Abstract

I would like to examine three approaches to methodological status of the social sciences and humanities. The specificative approach continues a tradition inherent in philosophy of W. Dilthey, W. Windelband, and H. Rickert, who focused attention on the studying of the specific features of the humanities. The unificative, or unificatory, approach was developed under the influence of positivism. It aims at justifying of the humanities methodology due to working out general scientific standards based on the priority of empirical methods. In this respect, unification of the methodology of science consequently should re-sult in the social sciences and humanities assimilation to the natural sciences. The works of L. Wittgenstein, C. G. Hempel, P. Oppenheim, R. Carnap, E. Nagel contributed to the strengthening of this approach. Nowadays several factors and drivers promote the integrative approach. It seems essential to emphasize the possibility and necessity to combine the methods of various disciplines in trans- and cross-disciplinary research. It is argued that the integrative approach reveals intrinsic potential of the social sciences and humanities for complementing the natural sciences and enriching the scientific methodology.