Name: Lyra Kaye B.

Manlucob
Course and Year: BSA 2 SSP IJ1
Instructor: McChristian R. Mamaoag, DPA

Social Science and Philosophy

Reflection Paper

 The study of Social Science: Definition, distinction, and its

importance.

Social science is the study of how people interact with one another. It
also attempts to explain how societies work, exploring everything from the
triggers of economic growth and the causes of unemployment to what makes
people happy. Their findings inform public policies, education programs,
urban design, marketing strategies, and many other endeavors. It is separate
from the natural sciences, which cover topics such as physics, biology, and
chemistry. Social science examines the relationships between individuals and
societies as well as the development and operation of societies, rather than
studying the physical world. From the beginning of recorded history, humans
have organized their societies using myriad systems: political, religious,
economic, and social. Those organizational systems, and our understanding
of human behavior, evolve as we learn from the past and study the present. In
our world today, the classic fields of social science are evolving and
interchanging. For example, Economics now embraces behavior,
anthropology looks at gender balance, law considers the effects of human
psychology on memory and the list goes on. That’s why studying social
science presents a lot of benefits such as it is a great way to develop your
skills and knowledge in more detail. In addition, it can help uncover useful
ideas into society in a variety of ways, from understanding how minds work to
how societies as a whole function.
So why should we study Social Science? Social Science aware us
about our surroundings and the incidents that happened in the past. It has
significance to develop an international viewpoint as well as it is also
important for the moral progress of society because it helps us to form social
character. That’s why studying Social Science can make us an efficient
citizen, helps us to solve the practical problems in our daily life. Aside from
that, it also helps us to know how different societies are managed, structured
and governed.

 Other related definitions of Social Science.

While Social Science is a generic term covering the scientific study of
man. It is a discipline or branch of science that deals with the socio-cultural
aspects of human behaviour where it generally include cultural anthropology,
economics, political science, sociology, criminology, and social psychology. It
can defined as any scholastic discipline or scientific field that investigates
human society.
According to James High, “Social Sciences as those bodies of learning
and study which recognizes the simultaneous and mutual action of physical
and no-physical stimuli which produce social relation”. This means Social
Science tells us about the connections that exist between people, groups, or
organization. This includes relationships between family members, friends,
neighbors, coworkers, and other relationships but excludes social contacts
and interactions that are short, momentary, and sudden.
According to Charles Beard, “Social Sciences are a body of knowledge
and thought pertaining to human affairs as distinguished from sticks, stones,
stars and physical objects”. This means it seeks to find out truths about
human relationships which ultimately contribute to the social utility and
advancement of knowledge.
Lastly, Bining & Bining defines Social Science as “the subject that
relate to the origin, organization, and development of human society,
especially to man in his association with other men”. This definition relates to
anthropology.

 Ten branches of Social Science and its relationship.

The ten most common social science subjects include Anthropology,
Archaeology, Economics, Geography, History, Law, Linguistics, Political
Science, Psychology and Sociology.
Firstly, Anthropology, is the study of humankind. Its main focus is to
study the cultural meanings of society and how over the years culture has
formed human behavior. This branch of social science covers a broad range
of theories ranging from the origin of humans and the evolution that took place
and the changes that continue to happen. And as part of social science,
Anthropology studies the past and present of humans and societies, looking
at patterns of behaviour and cultural meanings. It also looks at how language
has an effect on our biological development. It’s basically studying what
makes us human, using a broad approach to process several different
aspects of the human experience.
Secondly, Archaeology, the study of the human past through the
discovery, analysis, and interpretation of the material remains of that past
over space and time. As part of social science, it is the only source of
information about the human past before the invention of writing and
development of historiographic traditions, thus, archaeology gives scholars
access to the full range of the human experience, including social forms unlike
any that have existed in modern or historical times.
Thirdly, Economics, the study of production, distribution, and
consumption of goods and services. And as part of social science, it attempts
to use the scientific method and apply it to the study of certain aspects of
human behaviour, in particular how societies organize themselves to provide
for their material wants.
Fourthly, Geography, the study of the diverse environments, places
and spaces of the Earth’s surface and how they interact with each other. As
part of social science, it seeks answers to questions like why things are the
way they are, and where they are. It studies the world, its people,
communities and cultures with an emphasis on relations of space and place,
combined with a focus on field work, in both teaching and research.
Fifthly, History, the study of the past. It observes the chronological
record of events based on a thorough examination of source materials,
usually explaining their causes. It also studies the change over time, covering
all branches of human society including political, social, economic, scientific,
technological, medical, cultural, etc. As part of social science, historians turn
to the social sciences for insight into behaviour, making history to be a
vigorous evolving discipline able to absorb the best of both scientific and
humanistic thought.
Sixthly, Law, the study legislation and judicial systems. Out of all the
other branches of Social Science, Law is the subject that tackles with how the
country is governed, its provisions, section, and how the constitution ensures
that the law is being maintained and respected. As part of social science, laws
are usually set by community norms and rules and are considered a social
institution, which is why the study of law is social science.
Seventhly, Linguistics, the scientific study of language. It studies the
historical development of languages in written texts and in the context of
literature and culture. As part of social science, Linguistics entails a
comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of
language, particularly its nature and structure.
Eighthly, Political Science, is a social study concerning the allocation
and transfer of power in decision making, the roles and systems of
governance including governments and international organizations, political
behavior, and public policies. As part of social science, it focuses on the
theory and practice of government and politics at the local, state, national, and
international levels.
Ninthly, Psychology, the study of human mind and behavior. It deals
with the science associated with the human mind and human behavior. And
as part of social science, it give emphasis on the social nature of human
behavior. This is why psychologists are interested in understanding the role
that culture plays in shaping our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.
Lastly, Sociology, the study of human society, relationships, and social
change. It examines the organization, structure, and change of social groups
and institutions as well as it combines tough methods of inquiry and analysis
in various areas of research, such as mass media, the environment, racism,
gender issues, class, and deviance and social control. As part of social
science, it uses the scientific method to try to understand the many aspects of
society that sociologists study for example, studying the relationship between
culture and society, examining social movements, or researching how
communication affects human behavior.

