The scientific picture of the world is a component of what science. Modern natural-scientific picture of the world. Change of natural scientific tradition
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| Article topic: | Scientific picture of the world |
| Rubric (thematic category) | Culture |
The science– a specific form of human spiritual activity, ensuring the acquisition of new knowledge, developing means of reproduction and development cognitive process, which verifies, systematizes and disseminates its results. The modern scientific picture of the world has a huge impact on the formation of personality. Worldview images of nature, society, human activity, thinking, etc. are largely influenced by the ideas of the scientific picture of the world, which a person becomes acquainted with in the process of learning mathematics, natural sciences, social sciences and humanities.
Scientific picture of the world(NKM) - ϶ᴛᴏ a set of fundamental ideas about the laws and structure of the universe, an integral system of views on general principles and the laws of the structure of the world.
Stages in the development of science associated with the restructuring of the foundations of science are called scientific revolutions. In the history of science, three scientific revolutions can be distinguished that led to changes in the NCM.
I. Aristotelian CM (VI – IV centuries BC): the idea of the Earth as the center of the universe (geocentrism was most fully substantiated by Ptolemy). The world was explained speculatively (since the ancients did not have complex measuring instruments).
II. Newtonian CM (XVI – XVIII centuries): transition from a geocentric model of the world to a heliocentric model of the world. This transition was prepared by the research and discoveries of N. Copernicus, G. Galileo, I. Kepler, R. Descartes. Isaac Newton summed up their research and formulated the basic principles of the new NCM. Objective quantitative characteristics of bodies (shape, size, mass, motion) were identified, which were expressed in strict mathematical laws. Science began to focus on experimentation. Mechanics became the basis for explaining the laws of the world. This NCM can be called mechanistic: the belief that simple forces acting between unchanging objects can explain all natural phenomena.
III. Einstein CM (turn of the 19th – 20th centuries): it is characterized by anti-mechanism: the Universe is something immeasurably more complex than a mechanism, even a grandiose and perfect one. Mechanical interactions themselves are consequences or manifestations of other, deeper, fundamental interactions (electromagnetic, gravitational, etc.). The basis of the new NCM was the general and special theory relativity and quantum mechanics. This NCM has abandoned all centrism. The Universe is limitless and has no special center. All our ideas and all NCM are relational or relative.
Modern NCM is the result of the previous development of science and the global change in scientific pictures of the world. The basic principles of modern NCM are global evolutionism, the anthropic principle, the principle of the material unity of the world, the principle of determinism, systematicity, structure, development (dialectics), self-organization and others.
Scientific picture of the world - concept and types. Classification and features of the category “Scientific picture of the world” 2017, 2018.
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Scientific picture of the world(Stepin) is a holistic system of ideas about the world, its structural characteristics and patterns, developed as a result of systematization and synthesis in the fundamental achievements of science. This is a special form of scientific and theoretical knowledge, developing in the process of the historical evolution of science. Scientific picture of the world is an important component of the scientific worldview, but cannot be reduced to it. In addition to knowledge, a worldview contains beliefs, values, ideals and norms of activity, emotions relate to the object of study, etc.
The structure of the scientific picture of the world:
1 ) conceptual level (philosophical categories, principles), which are specified in scientific picture of the world through a system of general scientific concepts, through the fundamental concepts of individual sciences.
2 ) sensory-figurative component – visual representations and images. Images act as a system and thanks to this, their understanding is ensured. scientific picture of the world a wide range of scientists, regardless of their specialization.
Forms of the scientific picture of the world:
1) by generality n scientific picture of the world appears in the following forms:
General scientific picture of the world, i.e. a form of systematization of knowledge developed in natural science and in social and humanitarian knowledge.
The natural-scientific picture of the world (nature) and the scientific picture of socio-historical reality (picture of society). Each of these pictures is a relatively independent aspect of the general scientific picture of the world.
A special picture of the world of individual sciences (disciplinary ontology) (for example: the physical world, the biological world). Each of the special pictures of the world can be presented as a set of certain theoretical constructs, a figurative model of the area being studied.
2) from the point of view of historical and cultural affiliation: NCM mainly acts as a natural scientific picture of the world, therefore in its sequence it looks like this: mechanical picture of the world, electrodynamic picture of the world, quantum relational picture of the world, synergetic picture of the world. The first three are based on the natural scientific picture of the world.
