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> But social sciences are very different, because all humans have a pretty good understanding of human nature. Studying it is all that we do, all of the time.
by danharaj 9y ago
> But social sciences are very different, because all humans have a pretty good understanding of human nature. Studying it is all that we do, all of the time.
Relative to what? Anthropologists most certainly have far more expertise on human nature than anyone else. Everyone else tends to fall into a rut of essentialism where they believe that their particular, most obviously culturally specific, experiences are universal.
- bambax 9y agoNot sure that anthropologists study "human nature" the way social sciences do (or should). Anthropology is the study of human cultures and customs, which probably have as much to do with accidents, chance and contingency (history) as with universal human characteristics.
- danharaj 9y agoThat's the point. They know what's possible about human nature better than anyone else. If you don't know what's fully possible, you can't make good inferences about what's universal. Universality is the denial of possibility.