1. Fundamentals of knowledge, especially that obtained through the systematic application of the scientific method. 2. A field of study or discipline that focuses on the derivation of basic principles and general laws. 3. A system of methods and procedures for studying natural phenomena based on scientific principles.

The science

from Russian “by ear”) - 1. the basics of knowledge, especially those obtained as a result of the systematic application of the scientific method; 2. a field of study or discipline focused on the derivation of basic principles and general laws; 3. a system of methods and procedures for the study of natural phenomena, based on scientific principles; 4. a complex process of social production, working on the basis of previous knowledge and transforming it, but without any single scientific method or direct distinction between science in the sense of 2 and 3 and other forms of knowledge; 5. a term whose use in relation to psychology, psychopathology and psychoanalysis is considered by some researchers to be inadequate. For example, Eysenck (1965) and analyst Home (1966) believe that psychoanalysis is not a system of scientific knowledge. There is also an opinion often expressed that psychopathology does not, or does not yet, meet the criteria of scientific knowledge; 6. The Shorter Oxford Dictionary defines science as “systematic and formulated knowledge.”

THE SCIENCE

A field of activity whose main function is the development of knowledge about the world, its systematization, on the basis of which it is possible to build an image of the world - a scientific picture of the world, and ways of interacting with the world - scientifically based practice. Of course, the knowledge generated by science cannot be considered absolute. The body of science consists of laws formulated within the framework of certain theories. Theory is the most developed form of scientific knowledge. Actually, the development of science is mainly the development and change of theories. New theories cover an increasing number of phenomena and serve practice more and more reliably, which allows us to talk about the increasing reliability of knowledge; this determines progress in science. At the same time, situations of the return of old, seemingly rejected theories, rethought at a different level and revealing new possibilities, are not uncommon. Science is not limited to pure theorizing. Its development means entering new areas of phenomena, new interactions with the world. The main mechanism for the development of scientific knowledge is scientific research, carried out on the basis of special research methods. Special attention is devoted to improving these methods. Although science often claims its exclusivity in a number of ways of knowing the world and the greatest reliability and effectiveness of knowledge, it is still not the only form of knowledge and in many respects is connected with other forms; As for the reliability of the acquired knowledge, in a number of cases science has to recognize the priority of these other forms of knowledge (=> knowledge: form).

THE SCIENCE

sphere human activity, focused on the development and systematization of knowledge about the world around us, people and their relationships.

S. Freud's ideas about science related to the understanding of nature, being and possibilities scientific knowledge the surrounding world and man, and to consideration of the scientific nature of psychoanalysis.

Understanding the first aspect of science is reflected in a number of works by the founder of psychoanalysis, including “Totem and Taboo. The Psychology of Primitive Religion and Culture" (1913), "The Future of an Illusion" (1927), "A New Series of Lectures on Introduction to Psychoanalysis" (1933). Thus, in his work “Totem and Taboo” S. Freud emphasized that in contrast to the religious stage of human development, reflecting love for an object, characterized by attachment to parents, the “scientific phase” is a complete parallel to the state of maturity of the individual when he abandons the principle pleasure and adapts to reality.

In his work “The Future of an Illusion,” the founder of psychoanalysis came up with the idea of ​​the need to overcome the neurotic stage of human development, which he identified with religion, and move to a new stage of development, characterized by scientific knowledge, just as infantility and childhood neurosis are replaced by the adult state of a person guided by his own life not with emotions, but with reason. He believed that “science through work and research can learn a lot about the reality of the world, thanks to which we will become stronger and be able to arrange our lives.” In response to criticism of his views on this issue and the accusation that, by regarding religion as an illusion, he himself put forward another illusion, S. Freud replied: “Science, with its numerous and fruitful successes, has given us evidence that it is not an illusion.” and that an illusion would be the belief “that we can still get from somewhere else what it is capable of giving us.”

In the “New Series of Lectures on Introduction to Psychoanalysis” (1933), S. Freud noted that science does not wander blindly from one experiment to another, replacing one delusion with another. “As a rule, she works like an artist on a clay model, tirelessly changing something, adding and removing things. draft, until it reaches a satisfactory degree of similarity with a visible or imaginary object.” Compared to religion and philosophy, science is a young, late-developing human activity. The mysteries of the world are slowly being revealed by scientific research, and science is not yet able to give any answer to many questions. Nevertheless, as the founder of psychoanalysis emphasized, despite the current imperfections of science and its inherent difficulties, “it remains necessary for us and cannot be replaced by anything else.”

By and large, S. Freud believed that there are only two sciences: psychology, pure and applied, and natural science. Sociology and other disciplines are nothing more than applied psychology. Scientific thinking as such distances itself from individual factors, strictly tests the reliability of sensory perceptions and strives to achieve consistency with reality. Consistency with the real external world is called truth. Science is precisely focused on revealing the truth.

