Unit I, Lesson 1

The Birth and Growth of

the Social Sciences
Learning Objectives:
At the end of this lesson the students are expected to:

♦ Explain anthropological and sociological perspectives on culture and

society and politics
♦ Acquire basic knowledge about origin, growth and development of the
social sciences during the modern period
♦ Explore the significant personalities that contributed to the development of
the social sciences
♦ Demonstrate curiosity and openness to explore the significance of the
social sciences, namely, sociology, anthropology, and political science to
human life
♦ Recognize the western and colonial origin of third world social sciences and
knowledge production
♦ Debate the need to decolonize the local sciences from Western biases
♦ Demonstrate curiosity and openness to explore the influence of
globalization on the development of the social sciences
 The Historical Background of the
Growth of Social Sciences
In the development and progress of human
knowledge, the social sciences were the last
to develop after the natural sciences. And
while the origin of the social sciences can be
traced to ancient Greek philosophers
Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, their
development as separate fields of knowledge
only begun in the modern period (Collins,
1994, p. 7).
Before the birth of modern social sciences in
the West, the study of society, culture and
politics were based on social and political
philosophy (Scott, 2006, p. 9).

In return, social and political

philosophies were informed by
theological reasoning grounded in
Revelation based on the Bible.
 Philosophy is distinct from Science.
Philosophy is based on analytic
understanding of the nature of truth
asserted about specific topics of issues.
It asks the question: What is the nature
of truth? How do we know what we
know?
Sciences are based on empirical
data, tested theories, and carefully
contrived observations. It does not
ask the question about the nature of
truth.
The development of the social sciences during the modern period was
made possible by several large scale social upheavals and pivotal
events. They can be summarized as:

From: http://career2select.com/overlap-between-science-and-humanities/
 The Unprecedented Growth of Science
The Scientific Revolution, which begun
with Nicholas Copernicus (1473–1543),
refers to historical changes in thought and
belief, to changes in social and institutional
organization, that unfolded in Europe
roughly between 1550 to 1700.

It culminated in the works of Isaac

Newton (1643–1727), which proposed
universal laws of motion and a mechanical
model of the Universe.
Along with Sir Francis Bacon, who
established the supremacy of reason
over imagination, Rene Descartes and
Isaac Newton laid the foundation that
allowed science and technology to
change the world.

The discovery of gravity by Isaac

Newton, the mathematization of
physics and medicine paved the way
for the dominance of science and
mathematics in describing and
explaining the world and its nature.
With the coming of the Scientific Revolution and the
Age of Reason, from the Medieval cosmology or
model of the universe that defines it as divinely
ordained, people shifted to the model of the universe
as a big machine. The triumph of this model of the
universe was facilitated by Newton’s physics.

Descrates’ separation of the physical from

the spiritual, the body from the mind, also
led to the triumph of valuing the physical
over the spiritual. Once the physical
universe is considered as a machine, it
soon became apparent that human beings
can explore it according to science in order
to reveal its secrets (Merchant, 1986).
The secularization of learning and education
The triumph of Reason
(specifically Western Reason)
and science over dogma and
religious authority begun with
the Reformation.

The Protestant movement led by

Martin Luther eroded the power of the
Roman Catholic Church. It challenged
the infallibility of the Pope and
democratized the interpretation of the
Bible.
Then there was the Enlightenment. This
was largely a cultural movement,
emphasizing rationalism as well as
political and economic theory, and it
clearly built on the Scientific Revolution
(Stearns, 2003, p. 70).
In the Age of Enlightenment,
philosophers led by Immanuel Kant
challenged the use of metaphysics or
absolute truth derived mainly from
unjustified tradition and authority such
as the existence of God. Kant
advocated the use of reason in order
to know the nature of the world and
human beings.
In the Medieval Period,
universities relied mainly on
religious tradition and the Bible to
explain the nature of the universe
and the place of human being in
the grand scheme of things, the
modern universities started to rely
on science and its method to
interpret the world.
Max Weber, one of the leading figures in
modern sociology, described this process
as rationalization. Rationalization
means that social life is more and more
subjected to calculation and prediction.
Calculation and prediction can only be
achieved if human beings and society
rely on regularities established by modern
science.
With the discoveries of Germ Theory
by Louis Pasteur, the development of
vaccination, people more and more
relied on medical knowledge to deal with
diseases. Science triumphed, as
Francois Lyotard (1984) a French
sociologist points out, because it
provided reliable results.
Another element of rationalization is the
separation between different social
spheres, especially between the Church and
the universities. The collapse of religious
authority and the gradual erosion of religious
domination over social life of the people led to
the use of classical humanistic resources such
as ancient philosophy and humanities to
advance human knowledge independent of
Revelation (Zeitlin, 1968, pp. 3ff ).
The Rise of Universities
Education is the single most
important factor in the rise of
social sciences.
Secular subjects or subjects dealing with natural
world proliferated in the universities. Merchants
and capitalists supported universities and
institutions of secular learning institutions because
they became the hub of training future scientists,
technocrats, and technological innovators.
The dissolution of feudal
social relations
With the intensification of commerce and trade in the
seventeenth century, many medieval guilds or workers’
cooperatives were dissolved and were absorbed into the
emerging factory system.

Trade and commerce

Marco Polo, an Italian merchant traveller from Venice whose travels are
recorded in Livres des merveilles du monde, introduced the Europeans to
Asia and China; that inspired Columbus’s five journeys to America (1492–
1506), to Magellan’s circumnavigation of the world (1519–22). The travels of
this period fed the imaginations of the Europeans with vivid descriptions of
places whose very existence they had never been unaware of.
The rise of individualism
The intensification of commerce and trade
gradually replaced barter with the
introduction of money and banking
system.

Modern individuals asserted their freedom

to choose. Through education and the
spread of scientific worldview, people saw
their lives as no longer at the mercy of fate
or destiny. Individualism is simply
the recognition of the power of the
individual to assert her freedom against the
given norms and structures of society.
The Birth of Social Sciences as Response to
the Social Turmoil of Modern Period

Sociology is a branch of the

social sciences that deals with the
scientific study of human interactions,
social groups and institutions, whole
societies and the human world as such.
Anthropology
 Political Science
Political science is part of the social
sciences that deals with the study of
politics, power, and government.

Political science studies how even the most

private and personal decisions of individuals are
influenced by collective decisions of a community.

“Man is by nature a
political Animal.”
-Aristotle
Sikolohiyang Pilipino (SP) is borne out
of this move to indigenize social sciences in the
Philippines.

Two leading exponents of sikolohiyang Filipino,

Narcisa Paredes-Canilao and Maria Ana
Babaran-Diaz, wrote: “Sikolohiyang Pilipino
refers to the psychology borne out of the
experience, thought and orientation of Filipinos,
based on the full use of the Filipino culture and
language” (p. 49).
According to these authors, “The idea is that the social
sciences, such as Western academic psychology, are very
much a product of the common sense concepts and lived
daily realities of the white male fathers of psychology, their
respective communities, and local histories.”

With globalization, social sciences welcome the

proliferation of different social theories and ideological
orientations. The critique of Eurocentrism of
traditional social sciences allows indigenous cultures
and other non-western “subjugated knowledges” to
reclaim their voices. Other than decolonizing western
social sciences, social sciences also are also being
transformed by feminism and post-modern currents.
With globalization, social sciences welcome
the proliferation of different social theories
and ideological orientations. The critique of
Eurocentrism of traditional social sciences
allows indigenous cultures and other non-
western “subjugated knowledges” to reclaim
their voices. Other than decolonizing western
social sciences, social sciences also are also
being transformed by feminism and
postmodern currents.