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 states 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 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 moves, ways to substantiate 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 of cognition;
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 statements 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, how do they manifest themselves? characteristic features 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 yet a theory, 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 the empirical.
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 knowledge.
Let us 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.
Purpose of the lecture: To analyze the nature of scientific knowledge and the features of the relationship between religion and philosophy. Show the differences between philosophy and science, the nature of their relationships. Determine the axiological status of science. Reveal the problem of personality in science.
- 4.1 Science and religion.
- 4.2 Science and philosophy.
Used literature:
- 1. Holton J. What is antiscience // Questions of Philosophy. 1992. No. 2.
- 2. Polanyi M. Personal knowledge. M., 1985.
- 3. Russell B. History Western philosophy: In 2 volumes. Novosibirsk, 1994. Vol. 1.
- 4. Frank F. Philosophy of Science. M., 1960.
- 5. Leshkevich G.G. Philosophy. Introductory course. M., 1998.
- 6. Rorty R. Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature. Novosibirsk, 1991.
The problem of distinguishing science from other forms of cognitive activity (artistic, religious, everyday, mystical) is a problem of demarcation, i.e. search for criteria for distinguishing between scientific and non-(non-)scientific constructions. Science differs from other spheres of human spiritual activity in that the cognitive component in it is dominant.
Features of scientific knowledge (criteria of scientific character).
- 1. The main task of scientific knowledge is the discovery of objective laws of reality - natural, social, laws of knowledge itself, thinking, etc. sociocultural knowledge philosophy
- 2. Based on knowledge of the laws of functioning and development of the objects under study, science predicts the future with the aim of further practical development of reality.
- 3. The immediate goal and highest value of scientific knowledge is objective truth, comprehended primarily by rational means and methods, as well as by contemplation and non-rational means.
- 4. An essential feature of cognition is its systematic nature, i.e. a body of knowledge put in order on the basis of certain theoretical principles, which combine individual knowledge into an integral organic system. Science is not only an integral system, but also a developing system; these include specific scientific disciplines, as well as other elements of the structure of science - problems, hypotheses, theories, scientific paradigms, etc.
- 5. Science is characterized by constant methodological reflection.
- 6. Scientific knowledge is characterized by strict evidence, validity of the results obtained, and reliability of the conclusions.
- 7. Scientific knowledge is a complex, contradictory process of production and reproduction of new knowledge, forming an integral and developing system of concepts, theories, hypotheses, laws and others ideal forms, enshrined in language - natural or (more typically) artificial.
- 8. Knowledge that claims to be scientific must allow the fundamental possibility of empirical verification. The process of establishing the truth of scientific statements through observations and experiments is called verification, and the process of establishing their falsity is called falsification.
- 9. In the process of scientific knowledge, such specific material resources, as instruments, instruments, other "scientific equipment".
- 10. The subject has specific characteristics scientific activity- individual researcher, scientific community, “collective subject”. Engaging in science requires special training of the cognitive subject, during which he masters the existing stock of knowledge, the means and methods of obtaining it, the system value orientations and targets specific to scientific knowledge, its ethical principles.
Worldview is a set of views on the most basic issues of existence in general and man (the essence of existence, the meaning of life, the understanding of good and evil, the existence of God, soul, eternity). Worldview always appears in the form of either religion or philosophy, but not science. Philosophy in its subject and goals differs from science and constitutes a special form of human consciousness, not reducible to any other. Philosophy as a form of consciousness creates a worldview necessary for humanity for all its practical and theoretical activities. The closest social function to philosophy is religion, which also arose as a certain form of worldview.
Religion is one of the forms of human “spiritual production”. It has its own postulates (the existence of God, the immortality of the soul), a special method of cognition (spiritual and moral improvement of the individual), its own criteria for distinguishing truth from error (the correspondence of individual spiritual experience to the unity of the experience of saints), its own goal (knowing God and achieving the eternal in Him life - adoration).
Religion and science are two fundamentally different areas of human life. They have different starting premises, different goals, objectives, methods. These spheres can touch, intersect, but do not refute one another.
