Department of Education-Region

III TARLAC CITY SCHOOLS

DIVISION
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Email address: tarlac.city@deped.gov.ph/ Tel. No. (045) 470 - 8180

DISCIPLINES AND
IDEAS IN THE SOCIAL
SCIENCES
Quarter 2: Week 10
Learning Activity Sheets
 DISCIPLINES AND IDEAS IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES

Name: ___________________________________________ Quarter 2 – Week 10

Grade & Section: ___________________________________ Date: ____________

BASIC CONCEPTS AND PRINCIPLES OF THE MAJOR

SOCIAL SCIENCE IDEAS

Background Information:
Since time immemorial Man has developed a unique relationship with his
natural environment. As early as history can account, nothing has become more
powerful a driving force for Man’s survival and demise than nature. This physical
world has provided everything that Man ever needed and wanted – nourishing him
with all the material resources for his survival since the earliest civilization to the
present. However, this physical world that fed, clothed and sheltered man throughout
the ages – this world that he firmly assumed he understood, mastered and
commanded – is the same physical world that has brought him plagues,
catastrophes and, ultimately, death. No other force in the universe has dictated the
course of human history more decisively than his natural environment.
So how does Man ought to understand his natural environment? Should Man
view the world as nothing more but a physical provider of his corporeal needs and
wants and, therefore, a world that he can exploit and manipulate according to his
wishes? Or should Man view his relationship with the world as a partnership – a
partnership that is founded on respect, responsibility and reciprocity? After all, it
does make a lot of sense that a proper understanding of the world leads to a proper
understanding of the relationship with it.
Put into another context, this natural world is a world of phenomena – a world
of objects, forces and events. For better or for worse, however, Man is the only
creature in the universe (insofar as we can scientifically ascertain) who can obtain
meaning from these phenomena. Man is the only species on the planet endowed
with consciousness and reason which, when combined, results in the unique
capacity to extract deep philosophical meanings from otherwise random events. The
individual and subjective encounter of these phenomena allows for personal
interpretation of its meaning and hence, a distinct experience of it.
In this learning material we are going to examine Man and the world of
meaning – ​Hermeneutical Phenomenology – and Man in relation to his natural world
– the ​Human Environment System​.
A. Hermeneutical Phenomenology in a nutshell
I. Hermeneutics and Phenomenology
Hermeneutics can loosely be defined as the theory or philosophy of the
interpretation of meaning (Bleicher, 1980). It is a central focus in the philosophy
of the social sciences, the philosophy of art and language and in literary criticism.
The recognition that human expressions contain a meaningful factor, which must
be recognized as such by a subject and transposed into his own system of values
and meanings, is the very essential characteristic of ​existential philosophy.​
Phenomenology is the study of structures of consciousness as experienced
from the first-person point of view. Literally, phenomenology is the study of
“phenomena” – appearances of things, or things as they appear in our
experience, or the way we experience things – thus, the meanings they have in
our experience (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).
Hermeneutical phenomenology is a particular type of phenomenology among
a range of phenomenological methodologies usually classified into two camps,
namely the ​Descriptive (transcendental) phenomenology and the ​Interpretive
(hermeneutic) phenomenology​. Descriptive phenomenology was developed by
Edmund Husserl and interpretive phenomenology by Martin Heidegger. The
basic difference between the two camps is that ​hermeneutic phenomenology is
used to interpret the meaning of lived experiences and communicate the
interpretation textually or symbolically, while ​transcendental phenomenology is
based on discovering the objective universal essences of lived experiences and
communicating them through pure description (Newberry, 2014). Husserl’s
descriptive phenomenology is otherwise known as transcendental
phenomenology, while Heidegger’s interpretive phenomenology is also known as
hermeneutical or existential phenomenology.
Edmund Husserl and Martin Heidegger wanted to uncover the human
experience as it is lived. They were both confident that the world is simply one
light world among many worlds. There are many worldviews and paradigms. And
so, it is only appropriate to examine events as they appear to us. Almost
certainly, as these two were influenced by medieval philosophy, the certainty of
truth lies always on how we experience things and the world around us. If the
senses sometimes deceive us, then studying our lived experience through
consciousness and reducing our prejudices is a sure way towards truth.
II. Common Features of Transcendental and Hermeneutic Phenomenology
Descriptive and interpretive methodologies share four common features
namely: description, reduction, essences, and intentionality. The aim of
phenomenology is ​description of phenomena. ​Reductionism is a process that
involves suspending or bracketing the phenomena so that the “things
themselves” can be returned to. Likewise, an ​essence is the core meaning of an
individual’s experience that makes it what it is. Finally, ​intentionality refers to
consciousness since individuals are always conscious of something. This means
intentionality is the total meaning of the object or the idea which is always more
 than what is given in the perception of a single perspective (Kafle, 2011).
In theory, phenomenology centers on people’s views of the world or the
perception of the ​“things in their appearance.” It stresses that only those that
have experienced events can communicate them to the outside world. It therefore
offers an understanding of an experience from those who have lived it. If one
says: “I have experienced it myself,” then that person has a personal claim of the
event or phenomena and that he/she has first-hand knowledge about it.
III. Hermeneutical Phenomenology and the Social Sciences
The vital question in this matter at hand is this: what does hermeneutical
phenomenology have to do with our study of the social sciences such as history,
anthropology and psychology? The answer to this question is relatively
straightforward: all the social sciences study Man and society and all phenomena
in between as they happen and the analysis and interpretation hermeneutical
phenomenology brings on the surface gives favorable result that allows the
person seeking the truth behind these phenomena the right answers to what
he/she is looking for.
As a method, hermeneutical phenomenology is an approach that allows the
researcher to interpret the meanings found in relation to phenomena. This
approach employs the analysis of text to find these meanings and allow
interpretation. The focus is on understanding the meaning of experience by
searching for ideas and connecting with the information interpretively with less
stress on the essences that are essential to descriptive phenomenology.