 Social Science: its distinction to Humanities.

Social Science is the systematic study of social, cultural, psychological,
political and economical factors which guides a person actions and decisions.
As against, Humanities implies the field of research belonging to the human
culture, primarily literature, anthropology, history, arts, music and philosophy.
In addition, as the study of social science is based on reality, regardless of the
time in which the study is conducted, whether the study is of ancient time or
current situation. Therefore, social science is objective in nature. Conversely,
Humanities is subjective in the sense that it relies on assumptions and
philosophies. While social science uses the scientific approach to solve the
issues, humanities use an analytical approach. And so the emphasis of the
humanities is more on the feelings and emotions rather than the system used.
In social science, the concept of truth is independent of the context, whereas,
in humanities, the concept of truth is dependent on the context. Social
Science is associated with basic elements of human culture, which ascertains
the general pattern of human behaviour. On the contrary, Humanities focuses
on the special elements of the human culture, especially those that seek to
express the spiritual and aesthetic values and to determine the meaning of
life. Lastly, while social science focuses on the study of patterned behaviour,
humanities lay emphasis on an in-depth understanding of the specific cases
or events.

 Sociological Inquiry
In other terms, social science research, sociological inquiry is the
methodical analysis of the inspirations and behaviour of individuals within a
group. It is the study of the social world as a whole and focusing on how
elements such as the family, religion, school, community and government
effect it. And its most standard goal is to simply obtain a more clear
understanding of the observable social world that we live in. Sociologists
generally choose from widely-used methods of social investigation including
primary source data collection such as survey, participant observation,
ethnography, case study, observations, experiment, and secondary data
analysis, or use of existing sources. There are stages that compose this
process which are choosing a research topic, conducting a literature review,
measuring variables and gathering data, analyzing data, and drawing a
conclusion.

 Philosophy: its meaning and significance.

For me, Philosophy is simply a way of thinking rather than a fixed body
of knowledge. Specifically, it is the practice of thinking about what, why and
how we think. In short, “thinking about thinking”. It also involves asking
questions about what we know and believe, about what we think is true and
false, right and wrong, just and unjust, real and unreal, valuable and
valueless, the relationship between language and reality, the nature of
consciousness, freedom, justice, truth, happiness, goodness and a host of
other topics. Additionally, in my perspective as a student, studying philosophy
enhances your ability to evaluate and resolve problems. It will help you to
analyze concepts, definitions, arguments, and problems. It contributes to your
capacity to organize ideas and issues, to deal with questions of value, and to
extract what is essential from masses of information. In today’s time, the
significance of philosophy is that it helps you sort through your own beliefs
since most people go through life without questioning what they believe.
Philosophy asks us to take a closer look at our lives and worldviews and you
might realize that what you've always believed about yourself, the world, and
so on don't make sense anymore. That’s why applying philosophy in life can
definitely help us to live a better life because it gives us the opportunity to
improve how we can analyze and evaluate a situation or an idea, as well as,
enhance our reasoning and critical skills, such as critical thinking, problem
solving, proper judgement and decision making.

 Philosophy: explain its subject and functions.

