Features of social cognition.

SOCIAL COGNITION.- 1. In a broad sense - scientific and non-scientific forms of knowledge of society. 2. Scientific knowledge of society. 1. Society is known both by science and by non-scientific forms of knowledge, including the knowledge that people possess in their everyday life and in specialized forms of activity - politics, art, legal, religious and other activities. Extrascientific knowledge cannot be considered as unscientific, much less anti-scientific. Scientific knowledge does not reject non-scientific forms cognitive activity, is rooted in them and interacts with them. In P. s. restrictions are imposed not only by the object under study, but also everyday life, not allowing arbitrary construction of the subject of social sciences and at the same time setting a practical and ethical boundary scientific activity in the sphere of knowledge of society - one cannot unceremoniously and destructively invade historically established forms of everyday life. There is everyday life boundary condition knowledge and practice. In everyday cognition, cognitive activity is not isolated and is woven into the context real life. In practical-specialized cognition there is an orientation towards mastering a profession, cognition during training, including scientific foundations professions. But still, a politician, a lawyer, an artist are not scientists, and their knowledge and knowledge are scientific, even if they rely on scientific sources. The science, including social science, is a form of specialized activity for the production of knowledge, carried out in a socially organized form and on the basis of historically developed and developed own methods. 2. Society is different from nature the presence of an active subject - a person. Therefore, scientific psychology, considered in a broad sense as knowledge of society, has both general scientific laws and specifics. Among the general scientific laws is the initial orientation of P. s. on scientific criteria natural sciences, implemented by a naturalistic research program. However, the elimination of the subject does not fit well with its very representation in society as an important component of the object of knowledge. To the specifics of P. s. The main thing is that it is focused primarily on the norms and ideals of non-classical and post-non-classical science. Subject-object diagram cognition O-S from the very beginning is complicated here by the presence of the subject O / S - S, as well as the practice O / S / P-S, where O is the object of cognition, S is the subject of cognition, P is practice. Ultimately, the criteria of objectivity become more complicated here, which are no longer understood in the spirit of the classical concept of truth, according to which true is the identity of the ideas of the knowing subject with the object of knowledge. Social sciences deal with objective laws that make their way despite the fact that people endowed with will and consciousness act in society. Here truth appears as a reflection of these patterns. But P. s. They are also interested in the motives and values ​​of the subject, groups included in society, and the objectivity of knowledge in this case represents an adequate understanding of these motives and values. There are also important features of modern P. with: 1. It is impossible to accept theoretical constructs for reality and live in accordance with them. 2. Pluralism concepts as a way to ensure different types or aspects of activity. 3. The unacceptability of a monopoly on truth in P. p. In scientific P. p. a picture of special, complexly mediated relations between theory and practice is constructed and the direct ontologization of scientific theories is denied. In this regard, it is useful to refer to the works of the famous economist V. Leontiev, who showed that economists often mistakenly neglect the empirical base and build theories or mathematical models that cannot be applied in practice without adaptation. As for pluralism, it does not appear as a recognition of omnivorousness. It is not about accepting mutually exclusive conclusions. Various aspects of real political and economic activity make every concept true of a certain type tasks. According to V. Leontiev, the pluralistic nature of any approach does not lie in the simultaneous application of essentially various types analysis, and in readiness to move from one type interpretations to another. The justification for such methodological eclecticism lies in the limitations of any type explanations or cause-and-effect relationships. Summarizing what has been said, we can conclude that, contrary to classical epistemology, truth can be interpreted not as a reproduction (cast) of an object in knowledge, but as a characteristic of a way of working with it. Since there can be many such ways, pluralism of truths is possible and, therefore, a monopoly on truth is excluded. Many types of social knowledge can be produced simultaneously with the solution of the problem of its application. This especially applies to expert knowledge, which is at the intersection of scientific knowledge with specialized activities and everyday experience. V. G. Fedotova

