1.1 Characteristics of the concept of "science"
In modern scientific literature, as V.P. Kokhanovsky, the science is interpreted from different positions and is understood either as a form of activity, or as a system or set of disciplinary knowledge, or as social institution. In the first case, science appears as a special mode of activity aimed at actually verified and logically ordered knowledge of objects and processes of the surrounding reality. As an activity, science is placed in the field of goal-setting, decision-making, choice, pursuit of one's interests, and recognition of responsibility. The activity understanding of science was especially noted by V.I. Vernadsky: "Its (science) content is not limited to scientific theories, hypotheses, models, the picture of the world they create, at the core it mainly consists of scientific facts and their empirical generalizations, and the main living content in it is the scientific work of living people" .
In the second interpretation, when science acts as a system of knowledge that meets the criteria of objectivity, adequacy, and truth, scientific knowledge tries to secure a zone of autonomy for itself and be neutral in relation to ideological and political priorities. That for which the armies of scientists spend their lives and lay down their heads is truth, it is above all, it is the constituent element of science and the basic value of science.
The third, institutional understanding of science emphasizes its social nature and objectifies its being as a form. public consciousness. However, other forms of social consciousness are also associated with institutional design: religion, politics, law, ideology, art, and so on.
Science as a social institution or a form of social consciousness associated with the production of scientific and theoretical knowledge represents a certain system of relationships between scientific organizations, members of the scientific community, a system of norms and values. However, the fact that it is an institution in which tens and even hundreds of thousands of people have found their profession is the result of a recent development. Only in the XX century. the profession of a scientist becomes comparable in importance to the profession of a churchman and lawyer.
Considering science as a sociocultural phenomenon, V.P. Kokhanovsky notes that it depends on the diverse forces and influences operating in society, determines its priorities in the social context, tends to compromise and itself determines social life. Those. as a socio-cultural phenomenon, science arose in response to a certain need of mankind in the production and receipt of true, adequate knowledge about the world, and exists, having a very noticeable impact on the development of all spheres of public life. It is considered as a socio-cultural phenomenon because the boundaries of today's understanding of science are expanding to the boundaries of "culture". Science claims to be the only stable and "genuine" foundation of the latter as a whole in its primary - activity and technological - understanding.
As a sociocultural phenomenon, science always relies on the cultural traditions that have developed in society, on accepted values and norms. Cognitive activity is woven into the existence of culture. From here, the actual cultural and technological function of science becomes clear, associated with the processing and cultivation of human material - the subject of cognitive activity, its inclusion in the cognitive process.
Science, understood as a sociocultural phenomenon, cannot develop outside the development of knowledge that has become public property and is stored in social memory. The cultural essence of science entails its ethical and value content. New possibilities of the ethos of science open up: the problem of intellectual and social responsibility, moral and moral choice, personal aspects of decision-making, problems of the moral climate in the scientific community and the team.
One of the founders of the science of science, J. Bernal, noting that "it is essentially impossible to define science", outlines the ways, following which one can come closer to understanding what science is. So, science appears: 1) as an institution; 2) method; 3) accumulation of traditions of knowledge; 4) production development factor; 5) the most powerful factor in the formation of beliefs and a person's attitude to the world.
The sphere of human activity, the function of which is the development and theoretical systematization of objective knowledge about reality; one of the forms of social consciousness; includes both the activity of obtaining new knowledge and its result - the sum of knowledge underlying the scientific picture of the world; designation of individual branches of scientific knowledge. The immediate goals are the description, explanation and prediction of the processes and phenomena of reality that constitute the subject of its study, on the basis of the laws it discovers. The system of sciences is conditionally divided into natural, social, humanitarian and technical sciences. Born in ancient world in connection with the needs of social practice, began to take shape from the 16th ... 17th centuries. and during historical development has become an important social institution that has a significant impact on all spheres of society and culture in general. The volume of scientific activity since the 17th century. doubles approximately every 10-15 years (increase in discoveries, scientific information, the number of scientists). In the development of science, extensive and revolutionary periods alternate - scientific revolutions, leading to a change 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. See Scientific and technological revolution.
