SOCIAL

SCIENCE
VS
NATURAL
SCIENCE
WHAT IS SCIENCE?
Science is generally
understood as an
endeavor to
understand,
explain and predict
the world we live in
using distinctive
methods of enquiry
in an attempt to
construct theories.
It is, however, not easy to
find a set of features that
define what separates
sciences from other
attempts to
understand and
explain the world,
such as religion,
astrology and fortune
telling, which are
generally not regarded as
branches of sciences
(Okasha, 2002)
“there is no fixed set of
features defining what
is a "game" but there is
rather a loose cluster of
features most of which
are possessed by most
games”
-Ludwig Wittgenstein
 both of them are real sciences
[natural sciences and social
sciences], as opposed to formal
sciences, the latter of which
solve imaginary problems
NATURAL
SCIENCES
DEFINITION
Natural sciences deal
only with natural
events (i.e.
independent and
dependent variables in
nature) using scientific
methods.
ORIGIN
The birth of natural science is marked by changing
world views introduced by Renaissance thinkers who
questioned earlier explanations about the world and
turned to more systematic methods of investigation.
The 'Scientific Revolution’
The Scientific Revolution
resulted from a monumental
series of discoveries, especially
those in astronomy and related
fields, in the 16th and 17th
centuries. The impact of these
discoveries went far beyond the
walls of the laboratory—it
created a genuine revolution in
the way Western people
thought about the world.
- Copernicus
- Galileo
 Natural sciences arose from
curiosity about the world, as
well as the endeavor to
transform nature in favor of
human necessities of life
Subject of Study
• The aim of the natural sciences is to
discover the laws that rule the world.
• three core areas of the natural sciences:
chemistry, biology and physics
• early natural scientists were generalists
from today's perspective, and later
specialized in newly emerging disciplines
such as astronomy in the beginning,
different engineering disciplines later
METHODS
• “scientific methods" in general as methods
characterizing "natural science since the 17th
century, consisting in systematic
observation, measurement, and
experiment”
• natural sciences rely more on mathematically
based methods
• The reason for this is the more uniform nature
of natural sciences and the "countability" that
enables the scientists to apply mathematics.
PHILOSOPHICAL STANCES
• fundamental criticism of natural science
approaches has emerged during the 20th
century
• the way in which knowledge is created was
not questioned by most scientists, most of
whom adopted an inductive epistemology,
in which a finding is regarded as general
truth when a sufficient number of
experiments have led to the same outcome
Karl Popper put forward that a theory
cannot be confirmed by induction, but only
falsified by a simple observation.

Empirical Falsification
• a scientist observing the color of swans on a lake
who has seen a number of only white swans
cannot conclude that all swans are white. Rather
his theory (“all swans are white') must be tried to
falsify through the search of a black swan.
Thomas Kuhn addressed the values or "paradigms"
which exist when scientific investigations are carried out,
and which are usually accepted without any reflection by
scientists.
A paradigm consists of a set of fundamental
theoretical assumptions and a set of particular
scientific problems that have been solved by means of
these theoretical assumptions.
Kuhn stresses that normal scientists are not trying to test
the paradigm, but rather question their experimental
technique, when a conflicting result appears.
-Paradigm Shift
LIMITATIONS
• Technical boundaries are related to the inability
to conduct precise measurements.
• These boundaries have always been research foci
themselves, and were pushed through the invention of the
telescope, the microscope, the Geiger counter and many
other measurement instruments.
• Financial boundaries play a role in most research
projects but can become especially severe when
expensive equipment has to be employed.
• Examples include experiments for which space shuttles
have to be launched, or infrastructure such as the CERN
laboratory is required.
SOCIAL
SCIENCES
DEFINITION
The disciplines of social
sciences are viewed as those
that deal with "human
society, societal groups,
individuals in their
relationships with others or
institutions of societies and
material goods as expression of
human cohabitation.
ORIGIN
• The social sciences are much younger than
the natural sciences.
• scientific studies of social interactions
began as late as during the 19th century
with sociological publications including
"Suicide" by Émile Durkheim and
"Systéme de politique positive" by
Auguste Comte, the latter of which also
set stone for a positivist approach to social
sciences.
Suicide" by Émile Durkheim
Anomic suicide is an extreme response by a
person who experiences anomie, a sense of
disconnection from society and a feeling of not
belonging resulting from weakened social
cohesion.
Anomie occurs during periods of serious social,
economic, or political upheaval, which result in
quick and extreme changes to society and
everyday life. In such circumstances, a person
might feel so confused and disconnected that
they choose to commit suicide.​
Suicide" by Émile Durkheim
Altruistic suicide is often a result of
excessive regulation of individuals by social
forces such that a person may be moved to
kill themselves for the benefit of a cause or
for society at large.
Suicide" by Émile Durkheim
Egoistic suicide is a profound response
executed by people who feel totally detached
from society.
Ordinarily, people are integrated into society by
work roles, ties to family and community, and
other social bonds. When these bonds are
weakened through retirement or loss of family
and friends, the likelihood of egoistic suicide
increases. Elderly people, who suffer these
losses most profoundly, are highly susceptible
to egoistic suicide.
Suicide" by Émile Durkheim
Fatalistic suicide occurs under conditions
of extreme social regulation resulting in
oppressive conditions and a denial of the
self and of agency. In such a situation a
person may elect to die rather than continue
enduring the oppressive conditions.
COMTE’s POSITIVISM
Comte’s positivism was posited on the
assentation of a so-called law of three
stages of intellectual development.
There is a parallel, as Comte saw it, between
the evolution of thought patterns in the
entire history of man; on the one hand and
in the history of an individual’s development
from infancy to adulthood on the other.
COMTE’s POSITIVISM
In the first or so-called theological stage,
natural phenomena are explained as the
result of supernatural or divine powers. It
does not matter whether the religion is
polytheistic or monotheistic; in either case
miraculous powers or wills are believed to
produce the observed events.
COMTE’s POSITIVISM
The Second stage called metaphysical, is
in some cases merely a depersonalized
theology. The observable processes of
nature are assumed to arise from
impersonal powers. The sort of fruitfulness
that it lacks can be achieved only in the
third stage, the scientific or positive
stage.
COMTE’s POSITIVISM
The Positivity stage, also known as the
scientific stage, refers to scientific
explanation based on observation,
experiment, and comparison. Positive
explanations rely upon a distinct method,
the scientific method, for their justification.
COMTE’s POSITIVISM

Positivism is a purely intellectual

way of looking at the world; as well,
it emphasizes observation and
classification of data and facts.
Subject of Study
• Subject of study are the phenomena of
social interaction and coexistence
• Social Sciences can rather be classified
by their common perspective then
through a specific subject of study.
• consists of the understanding and studying
of a social aspect of society, a group of
people or a single individual
METHODS
• One of the mainly used methods is the
observation, as a social science counterpart
of the natural sciences experiment
• It is much more difficult to carry out an
experiment in social, than in natural sciences.
• The reason therefore lies in the uncontrollability
of social environments. Because of that the
measurability of the highly complex social
processes is often difficult or sometimes not
possible at all
Philosophical Stances
• Positivism
• had been advocated by early social scientists
like Comte who argued that studies of social
reality should apply the same methods as the
natural sciences
• Interpretivism
• argue that the social reality cannot be measured
in the same way as natural events. Rather,
scientists have to aim at grasping the subjective
meaning of social actions.
Limitations
• Studies in social sciences are often limited by various
factors including the need to base findings on
interpretations, the complexity of a field in which
single variables cannot be controlled for easily, as well as
ethical issues and financial problems.
• Since the subject of study are social actions which are often
motivated by a myriad of factors that may be unknown even to
the actors, social scientists who want to make a meaning of their
observations will have to interpret their data in order co- analyze
it.
• Ethical issues arise many times from the fact that some
very interesting questions may not be studied without
sacrificing the mental or physical safety of people.
SOCIAL
SCIENCE
VS
NATURAL
SCIENCE