Human Sciences and Human Interests : Integrating the Social, Economic, and Evolutionary Sciences

This book analyzes how the ''rival'' approaches of social science, economics, and evolutionary science understand various dimensions of human interests, and what these human sciences can learn from each other. It examines practical examples of empirical studies within the three approaches along with their theoretical positions. Furthermore, the book develops an integrative framework based on the logic of ''social rationality'', a rationality which underlies all the book''s themes: stable and flexible, manifest and latent, culturally particular and universal, and individual and collective interests.

Within the disciplines of social, economic, and evolutionary science, a proud ignorance can often be found of the other areas’ approaches. This text provides a novel intellectual basis for breaking this trend. Certainly, Human Sciences and Human Interests aspires to open a broad debate about what scholars in the different human sciences assume, imply or explicitly claim with regard to human interests.

Mikael Klintman draws the reader to the core of human sciences - how they conceive human interests, as well as how interests embedded within each discipline relate to its claims and recommendations. Moreover, by comparing theories as well as concrete examples of research on health and environment through the lenses of social, economic and evolutionary sciences, Klintman outlines an integrative framework for how human interests could be better analysed across all human sciences.

This fast-paced and modern contribution to the field is a necessary tool for developing any human scientist’s ability to address multidimensional problems within a rapidly changing society. Avoiding dogmatic reasoning, this interdisciplinary text offers new insights and will be especially relevant to scholars and advanced students within the aforementioned disciplines, as well as those within the fields of social work, social policy, political science and other neighbouring disciplines.