At the beginning of the twentieth century. the previous scientific ideas on which the mechanistic picture of the world was built were challenged literally from all sides. Solid and indivisible atoms turned out to be divisible and almost completely filled with emptiness. Space and time have become relative manifestations of a single four-dimensional continuum. Time now flowed differently for those moving at different speeds. Near massive objects it slowed down, and under certain circumstances it could stop completely. The laws of Euclidean geometry were no longer mandatory for describing the structure of the Universe. The planets moved in their orbits not because they were attracted to the Sun by the force of universal gravity, but because the space in which they moved was curved. Elementary particles demonstrated a dual nature, appearing both as particles and as waves. It became impossible to simultaneously calculate the location of a particle and measure its speed. Determinism has given way probabilistic view of the world. The results of scientific research depended on the interaction of the subject being studied with instruments and instruments and on the presence of an observer. Instead of real natural phenomena, their mathematical models have increasingly begun to be considered. This has led to increased mathematization of modern science, an increase in its level of abstraction, and loss of clarity.
Natural science in the twentieth century. developed at a very fast pace. This was greatly facilitated by the confrontation between two military-political blocs (USSR and USA), as well as the need of industry for new technologies, based primarily on natural science and closely related technical knowledge. A wide network of educational and research institutions, funded by the state and private companies, has emerged. Since the end of the 19th century. funds invested in scientific developments began to bring profit, science began to pay off. During the twentieth century, more than 90% of scientific discoveries and inventions were made of the total number in the entire history of human development. To the most significant achievements and concepts of natural science in the twentieth century. relate:
· theory of relativity, quantum mechanics, development of the theory of the structure of matter, discovery and research of nuclear reactions and elementary particles, invention of particle accelerators and synthesis of transuranium elements, quark hypothesis, invention of the laser, transmission of electromagnetic signals over a distance (radio, television, radar, fiber optical and mobile telephone communications), the discovery of semiconductors and the invention of computers, the creation of theories of physical interactions and quantum field theory, the discovery of superconductivity, thermonuclear fusion, the development of nuclear energy and electronics;
· the concept of an expanding Universe, the development of space technology and space flights, the discovery and research of stars and galaxies, pulsars, quasars, neutron stars, “black holes” and other space objects;
· study of the internal structure of the Earth, creation of theories of continental drift and lithospheric plate tectonics;
· development of quantum chemistry and the study of chemical processes, invention of new synthetic materials - polymers, synthetic fibers, artificial diamonds, fullerenes, metal ceramics and other organoelement compounds; development of nanotechnology;
· creation of the chromosomal theory of heredity and the doctrine of mutations, discovery of the structure of DNA, decoding of the genetic code, development of genetic engineering, isolation and synthesis of proteins, enzymes and other biomaterials, creation of genetically homogeneous copies of living organisms (cloning), development of ecology and creation of the doctrine of the biosphere, concept of noosphere; development of sustainable development models;
· development of synergetics (study of complex developing systems and processes of self-organization in them), etc.
The modern natural science picture of the world is based on the following concepts: relativity theory, quantum mechanics and quantum field theory; new cosmology, based on expanding universe models; evolutionary chemistry seeking to master the experience of living nature; genetics and molecular biology; cybernetics, which embodied the ideas of a systems approach; synergetics, studying self-organization processes in complex open systems.
An important achievement of modern natural science was the development biosphere cycle sciences, a new attitude to the phenomenon of life. Life ceased to be a random phenomenon in the Universe, but began to be considered as a natural result of the self-development of matter. The sciences of the biosphere cycle, which include soil science, biogeochemistry, biogeography, ecology, study natural systems where there is an interpenetration of living and inanimate nature, i.e. there is an interconnection of different quality natural phenomena. Life and living things are understood as an essential element of the world, which actually shapes this world and created it in its current form. The embodiment of these ideas was anthropic principle modern science, according to which our Universe is what it is only because there is a person in it.
The characteristic features and methodological foundations of modern natural science are:
· systems approach to the study of the surrounding world, according to which the world is recognized as a set of multi-level systems that are in a state of hierarchical subordination;
· dialectical way of thinking, based on the idea of universal connection and development;
· principle of global evolutionism(all phenomena are considered as a process of self-development and self-organization of matter in the Universe);
analysis, which was the main method of classical science, gave way to synthesis and integration different types of knowledge;
· determinism (recognition of the existence of strict cause-and-effect relationships) was replaced probabilistic ideas;
· it is considered impossible to obtain absolute truth; truth is considered relative, existing in many theories, each of which studies its own slice of reality;
· the process of cognition is no longer considered a simple mirror image of nature; it is recognized that a person leaves his mark on the image of the world and the results of research.
From the middle of the twentieth century. science finally merged with technology, which led to modern scientific and technological revolution, which had, along with positive and a number of negative consequences. The use of scientific discoveries to create new types of weapons and consumerism towards nature have led to a state of crisis. Modern science has begun to receive numerous critical remarks from philosophers, cultural scientists, and others. In their opinion, technology dehumanizes a person, surrounding him entirely with artificial objects and devices, taking him away from nature and turning him into an appendage of a machine. This humanistic criticism of science was soon joined by more alarming facts about the consequences of the uncontrolled use of science and technology - pollution of water, air, soil, harmful effects on living organisms, extinction of species and other disturbances in the planet’s ecosystem. Therefore, modern science is again experiencing a state of crisis and will have to change significantly. These changes will obviously be associated with further integration natural science and humanitarian components of culture, greening And humanization natural sciences.