(from the Greek. techne - art, craft, skill), a set of means of human activity created to carry out production processes and serve the non-productive needs of society. The term "technique" is also often used to summarize the skills and techniques used in any field of human activity. Technology materializes the knowledge and experience accumulated in the process of the development of society. The main purpose of technology is to facilitate and increase the efficiency of human labor, expand its capabilities, free (partially or completely) a person from work in conditions hazardous to health. The means of technology are used in the creation of material and cultural values; for receiving, transferring and converting energy; the study of nature and society; collection, storage, processing and transmission of information; production process management; creation of materials with predetermined properties; movement and communications; household and cultural services; ensuring defense capability. Modern technology is characterized by high rates of its modernization and automation, unification, standardization, intensive development of energy, radio electronics, chemical technology, widespread use of automation, computers, etc. The achievements of modern technology are based on fundamental scientific discoveries and research.
(from the Greek techne - art, skill, skill and logos - word, teaching), a set of processing methods, manufacturing, changing the state, properties, form of raw materials, material or semi-finished products carried out in the production process; a scientific discipline that studies the physical, chemical, mechanical, and other regularities that operate in technological processes. Technology is also called the operations of extraction, processing, transportation, storage, control, which are part of the overall production process.
material, the process of creating material goods, services.
(eng. Internet from lat. inter - between and eng. net - network, web), an international (worldwide) computer network of electronic communications, uniting regional, national, local and other networks. Contributes to a significant increase and improvement in the exchange of information, first of all scientific and technical. Unites collective and individual users (each with its own email address) worldwide.
(from the Greek sysntema - a whole made up of parts; connection), a set of elements that are in relationships and connections with each other, forming a certain integrity, unity.
AT broad sense- correctness in the arrangement of parts, a harmonious row, a connected whole.
(from Latin)
1) public accessibility of the presentation; 2) wide popularity.
The process of reflection and reproduction of reality in the thinking of the subject, the result of which is new knowledge about the world.
(epistemology, epistemology), a branch of philosophy that studies the laws and possibilities of cognition, the relationship of knowledge (sensations, ideas, concepts) to objective reality, explores the stages and forms of the process of cognition, the conditions and criteria for its reliability and truth. Generalizing the methods and techniques used by modern science (experiment, modeling, analysis and synthesis, etc.), the theory of knowledge acts as its philosophical and methodological basis.
The form of existence and systematization of the results of human cognitive activity. Allocate different kinds knowledge: everyday ("common sense"), personal, implicit, etc. Scientific knowledge is characterized by logical validity, evidence, reproducibility of cognitive results. Knowledge is objectified by symbolic means of language.
An activity that generates something qualitatively new and distinguished by originality, originality and socio-historical uniqueness. Creativity is specific to a person, because it always involves a creator - the subject of creative activity.
1) Dissemination of knowledge, education.
2) The system of educational institutions in the country.
(from late Latin rehabilitatio - restoration).
1) in law - restoration of rights. By Russian law the rehabilitation of a person who was involved as an accused, or was found guilty by a court verdict, or was subjected to an administrative penalty, is considered to be an acquittal during the review of the case, a decision (determination) to terminate the criminal case due to the absence of an event of a crime, due to the absence of corpus delicti or lack of evidence participation in the commission of a crime, as well as a decision to terminate the case on an administrative offense.
2) In medicine - a set of medical, pedagogical, professional measures aimed at restoring (or compensating) impaired body functions and the ability to work of patients and disabled people.
1) the same as the gold reserve (special); 2) the best intellectual forces of society, some part of it. Inventors - the golden fund of the country.
(golden proportion, division in the extreme and average ratio, harmonic division), segment division AC into two parts so that most of it AB belongs to the smaller sun like the whole segment AC refers to AB(those. AB: BC = AC: AB). Approximately this ratio is equal to 5/3, more precisely 8/5, 13/8, etc. The principles of the golden section are used in architecture and fine arts. The term " golden ratio introduced by Leonardo da Vinci.
