Q&A: Scientific and Humanistic
Scientific and Humanistic
Question
Hello Rabbi, I asked earlier but you didn’t answer; it probably got missed.
Do you think every scientific field must be quantitative? Most people equate a quantitative field with a scientific field, as opposed to a humanistic field being non-scientific. But clearly that isn’t correct; for example, mathematics is a quantitative field but not a scientific one.
I want to ask two questions:
1. Do you think a quantitative field is a basic prerequisite for a scientific field?
2. Do you think psychology is a scientific-humanistic field?
Answer
I remember the question. Do you have a link? I haven’t seen it lately (I usually get alerts about unanswered questions).
It’s very hard to define science unequivocally. Certain parts of psychology and the social sciences are scientific in principle (see column 405 on psychology). At least in the sense of being open to falsification tests. The question of how clear they are, and to what extent there aren’t ad hoc solutions and flexible interpretations, is a question that’s hard to answer. At least in the natural sciences it’s clear that we’re dealing with sciences. In the other fields, there may be some part that is as well.
Thanks for the response.
https://mikyab.net/%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%AA/%d7%9e%d7%93%d7%a2%d7%99-%d7%94%d7%95%d7%9e%d7%a0%d7%99/
This is the link to the unanswered question.