Philosophy is a theoretically formulated worldview. This is a system of the most general theoretical views on the world, the place of man in it, an understanding various forms man's relationship to the world. Philosophy differs from other forms of worldview not so much in its subject matter as in the way it is conceptualized, the degree of intellectual development of problems and methods of approaching them. Unlike mythological and religious traditions philosophical thought has chosen as its guide not blind, dogmatic faith, and not supernatural explanations, but free, critical reflection on the world and human life. The main tasks of self-knowledge philosophical thought, starting from Socrates, - the search for the highest principle and meaning of life. The uniqueness and meaning of human life in the world, philosophy of history and social philosophy, problems of aesthetics and morality, ideas of knowledge, death and immortality, the idea of the soul, problems of consciousness, man’s relationship to God, as well as the history of philosophy itself - these, in short, are the main problems of philosophical science, such is its substantive self-determination.
Historically, the following stages of the relationship between science and philosophy can be distinguished: natural philosophical, positivist (30-40 years of the 19th century).
The transcendentalist (metaphysical) concept of the relationship between philosophy and science is represented by the formula - “philosophy is the science of sciences”, “philosophy is the queen of sciences”. It articulates the epistemological priority of philosophy as a more fundamental type of knowledge compared to specific sciences, the leading role of philosophy in relation to particular sciences, the self-sufficiency of philosophy in relation to particular scientific knowledge and the essential dependence of private sciences on philosophy, the relativity and particularity of the truths of specific sciences. The transcendentalist concept was formed in antiquity and existed as a generally accepted, and in fact the only, concept until the mid-19th century. (Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Spinoza, Hegel).
The positivist concept of the relationship between science and philosophy (30s of the 19th century) is represented by such figures as O. Comte, G. Spencer, J. Mill, B. Russell, R. Carnap, L. Wittgenstein and others. The positivist stage took place under slogans: “Philosophy does not give anything concrete to the world, only concrete sciences give us positive knowledge”, “Science itself is philosophy”, “Down with metaphysics, long live physics”, “Philosophy deals with pseudo-problems that are associated with language games”, “Science itself is philosophy”, “Down with metaphysics, long live physics”, “Philosophy deals with pseudo-problems that are associated with language games”, meaning the installation of complete self-sufficiency and independence of natural science from philosophy (“metaphysics”), traditionally understood in as a universal theory of being and knowledge. The positivist concept expressed the strengthening of the role of science in European culture New times and the desire of science for ontological and methodological autonomy not only in relation to religion (which had already been largely achieved by the beginning of the 19th century), but also to philosophy. According to positivists, the benefits of a close connection between natural science and philosophy for science are problematic, and the harm is obvious. For natural science theories, the only, albeit not absolutely reliable, basis and criterion of their truth should be only the degree of their correspondence to experimental data, the results of systematic observation and experiment.
Philosophy played positive role in the development of science, contributed to the development of abstract (theoretical) thinking, general ideas and hypotheses about the structure of the world (atomism, evolution). Philosophy itself must now be built according to the laws of concrete scientific (positive) thinking. During the evolution of positivism, the role of “scientific philosophy” was put forward by: 1) the general methodology of science as a result of empirical generalization, systematization and description of the real methods of various specific sciences (O. Comte); 2) the logic of science as the doctrine of methods for discovering and proving scientific truths (cause-and-effect relationships) (J. St. Mill); 3) a general scientific picture of the world, obtained by generalizing and integrating knowledge of various natural sciences (O. Spencer); 4) psychology of scientific creativity (E. Mach); 5) general theory of organization (A. Bogdanov); 6) logical analysis of the language of science by means of mathematical logic and logical semantics (R. Carnap and others); 7) theory of the development of science (K. Popper and others); 8) theory, technology and methodology linguistic analysis(L. Wittgenstein, J. Ryle, J. Austin, etc.).