Excellent definition

Incomplete definition ↓

SOCIAL COGNITION

represents the knowledge of specific objects - society, culture, person. It is divided into pre-scientific, extra-scientific and scientific. Pre-scientific social cognition is the forms of cognitive development of social objects that precede science - mythological, magical, carried out in everyday life and specialized practices - political, legal, artistic, etc. With the advent of scientific social knowledge, many of the pre-scientific forms of social cognition are transformed into extra-scientific ones, realizing their cognitive functions simultaneously with science. A specific feature of scientific social cognition, which distinguishes it from natural science, is its rootedness in non-scientific forms of cognition and activity, primarily in the life world of people, in their everyday life (A. Schutz). Dr. distinctive feature scientific social cognition is the specificity of its object, its subject-object nature, the inclusion of the subject, a person, in a knowable social object. The classical cognitive subject-object relationship is transformed here into a subject-object-subject relationship.

Despite the two indicated features - the connection with everyday life and extra-scientific knowledge and the subject-object nature of the object of scientific social knowledge, scientific idealizations produced in the course of this knowledge were initially carried out in the same way as in natural science - within the framework of a naturalistic research program. It deliberately sharpens the object properties of the cognizable social reality and an explanatory model is built that allows us to reveal the most general patterns social processes. The naturalistic research program often used reductionism, the reduction of social reality to lower forms - mechanics (J. La Mettrie, Man-Machine), biological (G. Spencer), economic (vulgar economists, to a certain extent K. Marx), geographical (G. T. Buckle, “History of Civilization in England”, Turner is a supporter of the “border theory”) and demographic (A. Cost. Kovalevsky) factors. Highest form The naturalistic research program is positivism, which does not strive for a naturalistic reduction of specific social object to its natural component, recognizes the characteristics of social objects, but argues that they do not affect the procedure for constructing ideal objects of science, in particular its subject.

In the 19th century ideas arise about the foreignness of social cognition, that among the social sciences there are those that are similar to natural science (for example, sociology), and those that have their own methods of idealization. The neo-Kantian W. Windelband divided sciences into nomothetic (sciences about nature) and idiographic (sciences about culture). The sciences of culture, in his opinion, do not deal with repeating phenomena, but study events in their uniqueness and originality. Dr. The neo-Kantian, G. Rickert, also affirmed the fundamental difference between two types of sciences: generalizing (generalizing) sciences, free from values ​​(natural science and some sciences about society, for example, sociology), and individualizing sciences, related to values, for example, history. V. Dilypei introduced understanding as the leading cognitive procedure of the spiritual sciences dealing with cultural and historical reality. These and other researchers laid the foundations for a culture-centric research program in social cognition, in which nature, being the primary ontological reality, gave way to a man-made, but at the same time objective “second nature” - culture. The culture-centric research program recognized such rules of idealization as following the methods of the corresponding diopipline; understanding instead of explanation; close connection with everyday life and the clarity of theoretical constructs for the one they describe.

Understanding became the main method of the culture-centric approach, allowing one to reveal the uniqueness of cultural and historical phenomena and make individualization a logical procedure. The culture-centric research program deliberately emphasized the presence of the subject in the object studied by the sciences of culture, history and spirit.

The culture-centric research program was intended for an adequate narrow group of sciences - about culture, history and spirit - and did not claim to be of general scientific application. The sciences that were built with its help were called humanities, while the sciences about society, following a naturalistic approach, were called social (in the narrow sense of the word). Thus, scientific social knowledge split in its methodology and began to be called social and humanitarian knowledge.

In the 20th century As the number of sciences that moved from the classical phase of development to the non-classical and post-non-classical phase grew (V.S. Stepin), the culture-centric research program acquired general scientific significance. It began to be used in the sociology of knowledge to study the history of natural science and the methodology of natural science. Social sciences in general have become more reflexive in relation to the socio-cultural conditioning of their cognitive means and have begun to use the method of understanding. Nevertheless, relations of competition have remained between the two types of social sciences - social and humanities - and relations of antagonism between naturalistic and culture-centric research programs. Many questioned the possibility of the humanities, classifying them as extra-scientific knowledge. The presence of a research program in these sciences (as opposed to extra-scientific knowledge) convinces us that this point of view is incorrect.