The understanding of another aspect of science was correlated by S. Freud with the consideration of psychoanalysis as a “special science” as a branch of psychology – “deep psychology, or the psychology of the unconscious.” He proceeded from the fact that the spirit and soul are the same objects of scientific research as objects of the external world. The contribution of psychoanalysis to science consists precisely in “extending research to the realm of the soul.”

In fact, throughout his entire research and therapeutic work, S. Freud constantly emphasized that psychoanalysis is a science. Another thing is that, as he noted in his work “Essay on Psychoanalysis” (1940), the subject of this science is the mental apparatus through which observations and experiences are carried out that underlie any science. This leads to the fact that psychoanalysis relies simultaneously on methods of both explanation and interpretation and, therefore, its assessment as a science turns out to be ambiguous.

In modern scientific literature The question of whether psychoanalysis is an objective science or hermeneutics, that is, the art of interpretation, still remains debatable. Some researchers believe that psychoanalysis meets the requirements of scientific knowledge and differences in its assessment can only relate to whether psychoanalysis should be considered as a natural or human science. Others believe that psychoanalysis is a pseudoscience and, at best, can be about the art of interpreting the unconscious, rather than a strictly scientific, objective study of unconscious processes and conflicts. The controversial issue of psychoanalysis as a science is associated not only with different understandings of psychoanalysis, but also with ambiguous consideration of the criteria of science itself.

THE SCIENCE

a special type of cognitive activity aimed at developing objective, systematically organized and substantiated knowledge about the world. N. interacts with other types of knowledge: everyday, artistic, religious, mythological, philosophical. Like all types of knowledge, N. arose from the needs of practice and regulates it in a special way. N. aims to identify the laws in accordance with which objects can be transformed in human activity. The objective and objective way of viewing the world, characteristic of science, distinguishes it from other methods of cognition, in particular from art, where the reflection of reality always occurs as a kind of gluing together of the subjective and objective, when any reproduction of events or states of nature and social life involves their emotional assessment. In modern, post-nonclassical science, complex, historically developing systems, including humans, occupy an increasingly important place. The methodology for studying such objects brings together natural science and humanitarian knowledge, forming the basis for their deep integration. Conflictology today is a synthesis of the humanities, natural sciences, engineering and physical and mathematical sciences. The system-forming role in this synthesis is played by the humanities, and the role of the core of the latter is played by psychology. Domestic conflictology is at the stage of completing its formation into an independent science.

Science is a sphere of human professional activity, like any other - industrial, pedagogical, etc. Its only difference is that the main objective What she pursues is the acquisition of scientific knowledge. This is its specificity.

History of the development of science

Ancient Greece is considered the European birthplace of science. The inhabitants of this particular country were the first to realize that the world around man is not at all what people who study it only through sensory knowledge believe. In Greece, the transition from the sensory to the abstract was made for the first time, from knowledge of the facts of the world around us to the study of its laws.

Science in the Middle Ages became dependent on theology, so its development slowed down significantly. However, over time, as a result of the discoveries made by Galileo, Copernicus and Bruno, it began to have an increasing influence on the life of society. In Europe in the 17th century, the process of its formation as a public institution took place: academies and scientific societies were established, scientific journals were published.

New forms of its organization arose at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries: scientific institutes and laboratories, research centers. Around the same time, science began to have a great influence on the development of production. It has become a special kind of it - spiritual production.

Today in the field of science the following 3 aspects can be distinguished:

• science as a result (obtaining scientific knowledge);
• as a process (itself ;
• as a social institution (a set of scientific institutions, a community of scientists).

Science as an institution of society

Design and technological institutes(as well as hundreds of different research institutions), libraries, nature reserves and museums are part of the system of scientific institutions. A significant part of its potential is concentrated in universities. In addition, today more and more doctors and candidates of sciences are working in secondary schools, gymnasiums, and lyceums, which means that these educational institutions will be increasingly involved in scientific work.

Personnel

Any human activity implies that someone carries it out. Science is a social institution, the functioning of which is possible only in the presence of qualified personnel. Their preparation is carried out through graduate school, as well as the candidate of science degree, awarded to people with higher education who have passed special exams, as well as published the results of their research and defended their candidate's dissertation publicly. Doctors of Science are highly qualified personnel who are trained through competition or through doctoral studies who are promoted from among

Science as a result

Let's move on to consider the next aspect. As a result, science is a system of reliable knowledge about man, nature and society. Two essential features should be emphasized in this definition. Firstly, science is an interconnected body of knowledge acquired by humanity to date on all known issues. It meets the requirements of consistency and completeness. Secondly, the essence of science is the acquisition of reliable knowledge, which should be distinguished from everyday, everyday knowledge inherent in every person.

