DEFINITION OF BASIC SOCIAL AND CULTURAL SCIENCES
In general, ISBD (Basic Social and Cultural Sciences) belongs to the knowledge group,
which is to study basic knowledge and a general understanding of the concepts of human (social)
and cultural relations that are developed to study human, social, and cultural problems. Basic
socio-cultural science is an integration of ISD and IBD that provides the basics of social
knowledge and cultural concepts to students so that they are able to study social, human, and
cultural problems. The basic socio-cultural science approach will also expand the view that
social, human, and cultural problems can be approached from various perspectives. With insight
so that they are able to study a more complex societal problem, as well as solutions to solve it.
Basic Social and Cultural Sciences is a branch of science that is an integration of two other
sciences, namely social sciences which are also sociology (socio: social, logos: science) and
cultural sciences which is one of the branches of social sciences. Further understanding of
social science is a branch of science that uses various disciplines to respond to social problems,
while cultural science is a science that belongs to cultural knowledge, studying human and
cultural problems. In general, it can be said that basic socio-cultural science is knowledge that
is expected to provide basic knowledge and a g
eneral understanding of concepts developed to study social, human, and cultural
problems. The term basic socio-cultural sciences was developed for the first time in Indonesia
as a substitute for the term basic humanities which comes from the English term "the
Humanities". The term humanities itself comes from the Latin humanus which means human,
cultured and subtle. By studying the humanities, it is assumed that a person will be able to
become more human, more cultured and more subtle. By studying the humanities, it is assumed
that a person will be able to become more human, more cultured and more subtle. Thus, it can
be said that the humanities 7 is related to human values as homo humanus or cultured humans.
In order for humans to become humanus, they must study science, namely the humanities, in
addition to not leaving their other responsibilities as human beings themselves. To know more
about the origins of basic social and cultural sciences, it is necessary to know the grouping of
sciences. Prof. Dr. Harsya Bactiar state
d that science and knowledge are grouped into three major groups, namely; Natural
sciences (natural scince). The natural sciences aim to find out the rules that exist in the universe.
To study this, a scientific method is used. The trick is to determine the applicable law regarding
the order, then an analysis is made to determine a quality. The results of this analysis are then
generalized. On this basis, a prediction is made. Social sciences. The social sciences aim to
study the rules contained in the relationship between humans. To study this, the scientific
method is used as a loan from the natural sciences. But the results of this study are more
qualitative, because it concerns the pattern of 8 human behaviors and behaviors in society that
tend to change. Cultural knowledge (the humanities) aims to understand and seek the meaning
of human realities. To study this, a method of expressing unique events and realities is used, then
given meaning. The background of the basic socio-cultural science course is that in addition to
looking at the Indonesian cultural context, it is also in accordance with the educational program
in higher education, in order to improve the formation of scholars. The background of basic socio-
cultural science in the context of culture, state and society of Indonesia is related to the following
problems: 1. The fact that the Indonesian nation consists of various ethnic groups with all
cultural diversity that is reflected in various aspects of their culture, which are usually
inseparable from primordial, tribal and regional ties. 2. The ongoing development process
continuously causes 9 positive impacts and negative impacts in the form of shifts in cultural
values so that the human mentality is automatically affected. A further consequence of this clash
of cultural values is the emergence of conflicts in life. 3. The progress of science and technology
causes changes in the conditions of human life, causing conflicts with the cultural value system,
so that humans are confused about the progress that they have created. This is an ambivalent
attitude of technology, which in addition to providing a positive aspect, also has a negative
aspect. Thus, it can be said that the humanities are related to values, namely human values as
homo humanus or cultured humans. In order for humans to become humanists, they must study
science, namely the humanities, while not leaving their other responsibilities as human beings
themselves. 10 Benefits of Basic Social and Cultural Sciences Basic Social and Cultural
Sciences (ISBD) is a Community Life Course (MBB) with the vision of "Developing students as
critically educated, sensitive, and wise human beings in understanding diversity, equality, and
human dignity based on aesthetic, ethical, and moral values in community life". The mission is
"To provide a broad foundation and insight, as well as foster a critical, sensitive and wise attitude
in students to understand the diversity, equality, and dignity of human beings in community life
as individuals and social beings who are civilized and responsible for their resources and
environment". ISBD is not a stand-alone discipline, but a set of knowledge about the most basic
aspects of human life as a cultured social
being, and the problems that arise from it. In addition, this course is in principle a basic
regulator towards the introduction of social and cultural science theories so that students are
expected to have scientific insight that is 11 multidisciplinary about diversity, equality, and
human dignity in the life of society and the state. The presentation of basic socio-cultural science
courses is nothing but an effort that is expected to provide basic knowledge and general
understanding of concepts developed to study human and cultural problems. Thus, the basic
socio-cultural science course is not to educate experts in one of the fields of expertise included
in cultural knowledge, but basic cultural science is solely as an effort to develop students'
personalities by expanding their thinking horizons and critical skills towards cultural values, both
those that concern others and the surrounding nature, as well as those that concern themselves.
