Professional Documents
Culture Documents
TACLOBANCITY
SOCIALSCIENCE
&
PHILOSOPHY
Module 1
I. Subject Matter: Historical Background of Social “The hip bone’s connected to the thigh bone,” are appropriate to the social sciences. To understand
Science II. Lesson 1: Introduction to Social Science history, it is helpful, even necessary, to understand geography; to understand economics, it is
III. Objective: necessary to understand psychology. Similar arguments can be made for all of the social sciences.
Define social science and explain why it is important. The focus of the social science is on the study of the following:
1. Change in human relationship and reinterpretation between the present and past events.
IV. Discussion 2. Human activities and spatial distributions an interaction of culture, biological and physical
elements.
According to A Dictionary of Sociology, social science is a “general label applied to the 3. Basic social systems, institutions; and among political, economic and social institutions.
study of society and the human relationships.” Social Sciences are sometimes fleshed out with more 4. Relationship between individual and institutions; and among political economic and social
of an applied view in mind, and, therefore, they include fields, such as business, communication and institutions.
media studies, education, library science, social work, and women’s studies. 5. The nature of societies and authors; and the interactions of people with each other and also their
social and physical environment.
No field of study is more important to human beings than the social sciences. To 6. The study of society and the manner in which people behave and influence the world around us.
understand society is to learn not only the conditions that limit our lives but also the opportunities 7. The uttermost goal of social science is to answer different questions and problems about the
open to us for improving the human condition. Increasing our knowledge of human society is as society and human condition on how to improve it.
important as learning more about mathematics, physics, chemistry, or engineering, for unless we 8. It provides vital information for governments and policy makers, local authorities,
can develop societies in which human beings can live happy, meaningful, and satisfying lives. nongovernmental organizations, and others.
Because all expressions of human culture are related and interdependent, to gain a real
understanding of human society we must have some knowledge of all its major aspects. If we
concentrate on some phases and neglect others, we will have a distorted picture. But social science
today is such a vast complex that no one student can hope to master all of it. Thus, social science
itself has been broken up into anthropology, sociology, history, geography, economics, political
science, and psychology.
This list of social science disciplines is both too broad and too narrow. It is too broad
because parts of the fields of history, geography, and psychology should not be included as social
sciences. For instance, parts of history and geography belong in the humanities, and parts of
psychology belong in the natural sciences. The list is too narrow because new social sciences are
emerging, such as cognitive science and sociobiology, that incorporate new findings and new
ways of looking at reality.
Because all knowledge is interrelated, there are inevitable problems in defining and
cataloging the social sciences. Often, it is difficult to know where one social science ends and
another begins. Not only are the individual social sciences interrelated, but the social sciences as a
whole body are also related to the natural sciences and the humanities. The strains of the old song,
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Historical Context: Emergence of Social Science Disciplines Physical Anthropology, branch of anthropology concerned with the origin, evolution, and
1. Anthropology: Definition diversity of people. Physical anthropologist work broadly on three major sets of
- Is the study of all aspects of human life and culture. Anthropology examines such topics as how problems: human and nonhuman primate evolution, human variation and its significance
people live, what they think, what they produce, and how they interact with their environments. (see also race), and the biological bases of human behavior. The course that human
Anthropologist try to understand the full range of human diversity as well as what all people share evolution has taken and the processes that have bought it about are of equal concern. In
in common. order to explain the diversity within and between human populations, physical
Anthropology: Question Asked anthropologist must study past populations
-Anthropologist Ask such basic question as: When, Where, and How did humans evolve? How do of fossils hominins as well as the nonhuman primates. Much light has been thrown upon
people adapt to different environments? How have societies developed and changed from ancient the relation to other primates and upon the nature of the transformation of human
past to the present? Answer to these question can help us understand what it means to be human. anatomy and behavior in the course of evolution from early hominins to modern people
They can also help us to learn ways to meet the present day needs of people all over the world and —a span of at least four million years.
to plan how we might live in the future.
