The Social Sciences Captive to Philosophy

(1) The subject matter of the social sciences was carefully studied long before the sciences themselves were named. The naming did not happen until the 19th century. Before then, the courses that are studied today as political science, law, ethics, psychology, or economics all fell within the province of philosophy. The classical Greek philosophers – especially Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle – believed that anything humans could experience or think about was worth investigating.

(2) Aristotle claims that all human beings, by nature, desire to know. Among the things people wanted to know were why people acted the way they do and where human institutions came from and how they functioned. As the thought of the ancient world was dominated by philosophy, so the thought of the Middle Ages was permeated by Christian theology. Although the physical sciences began to come out from under the umbrella of philosophy late in the Middle Ages, the subject matter of the social sciences was kept within the confines of philosophy and theology. The chief reason for this was that the subject matter of the social sciences – human behavior – was related to the content of theology and thus came under the jurisdiction of the church.

(3) The rebirth of learning, or Renaissance, which appeared at the end of the Middle Ages, was no more favorable to an independent development of the social sciences. Renaissance scholars were devoted to the ancient Greek and Latin texts, especially the works of Plato and Aristotle. Much Renaissance writing therefore consisted of little more than commentaries on ancient writers, and little new ground was broken until the 17th century. Even then, however, the dominance of philosophy was obvious. Discourse about human nature and human institutions (government, the arts, religion, and economy) was mainly presided over by philosophers.

(4) To say that philosophers tended to monopolize theoretical discussion about what the social sciences are today does not in any way minimize the enormous contributions made by these men. Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and others wrote brilliantly about the functions of government (political science) and the nature of society (sociology). Locke, Hume, George Berkeley, and Kant tried to clarify how the mind works (psychology). Adam Smith, the “moral philosopher,” wrote the first great treatise on economics, ‘The Wealth of Nations’.

(Britannica Student Encyclopedia Library)

Определите, является ли утверждение:

Christian theology was the basis of the thought of the ancient and Middle Age times.

a) истинным

b) ложным

c) в тексте нет информации

28. Определите, является ли утверждение:

The term “social sciences” appeared many centuries ago.

a) истинным

b) ложным

c) в тексте нет информации

29. Определите, является ли утверждение:

The works of Renaissance scientists were mainly based on the writings of ancient philosophers.

a) истинным

b) ложным

c) в тексте нет информации

30. Определите, является ли утверждение:

Such sciences as law, ethics and psychology appeared in Greece in the Middle Ages.

a) истинным

b) ложным

c) в тексте нет информации

31. Укажите, какой части текста (1, 2, 3, 4) соответствует следующая информация:

Many famous scholars didn’t only make scientific research but also made a great contribution to the development of philosophy.

a) 1

b) 2

c) 3

d) 4

32. Укажите, какой части текста (1, 2, 3, 4) соответствует следующая информация:

Social sciences didn’t develop independently but were the part of theology for a long time.

a) 1

b) 2

c) 3

d) 4

Дата добавления: 2015-10-30