Functions of the scientific picture of the world:
1) systematization of knowledge;
2) ensuring connection with the experience and cut of the corresponding era;
3) be a research program that focuses on the formulation of empirical and theoretical problems, as well as the choice of means to solve them.
Operational foundations of the scientific picture of the world:
Special pictures of the world serve as the material on the basis of which first pictures of nature and society are formed, then general scientific pictures of the world.
First, the transition is carried out, i.e. movement from disciplinary to interdisciplinary levels of science systematization. Such a transition is carried out not as a simple summation of special pictures of the world, but as their complex synthesis, in the process of which the leading role is played by pictures of the reality of the main this moment scientific disciplines. In the conceptual framework of these disciplines, general scientific concepts are identified, which become the core of first the natural scientific and socio-historical picture, and then the general scientific picture of the world. Around this core, the fundamental concepts of special sciences are organized, included in the second-level picture of the world, and then in the general scientific picture. The resulting picture of the world not only systematizes knowledge about nature and society, but is also formed as a research program that provides a vision of connections between subjects various sciences and defines a strategy for transferring strategies from one science to another.
The postulates of the scientific picture of the world depend on the attitudes of the era.
Dilthey included in the picture of the world: goal, life, man, subject => the picture of the world rests on man.
1) Aristotelian(VI-IV centuries BC) as a result of this scientific revolution, science itself arose, science was separated from other forms of knowledge and exploration of the world, certain norms and patterns were created scientific knowledge. This revolution is most fully reflected in the works of Aristotle. He created formal logic, i.e. the doctrine of evidence, the main tool for deducing and systematizing knowledge, developed a categorical conceptual apparatus. He established a kind of canon for the organization scientific research(history of the issue, statement of the problem, arguments for and against, justification for the decision), differentiated knowledge itself, separating the sciences of nature from mathematics and metaphysics
2) Newtonian scientific revolution(XVI-XVIII centuries). Its starting point is considered to be the transition from a geocentric model of the world to a heliocentric one; this transition was caused by a series of discoveries associated with the names of N. Copernicus, G. Galileo, I. Kepler, R. Descartes, I. Newton, summed up their research and formulated the basic principles new scientific picture of the world in general view. Main changes:
Classical natural science spoke the language of mathematics, was able to identify strictly objective quantitative characteristics of earthly bodies (shape, size, mass, motion) and express them in strict mathematical laws.
The science of modern times has found powerful support in the methods experimental research, phenomena under strictly controlled conditions.
The natural sciences of this time abandoned the concept of a harmonious, complete, purposefully organized cosmos; according to them, the Universe is infinite and united only by the action of identical laws.
Mechanics became the dominant feature of classical natural science; all considerations based on the concepts of value, perfection, and goal setting were excluded from the sphere of scientific research.
IN cognitive activity a clear opposition between the subject and object of research was implied. The result of all these changes was a mechanistic scientific picture of the world based on experimental mathematical natural science.
3) Einstein's revolution(turn of the XIX-XX centuries). It was determined by a series of discoveries (the discovery of the complex structure of the atom, the phenomenon of radioactivity, discrete nature electromagnetic radiation etc.). In the end it was blown up essential prerequisite mechanistic picture of the world - the conviction that with the help of simple forces acting between unchanging objects, all natural phenomena can be explained.
SCIENTIFIC PICTURE OF THE WORLD
SCIENTIFIC PICTURE OF THE WORLD
There are general scientific a picture of the world, a picture of the world of sciences related to the subject of research, and a picture of the world dept. sciences (physical, astronomical, biological and etc.) .
The first pictures of the world were put forward within the framework antique philosophy and wore natural philosophy. . N. k. m. begins to form only in the era of its emergence scientific natural sciences at 10 - 17 centuries IN common system N.K.M. is the defining element of that area of cognition, the region occupies a leading position. IN modern natural science In cognition, this position is occupied by the physical. picture of the world.
In the structure of N. k.m. we can distinguish two Ch. component: conceptual (conceptual) and sensually figurative. Conceptual presented Philosopher categories (matter, motion, space, time and etc.) and principles (material unity of the world, universal connection and interdependence of phenomena and etc.) , general science concepts and laws (e.g. conservation and conversion of energy), as well as fundamental concepts dept. sciences (field, matter, energy, Universe, biological and etc.) . The sensory-figurative component of N.K.M. is a set of visual representations (e.g., planetary atom, Metagalaxy in the form of an expanding sphere, the spin of an electron as a rotating top).