Fields of Anthropology
a. Cultural Anthropology
Anthropology: Historical Background
A major division of anthropology that deals with the study of culture in all of its aspects The European Age of Enlightenment of the 17th and 18th centuries marked the rise of
and that uses the methods, concepts, and data of archaeology, ethnography and scientific and rational philosophical thought. Enlightenment thinkers, such as Scottish-born David
ethnology, folklore, and linguistics in its descriptions and analyses of the diverse peoples Humes, John Locke of England, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau of France, wrote a number of
of the words. humanistic works on the nature of humankind. They based their workon philosophical reason
rather than religious authority and asked important anthropological questions. Rosseau, for
b. Linguistic Anthropology instance, wrote on the moral qualities of “primitive” societies and about human inequality. But
Is a branch of anthropology that studies the role of language in the social lives of most writers of the Enlightenment also lacked firsthand experience with non-Western cultures.
individuals and community. Linguistic anthropology explores how language shapes
communication. Language plays a huge role in social identity, group membership, and 2. Economics
Economics, social science concerned with the production, distribution, exchange, and
establishing cultural beliefs and ideologies.
consumption of goods and services. Economics: Historical (Mercantilism)
c. Archaeology The development of modern nationalism during the 16th century shifted attention to the
problem of increasing the wealth and power of the various nation-states. The economic policy of
Archaeology, also spelled archeology, the scientific study of the material remains of past the leaders of that time, known as mercantilism, sought to encourage national self-sufficiency. The
human life and activities. These include human artifacts from the very earliest stone tools
heyday of the mercantilist school in England and western Europe occurred during the 16 th through Military geography provides military leaders with information about areas in which they
the early 18th centuries. may need to operate. The many other fields of cultural geography include ethnography, historical
Mercantilist valued gold and silver as an index of national power. Without the gold and geography, urban geography, demography, and linguistic geography.
silver mines in the new world from which Spain drew its riches, a nation could accumulate these Geography: History
precious metals only by selling more merchandise to foreigners than it brought from them. These The earliest geographers were concerned with exploring unknown areas and with
favorable balance of trade necessarily compelled foreigners to cover their deficit by shipping gold describing the observable features of different places. Such ancient peoples as the Chinese,
and silver. Egyptians, and Phoenicians made long journeys and recorded their observations of strange lands.
Mercantilist took for granted that their own country was either at war with its neighbors, One of the first known maps made on a clay tablet in Babylonian about 2300 BC. By 1400 BC, the
recovering from a recent conflict, or getting ready to plunge into a new war. With gold and silver, shores of the Mediterranean Sea had been explored and charted, and during the next thousand
a ruler could hire mercenaries to fight, a practice followed by Kingdom of Great Britain when he years visited Britain and navigated most of the African coast. The ancient Greeks, however, gave
used Hessian troops during the American Revolution. As needed, the monarch could also buy the Western world its first important knowledge relating to the form, size, and general nature of
weapons, uniforms, and food to supply the soldiers and sailors. the earth.
4. History: Definition
3. Geography: Definition History, in its broadest sense, is the totality of all past events, although a more realistic
Geography, science that deals with the distribution and arrangement of all elements of the definition would limit it to the known past. Historiography is the written record of what is known
earth’s surface. The word geography was adopted in the 200s BC by the Greek scholar of human lives and societies in the past and how historians have attempted to understand them.
Eratosthenes and means “earth description.” History: Approaches
Geography Branches Historians have looked more and more to the social sciences—Sociology, psychology,
a. Physical geography includes the following fields: geomorphology, which uses geology to study anthropology, and economics—for new methods and forms of explanation; the sophisticated use
the form and structure of the surface of the earth; climatology, which involves meteorology and is of quantitative data has become the accepted approaches to economic and demographic studies.
concerned with climatic conditions; biogeography, which uses biology and deals with the The influence of Marxist theories of economic and social development remains vital and
distribution of plant and animal life; soils geography/soil management, which concerned with the contentious, as does the application of psychoanalytic theory of history. At the same time, many
distribution of soil; hydrography, which concerns the distribution of seas, lakes, rivers, and scholars have turned with sharpened interest to the theoretical foundations of historical knowledge
streams in relation to their uses; oceanography, which deals with the waves, tides, and currents of and are reconsidering the relation between imaginative literature and history, with the possibility
oceans and the ocean floor (see Ocean and Oceanography); and cartography or mapmaking emerging that history may after all be the literary art that works upon scholarly material.
through graphic representation and measurement of the surface of the earth. b. Cultural Geography 5. Linguistics Definition
This classification, sometimes called human geography, involves all phases of human Linguistic, the scientific study of language. It encompasses the description of languages,
social life in relation to the physical earth. Economic geography, a field of cultural geography, the study of their origin, and the analysis of how people learn languages other than their own.
