Methods for acquiring scientific knowledge about society. Ways to obtain scientific knowledge about society. What will we do with the received material?

It is worth saying that each person has his own image of the surrounding reality and the society in which he exists. This image contains ideas about personality, freedom, equality and justice in relation to other people, family, organization of activities and other attributes of his life. Unlike sciences such as physics, chemistry or biology, sociology operates with concepts that are understandable and clear and are constantly used in everyday life. Burdened with erroneous opinions, prejudices, and false stereotypes, people in many cases misinterpret the content of social phenomena. In connection with this, it is important to separate ordinary knowledge, often erroneous and incomplete, from scientific knowledge. It is worth saying, for this purpose, we will give brief characteristics of various methods and sources of obtaining knowledge about the physical and social reality around us.

Intuition. The famous ancient Roman physician, physiologist and anatomist Galen, who lived in the 2nd century. AD, developed a diagram of the structure of the human body, showing exactly the places where it can be opened without death. How could he determine the vulnerabilities of the human body? Of course, he proceeded from knowledge of human anatomy obtained through observation. But, according to modern scientists, this was not enough. Much was based on intuition, which Galen trusted very much. It was his intuition that suggested to him the zones in which intervention from the outside could be fatal for a person.

Scientists, public and political figures, and generals often base their actions on intuition, which can lead to favorable consequences for them, justify their assumptions, but can also turn out to be erroneous, causing long-term delusions and serious consequences.

Speaking about the intuitive way of obtaining knowledge, we will proceed from the fact that intuition is a flash of insight (true or false), the source of which cannot be accurately identified or explained. Intuition serves as the basis for many very important hypotheses, which can be tested by other methods. It is appropriate to note that the experience of the development of science shows that intuition will be an indispensable component of scientific knowledge and its main value lies in finding and formulating hypotheses of a scientific theory, which, after testing, can become the defining moments of a scientific discovery.

At the same time, intuition cannot be considered a satisfactory source of knowledge about the surrounding reality or the formulation of deep conclusions. Indeed, flashes of insight are not enough to determine the essence of the phenomena of the physical and social world around us. To be fair, it must be said that in some cases, intuition, based on vague information and fragmentary, unfinished experiments, can lead to remarkable, ingenious conclusions and even to the construction of scientific theories. But how can such intuitive knowledge be tested and verified? Often it is simply impossible to do. For example, the ancient Greek philosopher Anaximander came to the construction of the theory of evolution on the basis of intuition. This happened in the 6th century. BC, but only in the 19th century. AD there were opportunities to test and confirm it. In most cases, intuitive knowledge cannot be verified at the moment the intuitive hunch occurs. As for the study of relationships between people, the behavior of individuals and social groups, social movements and processes, in this case intuitive knowledge most often cannot be verified at all, or such an opportunity is provided only when the situation in society has already changed.

Reliance on scientific authorities. Two thousand years ago, Galen knew more about human anatomy than any mortal, and to this day physiologists and anatomists revere him as an authority in this field of knowledge. Euclid discovered the fact that two parallel lines never intersect, and many generations of schoolchildren and students had to trust this axiom without a doubt, since otherwise they were considered ignorant of elementary truths. For many centuries, the scientific creative thought of Europe was suppressed by the authority of Aristotle, and a great many such examples can be cited. Even now, situations are common when everyone is convinced that an authority on some issue is certainly right, and ideas that do not support his judgment are wrong, that he will be a leader in the world around us and shows the way to researchers.

There is a danger of abuse of authority in science, but we cannot do without an authoritative opinion. This is due to the fact that all the knowledge we have accumulated is too voluminous and vague, and therefore difficult for learning and practical use. What is needed are guidelines and basic provisions, points of reference from which one could start. We will take on faith what has been collected and processed in certain areas of knowledge by specialists, considering them authorities. But only information obtained by scientists and specialists in those fields in which they are competent is recognized as authoritative; People traditionally do not recognize authorities who judge everything in general.

Usually there are several types of authority in the field of obtaining, evaluating and using knowledge. Sacred authority, or the authority of faith, rests on the unshakable conviction that certain traditions or documents (for example, the Bible, Koran, Vedas, etc.) will be supernatural objects and, therefore, all knowledge, all information contained in them should be considered absolutely true and cannot be doubted. Sacred authority also includes the belief that certain groups or categories of people, as well as social institutions, actually possess supernatural knowledge and means of influencing people (church, doctors, healers, saints, psychics, etc.) Unlike the sacred, secular authority will remain as a result of faith not in supernatural insights and abilities, but in human capabilities, in the power of knowledge and human experience. Secular authority is divided into secular scientific authority, which is based on empirical research, on data obtained from experiments, and secular humanistic authority, which is based on the belief that a certain remarkable or great person really has outstanding insight into understanding the phenomena of the world around us or in the field of human behavior.

The area in which a particular authority is recognized by society, a social stratum or a social group is usually very narrow and limited by rigid boundaries. People who are incompetent in a given area of ​​knowledge must rely on other authorities. - specialists, professionals. This is the only way not to be funny in the eyes of others. Let us note that each person, depending on his level of development and social environment, solves the problem of choosing the most significant authorities in various fields of human knowledge in his own way.

At the same time, obtaining true scientific knowledge is based on the indispensable condition that there are no scientific authorities who would have the last word in achieving the truth on any issue. A scientist must respect scientific authorities, but at the same time he creates and puts forward new scientifically based assumptions and tests authoritative conclusions. Authority should not hinder future researchers, but, on the contrary, can and should become a springboard to new research. Scientific knowledge expands, ruthlessly rejecting "final" solutions, constantly questioning the theories and conclusions of recognized authorities.

Tradition. It is important to note that one of the most convincing sources of obtaining and transmitting knowledge will be tradition, since it is in it that the wisdom of centuries is accumulated. But does it mean that those who neglect traditional ideas and conclusions can be considered either mentally defective or fools, that if a tradition has proven itself well in the past, then its main provisions should be accepted unchanged? When answering this question, it should be taken into account that tradition preserves both the cumulative wisdom and the cumulative stupidity accumulated by past generations. It can be imagined as the attic of society, into which are squeezed all kinds of useful models and all kinds of errors, useless and outdated relics. The great task of scientific knowledge is to help avoid repeating the mistakes of our ancestors. As for sociology, one of its tasks can be considered the selection of the present, the true from these traditions and the sweeping away of everything outdated, which is an obstacle to the study of society.

