Philsophy of the Social Sciences

Thou shalt not sit
With statisticians nor commit
A social science.

- from "Under Which Lyre"

W. H. Auden

There is no denying that the group of disciplines now commonly referred to as the social sciences (to include psychology) has become an established part of our intellectual life and a power to be reckoned with both in discussions of the nature of our human existence and in the setting of social goals and policies. It can be and has been denied, however, that the social sciences constitute a generally positive and a proper force in these contexts.

Are the social sciences really sciences at all? What is it to be a science? Is a science of humankind a possibility? Would a scientific understanding of humans constitute the kind of understanding we seek, or would it simply miss the point underlying many traditional goals? If a scientific understanding would not adequately respond to traditional goals, is it the scientific understanding that is misdirected, or the traditional goals? Or is there perhaps a need to pursue both on separate but complementary paths? If humans can be understood from a scientific perspective, what might be the consequences for our conceptions of ourselves as rational creatures with free wills?