Contributions of Social Science and Humanities Disciplines and Applications to Environmental Studies

Social sciences:

• skeptical, analytical & empirical -- ie, scientific about people
• high curiosity about people & their institutions
• social scientists do not instinctively objectify everyone around them, but may apply useful concepts for understanding other people
• often highly attuned to other people; socially insightful
• work with phenomenon that are less amenable to lab manipulation (reasons: manip. may destroy the phenomenon; need for 'ecological validity' (generalize to natural setting; "method effects"--subjects' self-awareness); ethical restraints
• cultivates unusual degree of self-reflexivity
• awareness of divergent pathways of human experience

Philosophy:

• seeing/vision: the choosing of fundamental departure points for further inquiry
• argumentation & clear thought about abstractions (including about nature)
• critique of basic assumptions
• familiarity with the span of ideas of a civilization (2 if you're really good)
• critique of, and justification of, actions or rules for choosing them
• dealing with the elements of choices that cannot be reduced to matters of fact (values, ethics, etc)

History:

• what happened in the past that helps us understand where we are now
• that the past is not so utterly different, nor so identical
• partiality & relativity of our own view
• the voices of which our own voices are echoes
• the irreducible particularity of human choice and action
• the normality of good intentions that lead us into trouble
• the normality and pervasive effects of bias and perspective in human affairs
• an opportunity to try to sort out complex causality after the consequences have played out
• the power of ideas in history
• the power of actors (individuals and institutions) in history
• the power of environmental factors in history

Education:

• ideals, on a human and achievable scale
• the remembering and appreciation of how great a difference other people's investment made for us, and ours can make for others
• a delight in helping others flourish, in sharing what we know and care about.
• a necessary belief in human adaptability
• conditional optimism
• the experience of how humans individually and collectively can mobilize their powers
• a practical appreciation of how to motivate others, and encourage them to learn
• abilities to design and lead successful learning experiences for others
• awareness of the role of learning and education in society
• a critical but constructive understanding of the role of culture in education and life

Policy & related areas

• the application of ideals (principles)
• understanding of how to achieve ideals - workings of economics, behavior, etc.
• sensitivity to the constraints imposed by political/economic realities
• analysis of likely consequences of different policy choices
• feeling comfortable working with power relations
• ability to draw together the different pieces of the policy puzzle
• a taste for problem-relevant data