TOK Essay

The only possible conclusion the social sciences can draw: some do, some dont Ernest Rutherford. Do you agree with the statement regarding the Human Science?
Audrey Ang
Human are self-conscious animals, we are aware of ourselves and the way we think. This awareness of the way and ourselves we think. This awareness has lead to development in various areas of human science, such as psychology, economics, anthropology and sociology. But due to humans complex nature it is hard to derive conclusive results from studying humans. The scientific methods of human studies include observation, measurement and experiments. But unlike hard sciences such as the natural science; the many variables to the scientific study have proven what Ernest Rutherford said close to a decade ago to be true by a great extent.

Firstly, in human science; although we might be able to observe people behavior and reaction, we can never know what is truly going on in their minds We can only speculate what a person might be thinking. But we can never be sure if we are right. A poll can be conducted to find out what people think but loaded questions containing hidden assumptions may encourage people to respond in a predicted manner. In addition to that, our self-conscious nature has brought about the observer effect. Knowing that we are being observed and studied, we might change our behavior to avoid being embarrassed or to steer results in a certain manner. Although through habituation or the use of hidden cameras we might be able to get around the observer effect; but predicting the results of polls and the like can have an impact on actual results as it is self-negating as well as self-nature has made studies difficult to conclude due to the many uncontrolled variables to consider.

Secondly, measurements and experiments play a major role in scientific studies. However, it is difficult to measure things in human science. However, it is difficult to measure things in human science, as there are no units for measuring thoughts. We humans have a continuous stream of consciousness. Although it is possible to study human behaviors rather than human consciousness; the many variables in human science makes it hard to translate qualitative concepts into measurable ones. Moreover, it is impossible to control all the variables present in experiments, In addition to bias experiments, there are questionable ethics surrounding the controversy of conducting experiments on humans. Though one might argue that knowledge gained from the experiments outweigh any moral questions; I personally feel that such reasons are not justifiable and better less unethical methods of study should be research upon.

As seen from the above discussion about the various ways used in the study of the human sciences, it can be seen that there are menu difficulties in the study of human science. Even though some might bear conclusive results, but we must keep in mind if the way the results were obtain were ethical or if it was a biased investigation. Nevertheless, we can learn much about human sciences via the study of psychology, economics or anthropology by relying on the various ways of knowing such as reasoning and intuition.

500 Words