What sciences are considered natural? What are natural sciences? Methods of natural sciences

Natural sciences convey to humanity the totality of existing knowledge about natural processes and phenomena. The very concept of “natural science” developed very actively in the 17th-19th centuries, when scientists specializing in it were called naturalists. The main difference between this group and the humanities or social sciences lies in the scope of study, since the latter are based on human society rather than on natural processes.

Instructions

• The basic sciences classified as “natural” are physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, geography and geology, which over time could change and combine, interacting with each other. This is how the disciplines of geophysics, soil science, autophysics, climatology, biochemistry, meteorology, physical chemistry and chemical physics arose.
• Physics and its classical theory were formed during the lifetime of Isaac Newton, and then developed through the works of Faraday, Ohm and Maxwell. In the 20th century there was a revolution in this science, which showed the imperfection of traditional theory. Albert Einstein, who preceded the real physical “boom” during the Second World War, also played a significant role in this. In the 40s of the last century, the creation of the atomic bomb became a powerful stimulus for the development of this science.
• Chemistry was a continuation of earlier alchemy and began with Robert Boyle's famous work, The Skeptical Chemist, published in 1661. Subsequently, within the framework of this science, the so-called critical thinking, which developed during the time of Cullen and Black, began to actively develop. Well, you can’t ignore the definition of atomic masses and the outstanding invention of Dmitry Mendeleev in 1869 (the periodic law of the universe).
• Biology began in 1847, when a doctor in Hungary suggested that his patients wash their hands to prevent the spread of germs. Subsequently, Louis Pasteur developed this direction, linking the processes of rotting and fermentation, as well as inventing pasteurization.
• Geography, constantly spurred by the search for new lands, went hand in hand with cartography, which developed especially rapidly in the 17th and 18th centuries, when Australia was discovered as a result of the search for the southernmost continent of the planet, and James Cook made three trips around the world. In Russia, this science developed under Catherine I and Lomonosov, who founded the Geographical Department of the Academy of Sciences.
• Last but not least, science was pioneered by Leonardo da Vinci and Girolamo Fracastoro, who suggested that the history of the planet is much longer than the biblical account. Then, already in the 17th and 18th centuries, a general theory of the Earth was formed, which gave rise to the scientific works of Robert Hooke, John Ray, Joanne Woodward and other geologists.

Physics can rightfully be considered the basis of all natural sciences.

Physics- This the science of bodies, their movement, transformations and forms of manifestation at various levels.

Chemistry is the science of chemical elements and compounds, their properties, transformations.

Biology studies living nature, the laws of the organic world.

Natural sciences include geology. However, it would be more correct to say that Geology is a system of sciences about the composition, structure, and history of the development of the earth’s crust and the Earth.

Mathematics does not belong to the natural sciences, but plays a huge role in natural science. Mathematics is the science of quantitative relations of reality is an interdisciplinary science.

Natural science system of natural sciences. In modern world natural science represents a system of natural sciences, or the so-called natural sciences, taken in mutual connection and based, as a rule, on mathematical methods of describing the objects of study.

Natural science-- a set of sciences about nature, the subject of their research being various phenomena and processes of nature, the patterns of their evolution. In addition, natural science is a separate independent science about nature as a whole. It allows us to study any object in the world around us more deeply than any one of the natural sciences can do. Therefore, natural science, along with the sciences of society and thinking, is the most important part of human knowledge. It includes both the activity of obtaining knowledge and its results, i.e., a system of scientific knowledge about natural processes and phenomena.

Science:

· one of the three main areas of scientific knowledge about nature, society and thinking;

· is the theoretical basis of industrial and agricultural technology and medicine

· is the natural scientific foundation of the picture of the world.

Being the foundation for the formation of a scientific picture of the world, natural science is a certain system of views on a particular understanding of natural phenomena or processes. And if such a system of views takes on a single, defining character, then it is usually called concept. Over time, new empirical facts and generalizations appear and the system of views on understanding processes changes, new concepts appear.

If we consider subject area of ​​natural science extremely broadly, it includes:

· various forms of movement of matter in nature;

· their material carriers, which form a “ladder” of levels of structural organization of matter;

· their relationship, internal structure and genesis.

In modern natural science, nature is considered not abstractly, outside human activity, but concretely, as being under the influence of man, because its knowledge is achieved not only by speculative, theoretical, but also by practical production activities of people.

Thus, natural science as a reflection of nature in human consciousness is improved in the process of its active transformation in the interests of society.

From this follows goals of natural science:

· identifying the essence of natural phenomena, their laws and, on this basis, foreseeing or creating new phenomena;

· the ability to use in practice the known laws, forces and substances of nature.

In general, we can say that the goals of natural science coincide with the goals of human activity itself.

