ABSTRACT
The natural sciences consist of physics, chemistry, biology, geology, and astronomy, all of which deal with laws related to nature. The humanities are made up of history, philosophy, literature, ethics, comparative religion, and criticism of the arts. The division of mental labor allows scholars to approach human studies from a variety of perspectives. Human behavior represents the crux of the social sciences. Given such a broad and elusive mandate, cross-fertilization is common among social scientists. The interests of political scientists sometimes overlap with economists studying how people make a living. The production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services occupies the attention of economists. Sociologists deal with the social activity of humans, and both they and their intellectual cousins in anthropology share an abiding interest in the group dimension affecting our behavior. A serendipitous set of natural and human factors combined to trigger the agricultural revolution.