Chapter 3 Physics Concepts
Natural science includes many sciences, but the order in which they are considered is rarely arbitrary. Typically, the study of natural science begins with physics, which studies the simplest and at the same time the most general properties of bodies and phenomena. The history of science shows that it was physics that for a very long time was the leader of natural science, the most developed and systematized natural science, which made the greatest contribution to the formation of the scientific picture of the world. Most scientific revolutions and upheavals in natural science were associated with the emergence of new physical discoveries and theories.
· Physics – a science that studies the structure of matter and the laws of its motion.
The word “physics” itself comes from the Greek rhesis- nature. This science arose in antiquity and initially covered the entire body of knowledge about natural phenomena. The emergence of physics as an independent science is associated with the works of Galileo and Newton (17th century), thanks to which the laws of physics began to be based on facts established experimentally and their mathematical understanding. Newton's classical mechanics was the basis for the development of natural science until the advent of quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Modern physics is based on precise experimentation and developed mathematical apparatus. In accordance with the variety of objects and forms of motion being studied, it is divided into a number of disciplines: mechanics, optics, thermodynamics, electrodynamics, quantum mechanics, nuclear physics, elementary particle physics, solid state physics, etc. As a result of the interaction of physics with other natural sciences, such interdisciplinary scientific fields such as astrophysics, biophysics, geophysics, chemical physics.
The range of phenomena and processes considered within the framework of physics is very wide. To describe them, such fundamental concepts as matter, motion, interaction, space, time, and energy are used. The most important of these is the concept of matter. Revolutions in physics have always been associated with changes in ideas about matter.
1. The role of natural science in the development of society. Science, technology, humanization
Modern science arose in Europe between the 15th and 17th centuries. during the formation of the capitalist mode of production. Science is a form of human spiritual activity to obtain new knowledge about nature, society and knowledge itself. Science is divided into many branches of knowledge (special sciences), which differ in which aspect of reality.
According to the subject and method of cognition, one can distinguish the sciences of nature - natural science, and society - social science (humanities, social sciences), knowledge, thinking (logic, epistemology, etc.). A separate group consists of technical sciences. In turn, each group of sciences can be subjected to more detailed division. Thus, the natural sciences include mechanics, physics, chemistry, biology, etc., each of which is divided into scientific disciplines - physical chemistry, molecular chemistry, etc. There may be other criteria for classifying sciences. Thus, according to their distance from practice, science can be divided into two large types: fundamental, where there is no direct orientation to practice, and applied, which directly solve practical problems.
With the development of new science, the need arose for a deeper division into special disciplines, for a more thorough and in-depth study of individual phenomena and processes in a certain area of reality. Natural sciences, which received their citizenship in the 18th century, are the totality of all sciences involved in the study of nature. The main areas of natural sciences are matter, life, man, Earth, and the Universe.
The interaction between natural science and society has always been complex. At first, science was seen as a means of conquering nature. The use of scientific achievements changed society itself and its life, especially its economy. But starting from the second half of the 20th century. in connection with the threat of nuclear and biological war, a negative attitude towards science appeared.
Science, including natural science, becomes the basis for practical activities for society. Over time, it becomes the productive force of society. The development of technology - tools, skills, skills - depends on the development of science. Modern society is characterized by an increasingly stronger connection between science, technology and production.
Currently, the humanistic aspect of science is becoming increasingly important, and a special discipline is emerging - the ethics of science. In the context of scientific and technological progress, moral assessments of scientific discoveries are especially relevant - is it possible to interfere with the genetic structure of a person, improve biotechnology, and even design new forms of life?
2. The main stages in the development of natural science. Revolution in science
Science is a product of the development of the thought of the ancient Greeks. Science in ancient Greek culture was a holistic science. The beginnings of thinking in the area of special sciences appeared under the influence of Aristotle and his school, such great doctors as Hippocrates and Galen. But this did not violate the integrity of science and the picture of the world. In the era of the Christian Middle Ages, science was also developed as a harmonious whole. Only at the end of the Middle Ages the concept of “science” was replaced by the concept of “natural science.” This new science began its triumphal march from the Renaissance, when the possibility of a mathematical description of the results obtained experimentally was recognized. This new form acquired such great importance that Kant assessed the special sciences depending on the degree of application of mathematics in them. Under the influence of experimental and mathematical science, the European worldview radically changed and its influence on the spiritual life of the rest of the world increased. In particular, it increased due to the establishment of a strict, strictly scientific foundation for the technology that arose from medicine, which until then was based exclusively on artisanal experience.
The differentiation of scientific knowledge was a necessary stage in the development of science. Special sciences were classified in terms of their subject or method. As a result, to some extent, understanding of the true purpose of science about the world as a whole, and reality as a whole, was lost.
A revolution in science is a revolution. The development of science has long been a gradual, continuous accumulation of knowledge, but development is not limited to the simple accumulation of knowledge. The most radical changes in science are associated with scientific revolutions, which are accompanied by revision, clarification and criticism of previous ideas, programs and methods, i.e. everything that is called the paradigm of science. In recent decades, a radical revolution has begun, fundamentally changing the relationship between the human world and the natural world. In Marxist terminology it is a “scientific and technological revolution”, according to Toffler’s civilizational typology it is a “socio-technical revolution”. Sometimes it is called the information and computer revolution. The basis of this revolution is the creation and deployment of electronic computer and biotechnology technologies. Its result may be a new information civilization.
3. Fundamental unity of the natural sciences. Observation, experiment, theory
If the world around us is one and forms a single and integral formation, then knowledge about it has a fundamental unity. And although science is divided into disciplines, there are fundamental laws that reflect the unity and integrity of nature, laws that make up the fundamental unity of the natural sciences.
Observation is the initial source of information, but observations are based on a theory, an idea.
