Specificity of scientific knowledge. Open Library - open library of educational information

29.09.2019

Understanding the specifics of scientific knowledge follows from how science itself is defined and what it is. All philosophical movements reflect on the problems of science and science itself and its place in culture in modern philosophy (not only the “philosophy of science” as a specific neo-positivist direction that took shape at the beginning of the 20th century). From the understanding of what science is, the actual philosophical question follows: whether philosophy itself is a science, or is it some other, specific spiritual activity. On the one hand, philosophers of the New Age sought to bring philosophy closer to science, considered philosophy itself a scientific activity (Kant, Hegel), on the other hand, in the 19th century many philosophical trends emerged that made a sharp distinction between philosophy and science (irrationalist movements - philosophy of life, existentialism , philosophical hermeneutics). Already in the 20th century, these trends continued their development, and by the end of this century, the separation and rapprochement of philosophy and science also continues to exist: philosophers of science see the goal of philosophy in the analysis of the principles of scientific knowledge, its development and evolution, in the consideration of the methodology of knowledge (analysis of ways and means obtaining knowledge in the theory of knowledge), in the analysis of paradigms and scientific revolutions, while the tendencies of a non-rationalistic approach to philosophy lead to new interpretations of philosophy as a literary activity (a genre of literature similar and parallel to others literary genres), as free creativity and comprehension, independent of the rigid principles of the natural sciences.

In general, the relationship between science and philosophy is complex: in addition to the worldview interpretation of the results of science, philosophy is also united with science by the desire to construct knowledge in theoretical form, to logical proof of its conclusions. The specificity of scientificity in philosophy is conceptualized as follows:

Science is a sphere of human activity, the function of which is the development and theoretical systematization of objective knowledge about reality. During historical development science turns into the productive force of society and the most important social institution. The concept of “science” includes both the activity of obtaining new knowledge and the result of this activity - the sum of the scientific knowledge acquired to date, which together forms a scientific picture of the world. The immediate goal of science is to describe, explain and predict the processes and phenomena of reality that constitute the subject of its study, based on the laws it discovers, i.e. in a broad sense - a theoretical reflection of reality.

Being inseparable from the practical way of exploring the world, science as the production of knowledge also represents a specific form of activity. If in material production knowledge is used as a means of increasing labor productivity, then in science it is obtained in the form of a theoretical description, diagram technological process, summaries of experimental data, formulas of a drug, etc. - forms the main and immediate goal. Unlike types of activities, the result of which is, in principle, known in advance, scientific activity provides an increase in new knowledge. That is why science acts as a force that constantly revolutionizes other activities.

What distinguishes science from the aesthetic (artistic) way of mastering reality is the desire for logical (consistent, demonstrative), maximally generalized objective knowledge.

Science, focused on the criteria of reason, in its essence also was and remains the opposite of religion, which is based on faith (in supernatural, otherworldly, other-worldly principles).

The emergence of science dates back to the 6th century. BC, when in Dr. Greece has the appropriate conditions. The formation of science required criticism and destruction of mythological systems; for its occurrence it was also necessary enough high level development of production and social relations, leading to the division of mental and physical labor and thereby opening up the opportunity for systematic studies of science (theory, theory - literally with Greek contemplation, speculation, as opposed to practical activity).

The development of science is characterized by a cumulative (collective) character: at each historical stage it summarizes its past achievements in a concentrated form, and each result of science is an integral part of its general fund; it is not crossed out by subsequent advances in knowledge, but is only rethought and clarified. The continuity of science ensures its functioning as a special type of “social memory” of humanity, theoretically crystallizing the past experience of knowing reality and mastering its laws.

The process of scientific development affects the entire structure of science. At each historical stage, scientific knowledge uses a certain set of cognitive forms - fundamental categories and concepts, methods, principles and schemes of explanation, i.e. everything that is united by the concept of thinking style. For example, ancient thinking is characterized by observation as the main way of obtaining knowledge; the science of modern times is based on experiment and on the dominance of the analytical approach, which directs thinking to the search for the simplest, further indecomposable primary elements of the reality under study; modern science is characterized by the desire for a holistic and multilateral coverage of the objects being studied.

The entire history of science is permeated by a complex, dialectical combination of processes of differentiation (separation) and integration (connection): the development of ever new areas of reality and the deepening of knowledge lead to the differentiation of science, to its fragmentation into increasingly specialized areas of knowledge; at the same time, the need for a synthesis of knowledge is constantly expressed in the tendency towards the integration of science. Initially, new branches of science were formed on a subject basis - in accordance with the involvement in the process of cognition of new areas and aspects of reality. For modern science, the transition from subject to problem orientation is becoming increasingly characteristic, when new areas of knowledge arise in connection with the promotion of a certain major theoretical or practical problem. Important integrating functions in relation to individual branches of science are often performed by philosophy, as well as such scientific disciplines as mathematics, logic, computer science, which equip science with a system of unified methods.

According to their focus, according to their direct relationship to practice, individual sciences are usually divided into fundamental and applied. The task of the fundamental sciences (physics, chemistry, biology) is to understand the laws governing the behavior and interaction of the basic structures of nature, society and thinking. The immediate goal of applied sciences is to apply the results of fundamental sciences to solve not only cognitive, but also social and practical problems. Fundamental scientific research determines the prospects for the development of science.

In the structure (structure) of science, there are empirical (experimental) and theoretical levels of research and organization of knowledge. Elements of empirical knowledge are facts obtained through observations and experiments and stating the qualitative and quantitative characteristics of objects and phenomena. Stable repeatability and connections between empirical characteristics are expressed using empirical laws, often of a probabilistic nature. The theoretical level of scientific knowledge presupposes the discovery of laws that enable an idealized description and explanation of empirical situations, i.e. knowledge of the essence of phenomena.

All theoretical disciplines, in one way or another, have their historical roots in practical experience. However, in the course of development, individual sciences break away from their empirical base and develop purely theoretically (for example, mathematics), returning to experience only in the sphere of their practical applications (that is, within the framework of other sciences).

