Türk ve Japon Modernleşmesi: 'Uygarlık Süreci' - Birikim

128■The concept of human sciences and the sociologyof knowledge in Elias’ theoryInterdisciplinarity is a concept that is widely discussed nowadays. Years ago, byhis ‘process and figuration sociology’ Elias created a research program in whichall social and historical sciences overlapped. In this article, the aim is to explainthe concept of human sciences (menschenwissenschaften) and to introduceElias’ sociology of knowledge, which constitutes the basis and reason of thisconcept. It is necessary to organise the human sciences in accordance with theprocess model of sciences developed by Elias. For Elias, the main task of sociologyand even of human sciences is to explore the processes with a certainstructure and direction. Here, long-term development processes, which arecalled trend by Elias, are examined. Elias’ figuration theory, his criticism directedagainst Popper, and his thoughts on the relation between psychology andsociology are analysed. Elias challenges the understanding that the historical ison the past and the sociological is on the present. For him, we should see past,present and the future not as separate entities but as a diachronic continuum.By focusing on these issues the basis of the theory of social processes isrevealed.