What are fundamental and applied sciences? The answer to this question can be found by considering the structure of modern scientific knowledge. It is diverse, complex and covers thousands of different disciplines, each of which is a separate science.
The whole history of mankind is evidence of a constant search. This ongoing process pushed a person to develop various forms and ways of knowing the world, one of which is science. It is she who, acting as a component of culture, allows a person to “get acquainted” with the world around him, to know the laws of development and ways of existence.
By acquiring scientific knowledge, a person discovers endless possibilities for himself, allowing him to transform the reality around him.
The definition of science as a special sphere of human activity leads to an understanding of its main task. The essence of the latter is the systematization of existing and the so-called production of new knowledge about the reality surrounding a person, about the various aspects of this reality. Such a concept of science allows us to present it as a kind of system that includes many elements connected by a common methodology or worldview. The components here are various scientific disciplines: social and humanitarian, technical, natural and others. Today there are more than ten thousand.
The diversity and complexity of the entire system of science determines the consideration of its features from two sides, such as:
In the first case, the whole set of scientific disciplines can be conditionally divided into two large groups: fundamental and applied sciences. If the latter are directly related to practice and are aimed at solving any specific problems, then the former, acting as a kind of basis, are guidelines in the formation of a general idea of the world.
In the second, referring to the content side that characterizes the disciplines based on three subject areas (man, society and nature), three are distinguished:
Let us consider what underlies the division into applied and fundamental sciences.
The former can be represented as a certain system of knowledge with a well-defined practical orientation. They are aimed at solving any specific problems: increasing crop yields, reducing morbidity, etc.
In other words, applied sciences are those whose research results have a clear and, as a rule, practical goal.
The fundamental sciences, being more abstract, serve higher purposes. Actually, their name speaks for itself. The system of this knowledge forms the foundation of the entire building of science, gives an idea of the scientific picture of the world. It is here that the concepts, laws, principles, theories and concepts that form the basis of applied sciences are created.
Applied sciences, acting as a solution to specific problems, are often not devoid of some duality in their final results. On the one hand, new knowledge is a stimulus for further progress, it significantly expands human capabilities. On the other hand, they also create new, sometimes intractable problems, having a negative impact on a person and the world around him.
Serving someone's private interests, obtaining super profits, applied sciences in the hands of man violate the harmony created by the Creator: they negatively affect health, inhibit or stimulate natural processes, replace natural elements with synthetic ones, etc.
This part of science causes a very controversial attitude towards itself, since such service to human needs at the expense of nature carries a significant threat to the existence of the planet as a whole.
The possibility of a clear division of the sciences into the above groups is disputed by some researchers. They substantiate their objections by the fact that any sphere of scientific knowledge, starting its way from goals that are very far from practice, can ultimately transform into a predominantly applied area.
The development of any branch of science takes place in two stages. The essence of the first is the accumulation of knowledge to a certain level. Overcoming it and moving on to the next one is marked by the possibility of carrying out some type of practical activity on the basis of the information received. The second stage consists in the further development of the acquired knowledge and their application in any particular industry.
The point of view accepted by many, relating the results of fundamental science to new knowledge, and applied science to their practical application, is not entirely correct. The problem is that here there is a substitution of the result and the goal. After all, often new knowledge is possible thanks to applied research, and the discovery of hitherto unknown technologies can be the result of fundamental ones.
The fundamental differences between these components of science are the properties of the results obtained. In the case of applied research, they are predictable and expected, but in fundamental research they are unpredictable and can “overturn” already established theories, which gives rise to much more valuable knowledge.
This subject area of scientific knowledge pays attention to the problems of man, studying him as an object from various angles. However, there is still no unity on what sciences to classify as humanities. The reason for these disagreements can be considered social disciplines, which are also related to a person, but only from the standpoint of considering him in society. According to a number of sciences, a person without society cannot be formed in the full sense of the word. An example of this is the children who found themselves and grew up in a pack of animals. Having missed an important stage of their socialization, they could not become full-fledged people.