deals with the industrial use of the geographic environment. Natural resources, such as mineral Linguistics: History
and oil deposits, forest, grazing lands, farm lands, are studied with reference to their position, In the early 20th century, linguistics expanded to include the study of unwritten
productivity, and potential uses. Manufacturing industries rely on geographic studies for languages. In the United States linguists and anthropologist began to study the rapidly
information concerning raw materials, sources of labor, and distribution of goods. Marketing disappearing spoken languages of Native North Americans. Because many of these languages
studies concerned with plant locations and sales potentials are based on geographic studies. The were unwritten, researchers could not use historical analysis in their studies. In their pioneering
establishment o transportation facilities, trade routes, and resort areas also frequently depends on research on these languages, anthropologist Franz Boas and Edward Sapir developed the
the results of geographic studies. techniques of descriptive linguistics and theorized on the ways in which language shapes our
Cultural geography includes political geography, which is an application of political perceptions of the world.
science. Political geography deals with human socials activities that are related to the locations and
boundaries of cities, nations, and groups of nations.
6. Political Science; Definition 2. Linguistic = _________________ 7. Sociology = __________________
Political Science, the systematic study of and reflection upon politics. Politics usually 3. Political = _________________ 8. Anthropology = ______________
describes the processes by which people and institutions exercise and resist power. Political 4. Archaeology = ______________ 9. Geography = _________________
processes are used to formulate policies, influence individuals and institutions, and organize 5. Economics = ________________ 10. Climatology = _______________
societies.
Political Science: History V. Evaluation
The systematic study of politics dates to ancient times. The oldest legal and Directions: Identify the following statement.
administrative code that survives in its entirely is the Code of Hammurabi, inscribed on a pillar of
black basalt. Hammurabi, a Babylonian king who ruled from 1792 to 1750 BC, describes the laws ___________1. The totality of all past events, although a more realistic definition would limit it to
in his code as enabling “stable government and good rule.” Hammurabi’s justification indicates the known past.
that the reasoning behind the code was political as well as legal.
___________2. The scientific study of language.
6. Psychology: Definition
Psychology, the scientific study of behavior and the mind. This definition contains three ___________3. Deals with human socials activities that are related to the locations and boundaries
elements. The first is that psychology is a scientific enterprise that obtains knowledge through of cities, nations, and groups of nations.
systematic and objective methods of observation and experimentation. Second is that psychologist
study behavior, which refers to any action or reaction that can be measured or observed—such as ___________4. Which involves meteorology and is concerned with climatic conditions.
the blink of an eye, an increase in heart rate, or the unruly violence that often erupts in a mob. ___________5. Concerned with the production, distribution exchange, and consumption of goods
Third is that psychologist study the mind, which refers to both conscious and unconscious mental and services.
states. These states cannot actually be seen, only interfered from observable behavior. ___________6. They were especially interested in the nature of knowledge and how human come
Psychology: History to know the world.
From about 600 to 300 BC, Greek philosophers inquired about a wide range of ___________7. Is a branch of anthropology that studies the role of language in the social lives of
psychological topics. They were especially interested in the nature of knowledge and how human individuals and community.
come to know the world, a field of philosophy known as epistemology. The Greek philosophers ___________8. The scientific study of human social relations or group life.
Socrates and his followers, Plato and Aristotle, wrote about pleasure and pain, knowledge, beauty, ___________9. Branch of anthropology concerned with the origin, evolution, and diversity of
desire, memory, and the subjective nature of perception. people. ___________10. Was adopted in the 200s BC by the Greek scholar Eratosthenes and
7. Sociology: Definition means “earth
Sociology, the scientific study of human social relations or group life. description.”
Sociology: History
The first definition of Sociology was advanced by the French philosopher Auguste Essay (10 pts.)
Comte. In 1838 Comte coined the term sociology to described his vision of a new science that 1. What new social science fields do you think will be important ten years from now? Why do you
would discover laws of human society resembling the laws of nature by applying the methods of think so?
factual investigation that had proved so successful in the physical sciences. The British
philosopher Herbert Spencer adopted both Comte’s term and his mission.
Activity No. 1
Directions: Think or create a keyword/s that you define more easily on the following words.
5. How did community life and religion shape the functioning of society in the early age?
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