Public common sense. For thousands of years, people have believed that the earth is flat, that stone and iron are absolutely solid bodies, that the true character of a person can be recognized by the expression of his face, that the Sun is smaller than the Earth, etc. Today we know that many of these statements, based on common sense, on public opinion, will not be true. In the case when we do not know where certain ideas or statements come from and on what they are based, we explain them with common sense. Having given such an explanation to their ideas, we usually believe that they do not need to be tested, and we convince ourselves that the idea or statement is true, as it will be self-evident. This belief can unite people in a collective self-deception, suggesting that all given ideas and statements can always be verified, that their truth can be proven at any time. Note that the term “public common sense” gives significance and importance to various concepts (views, opinions) that do not have systematized evidence of truth to which one could refer. Public common sense and tradition are closely related to each other, since behind the multiple and varied statements of public common sense there is a certain past experience, some traditional ideas. The difference between tradition and public common sense can be seen primarily in the fact that traditional truths are trusted over a certain long period of time, while statements made on the basis of public common sense are accepted uncritical and usually short-lived conclusions about various aspects of our environment. in reality, which a very limited circle of people can believe in and follow.

Often positions and statements put forward by public common sense arise from collective guesses, premonitions, accidents, and mistakes. It is the use of past experience by public common sense that allows in some cases to come to useful and correct guesses and conclusions. For example, the statement that “when people clash, a gentle response relieves irritation and tension” will be a valuable practical observation of events that occur in the course of everyday human interaction. Moreover, observations based on public common sense in many cases lead to erroneous conclusions.

Common sense can be determined both by folk wisdom and by misconceptions; to separate them from each other is the task of science. Sociologists, more often than representatives of other sciences, have to fight the misconceptions of public common sense, since people encounter the subject of sociological research almost every day and have fairly stable judgments about it. Therefore, sociologists, presenting the results of their scientific developments, must be able to connect scientific knowledge with the valuable everyday experience accumulated by people in the course of their social activities. The material was published on http://site

Scientific knowledge. Only in the last two and a half centuries has the scientific method become a generally accepted way of obtaining answers to questions that arise when people interact with the surrounding reality. As for the study of the social world, in this area science became an authoritative source of knowledge relatively recently (about 100 years ago), and in such a short period of time humanity has gained more knowledge about the social world than in the previous 10 thousand years. Effective acquisition of new reliable knowledge is primarily associated with the use of scientific methods. What makes scientific methods so productive? How do they differ from other ways of understanding the world around us, from other ways of comprehending the truth?

The main distinguishing feature of scientific knowledge is essentially that it is based on evidence that can be verified. By evidence in this case we will understand the specific results of actual observations that other observers have the opportunity to see, weigh, measure, count or check for accuracy. Today, evidence-based knowledge has become commonplace among members of societies, and many are somewhat knowledgeable about scientific methods. But just a few centuries ago, medieval scholastics could carry on lengthy debates about how many teeth a horse has, without taking the trouble to look into its mouth and count the teeth.

Since human knowledge is associated with factually verifiable evidence, science deals exclusively with questions for which evidence can be given. It must be remembered that questions such as whether there is a God, how to predict fate, or what makes objects beautiful are not within the scope of scientific knowledge, since the facts surrounding them cannot be weighed, evaluated and verified. These questions may be incredibly important to people, but the scientific method does not have the tools to address them. Scientists can study the reasons for a person's belief in God, in fate, in beauty, or in anything else, or determine the personal or social consequences of a particular belief, but this does not give anything to determine the truth or fallacy of the beliefs themselves. Based on all of the above, we come to the conclusion that science cannot provide answers to all questions important to humanity, many of them are beyond its competence. The scientific method will be the most effective source of real, valid knowledge about human behavior and the reality around them, but science cannot answer questions about supernatural phenomena or fundamental principles of aesthetics. Answers to these questions are found in metaphysics or religion.

It is worth saying that each scientific conclusion serves as the best interpretation of all currently available evidence, but new evidence may appear the very next day, and it would seem that a comprehensively and carefully proven scientific conclusion will instantly turn out to be untenable. Constant criticism and refutation of what has been previously proven is a common and even obligatory phenomenon in science: the fundamental property of scientific knowledge is essentially that all conclusions and hypotheses obtained using the scientific method can be criticized and refuted. This leads to the fact that the process of scientific knowledge is endless and there cannot be absolute truth. All scientific truths are based on experimental data that correspond to a certain stage in the development of human thought. Therefore, they are constantly revised in the light of new evidence, new experimental data. Some scientific conclusions (for example, that the Earth will be a spheroid, that innate abilities will exist only in a certain cultural environment) are based on such a strong foundation of evidence that scientists doubt the possibility of refuting them with new evidence.

Each person has his own image of the surrounding reality and the society in which he exists. This image includes ideas about personality, freedom, equality and justice in relation to other people, family, organization of activities and other attributes of his life. Unlike sciences such as physics, chemistry or biology, sociology operates with concepts that are understandable and clear and are constantly used in everyday life. Burdened with erroneous opinions, prejudices, and false stereotypes, people in many cases misinterpret the content of social phenomena. In this regard, it is important to separate ordinary knowledge, which is often erroneous and incomplete, from scientific knowledge. To do this, we will give brief characteristics of various methods and sources of obtaining knowledge about the physical and social reality around us.

Intuition. The famous ancient Roman physician, physiologist and anatomist Galen, who lived in the 2nd century. AD, developed a diagram of the structure of the human body, showing exactly the places where it can be opened without death. How could he determine the vulnerabilities of the human body? Of course, he proceeded from knowledge of human anatomy obtained through observation. But, according to modern scientists, this was not enough. Much was based on intuition, which Galen trusted very much. It was his intuition that suggested to him the zones in which interference from the outside could be fatal for a person.