To reach these goals, basic socio-cultural sciences are expected to: 1. Strive for students'
sensitivity to the cultural environment, so that they can easily adapt to the new environment,
especially for the benefit of their profession. 12 2. Providing opportunities for students to broaden
their perspectives on cultural and cultural issues and develop their critical skills on issues
related to both. 3. Strive for students to become candidates for leaders of the nation and state as
well as experts in their respective disciplines, not fall into regional characteristics and strict
discipline disciplines. This effort occurs because the scope of our education is very narrow and
tends to make specialists who have a less broad view. regionality and strict urbanization of
disciplines. 4. Strive for a communication
n vehicle for academics so that they are more able to dialogue with one another. By
having the same provisions, academic pars is expected to be more fluent in communication. 13
Scope of Basic Social and Cultural Sciences Starting from the objectives that have been
determined above, two main problems can be used as consideration to determine the scope of
study of basic social and cultural science courses. The two main problems are 1. Various aspects
of life that are all expressions of human and cultural problems that can be approached using
cultural knowledge (The Humanities), both in terms of each expertise (discipline) in cultural
knowledge, as well as in combination (between fields) various disciplines in cultural knowledge.
2. The essence of human beings is one or universal, but it has various manifestations in the
culture of each era and place. The relationship of basic socio-cultural sciences in daily life: 1.
Interest and habit of investigating what happens around and outside the environment. 14 2. The
moral courage to defend the values he feels is already acceptable with full responsibility and on
the contrary rejects unjustifiable values. 15 C. Closing Basic socio-cultural science is an
integration of ISD and IBD that provides the basics of social knowledge and cultural concepts to
students so that they are able to study social, human, and cultural problems. The basic socio-
cultural science approach will also expand the view that social, human, and cultural problems
can be approached from various perspectives. With insight so that they are able to study a more
complex societal problem, as well as solutions to solve it. ISBD's vision is as follows: "Students
as civilized individuals and social beings have the foundation of knowledge, insight, and
confidence to be critical, sensitive, and wise in facing social and cultural problems that develop
in society". Meanwhile, the mission of ISBD is: 1. To provide knowledge and insight into diversity,
equality and human dignity as individuals
and social beings in the life of society 16 2. Providing the basics of aesthetic, ethical,
moral, legal and cultural values as a basis for respect and appreciation among fellow human
beings so that an orderly, orderly and prosperous society will be realized 3. Providing the basics
to understand social and cultural problems and being able to be critical, analytical, and
responsive to solve these problems wisely in the community Nursyid Sumaatmadja said that:
"General education prepares the young generation to be involved in daily life in their group, which
is an element of cultural unity, related to the whole life that meets satisfaction in family, work, as
citizens, as a united people and full of meaning of life". Meanwhile, Philip H. Phenik stated that:
"General education is a process of generating essential meanings that guide the implementation
of human life through the expansion and deepening of these meanings" further Phenik said that
the meaning of the 17 essential meanings inherent in the life of society and human culture
includes six patterns, namely Symbolic, Empirical, Aesthetic, Ethical, and Synoptic. If studied
historically, social studies, and cultural studies have various objectives, namely: 1. Educating
students to become experts in the field of science 2. The goal is to cultivate good citizens 3.
Compromise between the first and second opinions a. Basic socio-cultural sciences must be:
Simplification and distalation of various social and cultural disciplines for the sake of education
b. The goal is "....a body of predigested and organized knowledge,... storehouse of knowledge,
skills, specific virtues, the presumed product of research in the social sciences, to be
transmitted to the student." The subject matte
r must be part of the research results of social and cultural sciences that are selected
and blended so that they are suitable for educational programs (Basic, 2014). 18 Exercise 1.
Describe your understanding of the context of social and cultural sciences? 2. Outline a general
definition of basic socio-cultural sciences? 3. Describe the usefulness of studying basic socio-
cultural sciences? 4. Give an explanation of the object of study in basic socio-cultural sciences?
