The human Sciences are one of those disciplines that study the human being and the manifestations that he or she performs in society, usually linked to language, art, thought, culture and their historical formations. For instance: philosophy, history, psychology.
In short, the human sciences focus on the interest that human beings always had in knowing their own actions, both individually and collectively.
Where is the Human Sciences located?
The subgroup to which the human sciences belong, within the preeminent division in epistemology, is that of the factual science: the separation is produced by the nature of the study, which in this case is not based on ideal elements but on elements that can be observed, and from which general laws derived from deduction cannot usually be made, but reasoning linked to induction: a Starting from the observation of particular facts or cases, it is inferred about the generality without having (almost always) the possibility of affirming it unequivocally.
However, within the factual sciences there is a division between natural, 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, behaviors and behaviors.
The former are often called even ‘exact Sciences’ although they also use inductive reasoning. The second, the human sciences, are often underestimated and even their nature as science is mistrusted, due to the lack of generality offered by the knowledge it contributes.
On some occasions, 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 Human Sciences important?
The importance of the human sciences is capital, especially in the moments where the changes in the world They generate great doubts about where the human species will go: these disciplines allow people to get to know people through their relationships with their peers and with the environment where they live.
Examples from human sciences
- Philosophy. The science that deals with the essence, properties, causes and effects of things, answering the most elementary existential questions that human beings have and had.
- Hermeneutics. Discipline based on the interpretation of texts, especially those that are 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 conditioning factors.
- Education. Study of the different conceptions regarding teaching and learning modes, associated with the particular context in which information is transmitted in a unidirectional or multidirectional sense.
- Esthetic. The so-called ‘science of beauty’ that studies the reasons and emotions offered by the arts, and why in some cases it is more beautiful than in others.
- Geography. Science in charge of the description of the Earth, including also the ecological environment, the societies that inhabit the world and the regions that are formed there.
- History. Science that deals with studying the past of humanity, with an arbitrary starting point located with the appearance of writing.
- Psychology. Science whose field of study is human experience, because it deals with the analysis of the behavior and mental processes of individuals and human groups in different situations.
- Anthropology. Science that studies the physical aspects and also the social and cultural manifestations of human communities.
- Legal sciences. Discipline that is responsible for studying, interpreting and systematizing a legal system that achieves as much as possible the ideal of justice.