Experiment is the most important method of empirical research for observing processes in conditions least exposed to extraneous factors. Measurements are a complement to any experiment.
At the theoretical stage, hypotheses and theories are built and the laws of science are discovered. The hypothesis is then tested by experiment. If the results of the experiment do not coincide with the hypothesis, then the hypothesis itself is refuted. But this may be a hasty conclusion; various experiments are carried out and their reliability depends on the level of development of science and technology.
The unity of the natural sciences is also confirmed by interdisciplinary research methods, for example the systems method. Although the systems found in nature have different structures and different characteristics, they are all self-organizing systems, and living and nonliving systems cannot be opposed, new results shed light on the problem of the emergence of living things from nonliving things.
4. Division of natural science into scientific disciplines. Structural levels of organization of matter. Micro, macro, mega world. Their main characteristics
At the end of the Middle Ages, the concept of “natural science” arose. This new science began its triumphal march from the Renaissance, when the possibility of a mathematical description of the results obtained experimentally was recognized.
With the development of new science, the need arose for a deeper division into special disciplines, for a more thorough and in-depth study of individual phenomena and processes in a certain area of reality. Natural sciences, which received their citizenship from the 18th century, are the totality of all sciences involved in the study of nature. The main spheres of natural sciences - matter, life, man, Earth, Universe - made it possible to group them as follows:
1. physics, chemistry, physical chemistry
2. biology, botany, zoology
3. anatomy, physiology, the doctrine of origin and development, the doctrine of heredity
4. geology, mineralogy, paleontology, meteorology, geography
5. astronomy together with astrophysics and astrochemistry.
Mathematics, according to a number of natural philosophers, does not belong to the natural sciences, but is a decisive tool for their thinking.
Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………..………….3
1. Classification of sciences
Conclusion……………………………………………………..…..………………14
List of sources used……………………………….…………….15
Introduction
It is well known that natural science is a set of sciences about nature. The task of natural science is to understand the objective laws of nature and promote their practical use in the interests of man. Natural science arises as a result of the generalization of observations obtained and accumulated in the process of practical activity of people, and is itself the theoretical basis of this practical activity.
In the 19th century, it was customary to divide natural sciences (or experimental knowledge of nature) into 2 large groups. The first group traditionally covers the sciences of natural phenomena(physics, chemistry, physiology), and the second - about objects of nature. Although this division is rather arbitrary, it is obvious that objects of nature are not only the entire surrounding material world with celestial bodies and the earth, but also the inorganic components of the earth, and the organic beings located on it, and, finally, man.
The examination of celestial bodies is the subject of astronomical sciences; the earth is the subject of a number of sciences, of which geology, geography and physics of the earth are the most developed. The knowledge of objects that make up the earth's crust and are located on it is the subject of natural history with its three main departments: mineralogy, botany and zoology. Man serves as the subject of anthropology, the most important components of which are anatomy and physiology. In turn, medicine and experimental psychology are based on anatomy and physiology.
Nowadays, such a generally accepted classification of natural sciences no longer exists. According to the objects of research, the broadest division is the division into the sciences of living and so-called inanimate nature. The most important large areas of natural science (physics, chemistry, biology) can be distinguished by the forms of motion of matter that they study. However, this principle, on the one hand, does not allow us to cover all natural sciences (for example, mathematics and many related sciences); on the other hand, it is not applicable to the justification of further classification divisions, that complex differentiation and interrelation of sciences that are so characteristic of modern natural science.
In modern natural science, two opposing processes are organically intertwined: continuous differentiation natural sciences and increasingly narrow fields of science and integration these isolated sciences.
1. Classification of sciences
The classification procedure originates from simple observation, formed into a specific cognitive technique. However, classification makes it possible to obtain a real meaningful increase in knowledge towards identifying new groups of phenomena.
The classification procedure, directed at science itself, cannot ignore the classification proposed by F. Bacon (1561-1626) as a generalization of the range of knowledge known in his time. In his epoch-making work “On the Dignity and Augmentation of the Sciences,” he creates a wide panorama of scientific knowledge, including poetry in the friendly family of sciences. Bacon's classification of sciences is based on the basic abilities of the human soul: memory, imagination, reason. Therefore, the classification takes on the following form: history corresponds to memory; to the imagination - poetry; to the mind - philosophy.
In the natural sciences of Goethe's time (late 18th century), it was believed that all natural objects are connected to each other by a grandiose single chain leading from the simplest substances, from elements and minerals through plants and animals to humans. The world was depicted by Goethe as a continuous “metamorphosis” of forms. Ideas about qualitatively different “stages of organization” of nature were developed by the objective idealists Schelling and Hegel. Schelling set himself the task of consistently revealing all stages of the development of nature in the direction of the highest goal, i.e. consider nature as a purposeful whole, the purpose of which is to generate consciousness. The stages of nature identified by Hegel were associated with various stages of evolution, interpreted as the development and embodiment of the creative activity of the “world spirit,” which Hegel called the absolute idea. Hegel spoke about the transition of mechanical phenomena to chemical ones (so-called chemism) and further to organic life (organism) and practice.
A serious milestone on the path to the formation of the classification of sciences was the teaching of Henri de Saint-Simon (1760-1825). Summing up the development of science of his time, Saint-Simon argued that the mind seeks to substantiate its judgments on observed and discussed facts. He (reason), on the positive foundation of the empirically given, has already transformed astronomy and physics. Particular sciences are elements of general science - philosophy. The latter became semi-positive when the particular sciences became positive, and will become completely positive when all the particular sciences became positive. This will be realized when physiology and psychology are based on observed and discussed facts, for there are no phenomena that are not either astronomical, or chemical, or physiological, or psychological. As part of his natural philosophy, Saint-Simon tried to find universal laws governing all phenomena of nature and society, and to transfer the techniques of natural science disciplines to the field of social phenomena. He equated the organic world with fluid matter and imagined man as an organized fluid body. He interpreted the development of nature and society as a constant struggle between solid and fluid matter, emphasizing the diverse connections between the common and the whole.