Natural sciences include:

· Sciences about space, its structure and evolution (astronomy, cosmology, astrophysics, cosmochemistry, etc.);

· Physical sciences (physics) - sciences about the most profound laws of natural objects and at the same time - about the simplest forms of their changes;

· Chemical sciences (chemistry) - sciences about substances and their transformations

· Biological sciences (biology) - life sciences;

· Earth sciences (geonomy) - this includes: geology (the science of the structure of the earth’s crust), geography (the science of the sizes and shapes of areas of the earth’s surface), etc.

The listed sciences do not exhaust all natural sciences, because man and human society are inseparable from nature and are part of it.

Structure Natural science is a complex branched system of knowledge, all parts of which are in a relationship of hierarchical subordination. This means that the system of natural sciences can be represented as a kind of ladder, each step of which is the foundation for the science that follows it, and in turn is based on the data of the previous science.

Thus, the basis, foundation of all natural sciences is physics, the subject of which is bodies, their movements, transformations and forms of manifestation at various levels.

The next level of the hierarchy is chemistry, which studies chemical elements, their properties, transformations and compounds.

In turn, chemistry underlies biology - the science of living things that studies the cell and everything derived from it. Biology is based on knowledge about matter and chemical elements.

Earth sciences (geology, geography, ecology, etc.) are the next level of the structure of natural science. They consider the structure and development of our planet, which is a complex combination of physical, chemical and biological phenomena and processes.

This grandiose pyramid of knowledge about Nature is completed by cosmology, which studies the Universe as a whole. Part of this knowledge is astronomy and cosmogony, which study the structure and origin of planets, stars, galaxies, etc. At this level there is a new return to physics. This allows us to talk about the cyclical, closed nature of natural science, which obviously reflects one of the most important properties of Nature itself.

In science there are complex processes of differentiation and integration of scientific knowledge. Differentiation of science is the separation within a science of narrower, private areas of research, turning them into independent sciences. Thus, within physics, solid state physics and plasma physics were distinguished.

Integration of science is the emergence of new sciences at the junctions of old ones, a manifestation of the processes of unification of scientific knowledge. Examples of this kind of sciences are: physical chemistry, chemical physics, biophysics, biochemistry, geochemistry, biogeochemistry, astrobiology, etc.

Science as part of culture

Culture(from the Latin cultura - cultivation, upbringing, education, development, veneration), a historically determined level of development of society, creative forces and abilities of a person, expressed in types and forms of organization of life and activity. Any human activity, represented by artifacts, i.e. ( material culture) or beliefs (spiritual culture), which is transmitted from person to a person in one way or another of learning, but not through genetic inheritance.

Culture embodies the general difference between human life and biological forms of life. Human behavior is determined not so much by nature as by upbringing and culture.

Material culture ( values) - development of technology, tools, experience, production, construction, clothing, utensils, etc., i.e. everything that serves to continue life. Spiritual culture (values) - ideological presentation of views, ideas, moral, education, the science, art, religion etc., i.e. everything that reflects the surrounding world in consciousness, in the understanding of good and evil, beauty, knowledge of the value of all the diversity of the world. Thus, science is the most important component of culture. Science is part of culture.

Science represents the unity of three components:

1-a body of a certain kind of knowledge;

2-a specific way of acquiring knowledge;

3-social institution.

The order in which these groups of functions are listed essentially reflects the historical process of the formation and expansion of the social functions of science, i.e. the emergence and strengthening of ever new channels of its interaction with society. Now science is receiving a new powerful impetus for its development, as its practical application is expanding and deepening. The growing role of N. in public life has given rise to its special status in modern culture and new features of its interaction with various layers of public consciousness. Therefore, the problem of the peculiarities of N. cognition and its relationship with other forms of cognitive activity (art, everyday knowledge...) is acutely raised.

Functions of science. Through the components of science noted above, its most important functions are realized:

explanatory,

descriptive,

prognostic,

ideological,

systematizing,

production and practical)

Scientists of the Middle Ages

Of course, until the 17th century. There were periods of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. During the first of them, science was completely dependent on theology and scholasticism. Astrology, alchemy, magic, cabalism and other manifestations of occult, secret knowledge are typical for this time. Alchemists tried, using chemical reactions accompanied by specific spells, having received a philosopher's stone that helps transform any substance into gold, to prepare an elixir of longevity, to create a universal solvent. As by-products of their activities, scientific discoveries appeared, technologies for producing paints, glasses, medicines, alloys, etc. were created. In general, the developing knowledge was an intermediate link between technical craft and natural philosophy and, due to its practical orientation, contained the germ of a future experimental one; Sciences. However, gradually accumulating changes led to the fact that the idea of ​​​​the relationship between faith and reason in the picture of the world began to change: at first they began to be recognized as equal, and then, in the Renaissance, reason was placed above revelation. In this era (XVI century), man began to be understood not as a natural being, but as the creator of himself, which distinguishes him from all other living beings. Man takes the place of God: he is his own creator, he is the ruler of nature. The boundary between science as the comprehension of existence and practical technical activity is removed. The lines between theoreticians-scientists and practicing engineers are being blurred. The mathematization of physics and the physicalization of mathematics begins, which culminated in the creation of mathematical physics of the New Age (XVII century). At its origins stood N. Copernicus, I. Kepler, G. Galileo. So, for example, Galileo in every possible way developed the idea of ​​​​the systematic application of two interrelated methods - analytical and synthetic, and called them resolutive and composite. The main achievement in mechanics was his establishment of the law of inertia, the principle of relativity, according to which: the uniform and linear motion of a system of bodies does not affect the processes occurring in this system. Galileo improved and invented many technical instruments - a lens, a telescope, a microscope, a magnet, an air thermometer, a barometer, etc.

