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The concept of human sciences and the sociology
of knowledge in Elias’ theory
Interdisciplinarity is a concept that is widely discussed nowadays. Years ago, by
his ‘process and figuration sociology’ Elias created a research program in which
all social and historical sciences overlapped. In this article, the aim is to explain
the concept of human sciences (menschenwissenschaften) and to introduce
Elias’ sociology of knowledge, which constitutes the basis and reason of this
concept. It is necessary to organise the human sciences in accordance with the
process model of sciences developed by Elias. For Elias, the main task of sociology
and even of human sciences is to explore the processes with a certain
structure and direction. Here, long-term development processes, which are
called trend by Elias, are examined. Elias’ figuration theory, his criticism directed
against Popper, and his thoughts on the relation between psychology and
sociology are analysed. Elias challenges the understanding that the historical is
on the past and the sociological is on the present. For him, we should see past,
present and the future not as separate entities but as a diachronic continuum.
By focusing on these issues the basis of the theory of social processes is
revealed.