5. Describe the scope of basic socio-cultural sciences? 19 LEARNING MATERIAL II Human beings
as cultured, ethical, and aesthetic creatures a. Introduction The essence of human beings must
be seen as whole, human beings are the most perfect creatures of God, because they are
equipped with reason. Human beings have high dignity and degree. Dignity is a value while degree
is a position. Such a view is based on religious teachings that are believed by humans
themselves. For example, in the teachings of Islam, surah At-tin verse 4 says, 'Indeed, we (Allah)
have created human beings in the best possible form. Because humans have high dignity and
degree, humans should maintain this. In an effort to maintain and improve this, the principle of
humanity speaks, the principle of humanity does not mean that there is appreciation and respect
for the noble dignity and dignity of human beings, all human beings are noble, therefore human
beings do not have to be differentiated only in their treatment because of differences in ethnicity,
race, 20 beliefs, socio-economic status, origin and so on. Ethics comes from the ancient Greek
ethikos ("Which means habit arises") to study standard qualities and moral judgments. Ethics is
needed to find out what humans should do. Ethics includes the analysis and application of
concepts such as right, wrong, good, bad, and responsibility. Ethics looks at human actions from
the perspective of good and bad. According to experts, ethics is a rule of behavior, a custom of
human beings in association with others and affirming the good and the bad. The following will
be explained about the meaning of ethics based on the opinions of experts. - Drs. O.P.
Simorangkir, ethics or ethics can be interpreted as the view of human beings in behaving
according to good measures and values. - Drs. Sidi Gajabla in philosophical systematics defines
ethics as a theory about behavior, human actions are viewed in terms of good and bad as far as
can be determined by reason. 21 - Drs. H. Burhanudin Salam argues that ethics is a branch of
philosophy that talks about values and norms that determine human behavior in life. - The Great
Dictionary of Indonesian, ethics is the value of right and wrong that a group or society adheres to.
- Maryani and Ludigdo, ethics is a set of rules, norms or guidelines that govern human behavior,
both those that must be done and those that must be abandoned that are embraced by a group
of people or professions. - Ahmad Amin revealed that ethics has the meaning of science that
explains the meaning of good or bad, explains what humans should do, states the goals that
humans must achieve in deeds and shows the way to do what humans should do. - Soegarda
Poerbakawatja defines ethics as a philosop
hy of values, knowledge of values, science that studies the good and 22 evils in human
life, especially regarding the movements of thoughts and feelings which are considerations and
feelings to the purpose of the form of action. 23 B. Description of Philosophy and Human Nature
Learning Materials The discussion of the meaning of who humans actually are has been going on
for a long time, but until now there is no unity and agreement on the views of various theories and
schools of thought about human beings themselves. Sometimes the study of humans is
incomplete because the viewpoints are different. Physical anthropology, for example, looks at
human beings only in terms of physical-material aspects, while cultural anthropology tries to
examine human beings from cultural aspects. It seems that man himself is constantly thinking
about himself and looking for answers to what, what and where he wants to go. In order to
understand the essence of human beings in its entirety, there are several opinions or views about
this human being. 1. The flow of materialism. This school views human beings as a collection of
organs, chemical substances and biological elements that are all composed of substances and
matter. Humans come from matter, eat, drink, meet the physical-biological and sexual needs of
matter and when die humans will be exposed in 24 soils and then decomposed by small objects
until they become humus that will fertilize
plants, while plants will be consumed by other humans who can produce sperm fertility,
which become seeds to produce offspring and the birth of new human children. Thus, the school
argues that human beings begin from matter and end up being material again. A person who has
a materialistic view of human beings can have implications for his lifestyle which is also
materialistic, the purpose of his life is none other than material and his happiness is measured
by how much material he collects. This lifestyle is reflected in his glamorous life or hustle in
enjoying his life. 2. Spiritualism or all-spirited school. This school holds that the essence of
human beings is spirit or soul, while matter or matter is a manifestation of spirit or soul. This
school holds that the soul is more valuable than matter. 25 We can observe this in our daily lives,
for example, if a woman or man we love does not want to be separated from her. However, if the
spirit of the woman or man is not present in her body, it means that she has died, then inevitably
she must be released for burial. The beauty, beauty, beauty, and good looks possessed by a
woman or man are meaningless without a spirit. People who have this view, they fill their lives
with a spiritual dimension, cleansing the soul from attraction to the material elements of mischi,
even though they have to live with suffering and live with simplicity, they live by setting
themselves aside from society and living by always doing deeds of worship. 3. Dualism School.