The great English physicist I. Newton (1643-1727) completed the Copernican revolution. He proved the existence of gravity as a universal force - a force that simultaneously caused stones to fall to the Earth and was the cause of the closed orbits in which the planets revolved around the Sun. The merit of I. Newton was that he combined the mechanical philosophy of R. Descartes, I. Kepler's laws on planetary motion and Galileo's laws on earthly motion, bringing them together into a single comprehensive theory. After a number of mathematical discoveries, I. Newton established the following: in order for the planets to be kept in stable orbits with appropriate speeds and at appropriate distances determined by I. Kepler’s third law, they must be attracted to the Sun by a certain force inversely proportional to the square of the distance to the Sun ; Bodies falling to the Earth are also subject to the same law.

Newtonian revolution

Newton created his own version of differential and integral calculus directly to solve the basic problems of mechanics: determining instantaneous speed as the derivative of the path with respect to the time of movement and acceleration, as the derivative of the speed with respect to time or the second derivative of the path with respect to time. Thanks to this, he was able to accurately formulate the basic laws of dynamics and the law of universal gravitation. Newton was convinced of the objective existence of matter, space and time, in the existence of objective laws of the world accessible to human knowledge. Despite his enormous achievements in the field of natural science, Newton deeply believed in God and took religion very seriously. He was the author of "Apocalypse" and "Chronology". This leads to the conclusion that for I. Newton there was no conflict between science and religion; both coexisted in his worldview.

Paying tribute to such a great contribution of the scientist to the formation and development of the scientific picture of the world, the scientific paradigm of this period or the scientific revolution of the 16th-17th centuries. called Newtonian.

And this is the second picture of the world in the history of European science after Aristotle’s. Its main achievements can be considered:

naturalism - the idea of ​​self-sufficiency of nature, governed by natural, objective laws;

mechanism - the representation of the world as a machine, consisting of elements of varying degrees of importance and generality;

Quantitativeism is a universal method of quantitative comparison and evaluation of all objects and phenomena of the world, a rejection of the qualitative thinking of antiquity and the Middle Ages;

cause-and-effect automatism - rigid determination of all phenomena and processes in the world by natural causes, described using the laws of mechanics;

analyticism - the primacy of analytical activity over synthetic activity in the thinking of scientists, the rejection of abstract speculation characteristic of antiquity and the Middle Ages;

Geometricism is the affirmation of a picture of a boundless, homogeneous cosmic universe governed by uniform laws.

Another important result of the scientific revolution of the New Age was the combination of the speculative natural-philosophical tradition of antiquity and medieval science with craft and technical activities, with production. In addition, as a result of this revolution, the hypothetico-deductive method of knowledge was established in science.

In the last century, physicists supplemented the mechanistic picture of the world with an electromagnetic one. Electrical and magnetic phenomena have been known for a long time, but were studied separately from each other. Their study showed that there is a deep relationship between them, which forced scientists to look for this connection and create a unified electromagnetic theory.

Einstein's Revolution

In the 30s XX century another important discovery was made, which showed that elementary particles, such as electrons, have not only corpuscular, but also wave properties. In this way, it was experimentally proven that there is no impassable boundary between matter and the field: under certain conditions, elementary particles of matter exhibit wave properties, and field particles exhibit properties of corpuscles. This phenomenon is called wave-particle duality.

Even more radical changes in the doctrine of space and time occurred in connection with the creation of the general theory of relativity, which is often called the new theory of gravity. This theory was the first to clearly and clearly establish the connection between the properties of moving bodies and their space-time metrics. A. Einstein (1879-1955), an outstanding American scientist, theoretical physicist, formulated some basic properties of space and time based on his theory:

1) their objectivity and independence from human consciousness and the consciousness of all other intelligent beings in the world. Their absoluteness, they are universal forms of existence of matter, manifested at all structural levels of its existence;

2) an inextricable connection with each other and with moving matter;

3) the unity of discontinuity and continuity in their structure - the presence of individual bodies fixed in space in the absence of any “breaks” in the space itself;

Essentially, relativity triumphed in quantum mechanics as well, because scientists have recognized that it is impossible:

1) find objective truth regardless of the measuring device;

2) know both the position and speed of particles at the same time;

3) establish whether we are dealing with particles or waves in the microcosm. This is the triumph of relativity in physics of the 20th century.