The anti-interactionist concept preaches dualism in the relationship between philosophy and science, their absolute cultural equality and sovereignty, the absence of interconnection and mutual influence between them in the process of functioning of these most important elements of culture. The development of natural science and philosophy proceeds as if parallel courses and generally independent of each other. Supporters of the anti-interactionist concept (representatives of the philosophy of life, existentialist philosophy, philosophy of culture, etc.) believe that philosophy and natural science have their own, completely dissimilar subjects and methods, which exclude the very possibility of any significant influence of philosophy on the development of natural science and vice versa. Ultimately, they come from the idea of dividing human culture into two different cultures: natural science (aimed mainly at fulfilling the pragmatic, utilitarian functions of adaptation and survival of humanity due to the growth of its material power) and humanitarian (aimed at increasing the spiritual potential of humanity, cultivating and improving the spiritual component of each person). Philosophy in this context refers to humanitarian culture along with art, religion, morality, history and other forms of human self-identification. A person’s attitude to the world and his awareness of the meaning of his existence are in no way derived from knowledge of the world around him, but are set by a certain system of values, ideas about good and evil, meaningful and empty, about the holy, imperishable and perishable. The world of values and reflection on this world, which has nothing to do with existence and content physical world- Here main subject philosophy from the position of anti-interactionists.
The dialectical concept, the development of which was promoted by Aristotle, R. Descartes, Spinoza, G. Hegel, I. Kant, B. Russell, A. Poincare, I. Prigogine, is based on the affirmation of the internal, necessary, essential relationship between natural science and philosophy, starting with the moment of their appearance and identification as independent subsystems within the framework of a single knowledge, as well as the dialectically contradictory mechanism of interaction between natural science and philosophical knowledge.
Proof of the internal, necessary connection between natural science and philosophy is found in the analysis of the capabilities and purpose of natural, and more broadly, specific sciences and philosophy, their subjects and the nature of the problems being solved. The subject of philosophy, especially theoretical philosophy, is the universal as such. The ideal universal is the goal and soul of philosophy. At the same time, philosophy proceeds from the possibility of comprehending this universal rationally - logically, in an extra-empirical way. The subject of any particular science is the particular, the individual, a specific “piece” of the world, empirically and theoretically completely controlled, and therefore practically mastered.
The presence of philosophical foundations in fundamental sciences and philosophical problems is empirical evidence of the real interaction of philosophy and specific sciences. There are different types of philosophical foundations of science - in accordance with the most important sections of philosophy: ontological, epistemological, logical, axiological, praxeological.
Questions for self-control:
- 1. Reveal the content of the transcendentalist concept of the relationship between science and philosophy.
- 2. The content of the positivist concept of the relationship between philosophy and science.
- 3. The content of the dialectical concept of the relationship between philosophy and science.
- 4. The essence and content of the anti-interactionist concept.
- 5. Describe the philosophical foundations of science.
- 6. What is the difference between religion and science and philosophy?
Specificity of scientific knowledge and criteria of scientific character. Functions of science. Levels of scientific research.
Specificity of scientific knowledge.
Science as a unique form of knowledge began to develop relatively independently during the era of the formation of the capitalist mode of production (XVI-XVII centuries).
Main features of scientific knowledge: 1. The first and main task of scientific knowledge, as we have already found out, is the discovery of objective laws of reality - natural, social (public), laws of knowledge itself, thinking, etc.
2. The immediate goal and highest value of scientific knowledge is objective truth, comprehended primarily by rational means and methods, but, of course, not without the participation of living contemplation.
3. Science, to a greater extent than other forms of knowledge, is focused on practical implementation. Life meaning scientific research can be expressed by the formula: “Know in order to foresee, foresee in order to practically act.”
4. Scientific knowledge in epistemological terms is a complex, contradictory process of reproduction of knowledge that forms an integral developing system of concepts, theories, hypotheses, laws and other ideal forms enshrined in language.
5. In the process of scientific knowledge, such specific material means as devices, instruments, and other so-called materials are used. “scientific equipment”, often very complex and expensive.
6. Scientific knowledge is characterized by strict evidence, validity of the results obtained, and reliability of the conclusions. At the same time, it contains many hypotheses, conjectures, assumptions, and probabilistic judgments.
In modern methodology, various scientific criteria are distinguished. These include, in addition to those mentioned above, such as the internal consistency of knowledge, its formal consistency, experimental verifiability, reproducibility, openness to criticism, freedom from bias, rigor, etc.
Scientific criteria.