The way out of this situation was the combined name: social and humanitarian knowledge. It characterizes a person not only as an individual subject, but also as a participant in social relations.
The number of scientific disciplines that form this subject area is significant: history, sociology, political science, psychology, philosophy, economics, philology, theology, archeology, cultural studies, jurisprudence, etc. All these are the humanities. Applied aspects of many of them appeared as they were developed. Such disciplines as sociology, psychology, political and legal sciences were most clearly manifested in this capacity. They were fundamental and became the basis for practical ones. In the social and humanitarian sphere, applied sciences include: applied psychology, political technologies, legal psychology, criminalistics, social engineering, management psychology, etc.
This branch of scientific knowledge also contains fundamental and applied sciences. Here the section between them can be traced simply. There is a fundamental discipline - the theory of state and law. It contains the main concepts, categories, methodology, principles and is the basis for the development of all jurisprudence as a whole.
On the basis of the theory of state and law, all other disciplines develop, including applied legal sciences. Their appearance is based on the use of so-called non-legal knowledge from various fields: statistics, medicine, sociology, psychology, etc. Such a combination at one time opened up new opportunities for a person in ensuring the rule of law.
The list of legal disciplines that form the applied sciences is quite large. It includes criminology, forensic science, legal psychology, forensic medicine, forensic statistics, legal informatics, forensic psychology, and others. As you can see, here the applied sciences include not only purely legal disciplines, but mainly those that do not belong to jurisprudence.
Speaking about this area of scientific knowledge, it should be noted that, like the fundamental one, it is designed to serve a person and solve his problems. Actually, this is what applied sciences do. In a broad aspect, their tasks should be formed as a social order of society that allows solving urgent problems. However, in practice, given the specific nature of applied problems, everything is seen differently.
As already noted, the development of applied sciences can be built on the basis of fundamental ones. The existing close, almost genetic relationship between them does not allow us to draw a clear boundary here. And therefore, the tasks of applied sciences are due to the improvement of fundamental research, which are as follows:
In turn, applied sciences use the acquired knowledge for the following purposes:
The list will continue as long as man and science exist as a special form of cognition of reality. But the main task of applied science is seen as its service to humanity and its needs.
These disciplines center around the individual and society. Here they perform their specific tasks, due to their subject matter.
The development of applied sciences is possible both with the priority of the practical component, and with the theoretical one. The first direction is widespread and covers various branches of scientific knowledge, which have already been mentioned.
Regarding the second direction, it should be noted that applied theoretical sciences are built on completely different foundations. Here are the foundations:
The complexity of this type of knowledge lies in the fact that it assumes the existence of a special type of constructs - abstract objects that are linked together by theoretical laws and are aimed at studying the essence of phenomena and processes. As a rule, philosophy, economics, sociology, political and legal sciences resort to such methods of cognizing reality. In addition to theoretical foundations, they can also use empirical data, as well as the apparatus of mathematical disciplines.
conditioned by them; - affects the basic principles of most humanitarian and natural science disciplines, - serves to expand theoretical, conceptual ideas, in particular - the determination of the ideological and formative essence of the subject of their study, - the universe as such in all its manifestations, including those covering the spheres of intellectual, spiritual and social.
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The tasks of fundamental science do not include an urgent and indispensable practical implementation (nevertheless, prospectively - epistomologically expedient), which is its fundamental difference from utilitarian theoretical or applied science, which are the same in relation to it. However, the results of fundamental research also find actual application, constantly correcting the development of any discipline, which is generally unthinkable without the development of its fundamental sections - any discoveries and technologies will certainly rely on the provisions of fundamental science by definition, and in case of contradiction with conventional ideas, not only stimulate modifications of those , but they also need fundamental research for a full understanding of the processes and mechanisms underlying this or that phenomenon - further improvement of the method or principle. Traditionally, fundamental research was correlated with natural science, at the same time, all forms of scientific knowledge are based on systems of generalizations that are their basis; thus, all the humanities have or strive to have an apparatus capable of grasping and formulating the general fundamental principles of research and methods of their interpretation.