Properties of science as a result

1. The cumulative nature of scientific knowledge. Its volume doubles every 10 years.
2. The accumulation of scientific knowledge inevitably leads to fragmentation and differentiation. New branches of it are emerging, for example: gender psychology, social Psychology and etc.
3. Science in relation to practice has the following functions as a knowledge system:

• descriptive (accumulation and collection of facts and data);
• explanatory - explanation of processes and phenomena, their internal mechanisms;
• normative, or prescriptive - its achievements become, for example, mandatory standards for implementation at school, at work, etc.;
• generalizing - the formulation of patterns and laws that absorb and systematize many disparate facts and phenomena;
• predictive - this knowledge makes it possible to foresee in advance some phenomena and processes that were previously unknown.

Scientific activity (science as a process)

If a practical worker in his activities pursues the achievement of high results, then the tasks of science imply that the researcher must strive to obtain new scientific knowledge. This includes an explanation of why the result in a particular case is good or bad, as well as a prediction in which cases it will be one or the other. In addition, if a practical worker takes into account all aspects of an activity comprehensively and simultaneously, then a researcher, as a rule, is interested in an in-depth study of only one aspect. For example, from the point of view of mechanics, a person is a body that has a certain mass, has a certain moment of inertia, etc. For chemists, it is a highly complex reactor where millions of different chemical reactions occur simultaneously. Psychologists are interested in the processes of memory, perception, etc. That is, each science studies various processes and phenomena in relation to certain point vision. Therefore, by the way, the results obtained can only be interpreted as relative in science, unattainable, this is the goal of metaphysics.

The role of science in modern society

In our time of scientific and technological progress, the inhabitants of the planet are especially clearly aware of the importance and place of science in their lives. Today, more and more attention in society is paid to scientific research in various fields. People strive to obtain new data about the world, to create new technologies that improve the process of producing material goods.

Descartes method

Science today speaks main world human. Fundamentally complex creative process substantive and practical mental activity scientist. Descartes formulated the general rules of this process as follows:

• one cannot accept anything as true until it appears distinct and clear;
• you need to divide difficult questions into the number of parts necessary to resolve them;
• it is required to start the research with the most convenient and simple things for knowledge and move gradually to more complex ones;
• The scientist's duty is to pay attention to everything, to dwell on the details: he must be completely sure that he has not missed anything.

The ethical side of science

Of particular relevance in modern science are issues that relate to the relationship between the scientist and society, as well as the social responsibility of the researcher. It's about about how the achievements made by scientists will be used in the future, whether the knowledge gained will turn against a person.

Discoveries in genetic engineering, medicine, and biology have made it possible to purposefully influence the heredity of organisms, to the point that today it is possible to create organisms with certain predetermined properties. The time has come to abandon the principle of freedom of scientific research, which was previously unrestricted. The creation of means of mass destruction must not be allowed. The definition of science today must therefore include an ethical side, since it cannot remain neutral in this regard.

Science in a broad sense includes all the conditions and components of the relevant activity:

• division and cooperation of scientific work;
• scientific institutions, experimental and laboratory equipment;
• conceptual and categorical apparatus;
• scientific information system;
• the entire amount of previously accumulated scientific knowledge.

Story

In the development of science, extensive and revolutionary periods alternate - scientific revolutions, leading to changes in its structure, principles of knowledge, categories and methods, as well as forms of its organization. Science is characterized by a dialectical combination of the processes of its differentiation and integration, the development of fundamental and applied research.

Community

The totality of people engaged in science constitutes the scientific community. The scientific community is a complex self-organizing system in which state institutions, And public organizations, and informal groups. Distinctive feature This community is an increased degree of recognition of the authority achieved by scientific successes, and a reduced level of recognition of the authority of those in power, which sometimes leads to conflict between the state and the scientific community. It should also be noted that it is higher than in others social spheres, the effectiveness of informal groups and especially individuals. The most important functions of the scientific community are the recognition or denial of new ideas and theories, ensuring the development of scientific knowledge, as well as supporting the education system and training of new scientific personnel.

The lifestyle and worldview of people in the scientific community may differ significantly from those common in society. It is believed that atheistic and skeptical views now prevail in the scientific community. Research conducted in the 1990s showed that only 7% of members of the American National Academy of Sciences and 3.3% of members of the British Academy of Sciences were believers. At the same time, according to a national survey, 68.5% of the country’s population consider themselves believers. If we take American scientists as a whole, then the number of believers is about 40% and remains almost unchanged over time. Among teachers at American universities, the share of believers is already up to 73%. According to data published in June 2005 by researchers from the University of Chicago, 76% of American doctors consider themselves religious. The history of science testifies to the variability of the dominant ideas and doctrines in science, as well as their dependence on the political situation of the corresponding state and historical period.

Scientists

A scientist is a representative of science who carries out meaningful activities to form a scientific picture of the world, whose scientific activities and qualifications in one form or another have received recognition from the scientific community. The main formal sign of recognition of qualifications is the publication of research materials in authoritative scientific publications and reports at authoritative scientific conferences. A report at all-Russian and international scientific conferences is equal to a scientific publication, but for applicants academic degree There are a number of restrictions. In Russia, a formal attempt has been made to separate authoritative scientific publications from others in the form of a list of publications in which publications are recognized by the Higher Attestation Commission. However, even among authoritative publications and conferences there is a system of priorities that is not entirely clearly understood. As a rule, international publications and conferences enjoy the highest priority, and recognition at the international level is higher than the national one. The authority and recognition of a scientist’s qualifications is associated with his fame in narrow circles of specialists. There are attempts to build ratings based on the number of references to the work of a given scientist from the works of other scientists.