Scientists, public and political figures, and generals often base their actions on intuition, which can lead to favorable consequences for them, justify their assumptions, but can also turn out to be erroneous, causing long-term delusions and serious consequences.

Speaking about the intuitive way of obtaining knowledge, we will proceed from the fact that intuition is a flash of insight (true or false), the source of which cannot be accurately identified or explained. Intuition serves as the basis for many very important hypotheses that can be tested by other methods. The experience of the development of science shows that intuition is an indispensable component of scientific knowledge and its main value lies in finding and formulating hypotheses of a scientific theory, which, after testing, can become the defining moments of a scientific discovery.

At the same time, intuition cannot be considered a satisfactory source of knowledge about the surrounding reality or the formulation of deep conclusions. Indeed, flashes of insight are not enough to determine the essence of the phenomena of the physical and social world around us. To be fair, it must be said that in some cases, intuition, based on vague information and fragmentary, unfinished experiments, can lead to remarkable, ingenious conclusions and even to the construction of scientific theories. But how can such intuitive knowledge be tested and verified? Often this is simply impossible to do. For example, the ancient Greek philosopher Anaximander came, on the basis of intuition, to construct the theory of evolution. This happened in the 6th century. BC, but only in the 19th century. AD there were opportunities to test and confirm it. In most cases, intuitive knowledge cannot be verified at the moment the intuitive hunch occurs. As for the study of relationships between people, the behavior of individuals and social groups, social movements and processes, in this case intuitive knowledge most often cannot be verified at all, or such an opportunity is provided only when the situation in society has already changed.

Reliance on scientific authorities. Two thousand years ago, Galen knew more about human anatomy than any mortal, and is still revered by physiologists and anatomists as an authority in this field of knowledge. Euclid established that two parallel lines never intersect, and many generations of schoolchildren and students had to trust this axiom without a doubt, because otherwise they were considered ignorant of elementary truths. For many centuries, the scientific creative thought of Europe was suppressed by the authority of Aristotle, and a great many such examples can be cited. Even now, situations are common when everyone is convinced that an authority on some issue is certainly right, and ideas that do not correspond to his judgment are wrong, that he is a leader in the world around us and shows the way to researchers.

There is a danger of abuse of authority in science, but we cannot do without an authoritative opinion. This is due to the fact that all the knowledge we have accumulated is too voluminous and vague, and therefore difficult to assimilate and practically use. What is needed are guidelines and basic provisions, points of reference from which one could start. We will take on faith what has been collected and processed in certain areas of knowledge by specialists, considering them authorities. But only information obtained by scientists and specialists in those fields in which they are competent is recognized as authoritative; people, as a rule, do not recognize authorities who judge everything in general.

There are usually several types of authority in the field of obtaining, mastering and using knowledge. Sacred authority, or the authority of faith, rests on the unshakable conviction that certain traditions or documents (for example, the Bible, Koran, Vedas, etc.) are supernatural objects and, therefore, all knowledge, all information contained in them should be considered absolutely true and cannot be doubted. Sacral authority also includes the belief that certain groups or categories of people, as well as social institutions, actually possess supernatural knowledge and means of influencing people (church, doctors, healers, saints, psychics, etc.). Unlike the sacred, secular authority appears as a result of faith not in supernatural insights and abilities, but in human capabilities, in the power of knowledge and human experience. Secular authority is divided into secular scientific authority, which is based on empirical research, on data obtained from experiments, and secular humanistic authority, which is based on the belief that a certain remarkable or great person actually has outstanding insight into the phenomena of the world around us or in the field of human behavior.

The area in which a particular authority is recognized by society, a social stratum or a social group is usually very narrow and limited by rigid boundaries. People who are incompetent in a given area of ​​knowledge must rely on other authorities. - specialists, professionals. This is the only way not to be funny in the eyes of others. Each person, depending on their level of development and social environment, solves the problem of choosing the most significant authorities in various fields of human knowledge in their own way.

However, the acquisition of true scientific knowledge is based on the indispensable condition that there are no scientific authorities who would have the last word in achieving the truth on any issue. A scientist must respect scientific authorities, but at the same time he creates and puts forward new scientifically based assumptions and tests authoritative conclusions. Authority should not hinder future researchers, but, on the contrary, can and should become a springboard to new research. Scientific knowledge expands, ruthlessly rejecting "final" solutions, constantly questioning the theories and conclusions of recognized authorities.

Tradition. One of the most convincing sources of obtaining and transmitting knowledge is tradition, since it is in it that the wisdom of centuries is accumulated. But does this mean that those who disdain traditional ideas and conclusions can be considered either mentally defective or fools, that if a tradition has proven itself well in the past, then its main provisions should be accepted unchanged? In answering this question, it should be borne in mind that tradition preserves both the cumulative wisdom and the cumulative stupidity accumulated by past generations. It can be imagined as the attic of society, into which are squeezed all kinds of useful models and all kinds of errors, useless and outdated relics. The great task of scientific knowledge is to help avoid repeating the mistakes of our ancestors. As for sociology, one of its tasks can be considered to be the selection of the present, the true from these traditions and the sweeping away of everything outdated, which is an obstacle to the study of society.

Public common sense. For thousands of years, people have believed that the earth is flat, that stone and iron are absolutely solid bodies, that the true character of a person can be recognized by the expression of his face, that the Sun is smaller than the Earth, etc. Today we know that many of these statements, based on common sense, on public opinion, are not true. In the case when we do not know where certain ideas or statements come from and on what they are based, we explain them with common sense. Having given such an explanation to our ideas, we usually believe that they do not need to be tested, and we convince ourselves that the idea or statement is true because it is self-evident. This belief can unite people in a collective self-deception, suggesting that all these ideas and statements can always be verified, that their truth can be proven at any time. The term "public common sense" gives significance and importance to various concepts (views, opinions) that have no systematic evidence of truth to which to refer. Public common sense and tradition are closely related to each other, since behind the multiple and varied statements of public common sense there is a certain past experience, some traditional ideas. The difference between tradition and public common sense can be seen primarily in the fact that traditional truths are trusted over some long period of time, while statements made on the basis of public common sense are accepted, uncritical and usually short-lived conclusions about various aspects of the reality around us , which can be believed and followed by a very limited circle of people.