The state, which has sufficient scientific potential and strives for its development, certainly contributes to the support and development of fundamental research, despite the fact that they are often not profitable.
Thus, the second article of the federal law of Russia dated August 23, 1996 No. 127-FZ “On Science and State Scientific and Technical Policy” defines fundamental research as follows:
Experimental or theoretical activity aimed at obtaining new knowledge about the basic patterns of the structure, functioning and development of a person, society, and the natural environment.
The most striking example illustrating the characteristic features of fundamental science, of course, can be the history of research related to the structure of matter, in particular, the structure of the atom, the practical implementation of which was found, without exaggeration, only hundreds of years after the birth of the initial ideas of atomism, and after tens - after the formation of the theory of the structure of the atom.
In each field of knowledge, a similar process is observed, when from the primary empirical substrate, through a hypothesis, experiment and its theoretical understanding, with their appropriate development and expansion, improvement of methodology, science comes to certain postulates, contributing, for example, to the search and formation of quantitatively expressed provisions, which are the theoretical basis for further theoretical research, and for the formation of problems of applied science.
Improvement of the instrumental base, both theoretical and experimental, - practical, serves (in the correct implementation conditions) to improve the method. That is, any fundamental discipline and any applied direction are capable, to a certain extent, of mutually participating in the development of understanding and solving their independent, but also common tasks: applied science expands the possibilities of research tools, both practical and theoretical, of fundamental science, which, in in turn, the results of their research, provides a theoretical tool and a basis for the development of applied on the relevant topics. This is one of the main reasons for the need to support fundamental science, which, as a rule, does not have the ability to self-finance.
M. V. Lomonosov warned about the dangers of misunderstanding, and even more so - public coverage of issues related to rather complex scientific problems, in his “Discourse on the duties of journalists when presenting their essays, designed to maintain the freedom of philosophy” ( 1754); These fears do not lose their relevance to this day. They are also fair in relation to the interpretation of the role and significance of the fundamental sciences that is happening now, - assigning research of a different “genre” affiliation to their competence.
A typical situation is when there is a misunderstanding of the terms themselves. fundamental science And fundamental research, - their incorrect use, and when for fundamentality in the context of such use it is worth thoroughness any scientific project. Most of these studies are related to large-scale research within the applied sciences, to large-scale works subordinated to the interests of various branches of industry, etc. Here for fundamentality worth only the attribute significance, and in no way can they be attributed to fundamental- in the sense mentioned above. It is this misunderstanding that gives rise to a deformation of ideas about the true meaning of truly fundamental science (in terms of modern science of science), which begins to be regarded exclusively as “pure science” in the most misleading interpretation, that is, as science divorced from real practical needs, as serving, for example, corporate egghead problems.
A fairly rapid development of technology and systemic methods (in relation to the implementation of what was obtained and long ago "predicted" by fundamental science) creates conditions for a different kind of incorrect classification of scientific research, when their new direction, belonging to the field - interdisciplinary, is regarded as a success in mastering the technological base, or vice versa, is presented only in the form of a line of development - fundamental. While these scientific studies, indeed, owe their origin to the latter, they are more related to applied ones, and only indirectly serve the development of fundamental science.
Nanotechnologies can serve as an example of this, the basis of which, relatively recently, in terms of the development of science, was laid, among many other areas of fundamental research, by colloidal chemistry, the study of dispersed systems and surface phenomena. However, this does not mean that the fundamental research underlying this or that new technology should be completely subordinated to it, absorbing the provision of other areas; when there is a danger of re-profiling into branch research institutions designed to engage in fundamental research of a fairly wide range.