The development of the scientific method has long been the privilege of philosophy, which even now continues to play a leading role in the development of methodological problems (i.e., methods, ways of obtaining knowledge), being the general methodology of science (in the “philosophy of science”). In the 20th century Methodological means are becoming much more differentiated and, in their specific form, are increasingly being developed by science itself.

The formation of science as a social institution occurred in the 17th - early 18th centuries, when the first scientific societies and the Academy and the publication of scientific journals began. At the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. arises new way scientific organizations - large scientific institutes and laboratories with a powerful technical base, which brings scientific activity closer to the forms of modern industrial labor. Up to the end. 19th century science played a supporting role in relation to production. Then the development of science begins to outstrip the development of technology and production, and a unified system “Science - Technology - Production” takes shape, in which science plays a leading role.

The difficulties and contradictions associated with the growing role of science give rise to modern society diverse and often contradictory forms of its ideological assessment. The poles of such assessments are scientism (from the Latin scientia - science) and anti-scientism. Scientism is characterized by the absolutization of the style and general methods of the “exact” sciences, the declaration of science as the highest cultural value, often accompanied by the denial of social, humanitarian and ideological issues as having no cognitive significance. Antiscientism, on the contrary, proceeds from the position that science is fundamentally limited in solving fundamental (existential, essential) human problems, and in its extreme manifestations it evaluates science as a force hostile to man, denying it a positive influence on culture.

Science– this is a special type of cognitive activity aimed at obtaining objective, systematically organized and substantiated knowledge, as well as the cumulative result of this activity. In addition, science is a social institution that has its own specific social laws, fixed assets, workforce, education system, financing, etc. that regulate its activities.

Scientific knowledge should be distinguished from other methods and forms of cognitive activity: from everyday, philosophical, aesthetic, religious, pseudoscientific, anti-scientific, etc.

Main distinctive features sciences are:

1. Objectivity. Science is meant to give objective knowledge that is impersonal and generally valid, that is, knowledge that is maximally purified from personal likes and dislikes, beliefs and prejudices. In this respect, science is fundamentally different, for example, from art (aesthetic cognition) or from philosophy, where a personal, subjective principle is necessarily present, giving originality and uniqueness to the results of aesthetic or philosophical creativity.

2) Accuracy, unambiguity, logical rigor of scientific knowledge, it must exclude any ambiguity and uncertainty. That's why science uses special concepts, creates his own categorical apparatus. Categories and concepts scientific language have precise meaning and definitions. Unlike science, everyday knowledge uses terms of colloquial language, ambiguous and unclear, changing their meaning depending on the context of live communication and the preferences of the speaker.

3) Systematicity. The various elements of scientific knowledge are not the sum of isolated facts and information, but logically ordered system concepts, principles, laws, theories, scientific tasks, problems, hypotheses, logically interconnected, defining and confirming each other. The systematic nature of scientific knowledge presupposes a logical relationship and unity not only within the framework of individual sciences, but also between them, which creates the basis for the scientific picture of the world as an integral entity.

4) Validity, reproducibility and testability all elements of scientific knowledge. For this, science uses special research methods, logic and methods of substantiating and verifying the truth of knowledge. The type of justification in science is proof. In addition, any researcher, having recreated the conditions under which this or that result was obtained, should be able to verify its truth. For this purpose, as well as to obtain new knowledge, science uses special equipment. Many modern sciences simply cannot exist and develop without special scientific research techniques, on the improvement of which the progress of scientific knowledge in this area largely depends .

5) Objectivity. Scientific knowledge substantively, that is, each specific science does not comprehend all the laws of the object being studied, but only some of them. She is interested in a certain aspect of it, depending on the goals of this science, which is called subject her study. For example, a person as an object of knowledge is the subject of study of a variety of sciences - anatomy, physiology, psychology, anthropology, etc., each of which sets its own goals and objectives, uses its own research methods, and identifies patterns of human existence specific to this science.

6) Abstractness. Science subjects are abstract character, since they are the result of generalization (“elementary particles”, “chemical elements”, “genes”, “biocenosis”, etc.). Abstract objects of scientific research are generalized images of real objects that have only those characteristics that are inherent in all objects of a given class. In contrast to this, for example, ordinary cognition is interested only in specific objects and phenomena necessary for a person in his everyday life.

7) Science has its own ideals and norms of scientific activity. They form the basis ethics of science and regulate scientific activities. For example, the most important norm of scientific research is the prohibition of plagiarism; in the community of scientists, distortion of the truth in the name of political, religious or mercantile goals is condemned. Higher value science is the truth.

8) In this regard, science has a certain rationality– a relatively stable set of rules, norms, standards, standards, values of spiritual and material activity, accepted and equally understood by all members of society. Scientific rationality is of a specific historical nature and, as it were, sets the boundaries of what is considered “scientific” and what is considered “unscientific” in a given period. Thus, in the modern era, “classical rationality” emerged on the basis of classical mechanics; at the beginning of the twentieth century, in connection with the discovery of the microworld based on quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity, “non-classical rationality” arose. Modern science, based on synergetics, has been studying the processes of self-organization and self-regulation of open systems since the 80s. The twentieth century operates within the framework of “post-non-classical rationality”.

9) Science practical, that is, scientific knowledge ultimately presupposes its practical application. There was a period in the history of the development of science (for example, in antiquity) when knowledge was an end in itself, and practical activities was considered "low art". But since the modern era, science has been inextricably linked with practice. Starting from mid-19th century, especially in Western Europe, scientific knowledge began to be produced purposefully for its implementation in life. And this connection between science and production is increasingly increasing today. A certain exception is fundamental scientific research, the practical applicability of the results of which may remain in question for a long time.

10) Science is focused on foresight: By revealing the patterns of functioning and development of the objects under study, it creates the opportunity to predict their further development. In addition, science is focused on obtaining knowledge about future, probable, new objects of research. Such candidates for scientific study are now gravitons, dark matter and dark energy, the biofield, UFOs, etc. Unlike science, ordinary knowledge, based on the everyday life experience of a person, is focused on obtaining basic information about the world, and is not capable of providing fundamental new knowledge. That is why in everyday consciousness there is such great interest in all kinds of “fortune tellers” and “foretellers.”