Considering such a huge contribution to modern science and the great influence of A. Einstein on it, the third fundamental paradigm in the history of science and natural history was called Einsteinian.

Main achievements of scientific and technological revolution

Other main achievements of the modern scientific and technological revolution come down to the creation of GTS - a general theory of systems, which made it possible to look at the world as a single, holistic entity, consisting of a huge number of systems interacting with each other. In the 1970s An interdisciplinary direction of research has appeared, such as synergetics, which studies the processes of self-organization in systems of any nature: physical, chemical, biological and social.

There has been a huge breakthrough in the sciences studying living nature. The transition from the cellular level of research to the molecular level was marked by major discoveries in biology related to the deciphering of the genetic code, the revision of previous views on the evolution of living organisms, the clarification of old and the emergence of new hypotheses of the origin of life. Such a transition became possible as a result of the interaction of various natural sciences, the widespread use in biology of precise methods of physics, chemistry, computer science and computer technology. In turn, living systems served as a natural laboratory for chemistry, the experience of which scientists sought to implement in their research on the synthesis of complex compounds.

The modern natural science picture of the world is the result of a synthesis of the world systems of antiquity, antiquity, geo- and heliocentrism, a mechanistic, electromagnetic picture of the world and is based on the scientific achievements of modern natural science.

At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, major discoveries were made in natural science that radically changed our ideas about the picture of the world. First of all, these are discoveries related to the structure of matter and discoveries about the relationship between matter and energy.

Modern natural science represents the surrounding material world of our Universe as homogeneous, isotropic and expanding. Matter in the world is in the form of matter and field. According to the structural distribution of matter, the surrounding world is divided into three large areas: the microworld, the macroworld and the megaworld. They are characterized by four fundamental types of interactions: strong, electromagnetic, weak and gravitational, which are transmitted through corresponding fields. There are quanta of all fundamental interactions.

If earlier the last indivisible particles of matter,

Atoms were considered to be the unique building blocks of nature, but at the end of the last century electrons that make up atoms were discovered. Later, the structure of atomic nuclei consisting of protons was established.

In the 30s of the 20th century, another important discovery was made, which showed that elementary particles of matter, such as electrons, have not only corpuscular, but also wave properties. This phenomenon was called wave-particle duality - a concept that did not fit into the framework of ordinary common sense.

Thus, in the modern natural science picture of the world, both matter and field consist of elementary particles, and the particles interact with each other and are interconverted. At the level of elementary particles, mutual transformation of field and matter occurs. Thus, photons can turn into electron-positron pairs, and these pairs are destroyed (annihilated) during the interaction process with the formation of photons. Moreover, the vacuum also consists of particles (virtual particles) that interact both with each other and with ordinary particles. Thus, the boundaries between matter and field and even between vacuum, on the one hand, and matter and field, on the other, actually disappear. At a fundamental level, all boundaries in nature really turn out to be conditional.

Another fundamental theory of modern physics is the theory of relativity, which radically changed the scientific understanding of space and time. In the special theory of relativity, the principle of relativity in mechanical motion, established by Galileo, was further applied. An important methodological lesson that was learned from the special theory of relativity is that all movements occurring in nature are relative in nature; in nature there is no absolute frame of reference and, therefore, absolute motion, which Newtonian mechanics allowed.

Even more radical changes in the doctrine of space and time occurred in connection with the creation of the general theory of relativity. This theory for the first time clearly and clearly established the connection between the properties of moving material bodies and their space-time metrics. The general theory of relativity showed a deep connection between the movement of material bodies, namely gravitating masses, and the structure of physical space-time.

In the modern natural science picture of the world, there is a close connection between all natural sciences, here time and space act as a single space-time continuum, mass and energy are interconnected, wave and corpuscular movements, in a certain sense, unite, characterizing the same object, and finally, matter and field are mutually transformed. Therefore, persistent attempts are currently being made to create a unified theory of all interactions.

Both the mechanical and electromagnetic picture of the world were built on dynamic, unambiguous laws. In the modern picture of the world, probabilistic patterns turn out to be fundamental, not reducible to dynamic ones.

The emergence of such an interdisciplinary direction of research as synergetics, or the doctrine of self-organization, has made it possible not only to reveal the internal mechanisms of all evolutionary processes that occur in nature, but also to present the whole world as a world of self-organizing processes. The merit of synergetics lies, first of all, in the fact that it was the first to show that the process of self-organization can occur in the simplest systems of inorganic nature, if there are certain conditions for this (openness of the system and its nonequilibrium, sufficient distance from the equilibrium point, and some others). The more complex the system, the higher the level of self-organization processes in them. The main achievement of synergetics and the new concept of self-organization that emerged on its basis is that they help to look at nature as a world in the process of constant evolution and development.

