Are Human Sciences Possible?

Abstract

The author discusses possible ways of human sciences development in the context of the current successes in human genetics and especially in cognitive and brain sciences. The attempt is made to show that the reduction of scientific knowledge about the human being to the results of natural sciences is not only one-sided, but can create dangerous consequences in case of tech- nological use of such knowledge. The arguments in the favor of the thesis about impossibility of human sciences – the freedom of choice, self-constitution of the human being, consciousness and self-consciousness are critically analyzed. The author argues that human sciences should take into account the principal fact, that the human being is not only a natural being, but also an artificial one, that she/he is included in culture and various semiotic systems. The accepting this idea makes possible fruitful interaction of different human sciences for solution of problems cre- ated by contemporary technologies.