Today, due to the growing interest in methodological pluralism, both research programs can be represented as different angles interpretations achieved through the methodological technique of sharpening, emphasizing the significance of one of the sides of the inseparable object-subject of social cognition - the objective side in the naturalistic program and the subjective side in the culture-centric program. These approaches can be seen as complementary and represent different levels scientific examinations that analyze objective conditions and subjective abilities to master them. For example, naturalistic economic theories talk about the most efficient economic structure, while the results of applying a culture-centric program should characterize the motivation and ability of people to achieve such a structure. Non-scientific experts may also participate in this examination. social knowledge, connecting the conclusions of two types of scientific social cognition - social and human sciences with everyday life people and their extra-scientific practices. Such tolerance for different approaches and their joint use has prospects for social cognition in the 21st century.

Social cognition arose in the West initially to understand the West itself and manage its social transformations. As other countries modernized, social sciences began to penetrate and be used in them. National scientific schools social cognition in non-Western countries as well. Western researchers began to study non-Western societies using the same methods they used to study themselves. Scientific social knowledge has acquired a global framework and social responsibility for events in the world. Lit.: Vindelband V. Preludes. St. Petersburg, 1904; Comte O. The Spirit of Positive Philosophy. St. Petersburg, 1910; Rickert G. Sciences about nature and sciences about culture. St. Petersburg, 1911; Weber M. Research on the methodology of science, parts 1-2. M., 1980; GadamerH. Truth and Method. M., 1988; Explanation and understanding in scientific knowledge, ed. A. Nikiforova. M., 1995; Theory and life world, ed. V. Fedotova. M., 1995; Wallerstein I. Unthinking Social Science. The Limits of Nineteenth Century Paradigms. Oxf., 1995; Wmdelband W. Geschichte und Naturwissenschaft. Strassburg, 1904.

Excellent definition

Incomplete definition ↓

Social cognition is when society understands itself, i.e. the subject of knowledge (society) and its object (society) coincide. People, creators of social life and its changes. They understand social reality. Being a participant in social reality, a person is not indifferent to what is happening, and the process of cognition is imprinted with subjectivity.

A person cannot be a participant social development and at the same time be indifferent to it.

And the more the researcher is involved in the work, the more strongly his subjective positions are affected.

Another feature of social cognition: the complexity of society. In social processes, different forces of cause and chance interact.

Connections in nature are between inanimate objects. Social connections are between living people with consciousness, character, will.

If in the study of nature great place occupies observation and examination, then in social cognition this opportunity is limited.

Hence, the main source of knowledge is social reality, historical experience, communication, practice, and any social phenomenon must be studied from the point of view of a historical approach, i.e. any phenomenon occurs at a certain time, in certain place and under certain conditions, and it must be studied only on this basis.

If the development and history of society is the activity of people, then it is necessary to analyze both current activity and the conditions resulting from previous activity.

It is important to consider both material and spiritual human activities. Its subjects are society and personality. This will help find the relationship between the past, present and future.

We will better understand the essence and forms of the state by tracing the stages of its development from its inception to the present day, but we must not forget that much is unique. It is necessary to take into account peculiar moments. You can't use that analogy.

Analogy- this is similarity, similarity in some properties of the phenomena of reality. Hence, the study of social phenomena should take place in their diverse connections and interdependence. Correctly assessing this or that phenomenon can only be based on the specific conditions in which this phenomenon took place.

If one phenomenon is repeated, if the connections of interaction are stable, we can talk about historical patterns.