A social being with consciousness, reason. The essence of man, his origin and purpose, the place of man in the world have been and remain the central problems of philosophy, religion, science and art.
The totality of historically established forms of joint activity of people.
The state of mass consciousness, which includes an attitude (hidden or explicit) to social events, to the activities of various groups, organizations, individuals; expresses a position of approval or condemnation on certain social problems.
Correlation of knowledge (co-knowledge), i.e. primary differences and orientations that determine the diverse relationship of a person to the world, including the relationship to others and to oneself, determined by the hierarchy of primary differences and orientations.
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SCIENCE (field of activity) SCIENCE (field of activity)
SCIENCE, the sphere of human activity, the function of which is the development and theoretical systematization of objective knowledge about reality; one of the forms of social consciousness; includes both the activity of obtaining new knowledge and its result - the sum of knowledge underlying the scientific picture of the world; designation of individual branches of scientific knowledge. The immediate goals are the description, explanation and prediction of the processes and phenomena of reality that make up the subject of its study, on the basis of the laws it discovers. The system of sciences is conditionally divided into natural, social, humanitarian and technical sciences. Having originated in the ancient world in connection with the needs of social practice, it began to take shape from the 16th-17th centuries. and in the course of historical development has become the most important social institution, which has a significant impact on all spheres of society and culture in general. The volume of scientific activity since the 17th century. doubles approximately every 10-15 years (increase in discoveries, scientific information, number of scientists). In the development of science, extensive and revolutionary periods alternate - scientific revolutions, leading to a change 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. See Scientific and technological revolution (cm. SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL REVOLUTION).
encyclopedic Dictionary. 2009 .
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Moscow Institute of Economics, Management and Law
Abstract topic:
Science in the system of culture
Performed:
student
groups USs 101\0-09
Kiseleva M.A.
Introduction………………………………………………………………………...3
Chapter 1. Science - as a sphere of human activity…………………..5
1.1 Types of scientificity. Anti-Fundamentalism……………………………………11
Chapter 2. Technology as a set of technical devices…………….14
2.1 Emergence of Technology. Antiscientism……………………………….14
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………….18
List of used literature……………………………………………………………19
Introduction.
This essay consists of an introduction in which I tell what science is, what is its formation, what parts science is divided into and what are the differences between them. The purpose of this essay is to make the student learn about the properties of science and technology. The task is to identify students' skills in the humanities and natural sciences. One of the most pressing issues in the current situation is the question of determining the status of modern science, its potential or its absence. In this sense, the rethinking in science of the concept of rationality, which is fundamental for it, is indicative.
The first chapter tells about science in the Middle Ages, what sciences existed at that time.
The second chapter describes such sciences as technology and scientific and technological progress and how exactly these sciences arose.
Science is a way of mastering being, which has as its goal a rational reconstruction of the world based on the comprehension of its essential laws. In the broad sense of the word, science can be called any way of constructing a rational picture of the world. In a narrower sense, science involves changing the subject for the purpose of its knowledge, which is expressed primarily in the experiment as a method of scientific knowledge. Science in this sense appeared for the first time in Europe in modern times. Its formation is associated with the discoveries of Galileo, Newton, the formation of the first scientific communities (for example, the Royal Society in Great Britain).
Table #1
All sciences are divided into humanities and natural sciences. The difference between natural and human knowledge is that:
the first is based on the division of the subject (man) and the object of study (nature), while the object is mainly studied. The center of the second sphere of knowledge - humanitarian is the subject of knowledge itself. That is, what the natural sciences study materially, the subject matter of the study of the humanities, is rather ideal, although it suffers, of course, in its material carriers. An important feature humanitarian knowledge, in contrast to natural science, is the instability of the rapid variability of the objects of study.
in nature, in most cases, certain and necessary causal relationships and patterns prevail, therefore the main task natural sciences identify these relationships and use them to explain natural phenomena, the truth here is immutable, and can be proved. The phenomena of the spirit are given to us directly, we experience them as our own, the basic principle here is understanding, the truth of data - data is largely subjective, it is the result of not proof, but interpretation.
Chapter 1. Science - as a sphere of human activity.