Scientific criteria:
1) Objectivity, or the principle of objectivity. Scientific knowledge is associated with the disclosure of natural objects, taken “in themselves,” as “things in themselves” (not in the Kantian sense, but as not yet known, but knowable).
2) Rationality, rationalistic validity, evidence. As some researchers note, ordinary knowledge is, among other things, referential in nature, based on “opinions”, “authority”; in scientific knowledge, it is not just something that is communicated, but the necessary reasons for which this content is true are given; The principle of sufficient reason applies here.
3) Essentialist orientation, i.e. focus on reproducing the essence, patterns of an object (reflection of repeating, but insignificant properties of an object is also subordinate to this goal).
4) Special organization, special systematic knowledge; not just orderliness, as in ordinary knowledge, but orderliness according to conscious principles; orderliness in the form of theory and an expanded theoretical concept.
5) Verifiability; here is an appeal to scientific observation, to practice, and testing by logic, in a logical way; scientific truth characterizes knowledge that is in principle testable and ultimately proven to be confirmed. The verifiability of scientific truths and their reproducibility through practice gives them the property of universal validity.
General validity in itself is not a criterion sign of the truth of a particular position. The fact that a majority votes for a proposition does not mean that it is true.
Functions of science.
The methodology of science distinguishes such functions of science as description, explanation, prediction, and understanding.
With all the empiricism characteristic of Comte, he was not inclined to reduce science to a collection of isolated facts. He considered foresight to be the main function of science.
E. Mach declared description to be the only function of science.
Mach essentially reduced explanation and foresight to description. From his point of view, theories are like compressed empirics.
V. Dilthey distinguished between the sciences of nature and the “sciences of the spirit” (humanities). He believed that the main cognitive function of the natural sciences is explanation, and that of the “spiritual sciences” is understanding.
However, the natural sciences also serve a function of understanding.
Explanation is related to understanding, since explanation convincingly demonstrates to us the meaningfulness of the existence of an object, and therefore allows us to understand it.
Levels of scientific research.
Scientific knowledge is a process, that is, a developing system of knowledge. It includes two main levels - empirical and theoretical.
At the empirical level, living contemplation (sensory cognition) predominates; the rational element and its forms (judgments, concepts, etc.) are present here, but have a subordinate significance. Therefore, an object is studied primarily from the side of its external connections and relationships that are accessible to living contemplation. Collection of facts, their primary generalization, description of observed and experimental data, their systematization, classification and other fact-recording activities are characteristic features of empirical knowledge.
Empirical research is aimed directly at its object. It masters it with the help of such techniques and means as comparison, measurement, observation, experiment, analysis, induction.
The specificity of the theoretical level of scientific knowledge is determined by the predominance of the rational element - concepts, theories, laws and other forms and “mental operations”.
The empirical and theoretical levels of knowledge are interconnected, the boundary between them is conditional and fluid. At certain points in the development of science, the empirical turns into the theoretical and vice versa. However, it is unacceptable to absolutize one of these levels to the detriment of the other.
Classical philosophy knowledge identified with scientific knowledge. The modern theory of knowledge also distinguishes ordinary, mythological, religious, artistic and quasi-scientific knowledge. These types of knowledge are considered necessary and important for understanding the essence of cognitive activity. IN general view knowledge can be pre-scientific (proto-scientific), extra-scientific (everyday, quasi-scientific, religious) and scientific. Science is the highest type of historical forms of knowledge of the world.
For a long time, knowledge developed in pre-scientific forms, represented by everyday, artistic, mythological and religious knowledge. They only made it possible to state and superficially describe facts. Scientific knowledge presupposes not only description, but also explanation, identification of the entire complex of causes that give rise to a phenomenon. Science strives for maximum accuracy and objectivity of the knowledge obtained, its independence from the subject. No other component of culture sets itself such a goal. Modern knowledge is based on the achievements of science.
Ordinary knowledge based on everyday human experience and consistent with common sense, it comes down to a statement and description of facts. It is the basis for all other types of knowledge.
Artistic knowledge is a matter of art and does not seek to be evidential or substantiated. The form of existence of knowledge is an artistic image, fiction.
Religious-mythological knowledge is a synthesis of rational and emotional reflection of reality. It is represented in mysticism, magic, and various esoteric teachings.
