Applying the Model of Philosophy of Social Sciences to Sociology: An Idea for the Formation of Philosophy of Sociology

Introduction and Objectives: The philosophy of science is a philosophical analysis of the problems of science, its scientific theories and methods, which deals with exploring scientific debates, and examining the principles, requirements, and limitations of scientific problems. Philosophy of science has numerous cases and examples, therefore, today all sciences have their own philosophy. However, sociology has so far lacked such a philosophy. The hypothetical philosophy of sociology can be considered one of the examples of the philosophy of science in general and the philosophy of social sciences in particular. Just as sociology is a branch of social sciences; the philosophy of sociology can also be considered under the philosophy of social sciences. The philosophy of sociology has not been the focus of attention independently so far, therefore, independent content about the philosophy of sociology has rarely been produced and processed. This research seeks to apply the model of the philosophy of social sciences and spread it over to the epistemological and methodological content of sociology to propose an idea about the philosophy of sociology. The problems, topics, theories, and fields of sociology are the subject of the philosophy of sociology; hence, knowledge is secondary; because its subject is the science of sociology itself. The breadth of the subject of sociology, which studies social phenomena, compared to other fields of social science, such as politics or economics, is probably one of the reasons why the philosophy of sociology has not been addressed so far. In addition, theoretical sociology discussions have always addressed the concepts or theories and paradigms governing sociological theories; however this has filled the gap in the field of philosophy of sociology to some extent, it has not eliminated the need for an independent science of philosophy of sociology. The philosophy of sociology can help us define the field of sociology and provide criteria for separating and distinguishing sociology from other sciences. Also, extracting the foundations and assumptions of sociology, explaining them, and referring the assumptions to their true position for deeper research and examination, as well as discovering criteria for evaluating data and distinguishing them in the intellectual fields of sociology, as well as extracting the rules and methods governing sociological research, are among the topics that can be answered in the philosophy of sociology.
Method: This research was conducted using the pattern matching method and based on documentary research and study. First, an understanding of the philosophy of social sciences was achieved through the documentary research method, and the topics and issues of the model of the philosophy of social sciences were extracted, and then those questions were put in front of sociology and an attempt was made to answer them based on important works of sociology. Gathering the answers and organizing them in a schema will be a new idea for opening the door to dialogue and introducing the philosophy of sociology. In general, the philosophy of sociology uses rational, comparative, and comparative methods.
Results: Social sciences are steeped in philosophical concepts. The task of the philosophy of social sciences and, following it, sociology is to reflect on the concepts of collective life and the various conceptual systems and domains to examine the rationality of collective life. Like any other science, sociology needs a philosophy for its reform, growth, and efficiency so that it can respond appropriately to the problems it faces. Methodological, epistemological evaluation and the compilation and examination of the fundamental and paradigmatic foundations of sociology necessitate such a philosophy. In the philosophy of social sciences, there are extensive discussions about the similarities and differences between social sciences and natural sciences. Sciences such as sociology always borrow some characteristics of natural sciences, but not all of these characteristics are suitable for studying the social world. Since in sociology, we are faced with social phenomena, the search for unity under a comprehensive theory for systematization and prediction seems unattainable. One of the reasons for the lack of access to comprehensive and inclusive theories in sociology is the changing and evolving nature of the social world compared to the natural world. On the contrary, theories that consider the subject of sociology as real; believe social phenomena that are mentally constructed (ītibārī) are the subject of sociology. It seems that the subject of sociology can be considered the study of social processes as a whole, and such a subject is distinct from a subject that deals with the study of a single phenomenon or group of phenomena. The issues raised in theoretical sociology have to some extent filled the void of the philosophy of sociology for researchers, but this science has not been able to answer all the unresolved philosophical questions in this regard.
Discussion and Conclusions: In this research, we sought to apply the model of the philosophy of social sciences to the epistemological and methodological content of sociology to propose an idea about the philosophy of sociology. The breadth of the subject of sociology and the existence of theoretical sociology topics have been factors in not addressing the philosophy of sociology independently. The philosophy of sociology can help us define the field of sociology and provide criteria for separating and distinguishing sociology from other sciences. Moreover, extracting the foundations and assumptions of sociology explaining them, and referring the assumptions to their real position for deeper research and investigation, as well as discovering criteria for evaluating data and distinguishing them in the intellectual fields of sociology, as well as extracting the rules and methods governing sociological research are among the topics that are investigated in the philosophy of sociology. In the theoretical field, sociology, independently and separately from the examination of sociological theories and schools, examines the processes of cognition and theory construction, discovering the meta-theoretical connections of theories and their criticism, and integrating theories. The function of such topics is separate from the realm of sociological theories and schools. The theoretical framework of a sociologist is determined when the abstract concepts he/she uses and their origin are clarified. Examining the researcher's literature and theoretical ideas to access their prerequisite concepts, models, and principles so as to find the relationship between the content and the main lines of discussion to understand the theoretical framework and formal models and theoretical principles hidden in the works, empirical observation, historical explanation, modeling, concept formation, and classification, and the design of abstract causal principles, and models constitute important parts of the work of sociology.