Soc.

Sci. 1 Lecture Notes

Historical Development of the social sciences
Social Sciences-deals with group life of human beings
Natural Sciences- concerned with understanding the natural environment
Humanities-literature arts and philosophy

Why do we study social sciences?
Greek
Greek discovery of reason?

-to understand the law of nature, what is nature, are gods part of nature?

-cultural interaction and trading

-observation/verification

-Romans adapted Greek culture, copied the conquered

-Empirical/ideal problem (Plato/Aristotle)

Time of Christ (census for gathering tax information)

Fall of Rome, the knowledge was deposited in Saracen territories, Islamic places,
modern day Syria, Arabia
Old Greek text like the works of Aristotle were translated into Arabic (Averroes,
Ibn Rushd)
Middle Ages (476-1453) or (1100-1453)
The centrality of religion to the society
Rule with or over the state, control information, access to truth
Knowledge is based on authoritative sources, Plato Aristotle, the bible
The practice of bleeding, of putting salt in wounds to exorcise the bad
spirit, to allow for the exit of bad blood
Monastic way of life, life devoted to prayer, learning, understanding the
scripture
origin of modern university/ Oxford Cambridge Bologna (Italy),
trivium grammar, rhetoric and logic
quadrivium- mathematical sciences (arithmetic and geometry),
astronomy and music.

Renaissance (14th, 15th and 16th Century)

Rediscovery of man as the center of the universe, in arts, science
(including social science, study to rule)
Man can use his reason to understand the world.
Questions the claim of religious authority, use of technology to verify
claims of authority
Division of Learning (Physics later natural sciences, metaphysics- non-
empirical studies that later developed to philosophy
Social Science as history examination of historical records (Machiavellis
the Prince and Discourses)

History as part of literature, social science developed from philosophy