exploring anthropological foundations of social science: a comparison of motahhari’s and kant’s views

similar to other domains of inquiry and knowledge, social sciences are influenced by various philosophical views and different axioms about the creation and humanity. given that in social sciences human being is both the object and subject of inquiry and is the focal point of analysis, anthropological foundations become especially relevant for these sciences. considering that motahhari and kant are associated with two widely different but important philosophical schools of thought, the anthropological foundations of philosophy of these two great thinkers will result into two different forms of social sciences. it is important to realize that without comparing and contrasting different schools of social sciences, it would be impossible to identify their potentials and weaknesses. this paper is an attempt to identify the anthropological foundations of philosophy of motahhari and kant and analyze their influence on the brands of social sciences that are associated with their thoughts. to achieve this objective, the paper will analyze the writings and other documents of motahhari and kant in detail. it will be shown that social sciences associated with kant’s anthropological foundations is limited to positivism potentials and biological or physical anthropology. however, social sciences associated with motahhari’s philosophical views simultaneously include biological, spiritual, and social domains of human life.