Pedagogical work is highly valued in the scientific community. The right to lecture at a prestigious educational institution is recognition of the level and qualifications of the scientist. The creation of a scientific school, that is, the training of several scientists who develop the ideas of the teacher, is also highly valued.

Belonging to professional science and the level of qualification of a scientist can be formally determined by local and national qualification commissions (dissertation defense council, certification commission, Higher Attestation Commission). In the USSR and Russia, the qualifications of a scientist are formally confirmed by an academic degree (candidate or doctor of science) and an academic title (associate professor or professor). The assignment of both degrees and titles is controlled by the Higher Attestation Commission. Academic degrees are awarded in areas of science, for example, candidate of physical and mathematical sciences, candidate of legal sciences, etc. - currently the Higher Attestation Commission recognizes 22 such areas. To obtain the appropriate academic degree, it is necessary to write and defend a dissertation in a specialized council; as an exception and with great scientific merit, the dissertation can be replaced by a report on the work done. An exception is made very rarely, for example, for General Designers. Required condition successful defense is the publication and testing of the results of scientific work. Approbation usually refers to presentations at conferences, since this form allows for a discussion of the results and, accordingly, to receive open criticism if the scientific community disagrees. To obtain an academic title (associate professor or professor), in addition to an academic degree, you must maintain pedagogical work, in particular, have educational and methodological publications. There are also smaller formal signs of recognition of qualifications, for example, permission to supervise the scientific work of graduate students is a necessary step in the transition from candidate to doctor.

The first scientific societies appeared in Italy in the 1560s - these were the “Academy of the Secrets of Nature” (Academia secretorum naturae) in Naples (1560), the “Academy of Lynchians” (Accademia dei Lincei - literally, “academy of lynx-eyed”, that is, those with a special vigilance) in Rome (1603), “Academy of Experienced Knowledge” (“Academy of Experiments”, 1657) in Florence. All these Italian academies, in which many significant thinkers and public figures Led by visiting honorary member Galileo Galilei, they were created to promote and expand scientific knowledge in the field of physics through regular meetings, exchange of ideas and experiments. Undoubtedly, they influenced the development of European science as a whole.

The need for accelerated development of science and technology required the state to take a more active role in the development of science. Accordingly, in a number of countries, for example, in Russia, the Academy was created by decree from above. However, most Academies of Sciences have adopted democratic statutes, ensuring their relative independence from the state.

Scientific organizations:

• UNESCO (The organization promotes cooperation between scientists and other scientific organizations Worldwide).
• IUPAC ( international organization, promoting progress in the field of chemistry).
• International Astronomical Union (recognized as the highest international authority on astronomical issues requiring cooperation and standardization, such as the official naming of astronomical bodies and the parts on them).

International institutions

Some dissemination attempts are met with great misunderstanding. For example, there was phone conversation compilers of the collection “Physicists are joking” with other scientists, in which the interlocutors of the compilers said that “our employees are engaged in serious matters and they have no time for jokes.”

Scientific method

• Basic scientific research- this is a deep and comprehensive study of a subject in order to obtain new fundamental knowledge, as well as to clarify the patterns of the phenomena being investigated, the results of which are not intended for direct industrial use. The term fundamentality (lat. fundare- “to found”) reflects the focus of these sciences on the study of the primary, fundamental laws of nature.
• Applied scientific research- these are studies that use the achievements of fundamental science to solve practical problems. The result of the research is the creation and improvement of new technologies.
• Research and development(R&D) - here science is combined with production, thereby providing both scientific, technical and engineering studies of this project. Sometimes the results obtained can lead to a scientific and technological revolution.

Experiences on yourself

Many scientists have conducted scientific experiments on myself.

• The successful experience with self-infection of one of the discoverers of the microorganism Helicobacter pylori - Professor Barry Marshall and a group of volunteers served as another convincing scientific proof of the existence of a factor that today is considered one of the first places in the etiology of chronic gastritis. In 2005, Barry Marshall and his partner Robin Warren were awarded the Nobel Prize for their discovery.

Philosophy

The philosophy of science is represented by many original concepts that propose certain models of cognitive activity and the development of science. It is focused on identifying the role and significance of science, the characteristics of science that make it possible to distinguish it from other types of cognitive activity.

Philosophy of science has the status of historical sociocultural knowledge, regardless of whether it is focused on the study of natural sciences or social sciences and humanities. The philosopher of science is interested in scientific research, the “discovery algorithm,” the dynamics of the development of scientific knowledge, and research methods. (Although the philosophy of science is interested in the reasonable development of sciences, it is still not intended to directly ensure their reasonable development, as is the purpose of multidisciplinary metascience).

