The Origins of Social Science

Who and Where?

Social science is associated with western philosophy…

but

The roots of these ideas are in ancient Greece.

• This map shows the Greek settlements 550 BC
• It is estimated that around this time period, there were nearly 700 different
city states of Greek population.
• Alexander the Great's Empire c320 BC
• See how the regions of Greek control expanded over time. Areas of
population are highlighted in red/brown.
The Greek philosophers
 Philosophy – from the Greek word philosophia, meaning “love of
wisdom”

The philosophical debates of the ancient Greeks :

 How things change, but how some things also remain unchanging
 The role of the state (political science)
 The way minds interact with society (psychology)
 The way individuals interact with the market (economics)

Two Greek thinkers in particular who lived in the 3rd and 4th century BC,
are responsible for establishing a basis for knowledge as we know it
and deal with it today.
Plato 427 B.C. - 347 B.C.

Plato was one of

the most famous,
respected, and
influential
philosophers of all
time. A type of
love (Platonic) is
named after him.
Plato’s Academy,
founded in the
380s BC, was the
ultimate ancestor
of the modern
university (hence
the English term
academic); an
influential centre
of research and
learning, it
attracted many
men of
outstanding
ability.
 Plato 427 B.C. - 347 B.C.
 Plato identified education as one of the most important aspects
of a healthy state. He recognized the need to teach children
from a young age to live virtuous lives and to seek wisdom.

 Central problem for Plato was ‘how to live a good life’

 what is justice in the State?
 what is a just individual?
 what would an ideal State be like?
 how should the citizens of a state be educated?
 what kinds of arts should be encouraged?
 what form should its government take?
 who should do the governing and for what rewards?

 The philosopher king as the ideal ruler

Aristotle
384 BC. - 322 BC.

Around the age

of 17, Aristotle
became a
student at Plato's
Academy in
Athens.
 Aristotle: 384 BC. - 322 BC.
 Aristotle was also concerned with ‘how to live a good life’

 The good life…

 consists primarily of rational thought - this leads to virtue
 we can only achieve the good life by living as citizens in a state
 the well-being of the community as a whole must be placed over and above the well-being
of the individual.

 Emphasizes importance of observation

 change is natural and necessary

 Justice: the best people should get the highest rewards

 There is no best from of government that applies universally; it depends

on the circumstances


 The Islamic Golden Age
During the Middle Ages, starting from about the 5th
century, Greek ideas were largely forgotten in
Western Europe.
With the fall of Rome, very few people in the West
knew how to read Greek.
The Islamic Abbasid caliphs gathered the
manuscripts and hired translators to increase their
prestige. Islamic philosophers reinterpreted Greek
philosophies in the context of their religion.
This period is known as the Islamic Golden Age
• Map of the Abbasid Caliphate at its greatest extent,
around 850
Greek philosophy re-entered the west through
translation from Arabic to Latin in the 11th, 12th &
13th centuries

These philosophies had a big influence on

Medieval philosophers in Europe

By the 15th century, knowledge about the Greek

civilizations became widespread
The Renaissance
 The period between about 1543 to the end of the 17th century was
known as the RENAISSANCE and characterized by the rebirth and
spread of ancient knowledge

“Renaissance man” –
 an ideal type, reflected the belief that an educated person could
know everything
 a person who is well educated or who excels in a wide variety of
subjects or fields
 the gifted men of the Renaissance sought to develop skills in all
areas of knowledge, in physical development, in social
accomplishments and in the arts.
 “Renaissance man”
He is widely considered to be one of the
greatest painters of all time and perhaps
the most diversely talented person ever to
have lived

painter, sculptor, architect, musician,

scientist, mathematician, engineer,
inventor, anatomist, geologist,
cartographer, botanist and writer.

He conceptualised a helicopter, a tank,

concentrated solar power, a calculator,[5]
the double hull and outlined a rudimentary
theory of plate tectonics. Relatively few of
his designs were constructed or were even
Leonardo da Vinci is regarded
feasible during his lifetime
as a "Renaissance Man"
 The Enlightenment

Began around 1650-1700 and continued for about

100 years

People began to realize that to know everything –

to be a Renaissance scholar – was impossible.

Scholars began to specialize

 The ideas of the Enlightenment period
Scholars rejected the idea that the civilization of the Greeks &
Romans was perfect. They felt society had improved.

Before this time, people had not asked question about social
problems or how they might be solved, believing they had
limited power to change them.

During the enlightenment period people began to believe that

society and culture are actually products of history and the
evolution of culture – and that change was an ongoing process

With this came the realization that that if society could change,
then this change could be, (at least to some extent), guided and
directed by human beings.
Social Science entwines these two paradoxical
aspects today

Sometimes it is simply trying to understand and

accepts our limited powers and our place in the
universe

At other times, it is trying to change society