The Social Sciences

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The Social Sciences
The social sciences are a group of academic
disciplines that apply the scientific method of
inquiry, broadly defined, to study human aspects
of the world. The social sciences are often
characterized as one of the three great branches
of learning, with the natural sciences and
humanities making up the other two. The social
sciences lack a shared theoretical foundation and
there currently is a gap of explanation between
the natural and social sciences. From the
perspective of the ToK, the social sciences study
the fourth dimension of complexity, justification
systems, and the Justification Hypothesis builds
the needed bridge between the natural and social
sciences. There are a number of disciplines that
make up the social sciences. Sociology (study of
society and large group structures), anthropology
(holistic study of human beings) and economics
(study of markets and wealth) are three of the
most prominent. Linguistics (study of symbols and
syntax), political science (theory and practice
of politics), and cultural geography are some
other examples of social science. Some
disciplines like history and law are thought to
be between the humanities and the true social
sciences. Human psychology, which consists of
personality, social, cultural and clinical
psychology, is consideredfrom a ToK System
perspectiveto be a hybrid discipline between the
formal science of psychology (3rd dimension) and
the social sciences (4th dimension).