Thus, although a person receives information about the world from various sources (literature, art, philosophy, everyday life experience etc.), only science is capable of providing knowledge that is more reliable and reliable than all others.

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TICKET No. 4

Knowledge is an objective reality given in the consciousness of a person who, in his mental activity, reflects and ideally reproduces the objective natural connections of the real world. In relation to the philosophy of science and technology, we must talk about knowledge from three perspectives: firstly, knowledge is the abilities, abilities, skills that are acquired by people in the process of their life; secondly, any information that carries the maximum of plausible (adequate) information about the object; thirdly, a special quantum of knowledge, which is a cognitive form of a person’s relationship to reality, existing in parallel with another - a practical relationship. It must be emphasized that the philosophy of science deals with the second and third named aspects.

Knowledge can be defined as a kind objective reality, which is formed in the consciousness of a person in the process of his activity and which ideally reproduces the really existing connections of the external world.

Scientific knowledge is an objective type of knowledge that meets the following requirements: certainty, evidence, consistency, verifiability, usefulness, reflexivity, methodologicality, openness to criticism, ability to change and improve. Knowledge (information) that does not meet these criteria has no right to be in the system of scientific knowledge and is unscientific.

Understanding the specifics of scientific knowledge follows from how science itself is defined and what it is. All philosophical movements reflect on the problems of science and science itself and its place in culture in modern philosophy (not only the “philosophy of science” as a specific neo-positivist direction that took shape at the beginning of the 20th century). From the understanding of what science is, the actual philosophical question follows: whether philosophy itself is a science, or is it some other, specific spiritual activity. On the one hand, philosophers of the New Age sought to bring philosophy closer to science, considered philosophy itself a scientific activity (Kant, Hegel), on the other hand, in the 19th century many philosophical trends emerged that made a sharp distinction between philosophy and science (irrationalist movements - philosophy of life, existentialism , philosophical hermeneutics). Already in the 20th century, these trends continued their development, and by the end of this century, the separation and rapprochement of philosophy and science also continues to exist: philosophers of science see the goal of philosophy in the analysis of the principles of scientific knowledge, its development and evolution, in the consideration of the methodology of knowledge (analysis of ways and means obtaining knowledge in the theory of knowledge), in the analysis of paradigms and scientific revolutions, while the tendencies of the non-rationalistic approach to philosophy lead to new interpretations of philosophy as a literary activity (a genre of literature similar and parallel to other literary genres), as free creativity and comprehension, independent of rigid principles natural sciences.

Science is a sphere of human activity, the function of which is the development and theoretical systematization of objective knowledge about reality. In the course of historical development, science turns into a productive force of society and the most important social institution. The concept of “science” includes both the activity of obtaining new knowledge and the result of this activity - the sum of the scientific knowledge acquired to date, which together forms a scientific picture of the world. The immediate goal of science is to describe, explain and predict the processes and phenomena of reality that constitute the subject of its study, based on the laws it discovers, i.e. in a broad sense - a theoretical reflection of reality.

Being inseparable from the practical way of exploring the world, science as the production of knowledge also represents a specific form of activity. If in material production knowledge is used as a means of increasing labor productivity, then in science it is obtained in the form of a theoretical description, a technological process diagram, a summary of experimental data, a formula for a drug, etc. - forms the main and immediate goal. Unlike types of activities, the result of which is, in principle, known in advance, scientific activity provides an increase in new knowledge. That is why science acts as a force that constantly revolutionizes other activities.

The emergence of science dates back to the 6th century. BC, when in Dr. Greece has the appropriate conditions. The formation of science required criticism and destruction of mythological systems; for its emergence, a sufficiently high level of development of production and social relations was also necessary, leading to the division of mental and physical labor and thereby opening up the possibility of systematic training.

The development of science is characterized by a cumulative (collective) character: at each historical stage it summarizes its past achievements in a concentrated form, and each result of science is an integral part of its general fund; it is not crossed out by subsequent advances in knowledge, but is only rethought and clarified. The process of scientific development affects the entire structure of science. At each historical stage, scientific knowledge uses a certain set of cognitive forms - fundamental categories and concepts, methods, principles and schemes of explanation, i.e. everything that is united by the concept of thinking style.

The formation of science as a social institution occurred in the 17th - early 18th centuries, when the first scientific societies and academies were formed in Europe and the publication of scientific journals began. At the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. A new way of organizing science is emerging - large scientific institutes and laboratories with a powerful technical base, which brings scientific activity closer to the forms of modern industrial labor. Up to the end. 19th century science played a supporting role in relation to production. Then the development of science begins to outstrip the development of technology and production, and a unified system “Science - Technology - Production” takes shape, in which science plays a leading role.

The complexities and contradictions associated with the growing role of science give rise in modern society to diverse and often contradictory forms of its ideological assessment.

Philosophy, being scientific knowledge, studies the world at the level of its universal foundations or theoretical level. Philosophy is not just the study of the world, but the acquisition of knowledge about the world, refracted in the aspect of its comprehension for a person. This conclusion means that philosophy simultaneously exists as a type of scientific knowledge and at the same time acts as the core of a worldview.

Let's consider philosophy as a type of scientific knowledge. The essence of this understanding was clearly expressed by B. Spinoza, believing that the task of philosophy is not to cry or laugh at the sorrows and joys of life, but to understand the laws of the world and its knowledge by man, hidden from other sciences.

But how does philosophy, for example, differ from the natural sciences? At first, it was formed on the basis of contradictions between the mythological worldview and the rudiments of scientific knowledge, which required to explain cause-and-effect dependencies in nature, and not regular myths. Subsequently, it included in its content almost all existing scientific knowledge (hence its name pranascience, protoscience) in accordance with this in the 17th-18th centuries. and even at the beginning of the 19th century. Theoretical mechanics, biology and other sciences were called philosophy (I. Newton “Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy”).

From the middle of the 17th century. science begins to take shape as a separate and independent field of knowledge, as a special type of social activity. Mechanics, astronomy, mathematics and other natural sciences acquire their own conceptual status. There is a clarification of the subjects of special sciences that have emerged from philosophical knowledge. It seemed that as a result of the demarcation, philosophy lost its own subject of study. “Philosophy is like King Lear, who gave away all his property to his children and was thrown out into the street as a beggar.”

