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Knowledge and Human Interests is a 1968 book by the German philosopher Jürgen Habermas, in which the author discusses the development of the modern natural and human sciences. He criticizes Sigmund Freud, arguing that psychoanalysis is a branch of the humanities rather than a science, and provides a critique of the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.
Gustav Ratzenhofer was an Austrian military officer, philosopher and sociologist. He also wrote under the pseudonym Gustav Renehr.
The hierarchy of the sciences is a theory formulated by Auguste Comte in the 19th century. This theory states that science develops over time beginning with the simplest and most general scientific discipline, astronomy, which is the first to reach the "positive stage". As one moves up the "hierarchy", this theory further states that sciences become more complex and less general, and that they will reach the positive stage later. Disciplines further up the hierarchy are said to depend more on the developments of their predecessors; the highest discipline on the hierarchy are the social sciences. According to this theory, there are higher levels of consensus and faster rates of advancement in physics and other natural sciences than there are in the social sciences.
References
- ↑ Park, Robert E. (1921). "Sociology and the Social Sciences". American Journal of Sociology. 26 (4): 401–424. ISSN 0002-9602.
- ↑ "A Comtean Centenary". American Journal of Sociology. 27 (4): 510–513. 1922. doi:10.1086/213378. ISSN 0002-9602.
- ↑ Bourdeau, Michel, "Auguste Comte", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2011 Edition)
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