The method of natural science is “generalizing” (that is, its goal is to find the general in various phenomena, to bring them under general rule), the more important the law is, the more universal it is, the more cases it falls under. In the humanities, also derived general patterns, otherwise they would not be sciences, but since the main object of research is a person, it is impossible to neglect his individuality, therefore the method of humanitarian knowledge can be called “individualizing.
On the natural and human sciences in varying degrees influence the system human values. The natural sciences are not characterized by value-colored judgments, which are an essential element of humanitarian knowledge. Humanitarian knowledge can be influenced by this or that ideology, and is much more connected with it than natural scientific knowledge.
AT modern world the impact of science on all areas human life- from production and technology to economics and politics - very significantly. The 20th century can rightly be called the "golden age of science", because the discoveries of scientists and technological advances have radically changed the lives of each of us and the fate of civilization as a whole. At the same time, humanity is facing serious problems today: the global environmental crisis, the alienation of man from nature, the dehumanization of society. Science is partly responsible for this. There is an urgent need to revise the foundations of one's worldview, understanding one's place in nature, one's civilizational paradigm.
Numerous religions, political parties, movements offer their own solutions to modern problems. But from the point of view of science (at least the classical one), a way out of the crisis is impossible without possessing a scientific picture of the world. This term refers to a rationalistic system of thinking, formed primarily on the basis of a natural-scientific approach. Of course, this is no longer the mechanistic rationalism or empiricism of the times of Descartes and Newton, but a holistic worldview that integrates the achievements of science, technology and humanitarian culture of previous centuries and the 20th century.
Scientific thinking is rational, critical and analytical. This does not mean a rejection of artistic and religious pictures of the world. Scientific rationality is important because it teaches people to realize the relativity and limitations of judgments, to search for solutions, to build models of our ideas about the world, to strive for the objectivity of knowledge. Perhaps right now a new, synergistic type is emerging. scientific outlook, based on the ideas of the unity of the world, evolution, probability, self-organization and a systematic approach. This is manifested not only in the natural sciences, but also in the humanities. More and more similarities between objects of inanimate and living nature and social phenomena are revealed.
In principle, the desire for the synthesis of scientific knowledge, for a holistic view of the world is not a new phenomenon and is characteristic of any cultures. On the contrary, the deep differentiation of sciences into numerous specializations with their own languages, incomprehensible to the uninitiated, is characteristic, first of all, of the European science of modern times. There is a problem of establishing links between separate areas of science, which cannot be solved without the presence of a unifying "metaparadigm" that forms a common worldview. Required Integrity contemporary painting peace, in our opinion, can be achieved by integrating natural science and humanitarian knowledge.
The division of the system of sciences into natural and technical, on the one hand, and into humanitarian and social, on the other, is very conditional. After all, the main function of science as a sphere of human activity is the development and theoretical systematization of objective knowledge about reality. Of course, the specifics of the subject of science should be taken into account, but this does not mean that it is necessary to oppose each other various areas scientific knowledge underlying the scientific picture of the world. And the immediate goals of science: the description, explanation and prediction of the processes and phenomena of reality that are the subject of its study on the basis of the laws it discovers, in essence, are the same for both the humanities and the natural sciences.
Science is closely connected with the entire sphere of culture. So, according to V.I. Vernadsky, “the scientific worldview develops in close communication and wide interaction with other aspects of the spiritual life of mankind. The separation of the scientific worldview and science from the simultaneous or earlier human activity in the field of religion, philosophy, social life or art is impossible. All these manifestations of human life are closely intertwined and can only be separated in the imagination. But before considering the features of the functioning of the “science” subsystem in the system of modern culture, it is necessary to answer the question: how did modern science become possible in general? In order to better comprehend the peculiarities of modern science, let us correlate it with the experience of previous eras.
