The human sciences are disciplines that study human beings and their manifestations in society, typically linked to language, art, thought, culture, and their historical formations. For example: philosophy, history, psychology.
In short, the human sciences focus on the interest that human beings have always had in understanding their own actions, both individually and collectively.
It may be useful to you:
- Formal sciences
- Pure and applied sciences
- Hard and soft sciences
Where are the human sciences located?
The subgroup to which the human sciences belong, within the preeminent division in epistemology, is that of the factual sciences : the separation is produced by the nature of the study, which in this case is not about ideal elements but about elements that can be observed, and from which, usually, general laws derived from deduction cannot be made but rather reasoning linked to induction: from the observation of particular facts or cases, inferences are made about generality without having (almost always) the possibility of affirming it unequivocally.
However, within the factual sciences there is a division between the natural sciences , which deal with the phenomena that surround man in his life but do not directly circumscribe him, and the human sciences that study him precisely in his relationships, conduct and behavior.
The former are often even called ” exact sciences ,” even though they also use inductive reasoning. The latter, the humanities, are often underestimated, and even their scientific character is distrusted , due to the limited generality of the knowledge they provide.
Sometimes, an internal classification of the human sciences with respect to the social sciences is made , since the latter (such as economics, sociology or political science) refer more to the relationships of the individual between them than to their essence.
Why are the humanities important?
The importance of the humanities is paramount, especially at times when global changes raise serious questions about the future of the human species: these disciplines allow us to understand people through their relationships with their peers and with the environment they inhabit.
Examples of human sciences
- Philosophy. The science that deals with the essence, properties, causes, and effects of things, answering the most basic existential questions that human beings have and have had.
- Hermeneutics. Discipline based on the interpretation of texts , especially those considered sacred.
- Theory of religions. Sociological approaches, associated with authors such as Marx, Durkheim, and Weber, who distrusted the separate nature of religion from its social determinants.
- Education . The study of different concepts regarding teaching and learningmethods , associated with the particular context in which information is transmitted in a unidirectional or multidirectional manner.
- Aesthetics. The so-called “science of beauty” that studies the reasons and emotions offered by the arts, and why in some cases they are more beautiful than in others.
- Geography. The science concerned with describing the Earth, including its ecological environment, the societies that inhabit the world, and the regions formed therein.
- History. The science that studies humanity’s past, with an arbitrary starting point located with the appearance of writing.
- Psychology. The science that focuses on human experience, because it deals with the analysis of the behavior and mental processes of individuals and groups in different situations.
- Anthropology. The science that studies the physical aspects as well as the social and cultural manifestations of human communities.
- Legal sciences. The discipline that studies, interprets, and systematizes a legal system that achieves the ideal of justice as closely as possible.