Saint-Simon's personal secretary, Auguste Comte, proposes to take into account the law of the three stages of intellectual evolution of mankind as a basis for developing a classification of sciences. In his opinion, classification must meet two main conditions - dogmatic and historical. The first consists in arranging the sciences according to their sequential dependence, so that each relies on the previous one and prepares the subsequent one. The second condition prescribes that sciences should be arranged in accordance with the course of their actual development, from more ancient to newer.
The various sciences are distributed according to the nature of the phenomena being studied, either according to their decreasing generality and independence, or according to increasing complexity. From such an arrangement flow more and more complex speculations, as well as more and more sublime and complete ones. In the hierarchy of sciences, the degree of decrease in abstractness and increase in complexity is of great importance. The ultimate goal of any theoretical system is humanity. The hierarchy of sciences is as follows: mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology and sociology. The first of these forms the starting point of the latter, which, as has already been said, is the only fundamental goal of any positive philosophy.
To facilitate the usual use of a hierarchical formula, it is convenient to group terms by two, presenting them in the form of three pairs: initial - mathematical-astronomical, final - biological-sociological and intermediate - physical-chemical. In addition, each pair shows the natural similarity of the paired sciences, and their artificial separation, in turn, leads to a number of difficulties. This is especially evident when separating biology from sociology.
O. Comte's classification is based on the principles of movement from simple to complex, from abstract to concrete, from ancient to new. And although more complex sciences are based on less complex ones, this does not mean a reduction of the higher to the lower. Comte's classification does not include such sciences as logic, because, in his opinion, it is part of mathematics, and psychology, which is partly a fragment of biology, partly of sociology.
Further steps in the development of the problem of classification of sciences, taken, in particular, by Wilhelm Dilthey (1833-1911), led to the separation of the spiritual sciences and the natural sciences. In his work “Introduction to the Sciences of the Spirit,” the philosopher distinguishes them primarily by subject. The subject of the natural sciences consists of phenomena external to man. The mental sciences are immersed in the analysis of human relationships. In the first, scientists are interested in observing external objects as data from natural sciences; secondly, internal experiences. Here we color our ideas about the world with our emotions, but nature remains silent, as if alien. Dilthey is confident that the appeal to “experience” is the only basis of the sciences of the spirit. The autonomy of the spiritual sciences establishes the connection between the concepts of “life,” “expression,” and “understanding.” Such concepts do not exist either in nature or in the natural sciences. Life and experience are objectified in the institutions of the state, church, jurisprudence, etc. It is also important that understanding is directed to the past and serves as a source of the sciences of the spirit.
Wilhelm Windelband (1848-1915) proposes to distinguish sciences not by subject, but by method. He divides scientific disciplines into nomothetic and ideographic. The department of the former is the establishment of general laws, the regularity of objects and phenomena. The second are aimed at studying individual phenomena and events.
However, the external opposition of nature and spirit is not able to provide an exhaustive basis for the entire diversity of sciences. Heinrich Rickert (1863-1936), developing the idea put forward by Windelband about the separation of nomothetic and ideographic sciences, comes to the conclusion that the difference stems from different principles of selection and ordering of empirical data. The division of sciences into natural sciences and cultural sciences in his famous work of the same name best expresses the contrasting interests that divide scientists into two camps.
For Rickert, the central idea is that the reality given in knowledge is immanent in consciousness. Impersonal consciousness constitutes nature (natural science) and culture (cultural sciences). Natural science is aimed at identifying general laws, which Rickert interprets as a priori rules of reason. History deals with unique individual phenomena. Natural science is free from values; culture and the individualizing understanding of history are the realm of values. The indication of value is extremely important. “Those parts of reality that are indifferent to values and which we consider in the indicated sense only as nature, have for us... only natural scientific interest... their individual phenomenon has significance for us not as an individuality, but as an instance of more or less less general concept. On the contrary, in cultural phenomena and in those processes that we put in some relation to them as preliminary steps... our interest is directed towards the special and individual, towards their unique and non-repeating course, i.e. we want study them also historically, using an individualizing method.” Rickert identifies three Kingdoms: reality, value, meaning; They correspond to three methods of comprehension: explanation, understanding, interpretation.
Undoubtedly, the separation of nomothetic and ideographic methods was an important step in the classification of sciences. In a general sense, the nomothetic method (from the Greek nomothetike, which means “legislative art”) is aimed at generalizing and establishing laws and is manifested in natural science. According to the distinction between nature and culture, general laws are disproportionate and incompatible with a unique and singular existence, in which there is always something inexpressible with the help of general concepts. This leads to the conclusion that the nomothethetic method is not a universal method of cognition and that for cognition of the “individual” the ideographic method must be used.
The name of the ideographic method (from Greek, idios - “special”, grapho - “I write”) indicates that this is a method of the historical sciences of culture. Its essence is in the description of individual events with their value connotation. Among individual events, significant ones can be identified, but their unified pattern is never visible. Thus, the historical process appears as a set of unique and inimitable events, in contrast to the approach to natural science declared by the nomothetic method, where nature is covered by a pattern.
The sciences of culture, according to Rickert, are widespread in such areas as religion, church, law, state and even economics. And although economics can be questioned, Rickert defines it this way: “Technical inventions (and therefore the economic activities that are derived from them) are usually accomplished with the help of natural sciences, but they themselves do not belong to the objects of natural scientific research.”
