Role of Social Sciences at the Dawn of Digital Revolution

Social Sciences as a systematic discipline emerged in the mid eighteenth century; the actual compartmentalization of social science into various specialized streams is mainly due to the similar developments that were witnessed in the field of physical sciences in general. The credit for the growth of all sciences, which can be defined as discovery of nature can be equated and dedicated to our ancestors who had a great zeal in knowing and novelty in querying the functioning of the universe. Philosophy thus became the base of this quest, thereby exploring and finding solutions of the different vagaries of the surroundings at large, which went on parallel footing in understanding the given community and society. But the various innovations in the physical and applied sciences will be incomplete and the quest will remain unfinished without the parallel leaps made in the field of social sciences. In order to stimulate the moral and value based ideology to the present generation with the necessary ardor that followed each event and consequence leading to a positive assimilation of knowledge and information that would pave the way for a mature and value integrated generation is the need of the hour. The thematic and knowledge diffusion of both core science and social sciences should go hand in hand, thereby avoiding strict compartmentalization of subjects into various disciplines creating a furor of acute knowledge misinterpretation with the future generations. Philosophers of the erstwhile times contributed a lot in terms of material innovation and knowledge dissemination on par with considering the social aspects at large. Noble men and thinkers of those times who had mastery of both physical sciences and social sciences have given immense contribution to the fund of knowledge. Herbert Spencer who is considered as the second father of sociology was an engineer by profession, who under the influence of Charles Darwin’s famous work “Origin of Species “promulgated the famous theory of social analogy. Empirical science naturally evolved and developed out of philosophy. In fact almost all the present disciplines evolved out of philosophy. A philosopher in ancient times was one who was well verse with all the rationalities and onus of knowledge of nature and society as a whole. This paper in general highlights the journey of social science and its importance in upholding value based education, which if left unturned in cementing its role in this fast technology savvy society would create uncompromising generations, devoid of love, empathy and values.