Ch. difference between N.K.M. and pre-scientific or extra-scientific (e.g. religious) is that it is built on the basis of definition. fundamental scientific theories (or theories), which serves as its justification. So, eg, physical picture of the world 17-19 centuries was built on the basis of the classic. mechanics, and modern physical picture of the world - based on quantum mechanics, as well as specialist. and general theory of relativity. WITH etc. sides, fundamental scientific theory finds in N.K.M. the means for its interpretation: N.K.Dt. creates, general scientific. background for its analysis. N.K.M. as systematization scientific knowledge is different from scientific theories. If N k.m. reflects, abstracting from the process of obtaining knowledge, then scientific The theory contains a logical means of both systematizing knowledge about an object and checking (in particular experimental) their truth. N.K.M. performs heuristic. role in the process of building fundamental scientific theories.
N. k. m. is closely related to the worldview, being one of the effective ways of its formation. It acts as a link between worldview and scientific theory. N. k. m. is in constant development, it is carried out in the course of scientific revolutions of qualities. transformation (replacing the old picture of the world with a new one).
Dyshlevy P.S., Natural science. picture of the world as a form of synthesis of knowledge, in Sat.: Synthesis modern scientific knowledge, M., 1973, With. 94-120; Methodological principles of physics, M., 1975, chapter 3; Stepin V. S., Formation scientific theory, Minsk, 1976;
Ideas about the world, which are introduced in pictures of the reality under study, always experience a certain influence of analogies and associations drawn from various cultural works, including production of a certain historical era. For example, ideas about electrical fluid and caloric, included in the mechanical picture of the world in the 18th century, were formed largely under the influence of objective images drawn from the sphere of everyday experience and technology of the corresponding era. common sense 18th century it was easier to agree with the existence of non-mechanical forces, representing them in the image and likeness of mechanical ones, for example. representing the flow of heat as a flow of weightless liquid - caloric, falling like a water jet from one level to another, thereby producing work in the same way as water does this work in hydraulic devices. But at the same time, the mechanical picture of the world of ideas about various substances - carriers of forces - also contained objective knowledge. The idea of quality various types forces was the first step towards recognizing the irreducibility of all types of interaction to mechanical. It contributed to the formation of special, different from mechanical, ideas about the structure of each of these types of interactions.
The ontological status of scientific pictures of the world is a necessary condition objectification of specific empirical and theoretical knowledge of a scientific discipline and its inclusion in culture
Through inclusion in the scientific picture of the world, special achievements of science acquire a general cultural and worldview. For example, the basic physical theory of general relativity, taken in its special theoretical form (the components of the fundamental metric tensor that determines the metric of four-dimensional space-time, at the same time act as potentials gravitational field), is poorly understood by those who are not involved in theoretical physics. But when this idea is formulated in the language of the picture of the world (the nature of the geometry of space-time is mutually determined by the nature of the gravitational field), it gives it the status of a scientific truth that has ideological meaning, understandable to non-specialists. This modifies the ideas about homogeneous Euclidean space and quasi-Euclidean time, which through the system of training and education since the times of Galileo and Newton have turned into an ideological everyday consciousness. This is the case with many scientific discoveries that were included in the scientific picture of the world and through it influence the ideological guidelines of human life. The historical development of the scientific picture of the world is expressed not only in changes in its content. Its very forms are historical. In the 17th century, during the era of the emergence of natural science, the mechanical picture of the world was simultaneously a physical, natural and general scientific picture of the world. With the advent of disciplinary organized science (late 18th century - 1st half of the 19th century), a spectrum of special scientific pictures of the world emerged. They become special, autonomous forms of knowledge, organizing the facts and theories of each scientific discipline into a system of observation. Problems arise in constructing a general scientific picture of the world that synthesizes the achievements of individual sciences. The unity of scientific knowledge becomes the key philosophical problem of science 19-1st floor. 20th century Strengthening interdisciplinary interactions in science of the 20th century. leads to a decrease in the level of autonomy of special scientific pictures of the world. They are integrated into special blocks of the natural scientific and social pictures of the world, the basic ideas of which are included in the general scientific picture of the world. In the 2nd half. 20th century the general scientific picture of the world begins to develop on the basis of the ideas of universal (global) evolutionism, combining the principles of evolution and the systems approach. Genetic connections between the inorganic world, living nature and society are revealed, as a result of which the sharp natural-scientific and social-scientific pictures of the world are eliminated. Accordingly, the integrative connections of disciplinary ontologies are strengthening, which increasingly act as fragments or aspects of a single general scientific picture of the world.