Science separated from everyday knowledge in ancient times. The beginning of the development of science can be considered the process of accumulation of individual empirical facts, which took place over a long period of time. Already in ancient egypt, Mesopotamia, India, the first signs of the formation of scientific knowledge began to appear: ancient medicine, astrology, and mathematics arose. Thanks to the emergence of philosophy in ancient greece and Rome, scientific (and not mythological) theories began to arise, trying to explain the facts accumulated by that time. However, the lack of methodology and reliance on experience did not allow the development of most of the natural sciences (with the possible exception of mathematics). At the same time, many humanities achieved great success already in ancient times. The basis for the ancient worldview was cosmocentrism, i.e. nature was understood as a cosmos - an eternal and unchanging order, where everything has its natural place and obeys cosmic law.
In the Middle Ages, the development of science was greatly influenced by the Christian religion. The cosmocentric worldview did not disappear, but the cosmos began to be presented as a creation of God; accordingly, the main experience of medieval man was God, not nature. The influence of medieval theocentric ideas on science was ambiguous. On the one hand, there has always been a danger of underestimating the practical aspects of being and distrusting reason, because a person was thought of only as a wanderer on this earth. On the other hand, one should not oppose faith and reason, religion and science. In the system of culture, many of its functions are distributed among all its subsystems: just as religion carries elements of cognitive information, so science contains elements of a value attitude to the world. Since religion performs cognitive functions, it is knowledge. Of course, this knowledge is not scientific and often unproven, but as a result of its impact on a person and society, it can exceed scientific theories, the history of many religions is proof of this.
But only in the Renaissance and especially in the New Age, the situation began to change dramatically: the center of culture shifted from God to man (anthropocentrism). This is when modern science was born. physical nature is no longer understood as some kind of eternal given and not as a creation of God, but as an object of human research and domination with the help of science and technology. Nature becomes the material used by man for his own benefit, and man himself decisively opposes himself to nature.
One of the decisive factors that influenced the culture of that time was the scientific revolution. Below we will discuss in detail the issue of driving forces scientific revolutions, for the time being, let us outline the boundaries of the scientific revolution of modern times.
The main features of science, which was formed in modern times, are also characteristic of our time to one degree or another.
Thus, the method of the new science consists in the analytical consideration of a phenomenon that is previously isolated from environment so as not to take into account individual accompanying factors that do not affect this phenomenon. First, a hypothesis is formulated, which is a rationally ordered a priori experience, and then its truth is proved (as a rule, with the help of an experiment). The experiment emphasizes the connection of theory with practice: the mathematical method proves its effectiveness in the real world. That is why there is an intensive development of practically oriented sciences, as well as technology.
But back to the question posed earlier: how did modern science become possible in the first place? Quite often, the history of science is presented as a simple list of facts and discoveries, and progress in science is reduced to a simple accumulation and growth of scientific knowledge (cumulation), as a result of which the internal patterns of changes occurring in the process of cognition are not revealed. We believe that modern science would be impossible without the scientific (or rather, general cultural) revolution of modern times. To confirm this thesis, let us turn to Thomas Kuhn's famous book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. According to Kuhn, the development of science is uneven. Old theories are refuted by new facts that do not fit into these theories, and then new theories appear that at that time explain almost all the facts. That is, two phases are noticeable in the development of science: the phase of the calm development of science and the phase of the scientific revolution. At the same time, scientific revolutions in the history of the development of science occur quite rarely, and most of the time falls on the phase of “normal science”.
The central place in Kuhn's concept is occupied by the concept of a paradigm, or a set of the most common ideas and methodological attitudes in science, recognized as data scientific community. The paradigm has two properties: 1) it is accepted by the scientific community as the basis for further work; 2), it contains variable questions, i.e. opens up space for researchers. A paradigm is the beginning of any science; it provides the possibility of a purposeful selection of facts and their interpretation.