Until now, some authors believe that philosophy does not have its own subject of study, in best case scenario its role is reduced to the analysis of language or scientific methodology. However, a similar conclusion can be reached if, from the very beginning, we proceed from the assumption that the subject of philosophy includes all knowledge about life, including knowledge of all other sciences in their entirety. At certain stages of development, philosophy really represented proto-knowledge. But this happened not due to the vastness of the subject of philosophy, but because of the underdevelopment of the particular sciences, and indeed of philosophy itself, which at that time had not yet determined its conceptual status. Suffice it to recall Aristotle. On the one hand, according to Aristotle, philosophy is proto-knowledge, and on the other, he speaks of the so-called “first” philosophy, the science of the universal.

However, not only this presupposes the definition of philosophy as a science. Let's see what the criteria for scientific knowledge are. Objectivity. It manifests itself in the desire to study the objects of reality, taken in its own logic of development. Rationality. Validity, evidence of statements, which requires reliance on reason, on the logical foundations of thinking. Essentialist orientation. Disclosure of the laws and patterns of existence, identification of cause-and-effect dependencies between phenomena and processes. Systematic knowledge. Aiming at creating a theory of a developed form of scientific knowledge that gives a holistic idea of the patterns and essential connections of a particular area of reality. Testability or Verifiability assertions put forward in practice.

Scientific knowledge - This is a type and level of knowledge aimed at producing true knowledge about reality, the discovery of objective laws based on a generalization of real facts. It rises above ordinary cognition, that is, spontaneous cognition associated with the life activity of people and perceiving reality at the level of phenomena.

Epistemology - This is the doctrine of scientific knowledge.

Features of scientific knowledge:

Firstly, its main task is to discover and explain the objective laws of reality - natural, social and thinking. Hence the focus of research on the general, essential properties of an object and their expression in a system of abstraction.

Secondly, the immediate goal and highest value of scientific knowledge is objective truth, comprehended primarily by rational means and methods.

Thirdly, to a greater extent than other types of knowledge, it is oriented towards being embodied in practice.

Fourthly, science has developed a special language, characterized by the accuracy of the use of terms, symbols, and diagrams.

Fifthly, Scientific knowledge is a complex process of reproduction of knowledge that forms an integral, developing system of concepts, theories, hypotheses, and laws.

Sixth, Scientific knowledge is characterized by both strict evidence, validity of the results obtained, reliability of conclusions, and the presence of hypotheses, conjectures, and assumptions.

Seventh, scientific knowledge requires and resorts to special tools (means) of knowledge: scientific equipment, measuring instruments, instruments.

Eighth, scientific knowledge is characterized by processuality. In its development, it goes through two main stages: empirical and theoretical, which are closely related to each other.

Ninth, The field of scientific knowledge consists of verifiable and systematized information about various phenomena of existence.

Levels of scientific knowledge:

Empirical level cognition is a direct experimental, mostly inductive, study of an object. It includes obtaining the necessary initial facts - data about individual aspects and connections of the object, understanding and describing the obtained data in the language of science, and their primary systematization. Cognition at this stage still remains at the level of phenomenon, but the prerequisites for penetrating the essence of the object have already been created.

Theoretical level characterized by deep penetration into the essence of the object being studied, not only identifying, but also explaining the patterns of its development and functioning, constructing a theoretical model of the object and its in-depth analysis.

Forms of scientific knowledge:

scientific fact, scientific problem, scientific hypothesis, proof, scientific theory, paradigm, unified scientific picture of the world.

Scientific fact - this is the initial form of scientific knowledge, in which primary knowledge about an object is recorded; it is a reflection in the consciousness of the subject of a fact of reality. In this case, a scientific fact is only one that can be verified and described in scientific terms.

Scientific problem - it is a contradiction between new facts and existing theoretical knowledge. A scientific problem can also be defined as a kind of knowledge about ignorance, since it arises when the cognizing subject realizes the incompleteness of a particular knowledge about an object and sets the goal of eliminating this gap. The problem includes the problematic issue, the project for solving the problem and its content.

Scientific hypothesis - This is a scientifically based assumption that explains certain parameters of the object being studied and does not contradict known scientific facts. It must satisfactorily explain the object being studied, be verifiable in principle, and answer the questions posed by the scientific problem.

In addition, the main content of the hypothesis should not contradict the laws established in a given system of knowledge. The assumptions that make up the content of a hypothesis must be sufficient so that with their help it is possible to explain all the facts about which the hypothesis is put forward. The assumptions of the hypothesis should not be logically contradictory.

The development of new hypotheses in science is associated with the need for a new vision of the problem and the emergence of problematic situations.

Proof - this is a confirmation of the hypothesis.

Types of evidence:

Practice serving as direct confirmation

Indirect theoretical proof, including confirmation by arguments indicating facts and laws (inductive path), derivation of a hypothesis from other, more general and already proven provisions (deductive path), comparison, analogy, modeling, etc.

The proven hypothesis serves as the basis for constructing a scientific theory.

Scientific theory - this is a form of reliable scientific knowledge about a certain set of objects, which is a system of interconnected statements and evidence and contains methods for explaining, transforming and predicting phenomena of a given object area. In theory, in the form of principles and laws, knowledge about the essential connections that determine the emergence and existence of certain objects is expressed. The main cognitive functions of the theory are: synthesizing, explanatory, methodological, predictive and practical.

All theories develop within certain paradigms.

Paradigm - it is a special way of organizing knowledge and seeing the world, influencing the direction of further research. Paradigm

can be compared to an optical device through which we look at this or that phenomenon.

Many theories are constantly being synthesized into a unified scientific picture of the world, that is, a holistic system of ideas about the general principles and laws of the structure of being.

Methods of scientific knowledge:

Method(from Greek Metodos - path to something) - it is a way of activity in any form.

The method includes techniques that ensure the achievement of goals, regulate human activity and the general principles from which these techniques arise. Methods of cognitive activity form the direction of cognition at a particular stage, the order of cognitive procedures. In their content, the methods are objective, since they are ultimately determined by the nature of the object and the laws of its functioning.