If the main goal of science is to obtain truth, then philosophy of science is one of the most important areas for humanity to apply its intellect, within which the question “how is it possible to achieve truth?”

Limits of knowledge

Conviction in the omnipotence of science and the confidence that, due to the continuity of the process of accumulation of scientific knowledge, the unknown remains so only temporarily, is a continuous incentive for the productive activity of a constantly renewed scientific society. [unreputable source?] Meanwhile, this postulate cannot be experimentally refuted or proven within the framework of the scientific method, and therefore, by virtue of Popper’s criterion, has no relation to science.

However, it is possible to separate the area in which science is competent to know objectively existing reality, from knowledge about that part of this reality that fundamentally cannot be investigated using the scientific method. This section follows the line of distinguishing questions asked of nature into those that imply the fundamental possibility of obtaining reliable answers to them experimentally, and those that only seem so.

For example, Gödel's second theorem is widely known, according to which within the framework of any formal system, including the arithmetic of natural numbers, if this system is consistent, its consistency cannot be proven.

Science operates with models of real objects that differ to one degree or another from the real world.

Reliability of knowledge

One of the problems of the philosophy of science, epistemology, is the problem of the reliability of scientific knowledge. In general, this problem boils down to the question: “Is scientific knowledge objective?” The most common answer is “moderately relativistic”: achieved scientific knowledge is reliable (objective) if this moment it is confirmed by many independent sources and observations.

Motives for scientific research

One of the most powerful urges leading to<…>science, is the desire to get away from everyday life with its painful cruelty and inconsolable emptiness<…>This reason pushes people with subtle spiritual strings from personal experiences into the world of objective vision and understanding. ...

To this negative reason is added a positive one. A person strives in some adequate way to create in himself a simple and clear picture the world in order to break away from the world of sensations in order to, to a certain extent, replace this world with the picture created in this way.

Scientific picture of the world

A scientific picture (model) of the world is a system of ideas about the properties and patterns of reality, built as a result of generalization and synthesis of scientific concepts and principles.

In the process of development of science, there is a constant renewal of knowledge, ideas and concepts, earlier ideas become special cases of new theories. The scientific picture of the world is not a dogma or an absolute truth. Scientific ideas about the world around us are based on the totality of proven facts and established cause-and-effect relationships, which allows us to make, with a certain degree of confidence, conclusions and predictions about the properties of our world that contribute to the development of human civilization. The discrepancy between the test results of a theory, hypothesis, concept, and the identification of new facts - all this forces us to reconsider existing ideas and create new ones that are more consistent with reality. This development is the essence of the scientific method.

Classification

Attempts to classify areas human knowledge have been undertaken for various reasons since antiquity. Thus, Aristotle (one of the first attempts) identified three large groups of such areas: theoretical (physics and philosophy), practical (gives guiding ideas for human behavior, ethics and politics) and creative, poetic (cognition is carried out to achieve something beautiful, aesthetics). He divided theoretical knowledge (knowledge is carried out for its own sake) (according to its subject) into: 1) “first philosophy” (later “metaphysics” - the science of the highest principles and first causes of everything that exists, inaccessible to the senses and comprehended speculatively) 2) mathematics 3) physics (studies the various states of bodies in nature). Aristotle did not identify the formal logic he created with philosophy; he considered it an “organ” (tool) of all knowledge.

The classification of the Roman encyclopedist Marcus Varro included the following sciences: grammar, dialectics, rhetoric, geometry, arithmetic, astrology, music, medicine and architecture.

Attempts at classification continued into the Middle Ages. Hugo of Saint-Victor in the Didaskalikon divides the sciences into four groups:

1. Theoretical sciences (mathematics, physics).
2. Practical Sciences.
3. Mechanical sciences (navigation, agriculture, hunting, medicine, theater).
4. Logic, including grammar and rhetoric.

Social Sciences and Humanities	Natural Sciences	Technical science
Cultural anthropology	Astronomy	Agronomy
Archeology	Biology	Aeronautics
Geography (economic)	Geography (physical)	Ballistics
Linguistics (linguistics)	Geology	Bionics
Art history	Medicine	Biotechnology
Story	Soil science	Geomechanics
Cliometrics	Physics	Geophysics
Local history	Chemistry	Computer science
Cultural studies	Psychology
Literary criticism		Shipbuilding
Pedagogy		Food Technology and Cooking
Political science
Psychology		Cryptography
Religious Studies		Materials Science
Sociology		Mechanical Engineering
Philology		Mechanics
Philosophy and history of philosophy		Nanotechnology
Economy		Robotics
Ethnography		Systems Engineering
Jurisprudence		Construction and Architecture
Library science		Tribology
Bibliology		Electrical engineering
Documentation		Energy

Sciences such as mathematics, logic, computer science, and cybernetics are classified by some scientists as a separate class - formal sciences, otherwise called abstract sciences. Formal sciences are contrasted with natural and social sciences, which are collectively designated empirical sciences. Other scientists consider mathematics to be an exact science, and the rest to be cognitive sciences.

