The Social Sciences

Abstract

• In the 17th century, scholars began to define the natural world as a reality separate from human or spiritual reality. As such, they thought the natural world should be studied using scientific and empirical methods. • The pressure to discover mathematical relationships between objects of study carried into the study of human behavior, thus distinguishing social sciences from the humanities. • By the 19th century, scholars began studying human behavior from a scientific perspective in an attempt to discover law-like properties of human interaction. • In the attempt to study human behavior using scientific and empirical principles, sociologists always encounter dilemmas, as humans do not always operate predictably according to natural laws. • Even as Durkheim and Marx formulated law-like models of the transition from pre-industrial to industrial societies, Weber was interested in the seemingly “irrational” ideas and values, which, in his view, also contributed to the transition.