Lit.: Alekseev I.S. The unity of the physical picture of the World as a methodological principle. - In the book: Methodological principles of physics. M., 1975; Vernadsky V.I. Reflections of a naturalist, book. 1,1975, book. 2, 1977; Dyshlevy P.S. Natural science picture of the world as a form of synthesis of scientific knowledge. - In the book: Synthesis of modern scientific knowledge. M., 1973; Mostepanenko M. V. Philosophy and physical theory. L., 1969; Scientific picture of the world: logical-gnoseological. K., 1983; Planck M. Articles and speeches. - In the book: Planck M. Izbr. scientific works. M., 1975; Prigozhy I, Stengers I. Order out of chaos. M., 1986; Nature scientific knowledge. Minsk, 1979; Stepan V. S. Theoretical. M., 2000; Stepan V. S., Kuznetsova L. F. Scientific picture of the world in the culture of technogenic civilization. M., 1994; HoltonDms. What is “anti-science”. - “VF”, 1992, No. 2; Einstein A. Collection. scientific Proceedings, vol. 4. M., 1967.
V. S. Stenin
New Philosophical Encyclopedia: In 4 vols. M.: Thought. Edited by V. S. Stepin. 2001 .
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In addition to the previously discussed “ideals and norms”, “philosophical foundations of science” (metaphysical models), in the foundation of science we find another important component that plays integrating and representative functions. This is a scientific picture of the world. In order to understand what it is, we need to consider this component in the space of similar concepts that arise during the functioning of culture and philosophical reflection: “worldview”, “picture of the world”, “universals of culture”, etc.
The word “worldview” denotes a holistic image of the world that people of a particular era have, in contrast to the system of ideas about the world in philosophy - the difference is thus in the form of “image” and “system”.
The fundamental categories of worldview are the concepts of “world” and “man”, which are specified through the meanings of other universals of culture, such as, for example, “good and evil”, “freedom and necessity”, “thing, property, relationship”, “nature”, “matter and spirit”, etc. Worldviews accumulate the life experiences of individuals and groups. It is the latter (groups) that develop their specific worldviews, which depend on the nature of their activities and the context of existence. There can be competition between different specific group worldviews in the intellectual field of culture, and the most viable of them, that is, those that turn out to be more applicable in universal contexts, become the dominant exponents of the entire era. As a rule, these are the worldviews of the most active, enterprising, reaching heights social control groups.
Worldview is identified by many with the concept of “picture of the world.” Why two words? The metaphor of “picture” has an important meaning that is missing in the word “worldview” - selectivity, simplification, schematization of reality. Just as an artist who paints pictures achieves success not through photographic copying of reality, but through grasping something very important for a person, so the “picture of the world,” through simplifications and schematizations, identifies from the boundless diversity of reality the most essential, fateful for human existence in the world . Another, additional meaning of the metaphor “picture” (visual, visual, orientation scheme) is a kind of “mental map” with which a person compares his actions, navigates among things and events, it is also something that unites many things into one whole.
Philosophy constitutes the theoretical core of a worldview through reflection on the historical content of a particular culture and the identification of its universals in a logical-conceptual form. Simply put, in life experience millions of people, dozens of groups of people, some worldview structures spontaneously crystallize, existing in semi-conscious, metaphorical forms. Philosophy explicates them, simultaneously schematizing and simplifying them, into philosophical categories and specific philosophical teachings. However, one cannot say about the semantic identity of the implicit ideological structures of culture (universals of culture, pictures of the world of the era) and the philosophical teachings of this time. Yet philosophers each time add their own, specifically personal, creative, something that goes beyond just simple reflection.
The scientific picture of the world is a component of the worldview of a particular era, representing a specific form of systematization of scientific knowledge of that time. The scientific picture of the world, as knowledge about the structure of the world, most strongly influences the ontological component of the worldview. Of course, we are talking about technogenic societies, where people believe science more than traditional (mythological and religious) ideas. What are the specifics of the scientific picture of the world?
^ It is formed within scientific communities through generalization and synthesis of the most important scientific achievements, where philosophical principles are an important aid in this process.
