The Necessity for Social Sciences – Essay – The two global wars of the 20th century have created new anxieties and new fears for the mankind.
These wars the world had to bear with before it could properly maintain its balance which was previously disturbed by the process of Industrial Revolution of the 18 to and 19th centuries.
The scientists, philosophers, administrators, politicians and many other thoughtful observers have been warning human beings for many years of the dangers of the increasing imbalance in their culture.
Image Source: opinioncenter.li
ADVERTISEMENTS:
The recent scientific advances in physical sciences culminating in the atomic bomb, hydrogen bomb, germ warfare and even the tragedy of Hiroshima, have at last awakened even the innocent people all over the world to the need for comparable competence in social sciences.
The science has shown that it is capable of organising the forces of the atom to cause the destruction of the entire world by a single explosion. It has posed a challenge whether it is possible to organise the forces inherent in human beings and in human society to make such destruction impossible. Hence the necessity of social science. This need, the humanity is obliged to fulfill in mutual self-defence.
It is an irony that the material resources like coal, iron, oil, forest, soil and minerals are better organised than human resources like human energy, intelligence, inherent goodness of man etc. Today governments are busily engaged in armament race.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Every country spends millions for inventing or possessing destructive weapons on agencies. But no country spends even a fraction of it to stop such dangerous and suicidal works.
Fortunately, realisation has dawned. It is now felt that the imbalance between the physical and social sciences is to be set right. Advancement in physical sciences alone cannot bring man happiness. Social sciences are equally important in promoting human welfare.
Social sciences help in understanding and controlling social interactions. “The anthropologist is the astronomer of the social sciences”, as has been said by the UNESCO in 1954. The U.N.O., UNESCO, W.H.O. are organisations which attempt for the solution of the modern world problems on sociological knowledge.
In conclusion, it can be said that a medical doctor has a basic doctrine that he should prevent disease and save life. Similarly, the social scientist has a basic doctrine that he should prevent friction and violence in human relations and that he should save lives and help in establishing peaceful and self-respecting relations between man and man.