Ma`rifat Farhangi Ejtemaei

The transformation in the meaning of social science in the modern era represents one of the most significant epistemological and existential shifts in the history of Western thought. This transformation goes beyond a mere change in scientific terminology; it constitutes a new formulation of the relationship between the human being and the social world. Relying on a dialectical framework between the existential forms of modern humans and the forms of social knowledge, this article examines the evolution and foundations of the meaning of social science within four fundamental traditions: moral sciences, spiritual sciences, cultural sciences, and positivist social science. The research method is a foundational critical methodology, based on a critical reading of texts pertaining to the nature of social science in modern intellectual traditions. The findings indicate that each of these traditions presents a distinct image of the human being, society, and the possibility of social knowledge. The fundamental implication of this evolution is the crisis of self-understanding in the social sciences concerning meaning, value, and calculability. As a proposal, it seems that the critical reconstruction of the social sciences requires a dialectical re-reading of these four traditions.