An experiment in socio-humanitarian cognition: genesis and evolution

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the genesis of the experimental method in social and humanitarian sciences and its formation. Material for the study consists of literature on epistemological and methodological problems of science in general and the social sciences and humanities in particular. As the methodological tools the approach by stages of development of science V.S. Stepin and evolution of technical sciences V.G. Gorokhov are used. The origin of the experimental method as a whole and its transformation in the course of development of science and a paradigm shift in it are considered. The specifics of the experimental activities in the socio-humanitarian cognition in contrast to similar activities in natural sciences and technical sciences are shown. It was detected by stages of the experimental method of changes in the social and human sciences, depending on the change of the dominant scientific paradigm. It is noted that in the modern methods of obtaining and analyzing social information an important paradigmatic transition is planned that is associated with the spread of technology of processing ‘Big Data’. The new ways of obtaining social information and its treatment are shown and it is demonstrated how the may significantly change the research landscape and the structure of social sciences and humanities.