Kuhn's concept is largely socio-psychological in nature, since it is understood that members of the scientific community share a certain paradigm, adherence to which is determined by their social status and scientific position, scientific stereotypes, sympathies, aesthetic motives and tastes. Scientific revolutions can be caused by various reasons: this is both a random factor (some revolutionary discoveries happened unplanned), and a personal factor (the role of the personality of a scientist). But, in addition to a random or personal factor, there must be objective prerequisites, i.e. facts and observations that contradict the prevailing theory at that time, which lead to the realization of the crisis of a theory or scientific direction. In our opinion, from the point of view of a systematic approach that considers science as part of culture, the objective prerequisites for scientific revolutions are especially important, but these can be not only scientific prerequisites proper, but, last but not least, cultural prerequisites. After all, both science and its creators are immersed in culture, so any innovations in fields of culture that seem to be far from science can respond in the form of new scientific hypotheses and discoveries. The consequence of this may be the birth of a new scientific direction or an entire scientific discipline (and sometimes the closure of an old scientific direction). But the main consequence of the scientific revolution is the clarification of knowledge about the surrounding reality and, consequently, a change in the picture of the world.
The position of T. Kuhn influenced many other scientists. For example, F. Capra gave the concept of a paradigm a very broad meaning, opposing the paradigm of classical, Cartesian-Newtonian science and a new ("holistic", "ecological") paradigm, designed to replace the rational-discrete methodology of the orthodox science of modern times. In the book "Time of Change" he comes to the conclusion that modern science has almost completely freed itself from the legacy of positivism, empiricism and rationalism, and has come close to a holistic understanding of reality. Of course, this is a rather bold statement, but the desire for holism (in other words, for the integration of all scientific knowledge) is indeed present in many areas of modern science, the most striking example here is synergetics. Another thing is that Capra calls for a pre-scientific, mystical understanding of the nature of reality, willingly borrowing Eastern religious and philosophical concepts (one of his books is even called "The Tao of Physics"). It is not always possible to agree with this. It is curious that if at one time the rationalism of scholasticism played a role in the development of science, today the opposite process takes place in the relationship between science and religion - science, with its authority, gives weight to mystical statements. At the same time, the question remains whether this is useful to science, the authority of which is shamelessly used by various psychics and healers.
It is becoming more and more noticeable that modern science is undergoing fundamental changes caused by sociocultural transformations. The face of science is changing, its place in modern society. Its tasks, ways and methods of interaction with the surrounding reality are comprehended in a new way.
Science is a sphere of human activity, the main function of which is the development of knowledge about the world, their systematization, building on their basis the image of the world (scientific picture of the world) and ways of interacting with it (scientifically based practice). Science is the most important form of human knowledge. It has an increasingly visible and significant impact on the life of not only society, but also the individual. Science acts today as the main force of the economic and social development peace. That is why the philosophical vision of the world organically includes certain ideas about what science is, how it works, develops, what it can give, and what is not available to it.
The concept of "science" is quite ambiguous. Science, having numerous definitions, appears in three main hypostases.
Form (sphere) of human activity;
A special way of knowing the world;
A system or body of disciplinary knowledge;
Social institution (system of institutions and organizations).
Science is understood as a special sphere of human activity, the main function of which is the development of knowledge about the world, their systematization, on the basis of which it is possible to build an image of the world (the so-called scientific picture of the world) and build ways to interact with the world (scientifically based practice). In this sense, we use the concept of "science", saying, for example, that someone is "engaged in scientific activities", "passionate about science", etc.
Secondly, science is understood as a special way of knowing the world, different, for example, from artistic or everyday knowledge, that is, from art and life experience (which is discussed below). In this sense, one speaks of a scientific approach, of the scientific nature of the data, that something is scientifically established, etc.
Thirdly, science refers to the system of knowledge itself, obtained as a result of research activities. In this sense, we are talking about the so-called Science with a capital letter (for example, “science claims that ...”), physical science (that is, about the system of knowledge developed by physics), biological science, etc. The “body” of science in this sense constitute laws - open stable connections between phenomena - the formulation of which allows you to describe, explain and predict the phenomena of objective reality.
Science is more often defined as a system of knowledge; as Kant defined it. But such a definition is narrow, for it is limited only to epistemological characteristics; not reflected here social function science and its creative and active vector. In addition, science includes not only knowledge, but also institutions, so science is increasingly defined as a kind of spiritual production. However, there is no general definition of science yet.
