Theories of Knowledge

Theories of Knowledge

The relation of the social sciences to the natural sciences

The theory of Marxism which was developed by Karl Marx is focused on philosophical materialism. The theory of Philosophical materialism holds the view that all the things which are present in the universe are natural and follow the laws of nature. It also suggests that there is nothing such as the supernatural. Later, Marx developed a philosophy along with his associate Engels, which was called dialectical materialism. This philosophical theory is formed after merging the ideas of materialism and dialectics and actually states that all the things which are present in the universe are material (Russell, 2012). Apart from that, evolutions keeps taking place constantly at all the different levels of existence and in all the system. Moreover, all the boundaries which are defined are in fact concepts which have been made by man and these concepts do not exist in the nature in real, and universe is a unified entity which is interconnected in the sense that all the elements which are present are dependence on each other. According to this philosophy, science is the only way through which truth can be found out.

Weber had rejected the contention of the positivists that the cognitive goals of the social and natural sciences were actually the same and the historicist doctrine of Germans which suggested that it was not possible to make lawful generalizations as actions of humans are not governed by the regulations which govern the nature's world. In opposition to these historicists, Weber stated that the methods of science which included subject matter such as things and human beings as well, always proceeded by generalization and abstraction. Contrary to the positivists, he took the stance that human beings, in contradiction to material things, can be understand ...