A specific event in history allows us to understand individual facts, their individuality is revealed, and finding something common to similar phenomena leads to the emergence of a pattern.

Any knowledge of society begins with facts- these are events that took place at a certain time under certain conditions, this is what once happened in the life of society. Social facts- this is knowledge about an event, described taking into account the social situation in which it took place.

There are 3 types of social facts:

  • 1. Actions and actions of people as social individuals;
  • 2. Products human activity(material and spiritual);
  • 3. Verbal (verbal) actions (opinions, assessments).

Facts are learned from observation and study of documents. But here, too, their selection depends on the angle of view of the researcher, on the problem he is considering, on the beliefs of the historian, which can distort the essence of the fact.

For a fact to become scientific, it must be interpreted (explained), after which the fact is brought under scientific concept/eg. Revolution/. Next, all the essential facts that make up the events and the situation are studied.

WITH scientific fact its assessment is related. The assessment depends on the properties of the object being studied, and on the correlation of the object being studied with other objects of the same order or with the ideal.

Self-knowledge- self-esteem and self-confession of a person to himself.

Self-esteem- a person’s attitude towards own image. It is subjective, but it reflects the opinions of others about you.

Self-confession is a complete account of what is happening to us and in us.

I am a concept - relative stability, recorded in words, a person’s ideas about himself. This concept is the results of knowing and evaluating oneself through certain images of oneself in different situations and through the opinions of others.

Cognition is the process of human activity, the main content of which is reflection objective reality in his mind, and the result is the acquisition of new knowledge about the world around him.

The main feature of social cognition is the coincidence of the subject and object of cognition. In a narrow sense, the subject of knowledge usually means a person who knows, in a broad sense - the entire society. The object of cognition is either the object being cognized or, in a broad sense, the entire surrounding world.

The main feature of social cognition as one of the types of cognitive activity is the coincidence of the subject and object of cognition. In the course of social cognition, society gets to know itself. Such a coincidence of the subject and object of cognition has a huge impact on both the process of cognition itself and its results. The resulting social knowledge will always be associated with the interests of individuals - the subjects of knowledge, and this circumstance largely explains the presence of different, often opposing conclusions and assessments that arise when studying the same social phenomena. Social cognition begins with establishing social factors. There are three types of such factors:

actions or actions of individuals or large social groups;

products of material or spiritual activity of people;

verbal social facts: opinions, judgments, assessments of people.

The selection and interpretation (i.e. explanation) of these facts largely depend on the researcher’s worldview, the interests of that social group, to which he belongs, as well as on the tasks that he sets for himself.

The purpose of social cognition, as well as cognition in general, is to establish the truth. Truth is the correspondence of the acquired knowledge to the content of the object of knowledge. However, establishing the truth in the process of social cognition is not easy because:

the object of knowledge, and this is society, is quite complex in its structure and is in constant development, which is influenced by both objective and subjective factors. Therefore, the establishment of social laws is extremely difficult, and open social laws are probabilistic in nature, because even similar historical events and phenomena are never completely repeated;

the possibility of using such a method of empirical research as experiment is limited (reproducing the social phenomenon being studied at the request of the researcher is almost impossible). Therefore, the most common method of social research is scientific abstraction.

The main source of knowledge about society is social reality and practice. Because the public life changes quite quickly, then in the process of social cognition we can talk about establishing only relative truths.

Understand and correctly describe the processes occurring in society, discover laws social development is possible only when using a specific historical approach to social phenomena. The main requirements of this approach are:

studying not only the situation in society, but also the reasons that resulted in it;

consideration of social phenomena in their interrelation and interaction with each other;

analysis of interests and actions of all subjects historical process(both social groups and individuals).

If in the process of cognition of social phenomena some stable and significant connections are discovered between them, then they usually talk about the discovery of historical patterns. Historical patterns are called common features, which are inherent in a certain group of historical phenomena.

Identification of such patterns based on the study of specific social processes in specific societies at a certain historical period and constitute the essence of the concrete historical approach and are ultimately the goal of social cognition.