To the greatest extent, new ideological approaches to the study of the natural scientific picture of the world and its knowledge affected the sciences that study living nature. The transition from the cellular level of research to the molecular level was marked by major discoveries in biology related to deciphering the genetic code, revising previous views on the evolution of living organisms, clarifying old and the emergence of new hypotheses about the origin of life, and much more.

All previous pictures of the world were created as if from the outside - the researcher studied the world around him detachedly, out of connection with himself, in full confidence that it was possible to study phenomena without disturbing their flow. This was the natural scientific tradition that had been consolidated for centuries. Now the scientific picture of the world is no longer created from the outside, but from the inside; the researcher himself becomes an integral part of the picture he creates. Much is still unclear to us and hidden from our sight. However, now we are facing a grandiose hypothetical picture of the process of self-organization of matter from the Big Bang to the modern stage, when matter recognizes itself, when it has an inherent intelligence capable of ensuring its purposeful development.

The most characteristic feature of the modern natural scientific picture of the world is its evolutionary nature. Evolution occurs in all areas of the material world in inanimate nature, living nature and social society.

Cognition- a set of processes, procedures and methods for acquiring knowledge about the phenomena and patterns of the objective world. Cognition is the main subject of epistemology (theory of knowledge).

The main support, the foundation of science is, of course, established facts. If they are established correctly (confirmed by numerous evidence of observation, experimentation, testing, etc.), then they are considered indisputable and mandatory. This is the empirical, i.e., experimental basis of science. The number of facts accumulated by science is constantly increasing. Naturally, they are subject to primary empirical generalization, systematization and classification. The commonality of facts discovered in experience, their uniformity, indicate that a certain empirical law has been found, a general rule to which directly observed phenomena are subject.

The problem of distinguishing between two levels of scientific knowledge - theoretical and empirical (experimental) arises from the specific features of its organization. Its essence lies in the existence of various types of generalization of the material available for study.

The problem of the difference between the theoretical and empirical levels of scientific knowledge is rooted in the difference in the ways of ideally reproducing objective reality and in the approaches to building systemic knowledge. This leads to other, derivative differences between these levels. Empirical knowledge, in particular, has historically and logically been assigned the function of collecting, accumulating and primary rational processing of experience data. Its main task is to record facts. Explanation and interpretation of them is a matter of theory.

The levels of cognition under consideration also differ according to the objects of study. At the empirical level, the scientist deals directly with natural and social objects. The theory operates exclusively with idealized objects (material point, ideal gas, absolutely solid body, etc.). All this also leads to a significant difference in the research methods used.

The standard model of the structure of scientific knowledge looks something like this. Knowledge begins with the establishment of various facts through observation or experimentation. If among these facts a certain regularity and repeatability is discovered, then in principle it can be argued that an empirical law, a primary empirical generalization, has been found. As a rule, sooner or later facts are found that do not fit into the discovered regularity, and a rational approach is needed here. It is impossible to discover a new scheme by observation; it must be created speculatively, initially presenting it in the form of a theoretical hypothesis. If the hypothesis is successful and removes the contradiction found between the facts, and even better, allows us to predict the obtaining of new, non-trivial facts, this means that a new theory has been born, a theoretical law has been found.

Concept of method

Method (Greek: Methodos-literally “the path to something”) - in the most general sense - a way of moving a goal, a certain way of ordering activity. Method is a way of cognition, research of natural phenomena and social life; it is a technique, method or course of action.

The methodology of science examines the structure and development of scientific knowledge, means and methods of scientific research, methods of substantiating its results, mechanisms and forms of implementing knowledge in practice. Method as a means of cognition is a way of reproducing the subject being studied in thinking. Conscious application of scientifically based methods is an essential condition for obtaining new knowledge.

In modern science, the multi-level concept of methodological knowledge works quite successfully. In this regard, all methods of scientific knowledge can be divided into five main groups:

1. Philosophical methods. This includes dialectics (ancient, German and materialistic) and metaphysics.

2. General scientific (general logical) approaches and research methods.

3. Private scientific methods.

4. Disciplinary methods.

5. Methods of interdisciplinary research.

Dialectics is a method that studies the developing, changing reality. It recognizes the concreteness of truth and presupposes an accurate account of all the conditions in which the object of knowledge is located.

Metadism considers the world as it is at the moment, i.e. without development, as if frozen.

Dialectical methods of cognition.

Dialectical methods of cognition are methods of cognition in dialectical philosophy, defined in Modern Philosophy, methods of cognition and updating of information and knowledge, which are mainly a consequence of the first main method of dialectical philosophy and the dialectical contradiction of forms of cognition and branches of cognition.