Scientific method - This is a set of rules, techniques and principles that ensure the logical cognition of an object and the receipt of reliable knowledge.

Classification of methods of scientific knowledge can be done for various reasons:

First reason. Based on their nature and role in cognition, they distinguish methods - techniques, which consist of specific rules, techniques and algorithms of action (observation, experiment, etc.) and methods-approaches, which indicate the direction and general method research (system analysis, functional analysis, diachronic method, etc.).

Second reason. By functional purpose they are distinguished:

a) universal human methods of thinking (analysis, synthesis, comparison, generalization, induction, deduction, etc.);

b) empirical methods (observation, experiment, survey, measurement);

c) theoretical level methods (modelling, thought experiment, analogy, mathematical methods, philosophical methods, induction and deduction).

Third base is the degree of generality. Here the methods are divided into:

a) philosophical methods (dialectical, formal - logical, intuitive, phenomenological, hermeneutic);

b) general scientific methods, that is, methods that guide the course of knowledge in many sciences, but unlike philosophical methods, each general scientific method (observation, experiment, analysis, synthesis, modeling, etc.) solves its own problem, characteristic only for it ;

c) special methods.

Some methods of scientific knowledge:

Observation - this is a purposeful, organized perception of objects and phenomena to collect facts.

Experiment - is an artificial recreation of a cognizable object under controlled and controlled conditions.

Formalization is a reflection of the acquired knowledge in an unambiguous formalized language.

Axiomatic method - this is a way of constructing a scientific theory when it is based on certain axioms, from which all other provisions are logically deduced.

Hypothetico-deductive method - creation of a system of deductively interconnected hypotheses, from which explanations of scientific facts are ultimately derived.

Inductive methods for establishing the causal relationship of phenomena:

similarity method: if two or more cases of the phenomenon being studied have only one previous common circumstance, then this circumstance in which they are similar to each other is probably the cause of the phenomenon being sought;

difference method: if the case in which the phenomenon we are interested in occurs and the case in which it does not occur are similar in everything, with the exception of one circumstance, then this is the only circumstance in which they differ from each other, and is probably the cause of the desired phenomenon;

accompanying change method: if the occurrence or change of a previous phenomenon each time causes the occurrence or change of another phenomenon accompanying it, then the first of them is probably the cause of the second;

residual method: If it is established that the cause of part of a complex phenomenon is not caused by known previous circumstances, except for one of them, then we can assume that this only circumstance is the cause of the part of the phenomenon under study that interests us.

Universal methods of thinking:

- Comparison- establishing the similarities and differences between objects of reality (for example, we compare the characteristics of two engines);

- Analysis- mental dissection of an object as a whole

(we break down each engine into its component characteristics);

- Synthesis- mental unification into a single whole of the elements isolated as a result of the analysis (we mentally connect best characteristics and elements of both engines in one - virtual);

- Abstraction- highlighting some features of an object and distracting from others (for example, we study only the design of the engine and temporarily do not take into account its content and functioning);

- Induction- movement of thought from the particular to the general, from individual data to more general provisions, and ultimately to the essence (we take into account all cases of failure of an engine of this type and, based on this, come to conclusions about the prospects for its further operation);

- Deduction- movement of thought from the general to the specific (based on the general patterns of engine operation, we make predictions about the further functioning of a particular engine);

- Modeling- construction of a mental object (model) similar to the real one, the study of which will allow one to obtain the information necessary for understanding the real object (creating a model of a more advanced engine);

- Analogy- conclusion about the similarity of objects in some properties, based on similarity in other characteristics (conclusion about engine breakdown based on a characteristic knock);

- Generalization- combining individual objects into a certain concept (for example, creating the concept “engine”).

Science:

- This is a form of spiritual and practical activity of people aimed at achieving objectively true knowledge and its systematization.

Scientific complexes:

A)Natural science is a system of disciplines whose object is nature, that is, a part of existence that exists according to laws not created by human activity.

b)Social science- this is a system of sciences about society, that is, a part of existence that is constantly recreated in the activities of people. Social science includes social sciences (sociology, economic theory, demography, history, etc.) and humanities that study the values of society (ethics, aesthetics, religious studies, philosophy, legal sciences, etc.)

V)Engineering Sciences- these are sciences that study the laws and specifics of the creation and functioning of complex technical systems.

G)Anthropological Sciences- this is a set of sciences about man in all his integrity: physical anthropology, philosophical anthropology, medicine, pedagogy, psychology, etc.

In addition, sciences are divided into fundamental, theoretical and applied, which have a direct connection with industrial practice.

Scientific criteria: universality, systematization, relative consistency, relative simplicity (a good theory is one that explains the widest possible range of phenomena, based on minimum quantity scientific principles), explanatory potential, presence of predictive power, completeness for a given level of knowledge.

Scientific truth is characterized by objectivity, evidence, systematicity (orderliness based on certain principles), and verifiability.

Models of science development:

theory of reproduction (proliferation) of P. Feyerabend, which asserts the chaotic origin of concepts, T. Kuhn's paradigm, conventionalism of A. Poincaré, psychophysics of E. Mach, personal knowledge of M. Polanyi, evolutionary epistemology of S. Toulmin, scientific research program by I. Lakatos, thematic analysis of science by J. Holton.

K. Popper, considering knowledge in two aspects: statics and dynamics, developed the concept of the growth of scientific knowledge. In his opinion, growth of scientific knowledge - this is the repeated overthrow of scientific theories and their replacement with better and more perfect ones. The position of T. Kuhn is radically different from this approach. His model includes two main stages: the stage of “normal science” (the dominance of one or another paradigm) and the stage of the “scientific revolution” (the collapse of the old paradigm and the establishment of a new one).

Global scientific revolution - this is a change in the general scientific picture of the world, accompanied by changes in the ideals, norms and philosophical foundations of science.