^ This is the form through which specific knowledge obtained in various fields of science is integrated and systematized. Thus, in addition to the general scientific picture of the world, there are natural scientific and social pictures of the world, as well as disciplinary pictures of the world (physical, biological, astronomical, and some others).
^ The scientific picture of the world, like philosophy, is not only a reflection of the world or culture, but something with a significant, creative and active “additive”. Thanks to scientific practice In the life of human society, many processes are realized that, although they do not contradict the laws of nature, are extremely unlikely in ordinary (non-human) development (nature itself will not give rise to cars or computers). Therefore, the scientific picture of the world reflects not only and not so much the virgin natural reality, but the world in the possibilities of its alteration, the world in the technological perspective of its transformation, the world as a set of natural and artificial objects.
The concept of “scientific picture of the world” appeared as a result of the methodological work of both scientists themselves (M. Planck, A. Einstein, N. Bohr, V. Heisenberg, V. Vernadsky, N. Wiener, etc.) and philosophers of science (T. Kuhn, I. Lakatos, J. Holton, L. Laudan, V. Stepin, etc.)
In the first half of the twentieth century. namely the founders modern physics reflected on the transition from classical to modern natural science and identified the most important features previous scientific pictures of the world. They used different terms (“physical reality”, “physical world”, “picture of the world”), but in all cases they meant that these are many fundamental concepts and principles of various disciplines, integrated into a system that represents the world as a single the whole. The most important characteristic The scientific picture of the world is its ontological status, i.e. the correlation of theoretical statements and the reality that they describe. If scientists of classical natural science were inclined to completely identify terms, categories, laws with real objects, then modern scientists are no longer so categorical, knowing about previous errors and revisions. At the same time, they insist on the obligatory presence in our pictures of the world of constant, truthful moments that cannot be refuted by the subsequent development of science. Scientists cannot help but ontologize their ideas; faith in the reality of their own developments stimulates knowledge.
The structure of scientific pictures of the world
> Conceptual (conceptual) component, represented by such elements as philosophical categories (matter, space, time, etc.), philosophical principles (universal connection and interdependence of phenomena), general scientific concepts and laws (the law of conservation and transformation of energy) and fundamental concepts of individual sciences (Universe, field, energy, biological species etc.).
> Natural scientific knowledge, acting as rational theoretical basis formation of pictures of the world. For example, theories classical mechanics act as a rational-theoretical basis for a mechanistic picture of the world.
> Sensory-figurative component, i.e. a set of visual ideas about nature (planetary model of the atom, ideas about the Metagalaxy as an expanding sphere, etc.). Typology of scientific pictures of the world
Since there are different levels of systematization of knowledge, in the scientific picture of the world there are three main types. Accordingly, there are four main meanings in which the term “scientific picture of the world” is used when characterizing the processes of the structure and dynamics of science.
— A general scientific picture of the world, i.e. a holistic image of the world, including ideas about both nature and society.
— Natural scientific picture of the world, i.e. a system of ideas about nature that develops as a result of the synthesis of achievements of natural science disciplines.
— Scientific picture of the world of socio-historical reality.
— Special pictures of the world of individual sciences, i.e., a holistic vision of the subject of a given science, which develops at a certain stage of its history and changes during the transition from one stage to another.
There are two alternative approaches to the problem of special scientific pictures of the world. Supporters of the first of them believe that, by analogy with the physical picture of the world, corresponding forms of systematization of knowledge in other worlds can be identified and analyzed. scientific disciplines. Proponents of the second approach deny the existence of special scientific pictures of the world for several reasons. Firstly, the very terms “biological”, “astronomical”, “chemical”, “technical” picture of the world, introduced by analogy with the term “ physical picture peace." In relation to physics, this term seemed legitimate, since the subject of physical research is the fundamental structures and interactions that can be traced at all stages of the evolution of the Universe. Most sciences, much later than physics, entered the theorizing stage associated with the formation of specific theoretical models and laws that explain empirical data. Therefore, when analyzing the historical dynamics of knowledge in these sciences, methodologists often faced a situation of dominance of empirical search.
Another typology model offers a two-layer understanding of the scientific picture of the world.
■ The first layer consists of scientific pictures of the world, which put forward integral images of an ontological nature, i.e. those in which the human factor is not explicitly expressed: these are physical, biological and information pictures of the world.
■ The second layer is represented by scientific pictures of the world, representing the world through integral images that include the human factor in an explicit, explicit form: these are technical, aesthetic and linguistic pictures of the world.