Can we consider that the coexistence of both these two types of science and their corresponding methods reflects the responses of those distant disputes between nominalists and realists that excited medieval scholastic debates? Apparently yes. After all, those statements that are heard from the ideographic sciences (in particular, that the individual is the basis of the general and the latter does not exist outside it, they cannot be separated from each other and assume separate existence) are at the same time the arguments of the nominalists, for whom it is the individual, as a really existing fact can be used as the basis for true knowledge.
In relation to the modern situation, it is necessary to note that both in the exact, pomological sciences, focusing on regularity and repeatability, and in the individualizing, ideographic sciences, focusing on the singular and unique, the individual cannot and should not be ignored. Does natural science have the right to refuse to analyze individual facts, and will a chronicle be fair in which the general connection of events is not traced?
For the methodology and philosophy of science, Rickert’s reflections are of interest, in which the general and the individual are not simply opposed, which would be naive, but differentiation is presented, i.e. in distinguishing between types of general and individual. In the natural sciences, the relation of the general to the individual is the relation of the genus and the individual (instance). In the social historical sciences, individuality seems to represent, represents universality, acting as a clearly manifested pattern. Individual causal series - such is the goal and meaning of the historical sciences.
Principles of classification of sciences by F. Engels. When in 1873 Engels began to develop a classification of the forms of motion of matter, Comte's view of the classification of sciences was widespread in scientific circles. The founder of positivism, O. Comte, was confident that each science has as its subject a separate form of the movement of matter, and the objects of the various sciences themselves are sharply separated from each other: mathematics | physics | chemistry | biology | sociology. This correspondence was called the principle of coordination of sciences. Engels drew attention to how objects studied by various sciences are interconnected and transform into one another. The idea arose to reflect the process of progressive development of moving matter, moving along an ascending line from lower to higher, from simple to complex. The approach where mechanics was connected and passed into physics, the latter into chemistry, then into biology and social sciences (mechanics... physics... chemistry... biology... social sciences), became known as the principle of subordination. And indeed, no matter where we look, we will never find any form of movement completely separate from other forms of movement; everywhere and everywhere there are only processes of transformation of some forms of movement into others. Forms of movement of matter exist in a continuous-discontinuous process of transformation into each other. “The classification of sciences,” noted F. Engels, “each of which analyzes a separate form of motion or a series of forms of motion of matter interconnected and transforming into each other, is at the same time a classification, an arrangement, according to the inherent sequence of these forms of motion themselves, and this is precisely its meaning."
When Engels began work on Dialectics of Nature, the concept of energy had already been established in science, extended to the area of inorganics - inanimate nature. However, it became more and more clear that there could be no absolute line between living and inanimate nature. A convincing example of this was the virus - a transitional form and a living contradiction. Once in an organic environment, he behaved like a living body, but in an inorganic environment he did not behave like that. It can be said that Engels presciently foresaw the transition from one form of matter motion to another, since by the time his concept arose, science had studied only the transitions between mechanical and thermal forms. The assumption that outstanding discoveries would soon arise at the intersection of sciences, in border areas, also aroused interest. Taking up the development of one of these border areas connecting nature and society, Engels proposed a labor theory of anthroposociogenesis - the origin of man and human society. At one time, Charles Darwin (1809-1882), conducting comparative anatomical studies of humans and monkeys, came to the conclusion about the purely animal origin of humans. He identified two forms of competition: intraspecific and interspecific. Intraspecific competition led to the extinction of unadapted forms and ensured the survival of the adapted. This position formed the basis of natural selection. Engels appreciated the role of social factors, and in particular the special role of labor, in the process of anthroposociogenesis. In the 20th century It was at the intersections of sciences that the most promising areas of new sciences emerged: biochemistry, psycholinguistics, computer science.
Thus, if in the first classifications of sciences the natural abilities of the human soul (memory, imagination, etc.) acted as the basis, then, according to our contemporary, domestic researcher B. Kedrov, the fundamental difference in Engels’ classification was precisely that “It bases the division of sciences on the principle of objectivity: the differences between sciences are determined by the differences in the objects they study.” Thus, the classification of sciences has a solid ontological basis - the qualitative diversity of nature itself, various forms of movement of matter.
In connection with new data from natural science, the five-member classification of forms of motion of matter developed by Engels was subjected to significant refinements. The most famous is the modern classification proposed by B. Kedrov, in which he distinguished six main forms of movement: subatomic physical, chemical, molecular physical, geological, biological and social. Note that the classification of forms of motion of matter was thought of as the basis for the classification of sciences.
There is another approach, according to which the entire diversity of the world can be reduced to three forms of movement of matter: basic, particular and complex. The main ones include the broadest forms of movement of matter: physical, chemical, biological, social. A number of authors question the existence of a single physical form of matter movement. However, one can hardly agree with this. All objects united by the concept of the physical have the two most common physical properties - mass and energy. The entire physical world is characterized by a general all-encompassing law of conservation of energy.
Particular forms are included in the main ones. Thus, physical matter includes vacuum, fields, elementary particles, nuclei, atoms, molecules, macrobodies, stars, galaxies, and the Metagalaxy. Complex forms of matter and motion include astronomical (Metagalaxy - galaxy - stars - planets); geological (consisting of physical and chemical forms of movement of matter under the conditions of a planetary body); geographical (including physical, chemical, biological and social forms of movement of matter within the litho-, hydro- and atmosphere). One of the significant features of complex forms of matter motion is that the dominant role in them is ultimately played by the lowest form of matter - physical. For example, geological processes are determined by physical forces: gravity, pressure, heat; Geographical laws are determined by the physical and chemical conditions and relationships of the upper shells of the Earth.