This school considers that human beings are essentially made up of two substances, namely
physical and spiritual, body and spirit. These two substances are each original elements that
exist independently of each other. So, the body is not 26 from the spirit, nor vice versa the spirit
is not from the body. Only in its embodiment, man is two-dimensional, the body and spirit that
integrate form man. Between the two, there is a cause-and-effect relationship. This means that
the two are intertwined and influence each other. For example, a person with a physical disability
will have an effect on his or her mental development. And vice versa, people whose soul is
disabled will have an effect on their physique. This dualism is not automatically synonymous with
Islam's view of human beings. According to Murtadlo Munthahari, humans are omnidimensional
creatures (1992:125). This can be seen from the first dimension, physically humans are almost
the same as animals that need to eat, drink, rest and get married so that they can grow and
develop. The second dimension, humans have a number of ethical emotions, namely wanting to
gain profits and avoid losses. The third dimension, humans have an interest in beauty. The fourth
dimension, humans have the urge to worship the 27 Gods. The fifth dimension, human beings
have multiplied abilities and strengths, because they are endowed with intellect, mind and free
will, so that they are able to restrain their
lusts and create balance in their lives. The sixth dimension, human beings are able to
know themselves (Assegaf, 2005: 57). Definition and Definition of Human Beings Talking about
human nature brings us to face the central and fundamental question about human beings,
namely what and who is human beings? Many efforts have been made to answer these
questions, but apparently these answers dialectically give birth to new questions, so that human
understanding efforts are still problematic. In other words, man is still a mystery to himself.
Important information about human mortality can be seen in the book entitled Man, A Mystery,
by Louis Leahy (1989). In several literature sources, various formulations about human beings
can be found. Man is a creature who is clever at 28 asking, even questioning himself, his
existence and the world as a whole. Animals are incapable of doing so and that is one of the
reasons why humans tower above animals. The human who inquires knows about his existence
and he also realizes himself as the questioner. So, he seeks and in his search he assumes that
there is something to be found, namely its possibilities, including its ability to find the meaning
of its life (der Weij, 1991: 7-8) Drijarkara in his book Human Philosophy (1969: 7) says that man is
a creature who faces himself. Not only confronting, but also facing, in a sense similar to facing
problems, facing difficulties and so on. So, he
does, cultivates himself, elevates and humbles himself and so on. He could unite with
himself, he could also distance himself from himself. Along with that, humans are also creatures
who are in and face nature. He is one with nature, but also at a distance from it. He can 29 look
at it, can have opinions about it, can change and process it. Animals are also in nature, but they
are not in contact with nature, they do not have a distan. Pay attention to the animals, he can't
improve nature, he can't attack nature with techniques. Furthermore, Drijarkara said that human
beings are always alive and change themselves in the flow of concrete situations. He had not only
changed in but also because he had been changed by the situation. However, in that change, he
remained alone. Humans are always involved in situations, they change and change people. With
this he plundered. The humanities, including philosophy, have tried to answer the fundamental
question about man, so that it can be imagined how many formulations of understanding about
man. In addition to those mentioned above, some other formulations or definitions of human
beings are as follows: homo sapiens, homo faber, homo economicus, and homo religiosus. With
different expressions we know the definition of human beings, among them, human beings as:
animal rationale, animal symbolicum and animal educandum. 30 The many definitions of human
beings prove that human beings are multi-dimensional beings, human beings have many faces.
Then, which face do we want to follow? Is the human face according to the glasses of a biologist?
Is the human face according to the eyes of a psychologist? Is the human face according to the
eyes of an anthropologist? Or something else? (Poespowardojo, 1978: 3). According to
Notonagoro, humans are monopluralist creatures, meaning creatures that have many elements
of nature (plural), but are a whole unit (mono). Thus, human beings are made up of many
elements of nature which are a whole whole. But judging from their position, composition, and
nature, each is monodualist. The reason is as follows: judging from the position of his nature,
human beings are monodualist creatures: they consist of two elements (dualist), but they are
one unit (mono), namely as a stand-alone personal creature as well as a creature of God Judging
from the arrangement of their nature, human beings as monodualist creatures, meaning that
they consist of two elements, namely the physical element and the soul element (dualist), but
are a whole unit (mono). Judging from its 31 natural traits, humans are also monodualist
creatures, which consist of individual elements and social elements (dualists), but are a whole
unit (mono). Overall, humans are monopluralist creatures as mentioned earlier.