Modern science as a whole is a complex developing, structured system that includes blocks of natural, social and human sciences. There are about 15,000 sciences in the world, and each of them has its own object of study and its own specific research methods. Science would not be so productive if it did not have such a developed system of methods, principles and imperatives of knowledge inherent in it. The new position of science in the 19th and 20th centuries, under the influence of the intensive growth of scientific thought, brought to the fore the applied significance of science both in society and at every step: in private, personal and collective life.
In the structure of science, fundamental and applied research, fundamental and applied sciences are distinguished. Fundamental and applied research differ primarily in their goals and objectives. Fundamental sciences do not have special practical goals, they give us a general knowledge and understanding of the principles of the structure and evolution of the world in its vast areas. Transformation in the fundamental sciences is a transformation in the style of scientific thinking, in the scientific picture of the world - there is a change in the paradigm of thinking.
Fundamental sciences are fundamental precisely because on their basis the flourishing of very many and diverse applied sciences is possible. The latter is possible, since the fundamental sciences develop basic models of cognition that underlie the cognition of vast fragments of reality. Real knowledge always forms a system of models, hierarchically organized. Each applied area of research is characterized by its own specific concepts and laws, the disclosure of which takes place on the basis of special experimental and theoretical means. The concepts and laws of the fundamental theory serve as the basis for bringing all the information about the system under study into an integral system. Conditioning the development of research in a fairly wide field of phenomena, fundamental science thereby determines the general features of the formulation and methods for solving a vast class of research problems.
When considering applied research and the sciences, emphasis is often placed on the application of scientific results to the solution of well-defined technical and technological problems. The main task of these studies is considered as the direct development of certain technical systems and processes. The development of applied sciences is connected with the solution of practical problems, it has in mind the needs of practice. At the same time, it should be emphasized that the main “purpose” of applied research, as well as fundamental research, is precisely research, and not the development of certain technical systems. The results of applied sciences precede the development of technical devices and technologies, but not vice versa. In applied scientific research, the focus lies on the concept of "science" and not on the concept of "application". The differences between fundamental and applied research lie in the features of the choice of research areas, the choice of research objects, but the methods and results have independent value. In fundamental science, the choice of problems is determined primarily by the internal logic of its development and the technical possibilities of carrying out the corresponding experiments. In applied sciences, the choice of problems, the choice of research objects is determined by the impact of society's demands - technical, economic and social problems. These differences are largely relative. Basic research can also be stimulated by external needs, such as the search for new sources of energy. On the other hand, an important example from applied physics: the invention of the transistor was by no means the result of direct practical demands.
Applied sciences lie on the path from fundamental sciences to direct technical developments and practical applications. Since the middle of the 20th century, there has been a sharp increase in the scope and significance of such research. These changes were noted, for example, by E. L. Feinberg: “In our time, it seems to us, we can talk about the flourishing of a special stage in the scientific and technical research chain, intermediate between fundamental science and direct technical (scientific and technical) implementation. Precisely on this, it can be assumed, the great development of work is based, for example, on solid state physics, plasma physics, and quantum electronics. The researcher working in this intermediate area is a genuine research physicist, but he, as a rule, sees in a more or less distant perspective a specific technical problem, for the solution of which he must create the basis as a research engineer. The practical usefulness of future applications of his work is here not only an objective basis for the need for research (as has always been and is for all science), but also a subjective stimulus. The flowering of such research is so significant that in some respects it changes the whole panorama of science. Such transformations are characteristic of the entire front of the development of research activities; in the case of the social sciences, they are manifested in the growing role and importance of sociological research.
The driving force behind the development of applied sciences is not only the utilitarian problems of the development of production, but also the spiritual needs of man. Applied and fundamental sciences have a positive mutual influence. This is evidenced by the history of knowledge, the history of the development of fundamental sciences. Thus, the development of such applied sciences as the mechanics of continuous media and the mechanics of systems of many particles, respectively, led to the development of fundamental areas of research - Maxwell's electrodynamics and statistical physics, and the development of the electrodynamics of moving media - to the creation of a (special) theory of relativity.