Dialectical methods of cognition are based on the productive active activity of the human brain and differ (from the methods of cognition of sciences) by dialecticity, structure, systematic use and transcendental capabilities, determined, first of all, by dialectical technologies and (ascending) transcendental experience.
Dialectical methods of cognition correspond to dialectical cognition.
Dialectical methods of cognition, taking into account a number of dialectical technologies and/or in their transcendental forms or applications, transform into dialectical methods of comprehension, which are the highest stage of dialectical methods of cognition, have transcendental capabilities and are correlated with comprehension.

Metaphysics(ancient Greek τὰ μετὰ τὰ φυσικά - “that which is after physics”) - a branch of philosophy that studies the original nature of reality, the world and being as such.

Cognition is a specific type of human activity aimed at understanding the world around us and oneself in this world. “Knowledge is, determined primarily by socio-historical practice, the process of acquiring and developing knowledge, its constant deepening, expansion, and improvement.”

A person comprehends the world around him, masters it in various ways, among which two main ones can be distinguished. The first (genetically original) is material and technical - the production of means of subsistence, labor, practice. The second is spiritual (ideal), within which the cognitive relationship of subject and object is only one of many others. In turn, the process of cognition and the knowledge obtained in it in the course of the historical development of practice and cognition itself is increasingly differentiated and embodied in its various forms.

Each form of social consciousness: science, philosophy, mythology, politics, religion, etc. correspond to specific forms of cognition. Usually the following are distinguished: ordinary, playful, mythological, artistic and figurative, philosophical, religious, personal, scientific. The latter, although related, are not identical to one another; each of them has its own specifics.

The immediate goal and highest value of scientific knowledge is objective truth, comprehended primarily by rational means and methods, but, of course, not without the participation of living contemplation. Hence, a characteristic feature of scientific knowledge is objectivity, the elimination, if possible, of subjectivist aspects in many cases in order to realize the “purity” of consideration of one’s subject. Einstein also wrote: “What we call science has its exclusive task of firmly establishing what exists.” Its task is to give a true reflection of processes, an objective picture of what exists. At the same time, we must keep in mind that the activity of the subject is the most important condition and prerequisite for scientific knowledge. The latter is impossible without a constructive-critical attitude to reality, excluding inertia, dogmatism, and apologetics.

Science, to a greater extent than other forms of knowledge, is focused on being embodied in practice, being a “guide to action” for changing the surrounding reality and managing real processes. The vital meaning of scientific research can be expressed by the formula: “To know in order to foresee, to foresee in order to practically act” - not only in the present, but also in the future. All progress in scientific knowledge is associated with an increase in the power and range of scientific foresight. It is foresight that makes it possible to control and manage processes. Scientific knowledge opens up the possibility of not only predicting the future, but also consciously shaping it. “The orientation of science towards the study of objects that can be included in activity (either actually or potentially, as possible objects of its future development), and their study as subject to objective laws of functioning and development is one of the most important features of scientific knowledge. This feature distinguishes it from other forms of human cognitive activity.”

An essential feature of modern science is that it has become such a force that predetermines practice. From the daughter of production, science turns into its mother. Many modern manufacturing processes were born in scientific laboratories. Thus, modern science not only serves the needs of production, but also increasingly acts as a prerequisite for the technical revolution. Great discoveries over the past decades in leading fields of knowledge have led to a scientific and technological revolution that has embraced all elements of the production process: comprehensive automation and mechanization, the development of new types of energy, raw materials and materials, penetration into the microworld and into space. As a result, the prerequisites were created for the gigantic development of the productive forces of society.

4. Scientific knowledge in epistemological terms is a complex contradictory process of reproduction of knowledge that forms an integral developing system of concepts, theories, hypotheses, laws and other ideal forms, enshrined in language - natural or - more characteristically - artificial (mathematical symbolism, chemical formulas, etc.). Scientific knowledge does not simply record its elements, but continuously reproduces them on its own basis, forms them in accordance with its norms and principles. In the development of scientific knowledge, revolutionary periods alternate, the so-called scientific revolutions, which lead to a change in theories and principles, and evolutionary, quiet periods, during which knowledge deepens and becomes more detailed. The process of continuous self-renewal by science of its conceptual arsenal is an important indicator of scientific character.

Science is one of the most important areas of human activity at the present stage of development of world civilization. Today there are hundreds of different disciplines: technical, social, humanities, natural sciences. What are they studying? How did natural science develop from a historical perspective?

Natural science is...

What is natural science? When did it originate and what areas does it consist of?

Natural science is a discipline that studies natural phenomena and phenomena that are external to the subject of research (human). The term "natural science" in Russian comes from the word "naturalness", which is a synonym for the word "nature".

The foundation of natural science can be considered mathematics, as well as philosophy. From them, by and large, all modern natural sciences emerged. At first, naturalists tried to answer all questions concerning nature and its various manifestations. Then, as the subject of research became more complex, natural science began to split into separate disciplines, which became more and more isolated over time.

