific study of phenomena or laws of the physical world is called natural science. Natural science includes physics, chemistry, biology and other cross-disciplines. Mathematics, statistics, and computer science may not be regarded as natural sciences but they are essential tools and frameworks in natural sciences. The term is often used interchangeably with physical science. Natural science is a branch of science concerned with the description, prediction, and understanding of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Natural science deals with the natural world. It is concerned with the phenomena and objects of nature and the physical world. Natural science involves comprehension, description, and prediction of natural phenomena using empirical and observational evidence. Hypothesis formed in natural sciences must be verified scientifically to be regarded as a scientific theory. The history of philosophy is intertwined with the history of the natural sciences. Long before the 19th century, when the term science began to be used with its modern meaning, those who are now counted among the major figures in the history of Western philosophy were often equally famous for their contributions to natural philosophy, the bundle of inquiries now designated as sciences.

Natural science can be divided into two main branches: life science and physical science. Life science is alternatively known as biology, and physical science is subdivided into branches: physics, chemistry, astronomy and Earth science. These branches of natural science may be further divided into more specialized branches (also known as fields). As empirical sciences, natural sciences use tools from the formal sciences, such as mathematics and logic, converting information about nature into measurements which can be explained as clear statements of the laws of nature.

Social Science

Social Science is a vast field that is concerned with human society and the relationships among individuals within it. Any discipline or branch of science that deals with human behavior in its social and cultural aspects. The social sciences include cultural (or social) anthropology, sociology, social psychology, political science, and economics. Also frequently included are social and economic geography and those areas of education that deal with the social contexts of learning and the relation of the school to the social order.

Historiography is regarded by many as social science, and certain areas of historical study are almost indistinguishable from work done in the social sciences. Most historians, however, consider history as one of the humanities. It is generally best, in any case, to consider history as marginal to the humanities and social sciences, since its insights and techniques pervade both. The study of comparative law may also be regarded as a part of the social sciences, although it is ordinarily pursued in schools of law rather than in departments or schools containing most of the other social sciences.

Although, strictly speaking, the social sciences do not precede the 19th century—that is, as distinct and recognized disciplines of thought—one must go back farther in time for the origins of some of their fundamental ideas and objectives. In the largest sense, the origins go all the way back to the ancient Greeks and their rationalist inquiries into human nature, the state, and morality. The heritage of both Greece and Rome is a powerful one in the history of social thought, as it is in other areas of Western society. Very probably, apart from the initial Greek determination