The science of man. What sciences study a person

O grant me the riddle of life,

An excruciatingly ancient puzzle ...

Tell me, what is man?

Heine

Who are you, man?

The top of evolution? The king of nature? The conqueror of the cosmos? The most intelligent being? An atom in the universe? Creator or destroyer? Where did the planet Earth come from?

The sciences that study man have been searching for answers to these and other questions for many years, since ancient times researchers and thinkers have racked their brains over them.

In various cultures, religions, philosophical teachings, there is a huge variety of views on the nature of man and its interaction with the physical and mental world. This set can be considered as the primary formation of the human sciences.

Why not one science?

There is the science of man anthropology, but it can not represent the entire spectrum of knowledge, embracing only the biological, evolutionary and separately philosophical aspects.

What is human science?

According to V.G. Borzenkov's classification, up to 200 disciplines can be counted, which are the sciences that study a person.

They can be grouped into several blocks:

• The science of man as a biological substance (anatomy, biochemistry, physiology, primatology, genetics, paleontology, etc.);
• Science of humanity (demography, sociology, ethnography, political science, economics, etc.);
• The science of man and his interaction with nature and the cosmos (ecology, biogeochemistry, space medicine, etc.);
• The science of man as a person (pedagogy, ethics, psychology, aesthetics, etc.);
• Sciences, considering a person as a subject of activity (ergonomics, engineering psychology, heuristics, etc.).

These disciplines do not exist on their own: they repeatedly intersect, the methods of some are widely used in others. For example, the study of physiology with the help of certain devices has become widely used in practical psychology and even forensic science (lie detector). There are also other approaches to classifying which sciences a person is studying.

Man as an object of study

Each science of man seeks patterns in the diversity of his nature and the uniqueness of individual manifestations.

A person's knowledge of himself as a kind of Homo sapiens, as a subject of social relations, as a bearer of intellectual and emotional abilities, as a unique individuality, is a difficult task.

She will never have a single solution, despite the great amount of knowledge gained from the time when the formation of the human sciences began. The more interesting the process of studying.

European approach

Public thought in the twentieth century made philosophical anthropology its most influential direction.

In this teaching, man is the central axis around which all processes of being in the world take place. "Man is the measure of all things" - this ancient principle of Protagoras philosophy gives rise to the theory of anthropocentrism.

Christian ideology, one of the foundations of European culture, also affirms the human-centrist idea of earthly life. According to her, it is believed that the Almighty, before creating man, prepared the conditions on Earth for his existence.

And what about the East?

Eastern schools of philosophy, on the contrary, never put a person at the center of the universe, considering it a part, an element of nature, one of its levels.

Man, according to these teachings, should not resist the perfection of nature, but only follow it, listening, integrating into its rhythms. This allows you to maintain mental and physical harmony.

Is everything known?

The sciences of the human body with the help of modern technologies develop with cosmic speed. Studies amaze with their boldness and breadth, and at times frighten the lack of an ethical framework.

Ways of prolonging life, subtle operations, transplantology, cloning, growing organs, stem cells, vaccines, chipping, apparatus for diagnosis and treatment - this could not even dream of medieval doctors and anatomists who perished at the fires of the Inquisition for their craving for knowledge and the desire to help patients !!

It seems that everything has now been thoroughly studied in man. But for some reason people continue to hurt and die. What else has science done in human life?

Human Genome

Genetic scientists from many countries worked together for several years and almost completely deciphered the human genome. This painstaking work continues, new tasks arise that will be addressed by current and future researchers.

A colossal work is needed not simply as a "pure" knowledge, new steps in medicine, immunology, gerontology are made and will be made on its basis.

The power of thought

What sciences study a person and his abilities?

Studies of brain activity show that a person uses very little of his capabilities. The achievements of modern neurophysiology, psychology, pedagogy help develop many hidden abilities.

Techniques for the development of mental activity are increasingly being introduced into everyday life. What seemed to be a miracle, a hoax (for example, the ability to a quick oral account), now preschool children are easily mastered in special occupations.

Other techniques developed in scientific laboratories can give a person super-possibilities for survival in extreme conditions, for example, in space flight or combat operations.

Enough to be the conqueror of nature!

The end of the last millennium was marked by an unprecedented increase in technological progress. It seemed that everything is subject to man: to move mountains, turn rivers, ruthlessly devastate the depths and destroy forests, pollute the seas and oceans.

Global cataclysms of recent decades show that nature does not forgive such an attitude. In order to survive as a species, humanity needs to take care not only of individual dwellings, but also of our common home - the planet Earth.

One of the most important sciences is ecology, showing how, by destroying nature, a person harms himself. But the implementation of recommendations developed by scientists, allows you to save and restore the environment.

Human and society

Wars, overpopulation of cities, famine, epidemics, natural disasters put huge masses of people in suffering.

Social sciences and institutions dealing with issues of demography, political science, religious studies, philosophy, economics, obviously do not cope with information and can not make their recommendations convincing for politicians, state leaders, authorities of different levels.

Peace, peace, prosperity remain a pipe dream for most people.

But in the age of Internet development, many knowledge become much closer and allow those who have access to the resource to apply them in their lives, find like-minded people, help themselves and their loved ones survive in difficult times and save the Human.

The appeal to one's own history, to the roots, to the knowledge accumulated by previous generations, a return to the sources of morality and ethics, to nature gives a chance for the life of the next generations.

Open question

The multifaceted manifestations and activities of each individual, of the entire human community as a whole make it extremely difficult to study them.

And hundreds of disciplines are not enough to investigate these processes. The science of man is an almost inexhaustible source of riddles.

It turns out that, despite the development of technology, mankind did not manage to get to know itself by the methods of biochemistry, physiology, mathematical processing of data.

Philosophical questions remain eternal. We still do not know exactly why a person appeared, who was his ancestor, what is the meaning of his life, is immortality possible. Who can answer?