Thus, it is traditional to distinguish general scientific, natural science, socio-historical, as well as a number of special pictures of the world of individual sciences (disciplinary ontologies). However, there are other classifications, which are based on various principles, such as the form of representation, the presence of an integral image, the role human factor etc.
The founders of modern physics gave an analysis of the features of the previous stages of the development of science and the change in pictures of the world. The leading role in the development of natural sciences has long belonged to physics due to the fundamental nature of the knowledge obtained in this discipline. It was she who determined the composition of the world's constituents and gave qualifications to their basic combinations and interactions. In the development of physics, there are three eras, three pictures of the world.
The first developed in the second half of the 17th century. and was called the mechanical picture of the world. Its ontological features can be presented as follows: the world consists of indivisible particles (corpuscles); their interaction is carried out as an instantaneous transfer of forces in a straight line; particles and bodies formed from them move in absolute space over absolute time.
In the last quarter of the 19th century, after the success of Maxwell's theory, the mechanical picture of the world, which had dominated science for more than two and a half centuries, was replaced by an electrodynamic one. In the electrodynamic picture of the world, natural processes were described through new abstractions, the main of which were: indivisible atoms and electrons (atoms of electricity); world ether, the states of which were considered as electric, magnetic and gravitational forces, propagating from point to point in accordance with the principle of short-range action; absolute space and time.
In the first half of the twentieth century. A modern quantum-relativistic picture of the world is emerging, which represents a fairly radical restructuring of the very philosophical and methodological foundations of understanding. First of all, modern ideas(J. Chu, D. Bohm) abandon the methodology of “elementarism”, which has dominated physics for a long time: the universe consists of unchanging “bricks”, whose properties determine the main characteristics of macro- and mega-objects. Currently, a rather holistic approach to understanding the universe is being adopted, in which, on the contrary, the properties of the elements are determined by the properties of the whole or the order of existence (dynamic equilibrium) and probabilistic causality prevails, time and space are relative. The Universe is a self-organizing and self-regulating system of intercorrelated orders and hierarchies, in which interactions at different levels of organization are regulated by the whole and reproduce the whole.
Picture of the world in the system of scientific knowledge
How is the picture of the world different from the actual theories of science, why is it needed, i.e., what functions does it perform?
The picture of the world differs from the theory in the nature of its ideal objects and in the breadth of coverage of the phenomena being studied. Most ideal objects of theory are of an intratheoretical nature; their difference from reality is obvious. On the contrary, the basic concepts of the picture of the world, although also idealizations, are nevertheless ontologized, that is, identified with reality. The picture of the world is always characterized by a greater breadth of coverage of phenomena than any individual theory. The picture of the world presents many theories, including fundamental ones. For example, the modern quantum relativistic picture of the world unites the entire accumulated diversity of fundamental physical theories, classical and quantum mechanics, special and general theory of relativity, thermodynamics, classical and quantum electrodynamics.
The connection between them is established through the procedures for mapping the objects of theories onto the picture of the world. If the laws of a theory are formulated in the language of mathematics, the mapping of its schemes onto the picture of the world provides their semantic (conceptual) interpretation, and the mapping onto situations of real experience provides an empirical interpretation of the equations.
The picture of the world, in contrast to theory, gives a generalized description of the entire reality being studied. This is achieved through views:
— about fundamental objects, units of the universe; b/ about the typologies of the objects being studied (micro-, macro-, mega-world; physical, chemical, biological objects, etc.);
~ about the general patterns of their interaction;
~ about the space-time structure of reality.
Pictures of the world have two types of their formation in relation to the theories from which they are composed. Either they develop through lines of continuity, when theories representing one type of picture of the world support each other, clarify, complement and develop, or the same type of picture of the world is realized in the form of competing and alternative ideas about the physical world (Cartesian and Newtonian concept of nature).
Special scientific pictures of the world (disciplinary ontologies) are not isolated from each other; the processes of integration of scientific knowledge lead to the creation of new forms of systematization, the limit of which is the general scientific picture of the world. It integrates the most important system-structural characteristics of those areas of reality that are studied by various natural, humanities and technical sciences: ideas about the non-stationary Universe and Big Bang, about living things and genes, the ecosystem and the biosphere, about society and civilizations, language, the structure of the mind, technology and the “artificial”, etc.