Conclusion
The philosophy of science should logically be clear about what type of science it prefers to deal with. According to the already established, although quite young, tradition, all sciences were divided into three clans: natural, social, and technical. However, no matter how these groups of sciences compete with each other, in their totality they have a common goal associated with the most complete comprehension of the universe.
Issues of classification and interconnection of natural sciences are still discussed to this day. However, there are different points of view. One of them is that all chemical phenomena, the structure of matter and its transformation can be explained on the basis of physical knowledge; There is nothing specific in chemistry. Another point of view is that each type of matter and each form of material organization (physical, chemical, biological) are so isolated that there are no direct connections between them. Of course, such different points of view are far from a true solution to the most complex issue of classification and hierarchy of the natural sciences. One thing is quite obvious - despite the fact that physics is a fundamental branch of natural science, each of the natural sciences (with the same general task of studying nature) is characterized by its own subject of research, its own research methodology and is based on its own laws, which are not reducible to the laws of other branches Sciences. And serious achievements in modern natural science are most likely with the successful combination of comprehensive knowledge accumulated over a long period of time in physics, chemistry, biology, and many other natural sciences.
List of sources used
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Introduction
Nowadays, no person can be considered educated if he does not show interest in natural sciences. The usual objection is that interest in the study of electricity or stratigraphy contributes little to the knowledge of human affairs, but only betrays a complete lack of understanding of human affairs.
The fact is that science is not only a collection of facts about electricity, etc.; it is one of the most important spiritual movements of our day. “Whoever does not try to understand this movement pushes himself out of this most significant phenomenon in the history of human activity... And there cannot be a history of ideas that excludes the history of scientific ideas.”
Natural science is the science of the phenomena and laws of nature. Modern natural science includes many branches of natural science: physics, chemistry, biology, as well as numerous related branches, such as physical chemistry, biophysics, biochemistry and many others. Natural science touches on a wide range of issues about the numerous and multifaceted manifestations of the properties of natural objects, which can be considered as a single whole.
What is natural science
Natural science is a branch of science based on the reproducible empirical testing of hypotheses and the creation of theories or empirical generalizations that describe natural phenomena.
The subject of natural science is facts and phenomena that are perceived by our senses. The scientist's task is to summarize these facts and create a theoretical model that includes the laws governing natural phenomena. It is necessary to distinguish between facts of experience, empirical generalizations and theories that formulate the laws of science. Phenomena, such as gravity, are directly given in experience; laws of science, for example the law of universal gravitation, are options for explaining phenomena. The facts of science, once established, retain their permanent significance; laws can be changed during the development of science, just as, say, the law of universal gravitation was adjusted after the creation of the theory of relativity.
The importance of feelings and reason in the process of finding truth is a complex philosophical question. In science, a position that is confirmed by reproducible experience is recognized as truth.
Natural science as a science studies all processes and phenomena that have occurred and are occurring in the real objective world, the geographic envelope, and outer space. This is a branch of science based on reproducible empirical testing (testing in practice) of hypotheses and the creation of theories that describe natural phenomena and processes.
Many achievements of modern natural science, which form the basis for high-tech technologies, are associated with a comprehensive study of natural objects and phenomena. With the use of modern experimental technical means, it was precisely this kind of study that made it possible not only to create ultra-strong, superconducting and many other materials with unusual properties, but also to take a fresh look at the biological processes occurring inside a cell and even inside a molecule. Most branches of modern natural science are, in one way or another, associated with the molecular study of certain objects, which unites many natural scientists dealing with highly specialized problems. The results of this kind of research are the development and production of new high-quality products, and above all, consumer goods. In order to know at what price such products are given - the most important component of the economy, what are the prospects for the development of modern high-tech technologies that are closely related to economic, social, political and other problems, we need fundamental natural science knowledge, including a general conceptual understanding of molecular processes, on which the most important achievements of modern natural science are based.
Modern means of natural science - the science of fundamental laws, natural phenomena and various properties of natural objects - make it possible to study many complex processes at the level of nuclei, atoms, molecules, and cells. The fruits of comprehending true knowledge about nature at such a deep level are known to every educated person. Synthetic and composite materials, artificial enzymes, artificial crystals - all these are not only real objects of development by natural scientists, but also consumer products of various industries that produce a wide range of everyday goods. In this regard, the study of natural science problems at the molecular level within the framework of fundamental ideas - concepts - is without a doubt relevant, useful and necessary for future highly qualified specialists in the natural sciences and technology, as well as for those whose professional activities are not directly related to natural science, i.e. for future economists, management specialists, commodity experts, lawyers, sociologists, psychologists, journalists, managers, etc.
Natural science studies facts and phenomena from the fields of philosophy, astrophysics, geology, psychology, genetics, evolution and is divided into a complex of sciences, each of which has its own object of study.
Natural science is divided into:
1. basic sciences;
2. applied sciences;
3. natural sciences;
4. technical sciences;
5. social sciences;
6. humanities.
1. Basic sciences
Fundamental sciences include chemistry, physics, and astronomy. These sciences study the basic structure of the world.
Physics is the science of nature. Divided into mechanical, quantum, optical physics, physics of conductors, electricity.
Chemistry studies the structure of things and their structure. It is divided into 2 large sections: organic and inorganic. Physical chemistry, physical colloid chemistry, and biochemistry are also distinguished.
Astronomy studies the structure and structure of outer space and is subdivided into astrophysics. Astrology, cosmology, astronautics and space exploration.
2. Applied sciences
Applied sciences study fundamental sciences with practical application, implementation of theoretical discoveries in life. Applied sciences include metallurgy and semiconductor physics.