Often positions and statements put forward by public common sense arise from collective guesses, premonitions, accidents, and mistakes. It is the use of past experience by public common sense that allows, in some cases, to come to useful and correct guesses and conclusions. For example, the statement that “when people clash, a gentle response relieves irritation and tension” is a valuable practical observation of events that occur in the course of everyday human interaction. However, observations based on public common sense often lead to erroneous conclusions.

Common sense can be determined both by folk wisdom and by misconceptions, the task of science is to separate them from each other. Sociologists, more often than representatives of other sciences, have to fight the misconceptions of public common sense, since people encounter the subject of sociological research almost every day and have fairly stable judgments about it. Therefore, sociologists, presenting the results of their scientific developments, must be able to connect scientific knowledge with the valuable everyday experience accumulated by people in the course of their social activities.

Scientific knowledge. Only in the last two and a half centuries has the scientific method become a generally accepted way of obtaining answers to questions that arise when people interact with the surrounding reality. As for the study of the social world, in this area science became an authoritative source of knowledge relatively recently (about 100 years ago), and in such a short period of time humanity has gained more knowledge about the social world than in the previous 10 thousand years. Effective acquisition of new reliable knowledge is primarily associated with the use of scientific methods. What makes scientific methods so productive? How do they differ from other ways of understanding the world around us, from other ways of comprehending the truth?

The main distinguishing feature of scientific knowledge is that it is based on evidence that can be verified. By evidence in this case we will mean the specific results of actual observations that other observers have the opportunity to see, weigh, measure, count or check for accuracy. Nowadays, knowledge based on evidence has become commonplace among members of societies, and many are somewhat knowledgeable about scientific methods. But just a few centuries ago, medieval scholastics could carry on lengthy debates about how many teeth a horse has, without taking the trouble to look into its mouth and count the teeth.

Since human knowledge is associated with factually verifiable evidence, science deals only with questions on which this evidence can be given. Questions such as whether there is a God, how to predict fate, or what makes objects beautiful are not within the scope of scientific knowledge, since the facts relating to them cannot be weighed, evaluated and verified. These questions may be incredibly important to people, but the scientific method does not have the tools to address them. Scientists can study the reasons for a person's belief in God, in fate, in beauty, or in anything else, or determine the personal or social consequences of a particular belief, but this does nothing to determine the truth or fallacy of the beliefs themselves. Thus, science cannot provide answers to all questions important to humanity; many of them are beyond its competence. The scientific method is the most effective source of real, valid knowledge about human behavior and the reality around them, but science cannot answer questions about supernatural phenomena or fundamental principles of aesthetics. The answers to these questions are found in metaphysics or religion.

Each scientific conclusion serves as the best interpretation of all the evidence available at that moment, but new evidence may appear the next day, and a seemingly comprehensively and carefully proven scientific conclusion will be untenable in an instant. Constant criticism and refutation of what has been previously proven is a common and even obligatory phenomenon in science: the fundamental property of scientific knowledge is that all conclusions and hypotheses obtained using the scientific method can be criticized and refuted. This leads to the fact that the process of scientific knowledge is endless and there cannot be absolute truth. All scientific truths are based on experimental data corresponding to a certain stage in the development of human thought. Therefore, they are constantly revised in the light of new evidence, new experimental data. Some scientific conclusions (for example, that the Earth is a spheroid, that innate abilities manifest only in certain cultural environments) are based on such a strong foundation of evidence that scientists doubt whether they can be refuted by new evidence.

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All topics in this section:

The emergence of sociology as a science
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Object and subject of sociology
In order to define the object and subject of sociology as a science, it is advisable to first clarify the general concepts of object and subject. The object of study is usually understood as a certain part

Questions for self-control
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Social laws
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Levels of sociological knowledge
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Questions for self-control
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Culture structure
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Forms of manifestation of culture in human life
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Origin, development and spread of culture
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Questions for self-control
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Socialization of personality
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Questions for self-control
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Role learning process
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Prescribed and achieved statuses
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Role tension and role conflict
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Questions for self-control
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Social control
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Deviant behavior
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Questions for self-control
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Social contacts

Social Actions

Questions for self-control
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Social contacts
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Social Actions
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Questions for self-control
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Formation of social relations
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Formation of the main types of social relations
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Social relations of dependence and power
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Questions for self-control
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Institutional features
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Questions for self-control
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What is a social group?

Quasigroups

Questions for self-control
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What is a social group?
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Quasigroups
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Questions for self-control
9. What is the main difficulty in substantiating the scientific concept of “social group”? 10. . What scientific meaning do such concepts as “aggregation”, “categories” have?

Group dynamics
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Questions for self-control
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Definition of an organization and its internal structure
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Organization management
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Questions for self-control
1. What makes people join together in organizations? What effect is observed? 2. What generally accepted concepts of organization exist and how are they related to each other? 3. What is

Types of Social Change
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Social processes
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Questions for self-control
1. What is the nature of social change in society? What other types of social change are there and what are their similarities and differences? 2. What are the reasons for resistance to social change?

The nature of social movements
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Social situations conducive to the emergence and development of social movements
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Personal sensitivity to social movements
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Questions for self-control
1. What meaning do sociologists give to the concept of “social movement”? What can a social movement be aimed at? 2. What is the difference between social movements and social groups?

The nature of social mobility
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Problems of social mobility
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The individual and social mobility
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Migration
Migration is the process of changing the permanent place of residence of individuals or social groups, expressed in moving to another region, geographical area or another country. K migr

Questions for self-control
1. What is the reason for the need for social movements in human society? 2. What is meant by the term “social mobility”? In what directions can the process proceed?