Within the framework of classical natural science, two revolutions are distinguished. First associated with the formation of classical natural science in the 17th century. Second revolution dates back to the end of the 18th century early XIX V. and marks the transition to disciplinary organized science. Third The global scientific revolution covers the period from the end of the 19th to the mid-20th century. and is associated with the formation of non-classical natural science. At the end of the 20th - beginning of the 21st century. new radical changes are taking place in the foundations of science, which can be characterized as fourth global revolution. In the course of it, a new post-non-classical science is born.

Three revolutions (out of four) led to the establishment of new types of scientific rationality:

1. Classic type of scientific rationality(XVIII–XIX centuries). At this time, the following ideas about science were established: the value of objective universal true knowledge appeared, science was considered as a reliable and absolutely rational enterprise, with the help of which all problems of mankind can be solved, natural scientific knowledge was considered the highest achievement, the object and subject of scientific research were presented in strict epistemological confrontation, the explanation was interpreted as a search for mechanical causes and substances. In classical science it was believed that only laws of the dynamic type could be genuine laws.

2. Non-classical type of scientific rationality(XX century). Its features: the coexistence of alternative concepts, the complication of scientific ideas about the world, the assumption of probabilistic, discrete, paradoxical phenomena, reliance on the irreducible presence of the subject in the processes being studied, the assumption of the absence of an unambiguous connection between theory and reality; science begins to determine the development of technology.

3. Post-non-classical type of scientific rationality(late XX - beginning of XXI V.). It is characterized by an understanding of the extreme complexity of the processes under study, the emergence of a value-based perspective on the study of problems, and a high degree of use of interdisciplinary approaches.

Science and Society:

Science is closely interconnected with the development of society. This is manifested primarily in the fact that it is ultimately determined, conditioned by social practice and its needs. However, with every decade the reverse influence of science on society increases. The connection and interaction of science, technology and production is becoming increasingly stronger - science is turning into a direct productive force of society. How does this manifest itself?

Firstly, Science is now overtaking the development of technology and is becoming the leading force in the progress of material production.

Secondly, Science permeates all spheres of public life.

Thirdly, science is all in to a greater extent focuses not only on technology, but also on the person himself, the development of his creative abilities, culture of thinking, and the creation of material and spiritual prerequisites for his holistic development.

Fourthly, the development of science leads to the emergence of parascientific knowledge. This is a collective name for ideological and hypothetical concepts and teachings characterized by an anti-scientist orientation. The term "parascience" refers to statements or theories that deviate to a greater or lesser extent from the standards of science and contain both fundamentally erroneous and possibly true propositions. Concepts most often attributed to parascience: outdated scientific concepts, such as alchemy, astrology, etc., which played a certain historical role in the development of modern science; folk medicine and other “traditional”, but to a certain extent, teachings opposed to modern science; sports, family, culinary, labor, etc. “sciences”, which are examples of systematization of practical experience and applied knowledge, but do not correspond to the definition of science as such.

Approaches to assessing the role of science in the modern world. First approach - scientism asserts that with the help of natural and technical scientific knowledge all social problems can be solved

Second approach - antiscientism, Based on the negative consequences of scientific and technological revolution, he rejects science and technology, considering them forces hostile to the true essence of man. Socio-historical practice shows that it is equally wrong to exorbitantly absolutize science and to underestimate it.

Functions of modern science:

1. Cognitive;

2. Cultural and worldview (providing society with a scientific worldview);

3. Function of direct productive force;

4. Function of social power (scientific knowledge and methods are widely used in solving all problems of society).

Patterns of development of science: continuity, a complex combination of processes of differentiation and integration scientific disciplines, deepening and expansion of the processes of mathematization and computerization, theorization and dialectization of modern scientific knowledge, alternation of relatively calm periods of development and periods of “sharp change” (scientific revolutions) of laws and principles.

The formation of modern NCM is largely associated with discoveries in quantum physics.

Science and technology

Technique in the broad sense of the word - it is an artifact, that is, everything artificially created. Artifacts are: material and ideal.

Technique in the narrow sense of the word - this is a set of material, energy and information devices and means created by society to carry out its activities.

The basis for the philosophical analysis of technology was the ancient Greek concept of “techne”, which meant skill, art, and the ability to create something from natural material.

M. Heidegger believed that technology is a person’s way of being, a way of self-regulation. J. Habermas believed that technology unites everything “material” that opposes the world of ideas. O. Toffler substantiated the wave-like nature of the development of technology and its impact on society.

The way technology manifests itself is technology. If what a person influences with is technology, then how he influences is technology.

Technosphere- this is a special part of the Earth’s shell, which is a synthesis of artificial and natural, created by society to satisfy its needs.

Classification of equipment:

By type of activity distinguished: material and production, transport and communications, scientific research, the learning process, medical, sports, household, military.

By type used natural process There are mechanical, electronic, nuclear, laser and other types of equipment.

By level of structural complexity The following historical forms of technology arose: guns(manual labor, mental labor and human activity), cars And machine guns. The sequence of these forms of technology, in general, corresponds to the historical stages of the development of technology itself.

Trends in technology development at the present stage:

The size of many technical means is constantly growing. So, the excavator bucket in 1930 had a volume of 4 cubic meters, and now it is 170 cubic meters. Transport planes already carry 500 or more passengers, and so on.

A tendency of the opposite nature has emerged, towards a reduction in the size of equipment. For example, the creation of microminiature personal computers, tape recorders without cassettes, etc. has already become a reality.

Increasingly, technical innovations are achieved through the application of scientific knowledge. A striking example of this is space technology, which has become the embodiment of scientific developments of more than two dozen natural and technical sciences. Discoveries in scientific creativity give impetus to technical creativity with its characteristic inventions. The fusion of science and technology into a single system that has radically changed the life of man, society, and the biosphere is called scientific and technological revolution(NTR).

There is an increasingly intensive merging of technical means into complex systems and complexes: factories, power plants, communication systems, ships, etc. The prevalence and scale of these complexes allows us to speak about the existence of a technosphere on our planet.

The information field is becoming an important and constantly growing area of application of modern technology.

Informatization - is the process of production, storage and dissemination of information in society.

Historical forms of informatization: colloquial speech; writing; typography; electrical - electronic reproductive devices (radio, telephone, television, etc.); Computers (computers).