Elements of scientific knowledge

• Natural science (the study of nature, natural sciences)
• Technological knowledge (the study of technology, technical sciences)
• Social studies (the study of society, social sciences)
• Human studies (the study of man, humanities)

Scientific literature

Popularization of science

Popularization of science is the process of disseminating scientific knowledge in a modern and accessible form for wide range of people.

Popularization of science, “translation” of specialized information into the language of an unprepared listener or reader is one of the most important tasks facing scientific popularizers.

The task of a science popularizer is to turn so-called “boring, dry” scientific information into interesting, understandable and accessible information to everyone. This information can be directed both to the whole society and to its part, the younger generation - talented schoolchildren.

Science fiction plays an important role in popularizing science. It was she who predicted many scientific discoveries. The science fiction writer Jules Verne made a significant contribution to this.

Scientists, as carriers of scientific information, are interested in its preservation and enhancement, which is facilitated by the influx of young people into it. After all, the popularization of science increases the number of people interested in science and stimulates their entry into it.

It often happens that when scientific information is popularized, it is simplified and gradually turns into a scientific myth.

It also happens that when science is popularized, popular science clichés arise such as: the secrets of the universe, “scientists have discovered,” etc.

Tycho Brahe believed that scientific knowledge should be available only to rulers who know how to use it. Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Ludwig Faddeev spoke about the popularization of science:

We are aware that we must still explain to people, taxpayers, what we are doing. But we need to popularize those areas of science that are already fully understood. Modern science harder to popularize. Talking about all sorts of quarks, strings, Yang-Mills fields... it turns out bad - with deceptions.

Science and pseudoscience

Pseudoscience is an activity that imitates scientific activity, but in essence is not one. Characteristics A pseudoscientific theory is ignoring or distorting facts, non-falsifiability (non-compliance with Popper’s criterion), refusal to compare theoretical calculations with observational results in favor of appeals to “common sense” or “authoritative opinion”, the use of data not confirmed by independent experiments as the basis for the theory, the impossibility of independent verification or replication of research results, use in scientific work political and religious attitudes, dogmas.

Scientific studies

Science studies is a science that studies science.

Major Issues

see also

Notes

1. Whitehead A.N. Selected works on philosophy. M.: Progress, 1990. 716 p.
2. The science- article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia
3. A high level of intelligence turns academics into atheists
4. Belief in God is incompatible with scientific thinking
5. Sociologist counted scientists who believe in God
6. Answers to frequently asked questions //VAK
7. Physicists joke Library of interesting things
8. Fridtjof Capra. Tao of physics. ORIS. SPb. 1994. ISBN 5-88436-021-5
9. Anselm A. A. Theoretical physics of the twentieth century - a new philosophy of Nature. "Star" No. 1 2000
10. Reliability of scientific knowledge Physical Anthropology. Illustrated Dictionary. EdwART. 2011
11. A. Einstein. “Motives of scientific research” Collection of scientific works. Volume 4 -M.: Science, pp. 39-41
12. Sadokhin, Alexander Petrovich. Concepts of modern natural science: a textbook for university students studying in the humanities and specialties in economics and management / A. P. Sadokhin. - 2nd ed., revised. and additional - M.: UNITY-DANA, 2006. p. 17 (1.5. Scientific picture of the world)
13. Philosophy for graduate students: tutorial/ V. P. Kokhanovsky [and others]. - 2nd ed. - Rostov n/a. : Phoenix, 2003. - 448 p. - (Higher education). - ISBN 5-222-03544-1
14. Speziali P. Classification of sciences // Dictionary of the History of Ideas. Vol. 1. P. 464.
15. Speziali P. Classification of sciences // Dictionary of the History of Ideas. Vol. 1. P. 465.
16. C. West Churchman. Elements of Logic and Formal Science. New York: J. B. Lippincott Co., 1940.
17. James Franklin. The formal sciences discover the philosophers" stone // Studies in History and Philosophy of Science. Vol. 25, No. 4, pp. 513-533, 1994.
18. Stephen Leacock. Elements of Political Science. Houghton, Mifflin Co., 1906, p. 417.
19. Bernt P. Stigum. Toward a Formal Science of Economics. MIT Press, 1990.
20. Marcus Tomalin. Linguistics and the Formal Sciences. Cambridge University Press, 2006.
21. Mario Augusto Bunge. Philosophy of Science: From Problem to Theory. - 1998. - P. 24. - ISBN 0-765-80413-1
22. What is cognitive science
23. Second International Conference on Cognitive Science
24. M. V. Falikman. Introduction to Cognitive Science (special course program)

Science studies the surrounding nature, reality, reality perceived by us with the help of our senses and comprehended by the intellect and reason. Science is a system and mechanism for obtaining objective knowledge about this surrounding world. Objective - that is, one that does not depend on forms, methods, structures cognitive process and is a result that directly reflects the real state of affairs. Science owes to ancient philosophy and the formation (discovery) of the greatest form logical knowledge– concepts.