In the context of modern times, natural science is a complex of scientific disciplines about nature, taken in their close interrelation.

History of the formation of natural sciences

The development of natural sciences occurred gradually. However, human interest in natural phenomena manifested itself in ancient times.

Natural philosophy (essentially, science) actively developed in Ancient Greece. Ancient thinkers, using primitive research methods and, sometimes, intuition, were able to make a number of scientific discoveries and important assumptions. Even then, natural philosophers were sure that the Earth revolves around the Sun, they could explain solar and lunar eclipses, and they quite accurately measured the parameters of our planet.

During the Middle Ages, the development of natural science slowed down noticeably and was heavily dependent on the church. Many scientists at this time were persecuted for so-called heterodoxy. All scientific research and research, in essence, boiled down to the interpretation and substantiation of the sacred scriptures. Nevertheless, logic and theory developed significantly during the Middle Ages. It is also worth noting that at this time the center of natural philosophy (the direct study of natural phenomena) geographically shifted towards the Arab-Muslim region.

In Europe, the rapid development of natural science began (resumed) only in the 17th-18th centuries. This is a time of large-scale accumulation of factual knowledge and empirical material (the results of “field” observations and experiments). The natural sciences of the 18th century also based their research on the results of numerous geographical expeditions, voyages, and studies of newly discovered lands. In the 19th century, logic and theoretical thinking again came to the forefront. At this time, scientists are actively processing all the collected facts, putting forward various theories, formulating patterns.

The most outstanding natural scientists in the history of world science include Thales, Eratosthenes, Pythagoras, Claudius Ptolemy, Archimedes, Galileo Galilei, Rene Descartes, Blaise Pascal, Nikola Tesla, Mikhail Lomonosov and many other famous scientists.

The problem of classification of natural sciences

The basic natural sciences include: mathematics (which is also often called the “queen of sciences”), chemistry, physics, biology. The problem of classification of natural sciences has existed for a long time and worries the minds of more than a dozen scientists and theorists.

The person who best dealt with this dilemma was Friedrich Engels, a German philosopher and scientist who is best known as a close friend of Karl Marx and co-author of his famous work called Capital. He was able to identify two main principles (approaches) of the typology of scientific disciplines: this is an objective approach, as well as the principle of development.

The most detailed one was proposed by the Soviet methodologist Bonifatiy Kedrov. It has not lost its relevance today.

List of natural sciences

The entire complex of scientific disciplines is usually divided into three large groups:

• humanities (or social) sciences;
• technical;
• natural.

The latter are the ones who study nature. A complete list of natural sciences is presented below:

• astronomy;
• biology;
• medicine;
• geology;
• soil science;
• physics;
• natural history;
• chemistry;
• botany;
• zoology;
• psychology.

As for mathematics, scientists do not have a consensus on which group of scientific disciplines it should be classified in. Some consider it a natural science, others - an exact one. Some methodologists classify mathematics as a separate class of so-called formal (or abstract) sciences.

Chemistry

Chemistry is a broad field of natural science, the main object of study of which is matter, its properties and structure. This science also examines objects at the atomic-molecular level. She also studies the chemical bonds and reactions that occur when different structural particles of a substance interact.

The theory that all natural bodies consist of smaller (not visible to humans) elements was first put forward by the ancient Greek philosopher Democritus. He proposed that each substance contains smaller particles, just as words are made up of different letters.

Modern chemistry is a complex science that includes several dozen disciplines. These are inorganic and organic chemistry, biochemistry, geochemistry, even cosmochemistry.

Physics

Physics is one of the oldest sciences on Earth. The laws she discovered act as the basis, the foundation for the entire system of natural science disciplines.

The term “physics” was first used by Aristotle. In those distant times, it was almost identical to philosophy. Physics began to turn into an independent science only in the 16th century.

Today, physics is understood as the science that studies matter, its structure and movement, as well as the general laws of nature. Its structure includes several main sections. These are classical mechanics, thermodynamics, relativity theory and some others.

Physiography

The distinction between the natural and human sciences ran in a thick line along the “body” of the once unified geographical science, dividing its individual disciplines. Thus, physical geography (as opposed to economic and social) found itself in the bosom of natural science.

This science studies the geographical envelope of the Earth as a whole, as well as the individual natural components and systems that make up its composition. Modern physical geography consists of a number of them:

• landscape science;
• geomorphology;
• climatology;
• hydrology;
• oceanology;
• soil science and others.

Natural and human sciences: unity and differences

Humanities, natural sciences - are they as far from each other as it might seem?

Of course, these disciplines differ in the object of research. Natural sciences study nature, humanities focus their attention on man and society. The humanities cannot compete with the natural sciences in accuracy; they are not able to mathematically prove their theories and confirm their hypotheses.