Mass use of computers marked a special stage of informatization. Unlike physical resources, information as a resource has a unique property - when used, it does not shrink, but, on the contrary, expands. The inexhaustibility of information resources sharply accelerates the technological cycle “knowledge - production - knowledge”, causing an avalanche-like growth in the number of people involved in the process of obtaining, formalizing and processing knowledge (in the USA, 77% of employees are involved in the field information activities and services), has an impact on the prevalence of systems mass media and manipulation of public opinion. Based on these circumstances, many scientists and philosophers (D. Bell, T. Stoneier, Y. Masuda) proclaimed the onset of the information society.

Signs of the information society:

Free access for anyone anywhere, at any time to any information;

The production of information in this society must be carried out in the volumes necessary to ensure the life of the individual and society in all its parts and directions;

Science should occupy a special place in the production of information;

Accelerated automation and operation;

Priority development of the sphere of information activities and services.

Undoubtedly, the information society brings certain advantages and benefits. However, one cannot fail to note its problems: computer theft, the possibility of an information-based computer war, the possibility of establishing an information dictatorship and terror of provider organizations, etc.

Human attitude towards technology:

On the one hand, facts and ideas of mistrust and hostility to technology. In Ancient China, some Taoist sages denied technology, motivating their actions by the fact that when using technology you become dependent on it, you lose freedom of action and you yourself become a mechanism. In the 30s of the twentieth century, O. Spengler, in his book “Man and Technology,” argued that man became a slave to machines and would be driven to death by them.

At the same time, the apparent indispensability of technology in all spheres of human existence sometimes gives rise to an unbridled apology for technology, a kind of ideology of technicalism. How does this manifest itself? Firstly. In exaggerating the role and importance of technology in human life and, secondly, in transferring the characteristics inherent in machines to humanity and personality. Supporters of technocracy see the prospects for progress in the concentration of political power in the hands of the technical intelligentsia.

Consequences of the influence of technology on humans:

Beneficial component includes the following:

the widespread use of technology has contributed to an almost doubling of the average human life expectancy;

technology freed man from constraining circumstances and increased his free time;

new information technology has qualitatively expanded the scope and forms of human intellectual activity;

technology has brought progress to the educational process; technology has increased the efficiency of human activity in various spheres of society.

Negative the impact of technology on humans and society is as follows: some of its types of technology pose a danger to the life and health of people, the threat of environmental disaster has increased, the number of occupational diseases has increased;

a person, becoming a particle of some kind technical system, is deprived of its creative essence; an increasing amount of information causes a decreasing trend in the share of knowledge that one person is able to possess;

technology can be used as an effective means of suppression, total control and manipulation of a person;

The impact of technology on the human psyche is enormous, both through virtual reality and through the replacement of the “symbol-image” chain with another “image-image”, which leads to a halt in the development of figurative and abstract thinking, as well as the appearance of neuroses and mental illnesses.

Engineer(from French and Latin means “creator”, “creator”, “inventor” in broad meaning) is a person who mentally creates a technical object and controls the process of its manufacture and operation. Engineering activities - it is an activity of mental creation technical object and management of the process of its production and operation. Engineering activity emerged from technical activity in the 18th century during the Industrial Revolution.

A person’s cognition of the world around him (and himself in it) can be carried out in different ways and in different cognitive forms. Non-scientific forms of knowledge are, for example, everyday, artistic. The first form of human cognitive activity is everyday everyday experience. It is publicly accessible to all human individuals and represents an unsystematized variety of impressions, experiences, observations, and knowledge. The accumulation of everyday experience occurs, as a rule, outside the sphere of scientific research or acquired ready-made scientific knowledge. It is enough to point out the diversity of knowledge hidden in the depths of natural language. Everyday experience is usually based on a sensory picture of the world. He does not distinguish between phenomena and essence; he perceives appearance as obvious. But he is not a stranger to reflection and self-criticism, especially when his errors are exposed by practice.

Science arises and develops over a long period of time on the basis of data from everyday experience, which establishes facts that subsequently receive a scientific explanation. So, for example, within the framework of everyday experience, without analysis and generalization, the phenomenon of thermal conductivity was identified. The concept of an axiom, formulated by Euclid, etymologically and in content coincides with the ideas of everyday experience. Not only empirically established patterns, but also some very abstract hypotheses are actually based on everyday experimental knowledge. This is the atomism of Leucippus and Democritus. Everyday experience contains not only knowledge, but also misconceptions and illusions. Science has often accepted these misconceptions. Thus, the geocentric picture of the world was based on data from everyday experience, as was the idea of the instantaneous speed of light.

Scientific knowledge, in contrast to everyday knowledge, has its own specific, distinctive features. These include the following:

1. Scientific knowledge is a specialized type of cognitive activity:

This activity is not carried out spontaneously, not by chance;

This is a conscious, purposeful and specially organized activity to obtain knowledge;

With its development and growth in society, it becomes extremely important to train special personnel - scientists, organize this activity, and manage it;

This activity acquires an independent status, and science becomes a social institution. Within the framework of this institute, problems such as: relations between the state and science arise and are solved; freedom of scientific research and social responsibility of a scientist; science and morality; ethical standards of science, etc.

2. Subject of scientific knowledge:

Not every individual and not the entire population;

Specially trained people, scientific communities, scientific schools.

3. Object of scientific knowledge:

Not only existing practice, its phenomena;

Goes beyond current practice;

The objects of scientific knowledge are not reducible to the objects of everyday experience;

They are generally inaccessible to ordinary experience and knowledge.

4. Means of scientific knowledge:

The special language of science, since natural language is adapted only to describe objects of existing practice and its concepts are unclear and ambiguous;

Methods of scientific knowledge that are specially developed. (Comprehension of these methods, their conscious application is considered by the methodology of science);

A system of special tools of cognition, special scientific equipment.

5. The product of scientific knowledge is scientific knowledge:

It is characterized by objectivity and truth. There are also special techniques, ways of justifying the truth of knowledge;

Systematic knowledge, in contrast to everyday knowledge, which is amorphous, fragmented, disjointed in nature:

A theory is formed as a special type of knowledge that ordinary knowledge does not know;

The goals of scientific knowledge are formulated.

