Humanities social sciences natural sciences

After reading attached document, discuss in at least 250 words the major differences among the three disciplines (humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences) in the following areas:

the purposes of research conducted in each discipline;
the types of sources used for each discipline;
the research methods used in each discipline;
the results of the research/types of answers sought after in each discipline.
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What is the difference between social and natural sciences? Doctoral Seminar “Forschungsmethodik I” HS11-10,118,1.00, Fall Semester 2011 Prof. Dr. Roman Boutellier Prof. Dr. Oliver Gassmann Prof. Dr. Sabine Raeder Denniz Dönmez Yannic Domigall (ETHZ, D-MTEC) (HSG, IWI-HSG) What is the difference between social and natural sciences? 2 1. Distinguishing sciences Science is generally understood as an endeavor to understand, explain and predict the world we live in using distinctive methods of enquiry in an attempt to construct theories. It is, however, not easy to find a set of features that define what separates sciences from other attempts to understand and explain the world, such as religion, astrology and fortune telling, which are generally not regarded as branches of sciences (Okasha, 2002). Citing Wittgenstein, who argued that there is no fixed set of features defining what is a “game” but there is rather a loose cluster of features most of which are possessed by most games, Okasha suggests the same may be true for sciences. Based on some of these features, we will contrast two scientific branches, namely the natural and social sciences, in this essay. According to authors such as Anzenbacher (1981, S. 22) and Chmielewicz (1994), both of them are real sciences, as opposed to formal sciences, the latter of which solve imaginary problems and include, for instance, mathematics or Theoretical Computer Science. Other authors separate real sciences into further categories such as literary studies or applied sciences, the latter including medicine and engineering (Dewey, 2008). While the question of what science is, and the separation of all of its branches is out oft the scope of this essay, we shall now turn to a comparison of the natural and social sciences. There are a number of similarities between the natural and social sciences, which include the use of similar methods and partly overlapping epistemological and ontological stances, i.e. stances regarding the creation of knowledge and the nature of reality. However, there are also a number of elements that distinguish the two, such as their different origins, subjects of study, and limitations. Following definitions of natural and social sciences, these elements will be contrasted in the following. 2. Natural Science 2.1. Definition Ledoux (2002, p. 34) defines natural sciences as „disciplines that deal only with natural events (i.e. independent and dependent variables in nature) using scientific methods“. While the employment of scientific methods is generally regarded as typical but not exclusive of natural sciences, it is the focus on natural events that distinguishes natural from social science. 2.2. Origin According to Büchel (1992), the birth of natural science is marked by changing world views introduced by Renaissance thinkers who questioned earlier explanations about the world and turned to more systematic methods of investigation. Early leaders of this ‘Scientific Revolution’ included Copernicus and Galileo who were concerned with problems from disciplines including astronomy and physics, among others. Natural sciences arose from curiosity about the world, as well as the endeavor to transform nature in favor of human necessities of life, both of which had not been possible to pursue freely in the era of slavery of the ancient society (Büchel, 1992). 2.3. Subject of study The aim of the natural sciences is to discover the laws that rule the world (Büchel, 1992). The focus lies hereby on the natural and not on the social world, although the differentiation is not always simple. There are historically three core areas of the natural sciences: