Social Humanities

In: Policy sciences: integrating knowledge and practice to advance human dignity ; the journal of the Society of Policy Scientists, Band 5, Heft 1, S. 1-14

Abstract

The distinction between scientific judgment & the judgment of scientists has been increasingly blurred. Generalizations from social sciences lead to the popularization of unproved or unprovable social theory. Social scientists' acceptance of antiscientific frames of mind threatens the theoretical gains of a previous generation. An interest in human psychology has turned to a poetic, human mythology. Science & moral judgment are valuable in intellectual activity but not in social science. Scientists influenced by supportive values must free themselves from extrascientific influences. Applied social humanities attempts analysis to support or change the preferences of individuals for different kinds of behavior patterns. The meaning of life, quality of life, academic questions, & policy issues would be the concern in social humanities. An intellectual basis for new institutions to replace the depleted spiritual & judgmental resources would develop a core of research to form a learning tradition. Applied social humanists would be consultants with professional ethics similar to priests & psychiatrists. They would lecture, give seminars, & groups of social humanists, audiences & clients would form schools to provide cultural ferment centers. Religions cannot be manufactured, but a basis can be formed for the functional equivalent of religion. Modified HA.