Quasi-scientific (parascientific) knowledge performs compensatory functions, claiming to explain those phenomena that science denies or cannot yet explain. It is represented in ufology, various occult sciences (alchemy, astrology, Kabbalah).
Scientific knowledge- the deepest and most reliable area human knowledge. According to M. Weber (1864-1920), science is the most clean embodiment of the principle of rationality.
Scientific knowledge has no limits. Science is the highest spiritual product of society - the basis of worldview and material production, an instrument of man's domination over nature and his self-knowledge. Scientific knowledge determines spiritual world modern man. Most of the material culture is created on the basis of science. All European civilization built on the ideals of a scientific and rational attitude to reality.
Science– a form of cognition aimed at producing objective knowledge about reality that has proof and empirical verification.
Scientificity does not mean absolute truth, but movement towards it. There is no rigid boundary between scientific and non-scientific knowledge; it is flexible. For example, alchemy and astrology were part of medieval science. Real science includes the proven and the unproven; the rational and the irrational are intertwined in it. The problem of criteria for separating scientific knowledge from non-scientific knowledge arises.
Scientific criteria are:
-rationality(logical expressibility, generality, consistency and simplicity),
-objectivity(independence from the arbitrariness of the subject),
-apodictic(theoretical and practical validity),
-consistency(organization of scientific knowledge in the form of mutually agreed upon facts, methods, theories, hypotheses),
-verifiability(observability, public availability).
These criteria are deeply materialistic in nature and are directed against the introduction of various kinds of mysterious and elusive “things in themselves” into science. In a simplified form, their meaning can be conveyed by the principles of observability and simplicity. There is only that which directly or indirectly affects either the senses or instruments. For everything else, Occam's razor applies: entities should not be introduced beyond necessity.
The main functions of science are description, explanation and prediction of objects and phenomena of reality. The structure and future of the Universe, life, and society lie within the direct competence of science. An important function of science is critical - it teaches a person to approach everything with doubt, taking nothing for granted, without proof.
The purpose of science– discovery of patterns and general principles knowledge and mastery of reality.
Science includes a system of interrelated disciplines. Scientific disciplines, according to the degree of distance from practice, are classified into fundamental, not directly aimed at practice, and applied. By subject and method, sciences are divided into natural, technical and public (social and humanitarian).
The task of fundamental sciences is to understand the laws underlying the existence and interaction of the basic structures of nature, society and thinking. Applied sciences are aimed at applying the results of fundamental sciences to solve industrial and socio-practical problems.
Fundamental sciences include: philosophical sciences, mathematical sciences, natural sciences (mechanics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, geology, geography, biology, zoology, anthropology, etc.), social sciences (history, archeology, ethnography, economics, political science, law and etc.), humanities (psychology, logic, linguistics, etc.). Philosophy is the science (although not completely) about the most general laws reality. TO applied sciences include: computer science, technical sciences (machine technology, strength of materials, metallurgy, electrical engineering, nuclear energy, astronautics, etc.), agricultural, medical, pedagogical sciences etc.
The process of scientific knowledge includes two main levels - empirical and theoretical, the differences between which are determined by the object and methods of research.
An empirical object is formed as a result of sensory experience. Specific methods at the empirical level are observation And experiment(controlled intervention of the subject in the object under study). The characteristic forms of scientific knowledge at the empirical level are empirical fact(a sentence capturing experience) and empirical law(empirical description).
Specific methods of the theoretical level are idealization(selecting an object in pure form with an abstraction from unimportant properties: point, absolute black body, ideal gas) and formalization(transition from operating with concepts to operating with symbols). The well-known idea of I. Kant (1724-1804) is that in the doctrine of nature there is as much science as there is mathematics [Kant I. Metaphysical principles of natural science // Kant I. Works. In 6 volumes. M.: Mysl, 1963. T.6. P.53-76, P.58].
Characteristic forms of theoretical knowledge: hypothesis(reasonable but not confirmed proposal) and theory (highest form organization of knowledge, giving a holistic idea of the laws of a certain area of reality); the main elements of the theory are facts, laws, rules of logical inference and evidence.
