Explaining the Regulative Role of Humanities Versus the Developmental Role of Natural Sciences (Reconsidering Heinrich Rickert ideas)

In recent years, Some Philosophers have pointed out the effective role that humanities can play (not in technological development, but) in control and regulation of technological development to protect the environment and culture. However, no explanation has been provided regarding what specific feature in humanities has realized such a function. The approach requires presupposing an essential distinction between humanities from natural sciences. A criterion for the distinction, is provided by Southwest neo-Kantian philosophers who distinguishes between natural sciences and cultural sciences, based on (not the object, but) the logic and the cognitive requirements through which the world is experienced. In this article, by reading and reconsidering the Neo-Kantian criterion of the distinction, it is argued that in natural sciences and engineering, unlike humanities, only partially conceive the empirical reality and they miss the part that promotes and protects sustainability.To develop this argument, by comparing Heinrich Rickert ideas with some of the contemporary semantic approaches, it will be explained how the type of attitude and “the logic” of conceiving and referring to objects (including conceiving and referring to natural kinds) in humanities will bring a complete and balanced understanding of the world of experience.