6. Conditions of scientific knowledge:

Value orientations knowledge;

Search for objective truth, obtaining new knowledge;

Norms of scientific creativity.

Scientific knowledge is thus characterized by systematicity and structure. And, first of all, in the structure of scientific knowledge it is customary to distinguish two levels: empirical and theoretical.

The question of the primacy or secondary nature of theoretical and empirical knowledge can be considered in different ways, depending on whether it is implied in in this case: a) the relationship between empirical and theoretical science, or b) the relationship between the empirical basis and the conceptual apparatus of science at a certain stage of its development. In the first case, we can talk about genetic the primacy of the empirical over the theoretical. In the second case, it is unlikely, since the empirical basis and conceptual apparatus mutually presuppose each other, and their relationship does not fit the concept of genetic primacy. Changes in the empirical basis can lead to changes in the conceptual apparatus, but changes in it can occur without direct stimulation from the empirical. And even to orient and direct the empirical research itself.

At the empirical stage of science, the decisive means of forming and developing knowledge are empirical research and subsequent processing of its results in appropriate generalizations and classifications.

At the theoretical stage, scientific principles can be established in relative independence from empiricism, for example, through a thought experiment with an idealized object.

Empirical science, however, cannot be reduced to the mere accumulation of empirical facts; It is also based on certain conceptual constructs. Empirical knowledge is a set of statements about so-called empirical objects. Οʜᴎ are obtained by abstracting from the data in sensory experience of real objects, their sides or properties, and endowing them with the status of independent existence. (For example, length, width, angle, etc.)

Theoretical knowledge is statements about so-called theoretical objects. The main way of their formation is idealization.

There is a qualitative difference in content between theoretical and empirical knowledge, which is determined by the very nature of the objects of theoretical and empirical knowledge. The transition from empiricism to theory cannot be limited to the framework of iductivist summation and combination of experimental data. What is important here is the change in the conceptual composition of knowledge, the isolation of new mental content, the formation of new scientific abstractions (electron, etc.), which are not given directly in observation and are not any combination of empirical data. It is impossible to obtain theoretical knowledge purely logically from empirical data.

So, what are the characteristic features of these two types of knowledge:

At the empirical stage of development of science:

The development of content is expressed primarily in the establishment of new empirical classifications, dependencies and laws, and not in the development of a conceptual apparatus;

Empirical laws are characterized by the fact that their derivation is based on a comparison of experimental data;

The development of a conceptual apparatus does not turn here into the implementation of a theoretical research program that determines the main lines of development of science;

Empirical science is characterized by insufficient reflexivity, a moment of a certain forced uncriticality, borrowing conceptual tools from everyday consciousness.

The theoretical stage of science is characterized by:

Strengthening the activity of theoretical thinking;

Increasing the share of theoretical research methods;

Realization of the ability of scientific thinking to reproduce theoretical knowledge on its own basis; ability to build and improve developing theoretical systems;

The development of theoretical content acts as the implementation of theoretical research programs;

In science, special theoretical models of reality are formed, which can be worked with as idealized theoretical objects (for example, as in geometry, mechanics, physics, etc.);

Theoretical laws are formulated as a result of theoretical reasoning, mainly as a consequence of a thought experiment on an idealized theoretical object.

An important stage in the transition from empirical to theoretical science is the emergence and development of such forms as primary conceptual explanations and typologies. Primary conceptual explanations presuppose the presence of conceptual schemes that allow empirical statements to be considered. Οʜᴎ are close to a theory, but this is not a theory yet, since there is no logical hierarchy within the theoretical structure. Great value They also have descriptive theories that describe a certain group of objects: their empirical basis is very extensive; their task is to organize the facts relating to them; In them, natural language occupies a large share and specialized terminology - the scientific language itself - is poorly developed.

Theoretical science maintains connection and continuity with empirical science.

The emergence of theoretical concepts, idealized objects and models, ontological schemes is, ultimately, the result of reflection on the original conceptual apparatus available in empirical science.

However, theoretical and empirical knowledge can be considered as an activity for improvement and an activity for the application of the conceptual means of science. The connection between the theoretical conceptual content of science and its empirical basis is resolved through the empirical interpretation of theoretical constructs and, accordingly, the theoretical interpretation of experimental data. Ultimately, their unity is determined by social practice. It generates needs for knowledge of the surrounding world, needs for different levels of knowledge.

We especially emphasize that theoretical knowledge cannot be considered as a simple summation and generalization of empirical information. It is impossible to reduce theoretical knowledge to empirical knowledge, and theoretical language to the language of observation. All this leads to an underestimation of the qualitative uniqueness of theoretical knowledge and a misunderstanding of its specificity.

The question of the specificity of the theoretical form of scientific knowledge also affects the problem of the criterion of this knowledge: can this criterion of the truth of theoretical knowledge still be the same practice as the “universal criterion” of truth, or is the verifiability of theoretical knowledge for truth carried out in other ways? It turns out that many scientific principles are established theoretically, and within the framework of mathematics, for example, there are only logical proofs and deductive conclusions. And logical proof is possible without direct reference to practice. But, without in any way diminishing the importance of the theoretical, logical thinking In establishing the truth, it would perhaps be correct to emphasize that in order to verify the truth of what is logically proven and theoretically justified, it is extremely important to turn to practice.

The criterion of practice is truly fundamental due to the following circumstances:

1. It is practice that is the fundamental form of connection with reality, with the most diverse manifestations of immediate life, not only knowledge, but also culture as a whole.

2. Due to the fact that with a historical approach to the formation of our knowledge, it turns out that the latter arises as a generalization of direct practice. This applies not only to experimental knowledge, but also (for example) to mathematics.

3. In the process of developing experimental sciences, we also constantly generalize the practice of experimental and measurement activities. Data from experimental and measurement practice are the basis for the development of theories, their generalization and modification.

4. Testing of a number of hypotheses that arise in the process of creative development of science is carried out on the basis of methods, the application of which is ultimately based on practice.

5. Theoretical knowledge, on which we rely as a criterion of truth, can itself be clarified and changed on the basis of new practice.