Social and humanitarian knowledge are interpenetrated. Without a person there is no society. But a person cannot exist without society.

Features of humanitarian knowledge: understanding; reference to the texts of letters and public speeches, diaries and policy statements, works of art and critical reviews, etc.; the impossibility of reducing knowledge to unambiguous, universally accepted definitions.

Humanitarian knowledge is designed to influence a person, spiritualize, transform his moral, ideological, ideological guidelines, and contribute to the development of his human qualities.

Social and humanitarian knowledge is the result of social cognition.

Social cognition is the process of acquiring and developing knowledge about a person and society.

The knowledge of society and the processes occurring in it, along with features common to all cognitive activity, also has significant differences from the knowledge of nature.

Features of social cognition

1. The subject and object of knowledge coincide. Social life is permeated by the consciousness and will of man; it is essentially subject-objective, representing a generally subjective reality. It turns out that the subject here cognizes the subject (cognition turns out to be self-knowledge).

2. The resulting social knowledge is always associated with interests of individuals-subjects of knowledge. Social cognition directly affects people's interests.

3. Social knowledge is always loaded with evaluation; it is value knowledge. Natural science is instrumental through and through, while social science is the service of truth as a value, as truth; natural science - “truths of the mind”, social science - “truths of the heart”.

4. The complexity of the object of knowledge is society, which has a variety of different structures and is in constant development. Therefore, the establishment of social laws is difficult, and open social laws are probabilistic in nature. Unlike natural science, social science makes predictions impossible (or very limited).



5. Since social life changes very quickly, in the process of social cognition we can talk about establishing only relative truths.

6. The possibility of using this method is limited scientific knowledge like an experiment. The most common method of social research is scientific abstraction; in social cognition the role of thinking is extremely important.

Describe and understand social phenomena allows the correct approach to them. This means that social cognition should be based on the following principles:

Consider social reality in development;

Study social phenomena in their diverse connections and interdependence;

Identify the general (historical patterns) and the specific in social phenomena.

Every human knowledge of society begins with perception real facts economic, social, political, spiritual life - the basis of knowledge about society and people's activities.


For a fact to become scientific, it must be interpreted (Latin interpretatio - interpretation, explanation). First of all, the fact is brought under some scientific concept. Next, all the essential facts that make up the event are studied, as well as the situation (setting) in which it occurred, and the diverse connections of the fact being studied with other facts are traced.

Thus, the interpretation of a social fact is a complex multi-stage procedure for its interpretation, generalization, and explanation. Only an interpreted fact is a truly scientific fact. A fact presented only in the description of its characteristics is just raw material

The scientific explanation of the fact is also associated with its assessment, which depends on the following factors:

Properties of the object being studied (event, fact);

Correlating the object being studied with others of the same order, or with an ideal;

The cognitive tasks set by the researcher

Personal position of the researcher (or just a person);

The interests of the social group that is being studied

Read the text and complete tasks C1-C4.

“The specificity of cognition of social phenomena, the specificity of social science is determined by many factors. And, perhaps, the main one among them is society itself (man) as an object of knowledge. Strictly speaking, this is not an object (in the natural scientific sense of the word). The fact is that social life is thoroughly permeated with the consciousness and will of man; it is, in essence, subject-objective, representing a generally subjective reality. It turns out that the subject here cognizes the subject (cognition turns out to be self-knowledge). However, this cannot be done using natural scientific methods. Natural science embraces and can master the world only in an objective (as an object-thing) way. It really deals with situations where the object and the subject are, as it were, on opposite sides of the barricades and therefore so distinguishable. Natural science turns the subject into an object. But what does it mean to turn a subject (a person, after all, in the final analysis) into an object? This means killing the most important thing in him - his soul, making him into some kind of lifeless scheme, a lifeless structure.<...>The subject cannot become an object without ceasing to be itself. The subject can only be known in a subjective way - through understanding (and not an abstract general explanation), feeling, survival, empathy, as if from the inside (and not detachment, from the outside, as in the case of an object),

What is specific in social science is not only the object (subject-object), but also the subject. Everywhere, in any science, passions boil; without passions, emotions and feelings there is no and cannot be human search truth. But in social science their intensity is perhaps the highest” (Grechko P.K. Society about knowledge: for those entering universities. Part I. Society. History. Civilization. M., 1997. P. 80-81.).