3. Natural sciences
Natural sciences study the processes and phenomena of virgin nature. They are divided into geology, geography, biology.
Geology, in turn, is divided into dynamic geology, history, and paleography.
Geography consists of 2 large sections: physical and economic geography.
Physical geography is divided into general agriculture, climatology, geomorphology, soil science, hydrology, cartography, topography, landscape science, geographic zoning, and monitoring.
Economic geography includes regional studies, population geography, geography of the world economy, geography of transport, geography of the service sector, world economy, statistics, international economic relations.
Biology is the science of living organisms. It is divided into botany, zoology, physiology of humans and animals, anatomy, histology (the science of tissues), cytology (the science of cells), ecology (the science of the relationship between man and the environment), ethology (the study of behavior), and evolutionary studies.
4. Technical sciences
Technical sciences include sciences that study man-made devices and objects. These include computer science, cybernetics, and synergetics.
5. Social Sciences
These are sciences that study the rules and structure of society, and objects living according to its laws. These include sociology, anthropology, archeology, sociometry, and social science. Science "Man and Society".
6. Humanities
The humanities include sciences that study the essence, structure and spiritual state of man. These include philosophy, history, ethics, aesthetics, and cultural studies.
There are sciences that are at the intersection of entire blocks and sections of science. For example, economic geography is at the intersection of natural and social sciences, and bionics is at the intersection of natural and technical sciences. Social ecology is an interdisciplinary science that includes social, natural and technical sciences.
Like other areas of human activity, natural science has specific features.
Universality—communicates knowledge that is true for the entire universe under the conditions under which it was acquired by man.
Fragmentation - studies not existence as a whole, but various fragments of reality or its parameters; itself is divided into separate disciplines. In general, the concept of being as a philosophical one is not applicable to science, which is private knowledge. Each science as such is a certain projection onto the world, like a spotlight highlighting areas of interest
General validity - in the sense that the knowledge it receives is suitable for all people, and its language is unambiguous, since science strives to fix its terms as clearly as possible, which helps to unite people living in different parts of the planet.
Depersonalization - in the sense that neither the individual characteristics of the scientist, nor his nationality or place of residence are in any way represented in the final results of scientific knowledge.
Systematic in the sense that it has a certain structure, and is not an incoherent collection of parts.
Incompleteness - in the sense that although scientific knowledge grows limitlessly, it still cannot reach absolute truth, after which there will be nothing left to explore.
Continuity - in the sense that new knowledge in a certain way and according to certain rules correlates with old knowledge.
Criticality - in the sense that it is always ready to question and reconsider even its most fundamental results.
Reliability - in the sense that its conclusions require, allow and are tested according to certain rules formulated in it.
Non-morality - in the sense that scientific truths are neutral in moral and ethical terms, and moral assessments can relate either to the activity of obtaining knowledge (the ethics of a scientist requires him to have intellectual honesty and courage in the process of searching for truth), or to the activity of applying it.
Rationality - in the sense that it obtains knowledge on the basis of rational procedures and laws of logic and comes to the formulation of theories and their provisions that go beyond the empirical level.
Sensibility - in the sense that its results require empirical verification using perception, and only after that are recognized as reliable.
Research methods used in natural science
The methods of natural science are based on the unity of empirical and theoretical aspects. They are interconnected and condition each other. Their rupture, or at least the preferential development of one at the expense of the other, closes the path to correct knowledge of nature: theory becomes pointless, experience becomes blind.
Natural science methods can be divided into groups:
a) general methods apply to all natural science, any subject of nature, any science. These are various forms of the dialectical method, which makes it possible to connect together all aspects of the process of cognition, all its stages. For example, the method of ascent from the abstract to the concrete, etc. Those systems of branches of natural science, the structure of which corresponds to the actual historical process of their development (for example, biology and chemistry), actually follow this method.
b) Special methods are also used in natural science, but do not relate to its subject as a whole, but only to one of its aspects (phenomena, essence, quantitative side, structural connections) or a certain method of research: analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction. Special methods are: observation, experiment, comparison and, as a special case, measurement. Mathematical techniques and methods are extremely important as special ways of studying and expressing quantitative and structural aspects and relationships of objects and processes of nature, as well as methods of statistics and probability theory. The role of mathematical methods in natural sciences is steadily increasing with the increasing use of computers. In general, there is a rapid mathematization of modern natural science. It is associated with methods of analogy, formalization, modeling, and industrial experiment.
c) Particular methods are special methods that operate either only within a particular branch of natural science, or outside the branch of natural science where they arose. Thus, the methods of physics used in other branches of natural science led to the creation of astrophysics, crystal physics, geophysics, chemical physics and physical chemistry, and biophysics. The spread of chemical methods led to the creation of crystal chemistry, geochemistry, biochemistry and biogeochemistry. Often a set of interrelated private methods is used to study one subject. For example, molecular biology simultaneously uses the methods of physics, mathematics, chemistry, and cybernetics in their interrelation.
In the course of the progress of natural science, methods can move from a lower category to a higher one: specific ones can turn into special ones, and special ones into general ones.
The most important role in the development of natural science belongs to hypotheses, which are “a form of development of natural science, insofar as it thinks...”
The place of natural science in society
The place of natural science in the life and development of society follows from its connections with other social phenomena and institutions, primarily with technology, and through it with production, productive forces in general and with philosophy, and through it with the struggle of classes in the field of ideology. With all the internal integrity arising from the unity of both nature itself and the theoretical view of it, natural science is a very complex phenomenon, with various aspects and connections, often contradictory. Natural science is neither the basis nor the ideological superstructure of society, although in its most general part (where the picture of the world is formed), it is connected with this superstructure. The connection of natural science through technology with production, and through philosophy with ideology quite fully expresses the most essential social connections of natural science. The connection between natural science and technology is due to the fact that “technology... serves the purposes of man because its character (essence) consists in determining it by external conditions (laws of nature).”
