The Birth and Growth of the

Social Sciences
 The Historical Background of the Growth of
Social Sciences
• Last to develop in the progress and development of human knowledge right
next after only to natural sciences.

• Origin can be traced back to the ancient Greek philosophers Socrates, Plato
and Aristotle.

• Social and Political philosophy being dictated or informed by theological

reasoning grounded in Revelation based on the Bible.

• Difference between Philosophy and Science.

 Science Humanities

Pure Science Visual Arts

Applied Science Performing Arts
Social Science Religion

Law
Linguistics
History
 Scientific Revolution: Nicolaus Copernicus
(1473-1543)
• Changes from thought and belief to
social and institutional organization.

• Culminated from the works of Isaac

Newton’s law of motion, Francis
Bacon’s supremacy of reason over
imagination and Rene Descartes
modern philosophies.
 The Secularization of Learning and
Education: Immanuel Kant
• Triumph of scientific method over
religious dogma and theological
thinking.
• Triumph of “Reason.”
• Movement to erode the power of
Roman Catholic Church.
• Challenged the use of metaphysics
or the “absolute truth” from
unjustified tradition and authority
such as the existence of God
• Proposed an essay explaining what is
“enlightenment.”
The Birth of Social Sciences as
a Response to the Social
Turmoil of the Modern Period
Sociology
• Branch of social sciences that deals with the scientific study of human
interactions, social groups and institutions, whole societies, and the
human world as such. Sociology also addresses the problem of the
constitution of the self and the individual, but it only does so in
relation to larger social structures and processes. Sociology, therefore,
is a science that studies the relationship between the individual and the
society as they develop and change in history. Sociology does not only
study the existing social forms of interactions but also pursues the
investigation of the emergence of stable structures that sustain such
interactions.
 Auguste Comte (1798-1857)
• Father of Sociology
• First coined the term sociology from
the term “social physics.”
• Suggested the three developmental
stages in the development of socities;
1. Theological Stage
2. Metaphysical Stage
3. Positive/Positivism stage – school
of thought that says, science and
it’s method is the only valid way of
knowing things.
Harriet Martineau (1802-1876)
• Mother of sociology
• Writer, political economist,
ethnographer.
• Wrote travelogues and expressed
accounts on How to Observe
Morals and Manners.
 Karl Marx (1818-1883)
• Father of “Scientific Socialism.”
• Introduced the “materialist” analysis
of history which discounts religious
and metaphysical (spiritual)
explanation for development.
• Sees the development of societies
from agricultural to modern
industrial capitalist society.
• Revolutionary activity to scholarly
passion.
 Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)
• The pioneer of “functionalism” in
sociology.
• Made possible the Professionalization
of Sociology by teaching in the
University of Boudeaux.
• Argued that society is “sui generis” or
has it’s own kind, class and unique.
• Society pre-existed individuals, and will
continue to exist even the individuals
are dead.
• Contributes on the field of religion,
education, and deviance in sociology.
Max Weber (1864-1920)
• Pioneer of Interpretive
Sociology.
• Sees the importance of
“rationalization” in the
development of society.
• Sees that “bureaucracy” curtail
the human freedom.
Anthropology
• The science of human beings especially the study of their ancestors
through time and space in relation to physical character, environment,
social relations and culture.
 Franz Boaz (1858-1942)
• Father of American Anthropology.
• First anthropologist to reject the
biological basis or racism and racial
discrimination.
• Rejected the notion of “Western idea
of social evolution” as the “highest
form of evolution.”
• Proposed the “historical
particularism” (each culture is unique
that cannot be subsumed under the
overall definition of general culture.)
Bronislaw Kasper Malinowski (1884-1942)
• Develop a method called
“participant observation” – a
method in social science research
that requires the anthropologist
to have the ability to participate
and blend with the way of life of
a given group of people.
Alfred Reginald Radcliffe-Brown (1881-
1955)
• Saw individuals as the mere
product of social structures.
• One to established the
“Structural-functionalist
paradigm” – measuring society
though social structures and the
functions they perform to
maintain the equilibrium of
society.
Political Science
• Part of social science that deals with the study of power, politics and
government. In turn, politics refers to the “process of making
collective decisions in a community, society, or group through
application of influence and power.
Niccolo Machiavelli
• Father of modern Political
Science.
• Described immoral behavior
such as dishonesty and the
killing of innocents, as being
normal and effective in politics.
Thomas Hobbes
• Established the “social contract
theory” – concerns the origin of
society and the legitimacy of the
authority of the state over the
individual.
John Locke
• Father of liberalism.
• Modern conceptions of
“identity” and the “self.”
• At birth, the mind was a blank
slate or “tabula rasa.”
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
• Influenced the enlightenment
across Europe, as well as the
aspects of the French Revolution
and the overall development of
modern political and educational
thought.
Indigenization of Social Sciences in the
Philippines

• Virgilio Enriquez – psychologist

• Zeus Salazar – historian

• Prospero Covar - anthropologist

Social Sciences in the Era of Globalization
• Homogenization of culture.

• Plurality of paradigm and methods.

• Feminist approach.

• Reflexivity – awareness of the social scientists of the ideological,

political and social biases of their standpoints when doing research and
publishing their works to public audiences.
Thank You! 