Integrating the Human Sciences: Enhancing Progress and Coherence across the Social Sciences and Humanities

195 Pages·2022·4.523 MB·English

by  Rick Szostak

INTEGRATING THE
HUMAN SCIENCES
What if we recognized that the human sciences collectively investigate a few
dozen key phenomena that interact with each other? Can we imagine a human
science that would seek to stitch its understandings of this system of phenomena
into a coherent whole? If so, what would that look like?
This book argues that we are unlikely to develop one unified “theory of
everything.” Our collective understanding must then be a “map” of the myriad
relationships within this large – but finite and manageable – system, coupled
with detailed understandings of each causal link and of important subsystems.
The book outlines such a map and shows that the pursuit of coherence – and a
more successful human science enterprise – requires integration, recognizing
the strengths and weaknesses of different methods and theory types, and the
pursuit of terminological and presentational clarity. It explores how these inter-
connected goals can be achieved in research, teaching, library classification,
public policy, and university administration. These suggestions are congruent
with, and yet enhance, other projects for reform of the human sciences.
This volume is aimed at any scholar or student who seeks to comprehend how
what they study fits within a broader understanding.
Rick Szostak is Professor of Economics at the University of Alberta. He is the
author of 20 books, 60 journal articles, and dozens of book chapters and ency-
clopedia articles across a dozen fields, especially economic history, world history,
interdisciplinary studies, knowledge organization, and future studies.

INTEGRATING THE
HUMAN SCIENCES
Enhancing Progress and
Coherence across the Social
Sciences and Humanities
Rick Szostak
Cover image: lvcandy via Getty Images
First published 2023
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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© 2023 Rick Szostak
The right of Rick Szostak to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other
means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and
recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Szostak, Rick, 1959- author.
Title: Integrating the human sciences: enhancing progress and coherence
across the social sciences and humanities/Rick Szostak.
Description: Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY:
Routledge, 2023. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022016322 (print) | LCCN 2022016323 (ebook) |
ISBN 9781032230184 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032230177 (paperback) |
ISBN 9781003275237 (ebook) | ISBN 9781000689334 (adobe pdf) |
ISBN 9781000689341 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Social sciences–Research.
Classification: LCC H62 .S996 2023 (print) | LCC H62 (ebook) |
DDC 300.72–dc23/eng/20220602
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022016322
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022016323
ISBN: 978-1-032-23018-4 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-23017-7 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-27523-7 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003275237
Typeset in Bembo
by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.
Access the Support Material: www.routledge.com/9781032230177
CONTENTS
List of Illustrations viii
Preface ix
1 Introduction 1
Outline of This Book 2
Key Characteristics of This Book 3
Human Science and Natural Science 6
Why Do This? 7
Summary 8
2 Research in Human Science 10
The Map of Human Science 10
Identifying Phenomena 16
The Openness of Subsystems 19
No Theory of Everything 21
Specialization and Integration 22
Symbiosis 22
Standards for Integrative Work 25
Clarifying Terminology 29
The Costs of Excessive Ambiguity 29
Coping with Ambiguity 31
The Style and Substance of Argument 37
Theories and Methods 39
Identifying Methods 39
Strengths and Weaknesses of Different Methods
and Theory Types 40
vi Contents
The Value of Employing Multiple Methods and Theories 45
Responding to Postmodern Critiques 46
The Culture Wars 49
Summary 51
3 Connecting to Other Suggestions for Reform
in the Human Sciences 60
Reforming Social Science 61
Comprehensive Appraisal 61
Novelty 63
Cumulative Inquiry 65
Confirmation Bias 66
Causality 67
Representation (Variables versus Phenomena)
and Reflexivity 70
Structure 73
Individuals and Societies 74
Consensus 76
Debates in the Humanities 77
Defining the Humanities 78
The Aesthetic versus the Cultural 79
A Few Causal Links or Many? 79
Explanation versus Interpretation 80
High Art versus Popular Culture 82
The Humanities No Longer Inspire 82
Coherence 83
The Value of the Humanities 83
Summary 85
4 Research in Human Science Fields 91
Specialization by Phenomena or Subsystem 91
Particular Subsystems or Sets of Causal Links 93
Economy 93
Polity 95
Social Structure 96
Health and Population 97
Culture 98
Art 101
Technology and Science 105
Human Nature 105
Environment 107
History 108
Philosophy 110
Contents vii
Concluding Remarks 113
Summary 114
5 Teaching in Human Science 120
What Every Student Can and Should Know 121
The Structure of Human Science Knowledge 121
Key Strengths and Weaknesses of Methods
and Theory Types 122
Strategies for Integration 122
Some Epistemology 124
Some Ethics 124
Rhetoric and Critical Thinking 125
World History and Future Studies 125
Structuring Interdisciplinary and Thematic Majors 127
Teaching in an Integrative and Comparative Manner 129
Some Thoughts on High School Social Studies and English 130
Summary 132
6 Reorganizing Our Libraries 137
Phenomenon-Based Classification 137
Ambiguity Again 140
Summary 141
7 Informing Public Policy 142
The Advantages of an Integrative Approach to Research 142
Reduced Bias 142
Recognition of Side Effects 146
Integrating Academics and Policy-Makers 147
Educating Future Policy-Makers 148
Summary 149
8 Administering Transformation;
Transforming Administration 152
Thoughts on Administrative Structures 153
Overcoming Academic Inertia 157
Changes beyond the University 161
Summary 162
9 Concluding Remarks 167
References 169
Index 179
ILLUSTRATIONS
Figures
2.1 An Abridged Map of Human Science. 14
2.2 Influences on Economic Growth. 15
4.1 The Economic Subsystem. 93
4.2 The Cultural Subsystem. 98
Tables
2.1 The Phenomena 11
2.2 Typology of Strengths and Limitations of Methods 43
PREFACE
This book builds on a lifetime of reflection regarding the nature of human
science. As a very interdisciplinary economic historian with an interest in big
questions (my first two books were about the causes of the Industrial Revolution
and the Great Depression, respectively), I became frustrated early in my career
about how hard it was to find relevant information in other disciplines. I attended
the annual conference of the Association for Interdisciplinary (then Integrative)
Studies in 1997, and was hooked. I wrote books and articles about how we could
collectively “map” human science over the next few years (Szostak 2001, 2003).
I had been suspicious of economists’ reliance on just two methods, even in
graduate school. Immersed in the community of scholars of interdisciplinar-
ity, I came to reflect more deeply on the nature of the methods and theories
employed across human science. As I began my second sabbatical, I had (what
I at least think of as) a Eureka moment in which I appreciated that asking the
Who, What, When, Where, and Why questions of science itself gave us keen
insights into the nature of science, and of phenomena, data, theory, method,
and practice (Szostak 2004).
Along the way, I published some works in economic methodology (especially
Szostak 1999, inspired by my first sabbatical at the University of New South
Wales, which at the time housed several methodologists, as well as several eco-
nomic historians). These urged interdisciplinarity as well as theoretical and
methodological flexibility. Several Nobel Laureates in Economics have voiced
similar ideas since the financial crisis, but these were much less common when
I wrote. Yet, as I became more interdisciplinary in my research, I came to
question certain practices common in other fields. Economists tend to be very
careful about defining terminology (economists fudge the definition of capital,
to be sure, but are generally precise and logical). As I wrote Szostak (2003), I
was horrified to find that scholars of culture accepted the fact that there were