Stages of the conflict
It is useful to start analyzing conflicts from the elementary, simplest level, from the origins of conflict relations. Traditionally, it begins with a structure of needs, the set of which is specific

Characteristics of conflict
We have already seen that conflicts can take many different forms - from a simple quarrel between two people to a major military or political clash involving millions. Despite so many

Questions for self-control
1. How does social conflict differ from other social processes (competition, adaptation, cooperation, etc.)? 2. Under what circumstances can social conflict arise?

Glossary of Key Sociological Terms
Authority is the established and legalized right to direct the actions and behavior of other people. Social aggregation - a certain number of people gathered in a certain physical

WAYS OF ACQUIRING SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE ABOUT SOCIETY

CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIOLOGICAL KNOWLEDGE

Each person has his own image of the surrounding reality and the society in which he exists. This image includes ideas about personality, freedom, equality and justice in relation to other people, family, organization of activities and other attributes of his life. Unlike sciences such as physics, chemistry or biology, sociology operates with concepts that are understandable and clear and are constantly used in everyday life. Burdened with erroneous opinions, prejudices, and false stereotypes, people in many cases misinterpret the content of social phenomena. In this regard, it is important to separate ordinary knowledge, which is often erroneous and incomplete, from scientific knowledge. To do this, we will give brief characteristics of various methods and sources of obtaining knowledge about the physical and social reality around us.

Intuition. The famous ancient Roman physician, physiologist and anatomist Galen, who lived in the 2nd century. AD, developed a diagram of the structure of the human body, showing exactly the places where it can be opened without death. How could he determine the vulnerabilities of the human body? Of course, he proceeded from knowledge of human anatomy obtained through observation. But, according to modern scientists, this was not enough. Much was based on intuition, which Galen trusted very much. It was his intuition that suggested to him the zones in which interference from the outside could be fatal for a person.

Scientists, public and political figures, and generals often base their actions on intuition, which can lead to favorable consequences for them, justify their assumptions, but can also turn out to be erroneous, causing long-term delusions and serious consequences.

Speaking about the intuitive way of obtaining knowledge, we will proceed from the fact that intuition is a flash of insight (true or false), the source of which cannot be accurately identified or explained. Intuition serves as the basis for many very important hypotheses that can be tested by other methods. The experience of the development of science shows that intuition is an indispensable component of scientific knowledge and its main value lies in finding and formulating hypotheses of a scientific theory, which, after testing, can become the defining moments of a scientific discovery.

At the same time, intuition cannot be considered a satisfactory source of knowledge about the surrounding reality or the formulation of deep conclusions. Indeed, flashes of insight are not enough to determine the essence of the phenomena of the physical and social world around us. To be fair, it must be said that in some cases, intuition, based on vague information and fragmentary, unfinished experiments, can lead to remarkable, ingenious conclusions and even to the construction of scientific theories. But how can such intuitive knowledge be tested and verified? Often this is simply impossible to do.

For example, the ancient Greek philosopher Anaximander came, on the basis of intuition, to construct a theory of evolution. This happened in the 6th century. BC, but only in the 19th century. AD there were opportunities to test and confirm it. In most cases, intuitive knowledge cannot be verified at the moment the intuitive hunch occurs. As for the study of relationships between people, the behavior of individuals and social groups, social movements and processes, in this case intuitive knowledge most often cannot be verified at all, or such an opportunity is provided only when the situation in society has already changed.

Reliance on scientific authorities. Two thousand years ago, Galen knew more about human anatomy than any mortal, and is still revered by physiologists and anatomists as an authority in this field of knowledge. Euclid established that two parallel lines never intersect, and many generations of schoolchildren and students had to trust this axiom without a doubt, because otherwise they were considered ignorant of elementary truths. For many centuries, the scientific creative thought of Europe was suppressed by the authority of Aristotle, and a great many such examples can be cited. Even now, situations are common when everyone is convinced that an authority on some issue is certainly right, and ideas that do not correspond to his judgment are wrong, that he is a leader in the world around us and shows the way to researchers.

There is a danger of abuse of authority in science, but we cannot do without an authoritative opinion. This is due to the fact that all the knowledge we have accumulated is too voluminous and vague, and therefore difficult to assimilate and practically use. We need guidelines and basic provisions, points of reference from which we could start. We will take on faith what has been collected and processed in certain areas of knowledge by specialists, considering them authorities. But only information obtained by scientists and specialists in those fields in which they are competent is recognized as authoritative; people, as a rule, do not recognize authorities who judge everything in general.

There are usually several types of authority in the field of obtaining, mastering and using knowledge. Sacred authority, or the authority of faith, rests on the unshakable conviction that certain traditions or documents (for example, the Bible, Koran, Vedas, etc.) are supernatural objects and, therefore, all knowledge, all information contained in them must be considered absolutely true and cannot be doubted. Sacral authority also includes the belief that certain groups or categories of people, as well as social institutions, actually possess supernatural knowledge and means of influencing people (church, doctors, healers, saints, psychics, etc.). Unlike the sacred, secular authority appears as a result of faith not in supernatural insights and abilities, but in human capabilities, in the power of knowledge and human experience. Secular authority is divided into secular scientific authority, which is based on empirical research, on data obtained from experiments, and secular humanistic authority, which is based on the belief that a certain remarkable or great person actually has outstanding insight into understanding phenomena around him. us world or in the field of human behavior.

The area in which a particular authority is recognized by society, a social stratum or a social group is usually very narrow and limited by rigid boundaries. People who are incompetent in this field of knowledge must rely on other authorities - specialists, professionals. This is the only way not to be funny in the eyes of others. Each person, depending on their level of development and social environment, solves the problem of choosing the most significant authorities in various fields of human knowledge in their own way.

At the same time, obtaining true scientific knowledge is based on the indispensable condition that there are no scientific authorities who would have the last word in achieving the truth on any issue. A scientist must respect scientific authorities, but at the same time he creates and puts forward new scientifically based assumptions and tests authoritative conclusions. Authority should not hinder future researchers, but, on the contrary, can and should become a springboard to new research. Scientific knowledge expands, ruthlessly rejecting "final" solutions, constantly questioning the theories and conclusions of recognized authorities.

