1. The Human Sciences “The function of sociology, as of every science, is to reveal that which is hidden.” - Pierre Boudieu

2. The Human Sciences  Anthropology  Human biology  Business Studies  Criminology  Demography  Economics  Education  Law  Media Studies  Philosophy  Political Science  Psychology  Sociology  Development Studies  Human Geography What do these have in common? What, then, is the Human Sciences?

3. Face the Rear

4. Objectives  Explaining human behavior.  Explaining why we behave the way we do.  Explaining what causes human phenomena to occur? What difficulties do you see in achieving these goals? Use ‘Face the Rear’ as an example.

5. Difficulties  Too many variables  Sometimes things happen by chance. No rules can be found.  People act on whims.  Cause and Effect can be hard to discern With this in mind, how do the human sciences differ from the natural sciences?

6. Causation & Correlation  Post hoc ergo propter hoc – “after this, therefore because of this”  Fallacy: assuming that one event is caused by another just because it happened at the same time

7. Causation & Correlation Examples. All of the following statements are true. How do you explain? 1. The amount of ice cream consumed Is correlated to the number of shark attacks 2. Cigarette smoking amongst young people correlates to poor grades at school 3. Sleeping with your shoes on correlates to suffering from headaches in the morning. 4. The decline in pirate numbers correlates to the increase in global warming. 5. Hormone Replacement Therapy is correlated to lower levels of heart disease 6. Myopia (shortsightedness) is correlated to those who have slept with the light on as children

8. Classic Issues  Nature vs. Nurture  A Natural Sciences approach doesn’t work in the Human Sciences (consciousness)  Are humans inherently good or evil?

9. Knowledge Questions Are the Human Sciences a “true” science?

10. Knowledge Questions “Under the most rigorously controlled conditions of pressure, temperature, humidity, and other variables, the organism will do exactly as it pleases” (Anon). In what ways and to what extent are the objects of study in the natural and the human sciences similar or different?

11. Knowledge Questions Human sciences are less able to predict because humans have free will. But human sciences nevertheless try to establish laws of human behavior. How can this be?

12. Knowledge Questions In the verstehen approach (see and interpret things from the point of view of the person being observed), how might the emotions of the investigator as object of study affect the result of the investigation?

13. Knowledge Questions How can one eliminate the effect of the observer being part of the system in the human sciences (see the Hawthorne effect in psychology or the field worker being part of the community in anthropology)?

14. Knowledge Questions How can one rely on the results from questionnaires given the problems of wording, leading questions, sampling and selection effects and the fact that respondents might not either know the truth about their own intentions or indeed tell it?

15. Knowledge Questions There are exceptions to laws in the human sciences. To what extent then are these actually laws?

16. Knowledge Questions How does the use of numbers, statistics, graphs and other quantitative instruments affect the way knowledge claims in the human sciences are valued?

17. Knowledge Questions Is it reasonable to attempt to explain human behavior independently of what people claim are their intentions? Are there insights into behavior that can only be afforded by finding these out?

18. Knowledge Questions What kinds of explanations do human sciences offer, and how do these explanations compare with those in other areas of knowledge? To what extent do the human sciences offer any of the following: scientific laws, recognition of general patterns and tendencies, prediction of the future? To what extent do they offer insight or understanding?

19. Knowledge Questions In what ways does language play a similar or different role in the human sciences and the natural sciences? In what senses can empathy, intuition and feeling be considered legitimate or especially powerful ways of knowing in the human sciences? Are there circumstances under which this might not be the case?

20. Knowledge Questions Is it nature or nurture that determines personality? Are there any factors of personality, which do not fall into one of these two categories?