Basic and applied research play different roles in society and in relation to science itself. Science develops on a broad front, has a complex structure, which in many respects can be likened to the structure of highly organized systems, primarily living systems. In living systems, there are subsystems and processes occurring in them that are aimed at maintaining the systems themselves in a living, active, active state, but there are subsystems and processes aimed at interacting with the environment, at implementing metabolism with the environment. Similarly, in science, one can distinguish subsystems and processes focused primarily on maintaining science in an active and active state, but there are subsystems and processes focused on the external manifestations of science, its involvement in other activities. The development of fundamental science is aimed primarily at the internal needs and interests of science, at maintaining the functioning of science as a whole, and this is achieved through the development of generalized ideas and methods of cognition that characterize the deep foundations of being. Accordingly, one speaks of "pure" science, theoretical science, of knowledge for the sake of knowledge. Applied sciences are directed outwards, towards assimilation with other, practical types of human activity, and especially towards assimilation with production. Hence they speak of practical science aimed at changing the world.
Basic research can be divided into two large groups. One of them is aimed at increasing the volume of our knowledge, designed to satisfy the need of mankind as a whole and, above all, a particular person - a researcher - in an ever deeper knowledge of the objective world. Another group of studies is aimed at obtaining the fundamental knowledge necessary to answer the question of how to achieve a particular practical result. As a rule, at a certain stage in the development of science, the subject content of one or another group of fundamental research is different, but methodologically they are close to each other, and it is impossible to draw a sharp line between them.
The latest history of science speaks of the interaction, interweaving, mutual transformation of these two groups of fundamental research. However, this was not always the case. And above all, because the applied significance of fundamental research did not immediately surface on the surface of public perception. For centuries, fundamental research, i.e., research in no way connected with the topic of the day, went on separately from applied research, and did not solve any practical problems. The greatest achievements of modern times have nothing to do with practice in the exact sense of the word. Rather, on the contrary, science went behind, explaining, but not predicting, not foreseeing the new and not pushing for the invention, the creation of the new.
Fundamental research is such research that discovers new phenomena and patterns, it is research into what lies in the nature of things, phenomena, events. But when conducting fundamental research, one can set both a purely scientific task and a specific practical problem. One should not think that if a purely scientific problem is posed, then such a study cannot give a practical solution. Equally, one should not think that if a fundamental research is posed aimed at solving a practically important problem, then such research cannot have general scientific significance.
The gradual increase in the volume of fundamental knowledge about the nature of things leads to the fact that they more and more become the basis of applied research. The fundamental is the foundation of the applied. Any state is interested in the development of fundamental science as the basis of a new applied science, and most often military. State leaders often do not understand that science has its own laws of development, that it is self-sufficient and sets itself tasks. (There is no such head of state who could set a competent task for fundamental science. For applied science, this is possible, since tasks for applied sciences often follow from the practice of life.) The state often allocates little funds for the development of fundamental research and hinders the development of science. However, fundamental science, fundamental research must be carried out and they will exist as long as humanity exists.
Fundamental sciences, fundamentality in education are especially important. If a person is not trained fundamentally, then he will be poorly trained in a specific case, it will be difficult to understand and perform a specific job. A person must be trained first of all in what lies at the foundation of his profession.
The main property of fundamental science is its predictive power.
Fundamental applied research in science is becoming increasingly important every year. In this regard, the issue of determining the place of applied research and fundamental sciences is relevant.
Depending on the specifics of science, there is a different connection between its theoretical and practical results with social life, real production. The division of ongoing research into applied and fundamental was caused by an increase in the scale of scientific work, as well as an increase in the application of its results in practice.
Science, as a specific form of social institution and consciousness, appears and is formed as a kind of knowledge of the laws of the natural world, contributes to the purposeful mastery of them, the subordination of natural elements for the benefit of mankind. Of course, even before the discovery of various laws, people used the forces of nature.