Tradition. One of the most convincing sources of obtaining and transmitting knowledge is tradition, since it is in it that the wisdom of centuries is accumulated. But does this mean that those who disdain traditional ideas and conclusions can be considered either mentally defective or fools, that if a tradition has proven itself well in the past, then its main provisions should be accepted unchanged? In answering this question, it should be taken into account that tradition preserves both the cumulative wisdom and the cumulative stupidity accumulated by past generations. It can be imagined as the attic of society, into which are squeezed all kinds of useful models and all kinds of errors, useless and outdated relics. The great task of scientific knowledge is to help avoid repeating the mistakes of our ancestors. As for sociology, one of its tasks can be considered to be the selection of the present, the true from these traditions and the sweeping away of everything outdated, which is an obstacle to the study of society.

Public common sense. For thousands of years, people have believed that the earth is flat, that stone and iron are absolutely solid bodies, that the true character of a person can be recognized by the expression of his face, that the Sun is smaller than the Earth, etc. Today we know that many of these statements, based on common sense, on public opinion, are not true. In the case when we do not know where certain ideas or statements come from and on what they are based, we explain them with common sense. Having given such an explanation to our ideas, we usually believe that they do not need to be tested, and we convince ourselves that the idea or statement is true because it is self-evident. This belief can unite people in a collective self-deception, suggesting that all these ideas and statements can always be verified, that their truth can be proven at any moment. The term "public common sense" gives significance and importance to various concepts (views, opinions) that have no systematic evidence of truth to which to refer. Public common sense and tradition are closely related to each other, since behind the multiple and varied statements of public common sense there is a certain past experience, some traditional ideas. The difference between tradition and public common sense can be seen primarily in the fact that traditional truths are trusted over some long period of time, while statements made on the basis of public common sense are accepted, uncritical and usually short-lived conclusions about various aspects of the environment. us reality, which can be believed and followed by a very limited circle of people.

Often positions and statements put forward by public common sense arise from collective guesses, premonitions, accidents, and mistakes. It is the use of past experience by public common sense that allows, in some cases, to come to useful and correct guesses and conclusions. For example, the statement that “when people clash, a gentle response relieves irritation and tension” is a valuable practical observation of events that occur in the process of everyday human interaction. Moreover, observations based on public common sense in many cases lead to erroneous conclusions.

Common sense can be determined both by folk wisdom and by misconceptions, the task of science is to separate them from each other. Sociologists, more often than representatives of other sciences, have to fight the misconceptions of public common sense, since people encounter the subject of sociological research almost every day and have fairly stable judgments about it. For this reason, sociologists, when presenting the results of their scientific research, must be able to connect scientific knowledge with the valuable everyday experience accumulated by people in the course of their social activities.

Scientific knowledge. Only in the last two and a half centuries has the scientific method become a generally accepted way of obtaining answers to questions that arise when people interact with the surrounding reality. As for the study of the social world, in this area science became an authoritative source of knowledge relatively recently (about 100 years ago), and in such a short period of time humanity has gained more knowledge about the social world than in the previous 10 thousand years. Effective acquisition of new reliable knowledge is primarily associated with the use of scientific methods. What makes scientific methods so productive? How do they differ from other ways of understanding the world around us, from other ways of comprehending the truth?

The main distinguishing feature of scientific knowledge is that it is based on evidence that can be verified. By evidence in this case we will mean the specific results of actual observations that other observers have the opportunity to see, weigh, measure, count or check for accuracy. Today, evidence-based knowledge has become commonplace among members of societies, and many are somewhat knowledgeable about scientific methods. But just a few centuries ago, medieval scholastics could carry on lengthy debates about how many teeth a horse has, without taking the trouble to look into its mouth and count the teeth.

Since human knowledge is associated with factually verifiable evidence, science deals only with issues on which this evidence is given. Questions such as whether there is a God, how to predict fate, or what makes objects beautiful are not within the scope of scientific knowledge, since the facts relating to them cannot be weighed, evaluated and verified. These questions can be incredibly important to people, but the scientific method does not have the tools to solve them. Scientists can study the reasons for a person's belief in God, in fate, in beauty, or in anything else, or determine the personal or social consequences of a particular belief, but this does nothing to determine the truth or fallacy of the beliefs themselves. However, science cannot provide answers to all questions important to humanity, many of them are beyond its competence. The scientific method is the most effective source of real, valid knowledge about human behavior and the reality around them, but science cannot answer questions about supernatural phenomena or fundamental principles of aesthetics. The answers to these questions are found in metaphysics or religion.

Each scientific conclusion serves as the best interpretation of all the evidence available at the moment, but new evidence may appear the very next day, and it would seem that a thoroughly and carefully proven scientific conclusion will instantly turn out to be untenable. Constant criticism and refutation of what has been previously proven is a common and even obligatory phenomenon in science: the fundamental property of scientific knowledge is that all conclusions and hypotheses obtained using the scientific method can be criticized and refuted. This leads to the fact that the process of scientific knowledge is endless and there cannot be absolute truth. All scientific truths are based on experimental data corresponding to a certain stage in the development of human thought. For this reason, they are constantly revised in the light of new evidence, new experimental data. Some scientific conclusions (for example, that the Earth is a spheroid, that innate abilities manifest themselves only in a certain cultural environment) are based on such a strong foundation of evidence that scientists doubt that they can be refuted by new evidence.

OBTAINING SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE ABOUT SOCIETY

Each person has his own image of the surrounding reality and the society in which he exists. This image includes ideas about personality, freedom, equality and justice in relation to other people, family, organization of activities and other attributes of his life. Unlike sciences such as physics, chemistry or biology, sociology operates with concepts that are understandable and clear and are constantly used in everyday life. Burdened with erroneous opinions, prejudices, and false stereotypes, people in many cases misinterpret the content of social phenomena. In this regard, it is important to separate ordinary knowledge, which is often erroneous and incomplete, from scientific knowledge. To do this, we will give brief characteristics of various methods and sources of obtaining knowledge about the physical and social reality around us.