Finally, fourthly, science is sometimes understood as a system of institutions and organizations (Academies, institutes, laboratories, professional communities, etc.), within which research activities are organized, conferences are convened, etc. In this sense, we use the term "science", for example, to say that someone is "employed in the field of science" or "is a scientific worker" - by analogy with the fact that someone can be employed in the field of production or in the field of trade.
Regarding the origin and criteria of scientific knowledge, there are very large differences among science scientists. Let us point out two extreme points of view. According to the first of them, science in the proper sense of the word was born in Europe only in the 15th-17th centuries, during the period called the "great scientific revolution". Its emergence is associated with the activities of such scientists as Galileo, Kepler, Descartes, Newton. It is at this time that the birth of scientific method, which is characterized by a specific relationship between theory and experiment. At the same time, the role of mathematization of the natural sciences was realized.
Another point of view, directly opposite to the one just stated, does not impose strict restrictions on the concept of science. According to its supporters, science in the broad sense of the word can be considered any body of knowledge related to the real world. From this point of view, the birth of mathematical science, for example, should be attributed to the time when man began to perform the most elementary operations with numbers: astronomy appeared with the first observations of the movement of heavenly bodies; zoology and botany - with the advent of the first information about flora and fauna, etc.
It is clear that the problem of the emergence of science rests on the problem of identifying the generic characteristics of scientific knowledge, along which it is possible to draw a demarcation line between scientific and non-scientific knowledge.
Characteristic features sciences are successfully identified by I.D. Rozhansky and P.P. Gaidenko in their works devoted to the study ancient civilization.
First, any science is not just a body of knowledge, which also takes place in ordinary knowledge. Much more important is the fact that science is a special activity, namely, the activity of obtaining new knowledge. The latter implies the existence of a certain category of people who are engaged in obtaining new knowledge. Necessary condition scientific activity is the possibility of fixing the information received, which implies the existence of developed writing. A society devoid of writing cannot have science.
It follows from this that traditional or archaic civilizations, which had a mechanism for storing and transmitting accumulated information, but where there was no activity to obtain new knowledge, did not have science. Without detracting from the achievements of archaic civilizations: ancient Egyptian, Sumerian-Babylonian, Harappan, ancient Indian, ancient Chinese, etc., one can say this: protoscience was formed in them, which never turned into science.
The second sign of science in the proper sense of the word is its intrinsic value. The goal of science should be knowledge for the sake of knowledge itself, in other words, the comprehension of truth. Scientific activity in obtaining new knowledge cannot be directed only at solving practical problems; in the latter case, it falls into the realm of applied disciplines.
For the Greeks, on the contrary, who approached mathematics purely theoretically, what mattered, first of all, was a rigorous solution obtained by logical reasoning. This led to the development of mathematical deduction, which turned out to be inaccessible to all Eastern mathematics. In this way, hallmark ancient science from the moment of its inception was theoretical, that is, the desire for knowledge for the sake of knowledge itself, and not for the sake of practical applications.
The third characteristic of true science is its rational character. The transition "from myth to logos", that is, to a rational explanation of any phenomena, was a huge step in development, the origins of early Greek science should also be sought in mythology, in particular, in cosmogonic myths.
Fourth, the next sign of true science is its systematic nature. The totality of disparate knowledge not connected by internal unity, even if they refer to the same reality, does not yet form a science.
Pseudoscience (from other Greek ?????? - "false" + science; less often: pseudoscience? ka, quasi-science? ka, alternative science? ka) - an activity that imitates scientific activity, but in essence not being such. The characteristic features of a pseudoscientific theory are ignoring or distorting facts, non-falsifiability (inconsistency with the Popper criterion), refusal to verify 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 of the theory, the impossibility of independent verification or repetition of research results, use in scientific work political and religious attitudes, dogmas.
Developers of theories not recognized by the scientific community often act as "fighters against the ossified official science." At the same time, they believe that representatives of “official science”, for example, members of the commission to combat pseudoscience, defend group interests (mutual responsibility), are politically biased, do not want to admit their mistakes and, as a result, defend “outdated” ideas to the detriment of a new one. the truth that their theory carries. Some non-scientific concepts are called parascience.