But the scale of such interaction was very limited, basically they came down to observations, generalizations, the transfer of recipes and traditions from generation to generation. After the emergence of the sciences of nature (geography, biology, chemistry, physics), practical activity acquired a rational path of development. For practical implementation, they began to apply not empiricism, but objective laws of living nature.
Immediately after the advent of fundamental science, action and cognition, practice and theory began to complement each other, together to solve certain problems that make it possible to significantly increase the level of social development.
In the process of the progress of science, the inevitable specialization and division of labor in the field of research activity appears. Even in the theoretical sphere there is a separation of experiments from the fundamental base.
The experimental base in chemistry, physics, biology is currently associated with industrial production. For example, modern installations for the implementation of thermonuclear transformations are presented in full accordance with the factory reactors. The main goal of the applied industry is currently considered to be the testing of certain hypotheses and theories, the search for rational ways to implement the results in a particular production.
After the separation of applied and theoretical activities in natural science, new types of applied disciplines appeared: technical physics, applied chemistry. Among the interesting areas of technical knowledge, radio engineering, nuclear power engineering, and the space industry are of particular importance.
Many results of fundamental technical disciplines, for example, strength of materials, applied mechanics, radio electronics, electrical engineering, are not directly applied in practice, but various industrial productions operate on their basis, without which it is impossible to create any modern electronic gadget.
At present, no one considers technical disciplines as separate areas; they are being introduced into almost all branches of natural science and production.
To solve complex and complex technical problems, new tasks and goals are set for applied areas, separate laboratories are created in which not only fundamental, but also applied research is carried out.
For example, cybernetics, as well as related disciplines, contribute to the modeling of processes occurring in nature, living organisms, help to study the features of ongoing processes, and look for ways to solve identified problems.
This is a confirmation of the relationship between applied and fundamental scientific research.
Based on the results of ongoing research, not only sociologists speak of the need to search for a close relationship between applied experiments and scientific fundamental laws. Scientists themselves understand the urgency of the problem, they are looking for ways out of this situation. The academician repeatedly recognized the artificiality of the division of science into applied and basic parts. He always emphasized the difficulty of finding that fine line that would become the boundary between practice and theory.
A. Yu. Ishlinsky said that it is precisely "abstract sciences" that are able to make the maximum contribution to the formation of society, its development and formation.
But at the same time, there is also a feedback that involves the application of practical research results to explain scientific facts and the laws of nature.
All experiments of an applied nature, which are not fundamental in nature, are aimed precisely at obtaining a specific result, that is, they involve the implementation of the results obtained in real production. That is why the search for the relationship between scientific and practical areas is highly relevant when working in research centers and specialized laboratories.
Fundamental science is science for the sake of science. It is part of a research and development activity without specific commercial or other practical purposes.
Fundamental science is a science that has as its goal the creation of theoretical concepts and models, the practical applicability of which is not obvious (Titov V.N. Institutional and ideological aspects of the functioning of science // Sotsiol. Issled.1999. No. 8.p.66).
According to the official definition adopted by the Central Statistical Bureau of the Russian Federation:
The US National Science Foundation defines fundamental research as follows:
The task of the fundamental sciences is the knowledge of the laws governing the behavior and interaction of the basic structures of nature, society and thinking. These laws and structures are studied in their "pure form", as such, regardless of their possible use.
Natural science is an example of fundamental science. It is aimed at the knowledge of nature, such as it is in itself, regardless of what application its discoveries will receive: space exploration or environmental pollution. And natural science does not pursue any other goal. This is science for science's sake; knowledge of the surrounding world, the discovery of the fundamental laws of being and the increment of fundamental knowledge.
Fundamental science is often called academic because it develops mainly in universities and academies of sciences. Academic science, as a rule, is fundamental science, science not for the sake of practical applications, but for the sake of pure science. In life, this is often true, but "often" does not mean "always". Basic and academic research are two different things. Cm.