Intuition. The famous ancient Roman physician, physiologist and anatomist Galen, who lived in the 2nd century. AD, developed a diagram of the structure of the human body, showing exactly the places where it should be opened without death. How could he determine the vulnerabilities of the human body? Of course, he proceeded from knowledge of human anatomy obtained through observation. But, according to modern scientists, this was not enough. Much was based on intuition, which Galen trusted very much. It was his intuition that suggested to him the zones in which interference from the outside could be fatal for a person.

Scientists, public and political figures, and generals often base their actions on intuition, which can lead to favorable consequences for them, justify their assumptions, but can also turn out to be erroneous, causing long-term delusions and serious consequences.

Speaking about the intuitive way of obtaining knowledge, we will proceed from the fact that intuition is a flash of insight (true or false), the source of which cannot be accurately identified or explained. Intuition serves as the basis for many very important hypotheses that can be tested by other methods. The experience of the development of science shows that intuition is an indispensable component of scientific knowledge and its main value lies in finding and formulating hypotheses of a scientific theory, which, after testing, can become the defining moments of a scientific discovery.

At the same time, intuition cannot be considered a satisfactory source of knowledge about the surrounding reality or the formulation of deep conclusions. Indeed, flashes of insight are not enough to determine the essence of the phenomena of the physical and social world around us. In fairness, it must be said that in some

In some cases, intuition, based on vague information and fragmentary, unfinished experiments, can lead to remarkable, ingenious conclusions and even to the construction of scientific theories. But how should such intuitive knowledge be tested and verified? Often this is simply impossible to do. For example, the ancient Greek philosopher Anaximander came to construct the theory of evolution on the basis of intuition. This happened in the 6th century. BC, but only in the 19th century. AD there were opportunities to test and confirm it. In most cases, intuitive knowledge does not need to be tested at the moment the intuition occurs. As for the study of relationships between people, the behavior of individuals and social groups, social movements and processes, in this case intuitive knowledge most often should not be tested at all, or such an opportunity is provided only when the situation in society has already changed.

Reliance on scientific authorities. Two thousand years ago, Galen knew more about human anatomy than any mortal, and is still revered by physiologists and anatomists as an authority in this field of knowledge. Euclid established that two parallel lines never intersect, and many generations of schoolchildren and students had to trust this axiom without a doubt, because otherwise they were considered ignorant of elementary truths. For many centuries, the scientific creative thought of Europe was suppressed by the authority of Aristotle, and a great many such examples can be cited. Even now, situations are common when everyone is convinced that an authority on some issue is certainly right, and ideas that do not correspond to his judgment are wrong, that he is a leader in the world around us and shows the way to researchers.

There is a danger of abuse of authority in science, but we cannot do without an authoritative opinion. This is due to the fact that all the knowledge we have accumulated is too voluminous and vague, and therefore difficult to assimilate and practically use. We need guidelines and basic provisions, points of reference from which we could start. We will take on faith what has been collected and processed in certain areas of knowledge by specialists, considering them authorities. But only information obtained by scientists and specialists in those fields in which they are competent is recognized as authoritative; people, as a rule, do not recognize authorities who judge everything in general.

There are usually several types of authority in the field of obtaining, mastering and using knowledge. sacred authority, or the authority of faith, rests on the unshakable conviction that certain traditions or documents (for example, the Bible, Koran, Vedas, etc.) are supernatural objects and, therefore, all knowledge, all information contained in them, must be considered absolutely true and cannot be questioned. Sacral authority also includes the belief that certain groups or categories

people, as well as social institutions, really have supernatural knowledge and means of influencing people (church, doctors, healers, saints, psychics, etc.). Unlike sacred secular authority arises as a result of faith not in supernatural insights and abilities, but in human capabilities, in the power of knowledge and human experience. Secular authority is divided into secular scientific authority, which is based on empirical research, data obtained from experiments, and secular humanistic authority, which is based on the belief that a certain remarkable or great person actually has outstanding insight into the phenomena of the world around us or in the field of human behavior.

The area in which a particular authority is recognized by society, a social stratum or a social group is usually very narrow and limited by rigid boundaries. People incompetent in a given area of ​​knowledge must rely on other authorities - specialists, professionals. This is the only way not to be funny in the eyes of others. Each person, based on their level of development and social environment, solves the problem of choosing the most significant authorities in various fields of human knowledge in their own way.

At the same time, obtaining true scientific knowledge is based on the indispensable condition that there are no scientific authorities who would have the last word in achieving the truth on any issue. A scientist must respect scientific authorities, but at the same time he creates and puts forward new scientifically based assumptions and tests authoritative conclusions. Authority should not hinder future researchers, but, on the contrary, can and should become a springboard to new research. Scientific knowledge expands, ruthlessly rejecting "final" solutions, constantly questioning the theories and conclusions of recognized authorities.

Tradition. One of the most convincing sources of obtaining and transmitting knowledge is tradition, since it is in it that the wisdom of centuries is accumulated. But does this mean that those who disdain traditional ideas and conclusions can be considered either mentally defective or fools, that if a tradition has proven itself well in the past, then its main provisions should be accepted unchanged? In answering this question, it should be taken into account that tradition preserves both the cumulative wisdom and the cumulative stupidity accumulated by past generations. It can be imagined as the attic of society, into which are squeezed all kinds of useful models and all kinds of errors, useless and outdated relics. The great task of scientific knowledge is to help “avoid repeating the mistakes of our ancestors.” As for sociology, one of its tasks can be considered to be the selection of the present, the true from these traditions and the sweeping aside of everything outdated, which is an obstacle to the study of society .

Public common sense. For thousands of years, people have believed that the earth is flat, that stone and iron are absolutely solid bodies, that the true character of a person can be recognized by the expression of his face, that the Sun is smaller than the Earth, etc. Today we know that many of these statements, based on common sense, on public opinion, are not true.