Scientific knowledge is based on a number of principles that define, clarify, and detail the forms of scientific knowledge and scientific attitude to the comprehension of reality. They record some features of the scientific worldview, quite subtle, detailed, original, which make science a truly very powerful, effective way of cognition. There are several such principles that underlie the scientific understanding of reality, each of which plays a significant role in this process.

Firstly, this is the principle of objectivity. An object is something that lies outside the cognizing person, located outside his consciousness, existing on its own, having its own laws of development.

The principle of objectivity means nothing more than the recognition of the fact of the existence of the external world and the possibility of its knowledge, independent of man and humanity, of his consciousness and intellect. And this intelligent, rational knowledge must follow verified, reasoned methods of obtaining knowledge about the world around us.

The second principle underlying scientific knowledge is the principle of causality. The principle of causality, or, scientifically speaking, the principle of determinism, means the statement that all events in the world are interconnected by a causal relationship. According to the principle of causality, events that do not have a real cause that can be fixed in one way or another do not exist. There are also no events that do not entail any material, objective consequences. Every event generates a cascade, or at least one consequence.

Consequently, the principle of causality asserts the presence in the Universe of natural, balanced ways of interacting between objects. Only on its basis can one approach the study of the surrounding reality from the standpoint of science, using the mechanisms of proof and experimental verification.

The principle of causality can be understood and interpreted in different ways, in particular, its interpretations in classical science, associated primarily with Newton’s classical mechanics, and quantum physics, which is the brainchild of the 20th century, differ quite greatly from each other, but with all modifications this principle remains one of the main things in the scientific approach to understanding reality.

Next important principle– this is the principle of rationality, argumentation, evidence scientific provisions. Any scientific statement makes sense and is accepted by the scientific community only when it is proven. Types of evidence can be different: from formalized mathematical proofs to direct experimental confirmations or refutations. But science does not accept unproven propositions that are interpreted as very possible. In order for a certain statement to receive scientific status, it must be proven, reasoned, rationalized, and experimentally verified.

This principle is directly related to the next one, which is characteristic mainly of experimental natural science, but to some extent manifests itself in theoretical natural science and mathematics. This is the principle of reproducibility. Any fact obtained in scientific research as intermediate or relatively complete should be able to be reproduced in an unlimited number of copies, either in an experimental study by other researchers, or in a theoretical proof by other theorists. If scientific fact irreproducible; if it is unique, it cannot be subsumed under a pattern. And if so, then it does not fit into the causal structure of the surrounding reality and contradicts the very logic of scientific description.

The next principle underlying scientific knowledge is the principle of theoreticalness. Science is not an endless pile of scattered ideas, but a collection of complex, closed, logically completed theoretical constructs. Each theory in a simplified form can be represented as a set of statements interconnected by intratheoretical principles of causality or logical consequence. A fragmentary fact in itself has no meaning in science.

In order to Scientific research gave a fairly holistic idea of ​​the subject of study, a detailed theoretical system called scientific theory. Any object of reality represents a huge, ultimately infinite number of properties, qualities and relationships. Therefore, an expanded, logically closed theory is needed, which covers the most essential of these parameters in the form of a holistic, expanded theoretical apparatus.

The next principle underlying scientific knowledge and related to the previous one is the principle of systematicity. General systems theory is in the second half of the 20th century the basis of a scientific approach to understanding reality and treats any phenomenon as an element complex system, that is, as a set of elements interconnected according to certain laws and principles. Moreover, this connection is such that the system as a whole is not arithmetic sum their elements, as was previously thought, before the advent of the general theory of systems.

The system is something more substantial and more complex. From the point of view of general systems theory, any object that is a system is not only a collection of elementary components, but also a collection the most complex connections between them.

And finally, the last principle underlying scientific knowledge is the principle of criticality. It means that in science there are not and cannot be final, absolute truths approved for centuries and millennia.

Any of the provisions of science can and should be subject to the analyzing ability of the mind, as well as continuous experimental verification. If during these checks and rechecks a discrepancy between previously stated truths and the real state of affairs is discovered, the statement that was previously true is revised. There are no absolute authorities in science, while in previous forms of culture, appeal to authority acted as one of the most important mechanisms for implementing ways of human life.

Authorities in science arise and collapse under the pressure of new irrefutable evidence. What remains are the authorities, characterized only by their brilliant human qualities. New times come, and new truths contain the previous ones either as special case, or as a form of passage to the limit.

The current understanding of the term “science” correlates it with morality, ideology, law, religion, art, and so on as one of the components of the spiritual culture of humanity.

What is science?

Science is a certain system of ordered knowledge about society, nature, and man; it is also a unique type of production of a spiritual order, which is aimed at fully providing knowledge, its improvement and storage.

In addition to the above, science is a complex within which the mentioned production takes place.

