Hard and soft science

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Hard science and Soft science are colloquial terms often used when comparing fields of academic research or scholarship, with "harder" meaning perceived as being more scientific, rigorous, or accurate. For example, fields of the natural sciences or physical sciences are often described as hard in contrast to soft social sciences. The hard sciences are characterized as relying on experimental, empirical, quantifiable data or the scientific method, and focusing on accuracy and objectivity.[1] When soft science is used to refer to a natural science, it is usually used pejoratively, implying that a particular natural science topic described as "soft" does not belong to the field of natural science.[2]

Different approaches to the scientific method can be distinguished by the research they term "soft science" and what they consider "hard." The issue is important to the philosophy of science (which does not always support the possibility of drawing a distinction between "hard" and "soft") and to science studies and the sociology of science (which study scientists' implicit perceptions of research and methods).[citation needed]

Contents

[edit] Pejorative use

Within the natural sciences, research which depends upon conjecture (sometimes called hypothesis), qualitative analysis of data (compared to quantitative analysis), or uncertain experimental results is sometimes derided as soft science. Examples are evolutionary psychology[3] or meteorology[4].

[edit] Graphism

The graphism thesis maintains that hard sciences such as natural sciences make heavier use of graphs than soft sciences such as sociology. However, Bill Mann claims that technical analysis is an example of a discipline that uses graphs heavily but is not at all scientific.[5]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ John Lemons (2008-04-24). Scientific Uncertainty and Environmental Problem Solving. Blackwell. pp. 99. ISBN 0865424764. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=SjayHztX8mUC&pg=PA99&vq=%22Hard+science+and+Soft+science%22&sig=TDVtlJbVP_d1DakkD8QegCXvjjQ#PPA100,M1. Retrieved on 2008-04-24. 
  2. ^ For example, in Waqar Ahmad (1995-07-22). "Race is a four letter word". New Scientist (1987): 44. http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg14719874.800-race-is-a-four-letter-word.html. Retrieved on 2008-04-24. "Gardner criticises the book's soft science and neglect of alternative explanations.". 
  3. ^ Cheryl Brown Travis (2003). Evolution, Gender, and Rape. MIT Press. pp. 171. ISBN 0262700905. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=a2TTPKFUXgkC&pg=PA171&dq=%22soft+science%22+%22evolutionary+psychology%22&ei=L2kQSLiJNqSSyQTq2tnHCQ&client=firefox-a&sig=eSRofjfv-E2ml9nbTWvRtYEIYUU. "If evolutionary biology is a soft science, then evolutionary psychology is its flabby underbelly" 
  4. ^ "Changeable Weather". New Zealand Science Monthly. 2007-06-27. http://nzsm.webcentre.co.nz/article97.htm. Retrieved on 2008-04-24. "Empirically, meteorology positioned itself alongside physics in the "hard sciences", yet theoretically it leans toward the "soft science" of geography." 
  5. ^ Fool.com: Is Technical Analysis Voodoo? [Fool on the Hill] January 5, 2001

[edit] External links

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