B. Human Environment System in a nutshell

The Human Environment System is the idea of a complex and adaptive
system of both human and natural components that explains the
delicate interaction and subtle relationship between the ​human social
systems​ and the natural environment or ​ecosystem.
Human social systems and the ecosystem are both complex and
adaptive systems. They are ​complex systems because both of them
are made up of many different components each of which are
intricately interconnected with one another. And they are ​adaptive
systems as well since both human social systems and the ecosystem
have feedback mechanisms of their own that promote survival in a
constantly changing environment.
The collective account of this human-environment interaction is very
much the focal point of the study of Geography. ​Geography is the study
of the physical environment in relation to Man – the impact of human
behavior and culture to their physical environment, and the impact of
the physical environment to human behavior and culture.
The various approaches in the study of human-environment systems
are:
 1. Environmental Determinism – asserts that the natural
environment dictates the course of human culture. In this model
human society is restricted to a range of outcomes or even a
single possible outcome by a particular set of environmental
parameters.
2. Possibilism – claims that although nature may circumscribe the
possibilities for humans, historical and cultural factors explain
what possibility may occur.
3. Cultural Ecology – the study of processes by which society
adapts to its environment. This approach to the study of human
environment systems introduced the concept of an integrated
system within which cultural and environmental factors interact.
4. Historical Ecology – this approach utilizes the notion of ecology
as an attempt to understand the reciprocal relationship between
people and environment and draws its understanding of these
relationships from their mutual influence over time. Moreover,
this approach maintains that landscapes can be understood
historically as well as ecologically, with the landscape as an
artifact of human activity that can be used to understand the
development of culture over time.
The human-environment system, as a geo-social philosophical outlook,
promotes a very different kind of moralism: the adherence of human
civilization to the natural order and workings of its physical environment
and hence, necessitating Man’s utmost obligation and responsibility to
protect and preserve it however difficult the case may be in this modern
technological era.

Learning Competency:
Analyze the basic concepts and principles of the major social science ideas
● Hermeneutical Phenomenology
● Human Environment System

​Activity 1:
​ irections: Analyze the following human circumstances enumerated on the
D
first column of the table provided below. Using the method of Reductionism in
Hermeneutical Phenomenology, identify in the next column at least one prejudice
people commonly associate with them. And finally, on the last column, stripped of
these prejudices, give your unbiased views of these circumstances based on the
way you personally experienced them.
 Phenomena Prejudices Things as they appear to me
A bald man with
tattoo all over his
body

A community of Aetas
in the mountains

A woman with heavy

make-up who smoke
cigarettes in the
street
An American
foreigner with a
Filipino woman
walking in the mall
A guy who is fond of
wearing pink outfits

A girl who is always in

the company of boys

Activity 2:

​Directions: Ponder philosophically on the quote provided below. Reflect and

uncover its meaning by keeping in mind the essence of the lesson in Hermeneutical
Phenomenology.

“A wise man was once asked: what is the cure for love at
first sight? To which he replied: take a second good look.”
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Activity 3:

​ irection: Using the Venn diagram below, write an analysis contrasting and
D
reconciling these three basic human demands in light of the theory of the Human
Environment System.

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Reflection: ​Complete the statements below.

I have learned that Hermeneutical Phenomenology, as a social science

theory,is____________________________________________________________
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I have learned that Human Environment System, as a social science theory, is

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References:

Abulencia, et al. First Edition, 2017. Disciplines and Ideas in the Social Sciences. Teacher’s
Guide. Department of Education. Pasig City: Haus of Serah Printing and Trading
Corp.

Dela Cruz, et al. 2016. Disciplines and Ideas in the Social Sciences. Quezon City:
Phoenix Publishing House, Inc.

Answer Key

Activity 1:
Answers may vary depending on the learner’s personal experiences, views and opinions. This activity is designed to
demonstrate to the learners how the meaning of a particular object, situation or event is extracted more clearly when it
is stripped of cultural and societal prejudices.

Activity 2:
Answers may vary. The quote chosen in this activity exemplifies the essence of Hermeneutical Phenomenology.
Learners are expected to come up with an in-depth analysis of the quotation that is indicative of a clear understanding
of the ideas presented in the philosophical method.

Activity 3:
Answers may vary. By contrasting and reconciling these basic human demands, the learners will be able to exhibit a
clear understanding and analysis of the basic precepts of the Human Environment System theory.

Prepared by:

NOEL M. GUTIERREZ
Teacher II