[C1. | Based on the text, indicate the main factor that determines the specifics of cognition of social phenomena. What, according to the author, are the features of this factor? Answer: The main factor that determines the specifics of knowledge of social phenomena is its object - society itself. The characteristics of the object of cognition are associated with the uniqueness of society, which is permeated with the consciousness and will of the individual, which makes it a subjective reality: the subject cognizes the subject, i.e. cognition turns out to be self-knowledge.

Answer: According to the aptor, the difference between social science and natural science lies in the difference in the objects of knowledge and its methods. Thus, in social science, the object and subject of knowledge coincide, but in natural science they are either divorced or significantly different; natural science is a monological form of knowledge: the intellect contemplates a thing and speaks out about it; social science is a dialogical form of knowledge: the subject as such cannot be perceived and be studied as a thing, because as a subject it cannot, while remaining a subject, become voiceless; in social science, knowledge is carried out as if from within, in natural science - from the outside, detached, with the help of abstract general explanations.

passions, emotions and feelings is the highest? Give your explanation and, based on knowledge of the social science course and the facts of social life, give three examples of the “emotionality” of cognition of social phenomena. Answer: The author believes that in social science the intensity of passions, emotions and feelings is the highest, since here there is always a personal attitude of the subject to the object, a vital interest in what is being learned. As examples of the * emotionality" of knowledge of social phenomena, the following can be cited: supporters of the republic, studying the forms of the state, will seek confirmation of the advantages of the republican system over the monarchical one; monarchists Special attention will be devoted to evidence of the shortcomings of the republican form of government and the merits of the monarchical one; The world-historical process has been considered in our country for a long time from the point of view of the class approach, etc.

| C4. | The specificity of social cognition, as the author notes, is characterized by a number of features, two of which are revealed in the text. Based on your knowledge of the social science course, indicate any three features of social cognition that are not reflected in the fragment.

Answer: The following can be cited as examples of the features of social cognition: the object of cognition, which is society, is complex in its structure and is in constant development, which makes it difficult to establish social laws, and open social laws are probabilistic in nature; in social cognition the possibility of using such a method is limited scientific research, as an experiment; in social cognition the role of thinking, its principles and methods (for example, scientific abstraction) is extremely important; Since social life changes quite quickly, in the process of social cognition we can talk about establishing only relative truths, etc.

Section 5. Policy

Lecture course

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2006

Topic No. 8

Society as an object of knowledge

Topic No. 8. Society as an object of knowledge

1. Social cognition and its features

Cognition (in general)– is the process of acquiring knowledge about existence (about nature, society, man).

It includes: 1) process reflections reality in the human brain and 2) its further explanation.

The concept of object and subject in epistemology (in cognition):

Subject of knowledge- That, Who cognizes (person), researcher.

Object of knowledge- That, What is known.

Object of human knowledge : the world as a whole, society, man, knowledge itself.

Sources and methods of knowledge: human feelings, reason, intuition.

(see types of knowledge in Spinoza! – empiricism, rationalism, intuition)

A close, dialectical connection between the sensory (empirical) and the rational and reason.

Presenter the role of reason, rational knowledge (conceptual reflection, abstractions, theoretical thinking).

However, the human mind is not omnipotent in knowledge.

Because outside of him and in addition to him, there are forces that are beyond his control.

See Kant: Critique of Pure Reason (rationalism).