To be precise in the definition of science, it arose as a cultural phenomenon in the seventeenth century and provided a chance to test the veracity of discovered knowledge experimentally. Science is firmly linked to society. It cannot receive impetus for its emergence or development outside of society. But today’s society cannot fully function without it, because the main types of science are aimed at meeting needs in all aspects human existence, and also serve as a powerful factor in the development of society. Based on knowledge of the laws of operation and development of objects in its field of consideration, science builds a forecast for the further existence of these objects in order to master the surrounding reality in practice.

Scientific knowledge. Paradigm

Scientific knowledge is governed by specific norms and ideals of scientific activity, which include certain approaches, attitudes, and principles developed by scientists at certain stages of the development of scientific reality. They change over time, as, for example, there was a transition from Isaac Newton's understanding of physics to Albert Einstein's views. The set of norms and ideals of scientific knowledge that prevail at a particular stage of development is called the “style of scientific thinking.”

US science historian T. Kuhn worked on an analysis of the nature with which scientific knowledge developed. He specified periods during which science has a gradual development, facts accumulate through many proven theories within the boundaries of previously emerged theories. This is a certain state of science, the development of which is based on established principles scientific community norms, guidelines and rules, Kuhn determined as a paradigm.

While different types of sciences receive new rounds of development within a specific paradigm, there is an accumulation of facts that go beyond the boundaries of existing theories. There comes a time when it is necessary to change the basis of scientific knowledge, methodological guidelines, and principles to explain newfound facts. Thus, a change in the scientific paradigm occurs, which Kuhn calls a scientific revolution.

Scientific picture of the world

The mentioned process inevitably leads to changes in the scientific picture of the world, that is, a complex system of principles and concepts regarding the patterns and general characteristics of the surrounding world. There is a general scientific picture of the world, which includes ideas about all aspects of reality, nature, society and direct knowledge, and a natural scientific picture of the world. It depends on the subject of knowledge to which it relates. Thus, such a picture of the world can be physical, chemical, astronomical, biological, and so on. At the center of the general scientific picture of the world is the picture of the world of the leading (at the current stage of development of science) field of scientific knowledge.

Any picture of the world is based on specific fundamental theories. With the development of knowledge and practice, they replace one another. For example, the natural science and physical model was based in the seventeenth century on classical mechanics and was called, accordingly, classical, then in the twentieth century - on electrodynamics, the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics and was called the non-classical picture of the world. Today it is based on synergetics and is considered post-non-classical. Scientific pictures of the world serve as a heuristic basis for building fundamental theories. They are intertwined with the worldview; this is one of the most important resources for its formation.

The classification of sciences is controversial in the scientific community. This is an important and complex issue. The system is so ramified that all the diverse and numerous studies that can be distinguished by subject, object, degree of fundamentality, method, scope of application, and so on, cannot be classified on one basis. In general, we can list the following groups: technical, natural, social or public and humanitarian.

Natural Sciences:

about space in general, its structure and development processes: cosmology, astronomy, astrophysics, cosmogony, cosmochemistry and others;

about the earth, that is, geophysics, geochemistry, geology and others;

about systems and processes of physics, biology, chemistry, forms according to which the movement of matter occurs;

about man in his biological aspect, the origin and development of the organism, for example, this is anatomy.

Technical sciences as a basis have natural Sciences. The subject of their study is various aspects and branches of technology development. These are radio engineering, heating engineering, electrical engineering and others.

Social or social sciences have an extensive internal system. The subject of study of social sciences is society. Among them are sociology, political science, economics, jurisprudence and others. The types of economic sciences, in particular, have their own hierarchy, as do many of the sciences in this category.

Humanities study spiritual world the individual, his place in the surrounding world and society, among people. These are psychology, pedagogy, conflict management and others.

Related positions

Some individual sciences can form links between categories and come into contact with different groups. These are medicine, ergonomics, engineering psychology, ecology and others. It is worth noting that a particularly small edge is formed by the species social sciences and humanitarian. Such boundary sciences include history, aesthetics, ethics, and so on.

In the system of sciences, a unique position is occupied by mathematics, philosophy, cybernetics, computer science and the like. These types of sciences have general character, therefore they are used to guide all studies.

Science on the path of its development from a solitary activity becomes a unique, in some way, independent form of consciousness of society and an aspect of human activity. It is the product of a long process of development of human culture and civilization. This is a separate social organism with special types of interaction, division and management of individual processes of scientific activity.

Functions of science

The ever-increasing importance of science in today's scientific and technological world cannot be refuted. Its functions explain its role:

epistemological, that is, science helps to understand the world around us;

worldview, science also provides an explanation of reality;

transformative. Basic types of science are the key to the development of society, it serves as the basis for the processes of current production and the discovery of new ways of doing something, advanced technologies, thus significantly increasing the potential of society.

Thus, it is difficult to unambiguously classify all types of science. But it can be divided into several groups that closely interact with each other.