The formation of pictures of the world in each branch of science occurs not only in the closed mode of communication between specialists, but also has access to culture as a whole. In many cases, it is from culture, from everyday practice, that scientists import some significant, visual images (of an organism, a book, a watch, a mechanism, an automaton). The clarity of images and representations of scientific pictures of the world ensures their understanding not only by specialists in a given field of knowledge, but also by scientists of other disciplines, as well as simply widely educated people not directly related to science. This is the necessary popular form of existence of special knowledge, which ensures its entry into everyday life and into the worldview of the broad masses of people.
The scientific picture of the world is also connected with philosophy in that, firstly, it is created using a philosophical dictionary of terms and philosophical, i.e. general methodological, means, and, secondly, philosophical ideas from a secondary (cultural) source are used (rediscovered) in the form of metaphysical parts of pictures of the world: ontological postulates.
Functions of the scientific picture of the world
The generally accepted function of the scientific picture of the world is the function of organizing and systematizing knowledge. There are also some cognitive functions scientific picture of the world, namely:
* creation of a stable set of research strategies and operations, entrenched in the conceptual and procedural apparatus of the scientific picture of the world;
* generalizing function, according to which a certain “representative” fragment of knowledge (matrix, “label”) is isolated in the scientific picture of the world, replacing the rest, more specific knowledge as a whole;
* metaphorical communicative function, which consists in the fact that generalized knowledge-strategem is capable of transfer to another theoretical context, to other disciplines;
* the representative function, which lies in the fact that the scientific picture of the world is a representative of the world as a whole, allows the researcher to deal in his research not with the world itself, but with its model;
* function of knowledge compression and function of its expansion, i.e. distribution to those areas where it has not previously been applied
* normative function of the scientific picture of the world; the forms of normative organization in scientific knowledge are the values and theoretical-cognitive ideals of a given disciplinary community.
Scientific picture of the world and new ideological guidelines for civilizational development
The present time is often called transitional or revolutionary. Its essence lies in the problem of humanity’s choice of life strategies for further civilizational development.
Technogenic society, which has existed for four centuries after it replaced the previous type of development, is itself approaching a certain point of “branching” (bifurcation), which should be followed by a transition to some new quality.
The culture of technogenic civilization is based on scientific rationality, which is based, in turn, on a clear contrast between subject and object, demarcation of the social world and nature, use scientific technologies to transform the earth's environment in the interests of man. This culture ensured a constant increase in production and an improvement in the quality of life of people; the ideas of progress, democracy, freedom, personal initiative were established in it, and many myths and prejudices that had held people’s minds captive for thousands of years were dispelled. But new problems have also arisen that have become global due to the globalization of the planet, the main of which are environmental and civilizational inequalities, the crisis of classical rationality.
The identified problems indicate the need to make adjustments to the scientific picture of the world in order to form new value systems and ideological structures. The main adjustments will be made in the following areas:
— Ecologization of consciousness, rejection of the technogenic understanding of nature as an inorganic world, a “dead mechanism”, indifferent to humans. Formation of a new idea about the organic inclusion of man in the integral cosmos and the proportionality of man as a result of cosmic evolution to the world that gave birth to him.
— Supplementing the scientific picture of the world with the principle of openness: nature and man to each other, which can ensure true dialogical communication between man and nature. The principle of openness must also be applied to communication within human cultures for the true unification and mutual understanding of the two main civilizations of mankind: East and West. Moreover, the new ideas of modern Western science reproduce many of the ideas that still underlie the worldview of the East: the universal organic relationship between the cosmos and consciousness, the search for their harmony as the meaning of existence.
— Formation of a new, “open” type of rationality, which differs from the “closed”, intradisciplinary one, subject to rigid patterns and rules. Open rationality is characterized by a broad interpretation - as the property of the mind to somehow organize its activities through setting goals and developing ways to realize them. It is also characterized by tolerance: an attentive and respectful attitude towards other ideological and cultural traditions as equal and equally justified, the desire to understand them and introduce them into one’s context.
On this day:
Birthdays 1889 Was born Konstantin Mikhailovich Polikarpovich- Belarusian Soviet scientist-archaeologist, founder of the study of the Stone Age in the Upper Dnieper region. 1919 Born - Soviet archaeologist, doctor historical sciences, employee of the Institute of Archeology of the USSR Academy of Sciences, specialist in Chernyakhov culture. Days of Death 1896 Died August Kazimirovich Zhiznevsky- Russian archaeologist, organizer of the Tver Archival Commission and Museum.The scientific picture of the world (SPM) is a system of general ideas about the fundamental properties and laws of the universe, emerging and developing on the basis of generalization and synthesis of the basic scientific facts, concepts and principles.
