What do we study when we study the world?
What do we study when we study the world?
Author(s): Tomasz Dominik KamusellaSubject(s): History, Anthropology, Cultural history, History of ideas
Published by: Institutul Patrimoniului Cultural al Academiei de Științe a Moldovei
Keywords: biosphere; Earth; entropy; humanities; material reality; natural sciences; research; semiosphere; social reality; social sciences;
Summary/Abstract: The essay reflects on the ‘material thinness’ of the‘bubble’, of the human social reality in comparison to thehugeness of the observable universe. Second, I distinguishbetween the biosphere as a space on the Earth surfaceThe essay reflects on the ‘material thinness’ of the‘bubble’, of the human social reality in comparison to the hugeness of the observable universe. Second, I distinguishbetween the biosphere as a space on the Earth surface where DNA-based life thrives, on the one hand, and thesocial reality (semiosphere), on the other; the latter generated solely by humans and their social use of language. Onthis basis, I propose that while most natural sciences dealwith the entire material reality, the purview of the socialsciences and the humanities is limited to the human semiosphere only. A conscious realization of the fact appearsto put many human pursuits in a better perspective.
Journal: Revista de Etnologie şi Culturologie
- Issue Year: XXIV/2018
- Issue No: 2
- Page Range: 54-62
- Page Count: 9
- Language: English