CSS 104: Social Sciences and Human Behaviours

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the course, the students should be able to:

  1. differentiate between the sources of scientific and non-scientific knowledge;
  2. discuss the differences between scientific and non-scientific sources of knowledge on human behaviours;
  3. trace the evolution of social science disciplines; and
  • identify the major assumptions about the determinants of human behaviours by different social sciences programmes.
Course Contents

Scientific and non-scientific sources of knowledge on human behaviours. Nature of science: enlightenment era, positivism and scientific method. Evolution of social sciences. Key focus of social science programmes (anthropology, criminology, economics, geography, political science, psychology, sociology). Perspectives on the scientific character of social science discipline. Freewill and determinism in explanation of human behaviour. Comparative perspectives and assumptions of the social science discipline on the nature, determinants, types and control of human behaviour.