Irrationalism - criticism of rationalism, an indication oflimitation human mind in knowledge. The presence in the world of an irrational factor and reasons (intuition, instinct, will, mystical insight, etc.), which play an important role in the life of society andin cognition .

Irrationalists: Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Hartmann, Bergson, Heidegger, etc.

Social Cognition – acquisition and system of knowledge about society (society).

Social knowledge is one of varieties knowledge (in general).

Features of social cognition:

1. Complexity and difficulty social cognition compared to other types of cognition (for example, nature) due to different quality society, actions in it conscious forces (people endowed with will, passions, desire, etc.).

2. Personal factor the subject of knowledge (the individuality of the researcher - his experience, intelligence, interests, passions, etc.).

3. Historical conditions social cognition – a certain level of development of society, social structure, dominant interests.

    The object is:

- activitythe subjects themselves knowledge (of people);

- interaction between the object and the subject of cognition (i.e., its subject is initially present in the object itself).

Availability and a combination of all of these factors (features) determines diversity of points of view and theories, explaining the development and functioning of social life.

All this determines special specifics and difficulties in social cognition.

This specificity of social cognition largely determines the nature and characteristics of various parties social cognition.

Aspects of social cognition:

(ontological, epistemological, value)

1. Ontological side –(ontos – being) concerns the explanation being (existence) of society, patterns and trends of its functioning and development, as well as person as a member of society.

The complexity and dynamism of social life (people act here, endowed with will, reason, and their own interests) - objective complexity basis given knowledge about the essence of people’s social existence and, accordingly, the presence of many different points of view and theories.

For example: What was considered basis the existence of society in the history of philosophical thought:

Plato: idea of ​​justice;

Augustine the Blessed - divine plan;

Hegel – absolute reason;

Marx is an economic factor;

Freud – the struggle between the life instinct and the death instinct;

Geographical environment – ​​Montesquieu, Chaadaev. And etc.

The task of social science is to find objective patterns, trends in the functioning and development of social life.

Question: do they exist? If there are no objective laws in society, then there cannot be scientific knowledge about society, because science deals with laws. There is no clear answer to this question today.

For example:

1. Neo-Kantians (W. Windelband, G. Rickert): there are and cannot be any objective laws in society, since all phenomena here are of a unique and individual nature.

2. Followers of neo-Kantians: society itself exists only as our idea of ​​it, as a “world of concepts,” not as an objective reality.

However, there are still (?)

Objective foundations of the existence of human society:

1. Natural basis - society arises and develops objectively, regardless of the subject of knowledge, whether anyone knows it or not.

2. The level and nature of economic development of society, material interests and needs of people.

It is also possible that a variety of factors may interact, for example, the geographic environment or subjective ideas about the world.

2. Epistemological side of social cognition

Associated with features of social cognition itself:

    The role of public practices in social cognition

    Personal experience of the knowing subject; (age and experience. But: Lermontov - at the age of 15 he wrote the prophetic poem “Prediction” - “The year will come, a terrible year for Russia...”)

    Role with sociological research and social experiments in social cognition;

    Possibilities human mind in the knowledge of society and man (Limitations. Bad and good, because we don’t know our future).

    Recognition by a scientist of the objective existence of society and the presence of objective laws in it (or denial of this), that is, his position on the ontological problem of social cognition;

    How is cognition of social phenomena carried out?

    What are the possibilities of their knowledge and what are the limits of knowledge;

3. Value (axiological) side of social cognition

(gr. Axios - valuable)

Any social cognition is associated with certain values researcher. These value priorities determine the choice of the object of knowledge, its methods, specifics interpretation of the research results.

Will it true knowledge gained in this way? Most likely - yes, because... value priorities determine only character and specificity the research itself, and not the existence, functioning and development of the object of research.

Conclusions:

All three sides (aspects) of social cognition (ontological, epistemological and value) closely interconnected between each other and form an integral structure human cognitive activity.

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