Human Science: TOK Area of Knowledge

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Table of Contents

Scope and Applications. 1

Concepts and Language. 1

Methodology. 2

Historical development. 2

Links to personal knowledge. 3

Human Science: TOK Area of Knowledge

The human sciences aim to identify and explain human behavior in individuals and group members.

The human sciences encompass various academic fields, including psychology, social and cultural anthropology, economics, political science, and geography.

Still, they all share a similar methodology and the study of human existence and behavior as their main subject.

History is not categorized as a human science in TOK. History focuses on the past and employs unique techniques to learn about the (recorded) past.

The history of human sciences is a complex and interesting one. The first written record of the field dates back to around 500 CE, and it has been an important part of human civilization ever since.

It has undergone many changes over the centuries, but its basic principles remain the same.

This article will provide an overview of human sciences through the knowledge framework, including its

scope and applications
Methodology
historical development
links to personal knowledge
concepts

Table of Contents

Scope and Applications

The scope and applications of the human sciences are related to human behaviors and society.

Academics study the social, cultural, behavioral, and psychological aspects of humanity-How human societies function.

The research in these areas is aimed at predicting human behavior. For instance, economics may try to predict a certain product due to a trend. For instance, if someone buys a Samsung, will we also buy it.

A physicist may predict the movement of a particle by applying physical knowledge. However, it is difficult to predict human behavior because humans aim at breaking from the norm, which makes predictability hard.

Human scientists can help us understand why historical events occurred. They can uncover the human decision-making process that led to a particular event.

For instance, some scientists gave a list of why World War 1 occurred. This included mandatory enlistment and conscription, which gave countries massive manpower that could be easily directed to war.

Other human sciences, such as anthropology, may help us to know the beginning of religious systems, how they evolved and how they affect humans.

Concepts and Language

Key ideas may be different in economics and anthropology. The human sciences may borrow the natural sciences or mathematics language to ensure that the knowledge is valid and trustworthy.

But can we use mathematical language to describe human behavior and society? And can this information be reliable as the knowledge produced by the natural sciences or mathematics?

It is hard to have zero bias in the language of human sciences. That means that having a reliable methodology is important for producing reliable and accurate knowledge. Many disciplines rely on the scientific method.

Methodology

Many disciplines rely on the scientific method because the language and concepts used in this field may be subjective and invalid.

Scientists may create a hypothesis, test it using experiments, and generalize their findings into reliable and applicable conclusions. The findings should be consistent with other accepted knowledge.

But it can be challenging to study human behavior using the scientific method because researchers must follow different ethical guidelines, and that limits the extent of the experiments they can do on humans.

Also, there can be problems because different individuals perform differently when they are being watched. Additionally, some things in human behavior, such as thoughts, may be hard to observe.

In such cases, researchers turn to other alternatives to extract evidence. They can conduct interviews or have questionnaires or use past historical evidence.

Social scientists take time to consider the questions in interviews or questionnaires so that they cannot be leading someone to a certain answer.

This includes important questions such as

how something was developed
who developed it
when was it developed

The methodology can also be used to analyze different fields or groups within a certain field for patterns that show how they have evolved over time.

The methodology began with historical linguistics in the early 20th century. It was applied to the analysis of human language but has since been applied to other fields.

These include cultural anthropology, archeology, economics, sociology, and political science.

It is important to note that while there are similarities between these fields of study, they are not an exact match due to their different approaches and goals.

For example: while social/political sciences may focus on how people interact with one another and group dynamics; archeology focuses more on what happened in the past through artifacts such as tools or bones left behind by humans who lived long ago; economics looks at how markets work today; anthropology looks at human behavior through data such as genetic material found in fossils or bones from ancient humans discovered on earth’s surface.

Historical development

This development shows us how societies and cultures have changed over time. For example, early economists assumed consumers wanted to get the biggest value for the lowest cost.

Nowadays, economists realize that humans are irrational, and we may make practical or impractical choices.

Anthropology has also changed as western anthropology was focused on human progress but pointed out that different cultures may perceive progression differently.

The school of thought that stated that progress could be judged based on a certain baseline was flawed.

This is because different societies and cultures view progress differently, and it would be wrong for Western anthropologists to impose their ideas on these cultures.

Links to personal knowledge

Many people have contributed personal knowledge to the human sciences. Someone like

John Watson in psychology
Max Werber in sociology
John Maynard Keynes in economics

Nowadays, individual researchers in economics and psychology contribute knowledge in collaboration with others. Meanwhile, anthropologists are open to individual contributions.

On the flip side, shared knowledge may impact an individual’s personal knowledge. Take into consideration sociology.

By studying sociology, they can understand how society influences their views of what is acceptable behavior for men vs. acceptable behavior for women.

This can help people construct ideas on gender norms and their identity. In economics, one overarching piece of knowledge is that humans tend to act irrationally.

This knowledge allows individuals to understand better their decision-making processes, and they can potentially improve them.

You can also read more on the other AoKs such as ethics, indigenous knowledge systems, religious knowledge systems, and the arts.

You an also apply this AOK in your history extended essay.