The Humanities and Sciences Are Different

This chapter argues that inquiries in the sciences and humanities have different aims and the values informing these inquiries are also different. It maintains, in particular, that there are four major differences: (1) the sciences value findings that are not limited to particular locations, times, or things, but in the humanities universal generalizations aren’t so valued, nor should they be; (2) the sciences treasure findings that are as independent as possible of the perspectives of those conducting the inquiry, whereas this is not in general appropriate in the humanities; (3) the sciences aim to be wholly descriptive, but the humanities are also often concerned with prescriptive claims, which give expression to values; and (4) the sciences are organized around the importance of increasing the stock of collective knowledge, whereas in the humanities individual insight is highly valued for its own sake, independently of its ability to generate consensus.