In the modern era, natural science is ahead of technology in its development, since its objects are increasingly becoming completely new, previously unknown substances and forces of nature (for example, atomic energy), and therefore, before the question of their technical application can arise, " frontal" study of them from the side of natural science. Nevertheless, technology with its needs remains the driving force in the development of natural science.
System of natural science knowledge
Natural science is one of the components of the system of modern scientific knowledge, which also includes complexes of technical and human sciences. Natural science is an evolving system of ordered information about the laws of motion of matter.
The objects of research are individual natural sciences, the totality of which at the beginning of the 20th century. was called natural history, from the time of their inception to the present day there have been and remain: matter, life, man, the Earth, the Universe. Accordingly, modern natural science groups the basic natural sciences as follows:
- physics, chemistry, physical chemistry;
- biology, botany, zoology;
- anatomy, physiology, genetics (the study of heredity);
- geology, mineralogy, paleontology, meteorology, physical geography;
- astronomy, cosmology, astrophysics, astrochemistry.
Of course, only the main natural ones are listed here, but in fact modern natural science is a complex and branched complex that includes hundreds of scientific disciplines. Physics alone unites a whole family of sciences (mechanics, thermodynamics, optics, electrodynamics, etc.). As the volume of scientific knowledge grew, certain branches of science acquired the status of scientific disciplines with their own conceptual apparatus and specific research methods, which often makes them difficult to access for specialists involved in other branches of the same, say, physics.
Such differentiation in the natural sciences (as, indeed, in science in general) is a natural and inevitable consequence of increasingly narrowing specialization.
At the same time, counter processes also naturally occur in the development of science, in particular, natural science disciplines are formed and formed, as they often say, “at the intersections” of sciences: chemical physics, biochemistry, biophysics, biogeochemistry and many others. As a result, the boundaries that were once defined between individual scientific disciplines and their sections become very conditional, flexible and, one might say, transparent.
These processes, leading, on the one hand, to a further increase in the number of scientific disciplines, but on the other hand, to their convergence and interpenetration, are one of the evidence of the integration of natural sciences, reflecting the general trend in modern science.
It is here, perhaps, that it is appropriate to turn to such a scientific discipline, which undoubtedly occupies a special place, as mathematics, which is a research tool and a universal language not only of the natural sciences, but also of many others - those in which quantitative patterns can be discerned.
Depending on the methods underlying the research, we can talk about natural sciences:
- descriptive (examining evidence and connections between them);
- exact (building mathematical models to express established facts and connections, i.e. patterns);
- applied (using systematics and models of descriptive and exact natural sciences to master and transform nature).
However, a common generic feature of all sciences that study nature and technology is the conscious activity of professional scientists aimed at describing, explaining and predicting the behavior of the objects under study and the nature of the phenomena being studied. The humanities differ in that the explanation and prediction of phenomena (events) is based, as a rule, not on an explanation, but on an understanding of reality.
This is the fundamental difference between sciences that have objects of research that allow systematic observation, repeated experimental testing and reproducible experiments, and sciences that study essentially unique, non-repeating situations that, as a rule, do not allow exact repetition of an experiment, or carrying out a particular experiment more than once. or experiment.
Modern culture strives to overcome the differentiation of knowledge into many independent directions and disciplines, primarily the split between the natural and human sciences, which clearly emerged at the end of the 19th century. After all, the world is one in all its infinite diversity, therefore relatively independent areas of a single system of human knowledge are organically interconnected; the difference here is transitory, the unity is absolute.
Nowadays, the integration of natural science knowledge has clearly emerged, which manifests itself in many forms and is becoming the most pronounced trend in its development. This trend is increasingly manifested in the interaction of the natural sciences with the humanities. Evidence of this is the promotion to the forefront of modern science of the principles of systematicity, self-organization and global evolutionism, which open up the possibility of combining a wide variety of scientific knowledge into an integral and consistent system, united by the general laws of the evolution of objects of various natures.
There is every reason to believe that we are witnessing an increasing rapprochement and mutual integration of the natural and human sciences. This is confirmed by the widespread use in humanitarian research not only of technical means and information technologies used in the natural and technical sciences, but also of general scientific research methods developed in the process of development of natural science.
The subject of this course is concepts related to the forms of existence and movement of living and inanimate matter, while the laws that determine the course of social phenomena are the subject of the humanities. It should, however, be borne in mind that, no matter how different the natural and human sciences are from each other, they have a general unity, which is the logic of science. It is the subordination of this logic that makes science a sphere of human activity aimed at identifying and theoretically systematizing objective knowledge about reality.
The natural scientific picture of the world is created and modified by scientists of different nationalities, including convinced atheists and believers of various faiths and denominations. However, in their professional activities, they all proceed from the fact that the world is material, that is, it exists objectively, regardless of the people who study it. Let us note, however, that the process of cognition itself can influence the objects of the material world being studied and how a person imagines them, depending on the level of development of research tools. In addition, every scientist proceeds from the fact that the world is fundamentally knowable.
The process of scientific knowledge is a search for truth. However, absolute truth in science is incomprehensible, and with every step along the path of knowledge it moves further and deeper. Thus, at each stage of knowledge, scientists establish relative truth, understanding that at the next stage more accurate knowledge will be achieved, more adequate to reality. And this is another evidence that the process of cognition is objective and inexhaustible.
