The Emergence of the Humanities in the Digital Age: Possibilities and Alternatives

Document Type : Original Article

Author
Mohammad Vahid Soheili
گروه غرب شناسی، پژوهشکده فرهنگ و مطالعات اجتماعی، پژوهشگاه فرهنگ و اندیشه اسلامی، تهران، ایران
10.22034/zehn.2025.2053197.2090
Abstract
This study examines the development of the humanities in the digital age and analyzes its possibilities and alternatives by focusing on three key approaches: computational social sciences, digital humanities studies, and cognitive social sciences. Each of these approaches has attempted to analyze social and human issues by utilizing technological, methodological, and epistemological tools, but at the same time, each of them has followed different paths in relation to theoretical dualities such as naturalism and non-naturalism, and freedom and emancipation.

Using the fundamental method of the interdisciplinary approach, this study examines the process of formation of these three fields and measures the relationship of each to the two central dualities of social sciences in this article, namely naturalism and non-naturalism, and the spindle of freedom and emancipation.

The findings of this study suggest that the future of digital humanities and social sciences requires the development of interdisciplinary research methods that can combine data-driven analyses with interpretive and critical approaches. As a result, this study emphasizes the importance of rethinking the theoretical foundations of these sciences and critically examining the role of technology in shaping knowledge structures.
Keywords
Digital Humanities
Naturalism
Non-Naturalism
Freedom
Emancipation

Subjects

 
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