NCM consists of two permanent components:
- conceptual component includes philosophical principles and categories (for example, the principle of determinism, the concepts of matter, motion, space, time, etc.), general scientific principles and concepts (the law of conservation and transformation of energy, the principle of relativity, the concepts of mass, charge, black body, etc. .)
- sensory-figurative component - this is a set of visual representations of world phenomena and processes in the form of models of objects of scientific knowledge, their images, descriptions, etc. It is necessary to distinguish NCM from the picture of the world based on the synthesis of general human ideas about the world, developed by different spheres of culture
The main difference between NCM and pre-scientific (natural philosophy) and extra-scientific (for example, religious) is that it is created on the basis of a certain scientific theory (or theories) and fundamental principles and categories of philosophy.
As science develops, it produces several varieties of scientific knowledge, which differ in the level of generalization of the system of scientific knowledge : general scientific picture of the world (or simply NCM), picture of the world of a certain field of science (natural science picture of the world), picture of the world of a separate complex of sciences (physical, astronomical, biological picture of the world, etc.).
Ideas about the properties and characteristics of the nature around us arise on the basis of the knowledge that in each historical period is given to us by different sciences that study various processes and natural phenomena. Since nature is something unified and whole, since knowledge about it must be holistic, i.e. represent a certain system. This system of scientific knowledge about nature has long been called Natural Science. Previously, Natural Science included all the relatively small knowledge that was known about Nature, but already from the Renaissance, its individual branches and disciplines emerged and became isolated, and the process of differentiation of scientific knowledge began. It is clear that not all this knowledge is equally important for understanding the nature around us.
To emphasize the fundamental nature of the basic and most important knowledge about nature, scientists introduced the concept of a natural scientific picture of the world, which is understood as a system essential principles and the laws underlying the world around us. The term “picture of the world” itself indicates that we are talking here not about a part or fragment of knowledge, but about an entire system. As a rule, in the formation of such a picture, the most important concepts and theories of the most developed branches of natural science in a certain historical period, which are put forward as its leaders. There is no doubt that the leading sciences leave their mark on the ideas and scientific worldview of scientists of the corresponding era.
But this does not mean that other sciences do not participate in the formation of a picture of nature. In fact, it arises as a result of the synthesis of fundamental discoveries and research results from all branches and disciplines of natural science.
The existing picture of nature drawn by natural science, in turn, has an impact on other branches of science, including social and humanitarian ones. This impact is expressed in the dissemination of concepts, standards and criteria for the scientific nature of natural science to other branches of scientific knowledge. Typically, it is the concepts and methods of the natural sciences and the natural scientific picture of the world as a whole that largely determine the scientific climate of science. In close interaction with the development of natural sciences since the 16th century. mathematics developed, which created such powerful mathematical methods, like differential and integral calculus.
However, without taking into account the results of research on economic, social and humanities our knowledge of the world as a whole will be deliberately incomplete and limited. Therefore, one should distinguish between the natural scientific picture of the world, which is formed from the achievements and results of knowledge of the natural sciences, and the picture of the world as a whole, which includes the most important concepts and principles of the social sciences as a necessary addition.
Our course focuses on concepts modern natural science and accordingly, we will consider the scientific picture of nature as it was historically formed in the process of development of natural science. However, even before the advent of scientific ideas about nature, people thought about the world around them, its structure and origin. Such ideas initially appeared in the form of myths and were passed on from one generation to another. According to ancient myths, the entire visible orderly and organized world, which in antiquity was called the cosmos, originated from a disorganized world, or disordered chaos.
In ancient natural philosophy, in particular in Aristotle (384-322 BC), similar views were reflected in the division of the world into a perfect heavenly “cosmos”, which for the ancient Greeks meant any orderliness, organization, perfection, consistency and even military order. It was precisely this kind of perfection and organization that was attributed to the heavenly world.
With the advent of experimental natural science and scientific astronomy in the Renaissance, the obvious inconsistency of such ideas was shown. New views on the world began to be based on the results and conclusions of the natural sciences of the corresponding era and therefore began to be called the natural scientific picture of the world.