In the case when we do not know where certain ideas or statements come from and on what they are based, we explain them with common sense. Having given such an explanation to our ideas, we usually believe that they do not need to be tested, and we convince ourselves that the idea or statement is true because it is self-evident. This belief can unite people in a collective self-deception, suggesting that all these ideas and statements can always be tested, that their truth must be proven at any moment. The term "public common sense" will give meaning and importance to various concepts (views, opinions) that have no systematic evidence of truth to which to refer.

Public common sense and tradition are closely related to each other, since behind the multiple and varied statements of public common sense there is a certain past experience, some traditional ideas. The difference between tradition and public common sense can be seen primarily in the fact that traditional truths are trusted over some long period of time, while statements made on the basis of public common sense are accepted, uncritical and usually short-lived conclusions about various aspects of the environment. us reality, which can be believed and followed by a very limited circle of people.

Often positions and statements put forward by public common sense arise from collective guesses, premonitions, accidents, and mistakes. It is the use of past experience by public common sense that allows, in some cases, to come to useful and correct guesses and conclusions. For example, the statement that “when people clash, a gentle response relieves irritation and tension” is a valuable practical observation of events that occur in the process of everyday human interaction. Moreover, observations based on public common sense in many cases lead to erroneous conclusions.

Common sense can be determined both by folk wisdom and by misconceptions, the task of science is to separate them from each other. Sociologists, more often than representatives of other sciences, have to fight the misconceptions of public common sense, since people encounter the subject of sociological research almost every day and have fairly stable judgments about it. For this reason, sociologists, when presenting the results of their scientific research, must be able to connect scientific knowledge with the valuable everyday experience accumulated by people in the course of their social activities.

Scientific knowledge. Only in the last two and a half centuries has the scientific method become a generally accepted way of obtaining answers to questions that arise when people interact with the surrounding reality. As for the study of the social world, in this area science became an authoritative source of knowledge relatively recently (about 100 years ago), and in such a short period of time humanity has gained more knowledge about the social world than in the previous 10 thousand years. Effective acquisition of new reliable knowledge is primarily associated with the use of scientific methods. What makes scientific methods so productive? How do they differ from other ways of understanding the world around us, from other ways of comprehending the truth?

The main distinguishing feature of scientific knowledge is that it is based on evidence that can be verified. By evidence in this case we will mean the specific results of actual observations that other observers have the opportunity to see, weigh, measure, count or check for accuracy. Today, evidence-based knowledge has become commonplace among members of society, and many are somewhat knowledgeable about scientific methods. But just a few centuries ago, medieval scholastics could carry on lengthy debates about how many teeth a horse has, without taking the trouble to look into its mouth and count the teeth.

Since human knowledge is associated with factually verifiable evidence, science deals only with issues on which this evidence is given. Questions such as whether there is a God, how to predict fate, or what makes objects beautiful are not within the scope of scientific knowledge, since the facts relating to them cannot be weighed, evaluated and verified. These questions can be incredibly important to people, but the scientific method does not have the tools to solve them. Scientists can study the reasons for a person's belief in God, in fate, in beauty, or in anything else, or determine the personal or social consequences of any belief, but this does nothing to determine the truth or fallacy of the beliefs themselves. However, science cannot provide answers to all questions important to humanity; many of them are beyond its competence. The scientific method is the most effective source of real, valid knowledge about human behavior and the reality around them, but science cannot answer questions about supernatural phenomena or fundamental principles of aesthetics. The answers to these questions are found in metaphysics or religion.

Each scientific conclusion serves as the best interpretation of all the evidence available at the moment, but new evidence may appear the very next day, and it would seem that a thoroughly and carefully proven scientific conclusion will instantly turn out to be untenable. Constant criticism and refutation of what has been previously proven is a common and even obligatory phenomenon in science: fundamental

The property of scientific knowledge is that all conclusions and hypotheses obtained using the scientific method can be criticized and refuted. This leads to the fact that the process of scientific knowledge is endless and there should be no absolute truth. All scientific truths are based on experimental data corresponding to a certain stage in the development of human thought. For this reason, they are constantly revised in the light of new evidence, new experimental data. Some scientific conclusions (for example, that the Earth is a spheroid, that innate abilities manifest themselves only in a certain cultural environment) are based on such a strong foundation of evidence that scientists doubt that they can be refuted by new evidence.

OBTAINING SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE ABOUT SOCIETY - concept and types. Classification and features of the category "OBTAINING SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE ABOUT SOCIETY" 2017, 2018.

Acquiring knowledge about society and social life can traditionally occur in many ways that are characteristic of the humanities.

There are several points of view about the combination of these methods, their ambiguity, and capabilities.

For example:

Intuition is a flash of insight, true or false. It is often based on unclear information, unfinished experiments and can lead to wonderful, ingenious conclusions and even the construction of a scientific theory. Sometimes intuitive knowledge cannot be tested immediately, but only when the opportunity arises.

— sacred authority , i.e. authority of faith. Based on the belief that documents, traditions or knowledge are supernatural objects and the information in them is absolute, true and unquestioned, and institutions such as the church, healer, psychic, doctor, saints have supernatural knowledge and means of influence;

— secular authority - scientific - based on experimental research, on data obtained in an experiment, often it is based on the belief that great personalities are insightful, deeply feel the world and the field of human behavior

Tradition— accumulates the wisdom of centuries, preserves the cumulative wisdom of generations. But they can also contain stupidity. The task of sociology is to delimit traditions and block the way for obsolete ones.

Public common sense- is closely related to the traditions that society trusts - this is the belief that the masses are always right, that wisdom will free you from error, and social experience will always show you the path to practice.

Scientific knowledge- based on evidence that is verified by observations, measurements, calculations, evidence. Scientific knowledge can be criticized and refuted, which means that the process of cognition is endless, there is a search for absolute truth, and any new knowledge is tested and confirmed by practice.

Security questions

1. What are the scientific and social prerequisites for the emergence of sociology?

2. Define the object and subject of sociology?

4. Name and decipher the main functions and laws of sociology.

5. How does sociology differ from philosophy and psychology.

6. What levels does sociological knowledge have?

7. List some ways to gain knowledge about society.

8. Justify the place and purpose of sociological methods.

9. What is sociology at the universal level, at the particular and individual level?