Philosophy is sometimes said to be the mother of all sciences because
the natural sciences originated in theoretical philosophy. As the mother of all
sciences, philosophy tries to answer questions like “Where does the universe
come from?”, “How do I know if what I experience really exists or if I am only
dreaming?”, and “What is the purpose of life?” And the answers to these
questions are not trivial facts, nor are they necessarily unsolvable. Instead,
they involve fundamental explanations of the world, hence the search for
fundamental explanations of the world is called theoretical philosophy.
Meanwhile, practical philosophy is the investigation of the meaning of life and
how to act. It helps us figure out our roles in society, how to be good people,
and how to achieve happiness and meaning in life. Although practical
philosophy can be used to investigate ways to achieve professional success
or methods for attaining political power, its primary concern is much broader.
There are three functions of philosophy. The first function that
philosophy fulfills is explaining reality. Reality raises many questions wherein
you have also asked some of them yourself. I wondered whether humans are
naturally social or whether we could live our whole lives alone. Therefore,
explaining reality means answering fundamental questions about reality,
including how it is organized, how it originated, and whether it has a purpose.
The second function is changing society. Philosophy not only helps us make
some sense of our world, but it also helps us figure out how to improve it. This
is important because we do not just have to explain the world, we also have to
live in it. Philosophy can help us identify problems with the way that we live
our lives and how our societies are organized. It can also help us solve these
problems by changing the society we live in. Therefore, changing society is
the identification and correction of problems in society. Lastly, the third
function of philosophy is anticipating the future. It allows us to anticipate the
sort of problems we might face in the future as well as the solutions they
might have. Therefore, anticipating the future involves predicting problems,
solutions, and opportunities that do not exist currently making it a function of
philosophy.

 Philosophy: its nature and scope.

The pursuit of wisdom is an endless quest that we have been
searching for the truth about life and death, happiness and sadness since
ancient times. Our thoughts, as well as our perceptions about reality, have
evolved over time. Although we will never be able to completely satisfy our
curiosity about this mysterious world, this endless quest is what gives us all
knowledge. While philosophy is the study of the nature of being and the
human condition and a discipline that focuses on those questions we ask
about life and how we should live it. It is also concerned with the questions
that cannot be answered by science or religion, such as what it means to be
human, or whether something can have value beyond our own senses. Even
though there are many different ways for people to philosophize about these
issues, all approaches share a common goal and that is to figure out how best
to live one’s life.
The nature of philosophy is to explore general questions regarding the
nature of reality, the human condition, and existence. Philosophy also
addresses such questions as, why do humans do what we do? Can an
individual be certain of anything? New philosophical discoveries can lead us
to a better understanding of ourselves, our relationships with others, and our
place in the universe. It is a branch of philosophy that studies concepts of
reality that go beyond the scope of any particular science. It is concerned with
explaining the fundamental nature of life and the world. On the other hand, the
scope of philosophy consists of three parts namely Epistemology, Ontology
and Metaphysics, and Axiology where Epistemology is the theory of
knowledge, Ontology or Metaphysics is the theory of being or reality, and
Axiology is the theory of values. Epistemology has a dominant place in
contemporary philosophy. It is a preliminary to metaphysical speculation. It is
a prior criticism of the organ of knowledge. Ontology or Metaphysics is the
theory of being. It investigates into the nature of the reality. It investigates the
nature of the world including matter and life, of the soul, and of God or the
absolute. Meanwhile, Axiology is the theory of values or ideals. Values are the
supreme norms of life. Logic investigates the nature of truth. Ethics
investigates the nature of good. Aesthetics investigates the nature of beauty.
And Theology investigates the nature of the holy. Axiology examines the
nature of intellectual, moral, aesthetic, and religious values. It investigates the
relation of values to reality. It enquires into their subjectivity or objectivity
making it a very important branch of contemporary philosophy.

 Philosophy: its subject, role, culture, and relation to social science.

The relation between philosophy and the social sciences has a long
history of similarities. Philosophical questions may become more relevant
during times of intellectual crisis; nevertheless, this does not imply that
philosophical issues are solely significant at such times. Philosophy of the
social sciences, just like the philosophy of science, is out to study the various
goals and methods of the social science, with the aim of evaluating whether
the discipline is able to live up to the expectation of humanity. Philosophy of
the social sciences ponders on certain issues inherited from the philosophy of
natural science and also reflects on problems and issues generated by its
own peculiar disciplinary orientation. For example, this area of philosophy
reacts to the question of the appropriate methodology for the social scientific
enterprise, which is an age long problem in philosophy of natural science.
One important feature of the relationship between philosophy and social
science is that, while social science attempts to make sense of social events
and data, philosophy seeks to make sense of the sense that social science
attempts to make of social events. Philosophy investigates the social sciences
with the goal of explaining and clarifying the latter's methodology, statements,
and assumptions in general. For example, while the social sciences strive to
gather evidence and draw conclusions about what accounts for human values
such as good, happiness, right, and so on, it is the role of philosophy to
properly define those concepts in and of themselves.