The empirical and theoretical levels have common methods and forms. General methods: analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, abstraction and concretization, modeling (creation of an object with given properties). General forms : model, question (sentence requiring explanation, answer) and problem (set of questions).
The development of science is not only a cumulative process. Scientific knowledge also includes leap-like moments. The following are distinguished: main periods of development of science:
-normal science(paradigmatic) - a period of cumulative, gradual development of science, improvement of scientific knowledge within the framework of a certain paradigm;
-revolutionary science(scientific revolution) - a period of paradigm change under the pressure of an array of empirical facts.
Paradigm(Greek example) – a set of fundamental facts, theories, hypotheses, problems, methods, scientific criteria, examples of problem solving, styles of scientific thinking, etc., ensuring the functioning of scientific knowledge.
In the history of science, such paradigms are Aristotelian, classical (Newtonian) and non-classical. A change of paradigms is a psychologically difficult process for the scientific community, which can be compared to a change of religious faith, since scientific revolutions affect the logic of scientific knowledge.
The central concept of the history of science “paradigm” was developed by one of the main representatives of postpositivism, Thomas Kuhn (1922-1996) in his work “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions” (1962). T. Kuhn adhered to the philosophy of science externalism, unlike internalism asserting that the direction, pace of development and content of scientific knowledge are determined not by the internal logic of the development of science, but by its sociocultural environment.
Chapter 14. CONSCIOUSNESS
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Scientific knowledge is a socially conditioned process of cognition of the laws of the objective world, the result of which is a developing system of true knowledge and methods that serve the purpose of transforming reality.
The main task of science is to identify the objective laws of reality, and its immediate goal and highest value is objective truth. Scientific knowledge is characterized by objectivity, internal consistency, constant focus on practice, focus on foresight, strict evidence, validity of the results obtained, reliability of conclusions, systematicity and systematicity, planning, focus on scientific truth.
Science forms a single interconnected developing system of knowledge about world laws. This system is divided into many branches of knowledge, which differ from each other in what side of reality, the form of movement of matter they study. According to the method and subject of knowledge, one can distinguish the sciences of nature - natural science, and society - social science. In turn, each group of sciences can be subjected to more detailed division. The science of the most general laws of reality is philosophy.
According to their distance from practice, sciences are divided into fundamental, elucidating the basic laws and principles real world, where there is no direct orientation to practice, and applied - the direct application of the results of scientific knowledge to solve practical problems. But the boundaries between sciences are conditional and fluid, proof of this is the existence of interface disciplines (biophysics, geochemistry...).
Scientific knowledge involves the use of a certain set of techniques and operations leading to achieving a goal - a method (from Greek “the path to something”). The concept of “methodology” has two main meanings: 1) A system of certain principles, techniques and operations used in a particular field of activity; 2) the doctrine of this system, the theory of the method.
The method comes down to a set of certain rules, techniques, and norms of cognition in action. He is a system! prescriptions, principles, requirements that guide the researcher in solving a specific problem. The method disciplines the search for truth and allows you to choose the shortest path in searching for a result. Main function of the method - regulation of cognitive and other forms of activity. The variety of types of human activity determines a diverse range of methods, which are classified according to various criteria.
All methods of scientific knowledge are divided according to the degree of generality and scope of action:
1. Philosophical methods- dialectical, metaphysical, analytical, intuitive, etc.
2. General scientific approaches and research methods that act as an intermediate methodology between philosophy and the fundamental theoretical and methodological principles of special sciences. Based on general scientific concepts and concepts, the corresponding methods and principles of cognition are formulated, such as systemic and non-functional structures, cybernetic, etc.
3. Private scientific methods - a set of methods, principles of knowledge, research techniques and procedures used in one or another branch of science corresponding to a given basic form of motion of matter. These are methods of mechanics and physics.
4. Disciplinary Methods system of techniques used in one or another scientific discipline included in any branch of science.
5. Interdisciplinary research methods.
A method is considered scientific if it is consistent
object of knowledge, goals and objectives of research. The method must meet a number of requirements: clarity, determinism, focus, fruitfulness, the ability to produce related results, reliability, and economy. The more perfect the method, the more it meets these requirements.