On the other hand, these sciences are closely related and intertwined with each other. Especially in the conditions of the 21st century. Thus, mathematics has long been introduced into literature and music, physics and chemistry into art, psychology into social geography and economics, and so on. In addition, it has long become obvious that many important discoveries are made at the intersection of several scientific disciplines, which, at first glance, have absolutely nothing in common.

Finally...

Natural science is a branch of science that studies natural phenomena, processes and phenomena. There are a huge number of such disciplines: physics, mathematics and biology, geography and astronomy.

Natural sciences, despite numerous differences in subject matter and research methods, are closely related to social and humanities disciplines. This connection is especially strong in the 21st century, when all sciences are getting closer and intertwined.

SUBJECT AND STRUCTURE OF NATURAL SCIENCE

The term “natural science” comes from a combination of the words of Latin origin “nature”, that is, nature, and “knowledge”. Thus, the literal interpretation of the term is knowledge about nature.

Natural science in the modern understanding - science, which is a complex of natural sciences taken in their interrelation. At the same time, nature is understood as everything that exists, the whole world in the diversity of its forms.

Natural science - a complex of sciences about nature

Natural science in the modern understanding, it is a set of natural sciences taken in their interrelation.

However, this definition does not fully reflect the essence of natural science, since nature acts as a single whole. This unity is not revealed by any particular science, nor by their entire sum. Many special natural science disciplines do not exhaust in their content everything that we mean by nature: nature is deeper and richer than all existing theories.

The concept " nature"is interpreted differently.

In the broadest sense, nature means everything that exists, the whole world in the diversity of its forms. Nature in this meaning is on a par with the concepts of matter and the Universe.

The most common interpretation of the concept of “nature” is as the totality of natural conditions for the existence of human society. This interpretation characterizes the place and role of nature in the system of historically changing attitudes towards it of man and society.

In a narrower sense, nature is understood as an object of science, or more precisely, the total object of natural science.

Modern natural science is developing new approaches to understanding nature as a whole. This is expressed in ideas about the development of nature, about various forms of movement of matter and different structural levels of the organization of nature, in an expanding idea about the types of causal relationships. For example, with the creation of the theory of relativity, views on the spatio-temporal organization of natural objects have significantly changed, the development of modern cosmology enriches ideas about the direction of natural processes, the progress of ecology has led to an understanding of the deep principles of the integrity of nature as a single system

Currently, natural science refers to exact natural science, that is, knowledge about nature that is based on scientific experiment and is characterized by a developed theoretical form and mathematical design.

For the development of special sciences, a general knowledge of nature and a comprehensive understanding of its objects and phenomena are necessary. To obtain such general ideas, each historical era develops a corresponding natural-scientific picture of the world.

The structure of modern natural science

Modern 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.

Total object of natural science- nature.

Subject of natural science– facts and natural phenomena that are perceived by our senses directly or indirectly, using instruments.

The scientist's task is to identify these facts, generalize them and create a theoretical model that includes the laws governing natural phenomena. For example, the phenomenon of gravity is a concrete fact established through experience; The law of universal gravitation is a variant of explanation of this phenomenon. At the same time, empirical facts and generalizations, once established, retain their original meaning. Laws can be changed as science progresses. Thus, the law of universal gravitation was corrected after the creation of the theory of relativity.

The basic principle of natural science is: knowledge about nature should allowempirical test. This means that the truth in science is a position that is confirmed by reproducible experience. Thus, experience is the decisive argument for the acceptance of a particular theory.

Modern natural science is a complex complex of natural sciences. It includes such sciences as biology, physics, chemistry, astronomy, geography, ecology, etc.

Natural sciences differ in the subject of their study. For example, the subject of studying biology is living organisms, chemistry - substances and their transformations. Astronomy studies celestial bodies, geography studies the special (geographical) shell of the Earth, ecology studies the relationships of organisms with each other and with the environment.

Each natural science is itself a complex of sciences that arose at different stages of the development of natural science. Thus, biology includes botany, zoology, microbiology, genetics, cytology and other sciences. In this case, the subject of study of botany is plants, zoology – animals, microbiology – microorganisms. Genetics studies the patterns of heredity and variability of organisms, cytology studies the living cell.

Chemistry is also divided into a number of narrower sciences, for example: organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, analytical chemistry. Geographical sciences include geology, geoscience, geomorphology, climatology, and physical geography.

The differentiation of sciences led to the identification of even smaller areas of scientific knowledge.

For example, the biological science of zoology includes ornithology, entomology, herpetology, ethology, ichthyology, etc. Ornithology is the science that studies birds, entomology - insects, herpetology - reptiles. Ethology is the science of animal behavior; ichthyology studies fish.

The field of chemistry - organic chemistry is divided into polymer chemistry, petrochemistry and other sciences. Inorganic chemistry includes, for example, the chemistry of metals, the chemistry of halogens, and coordination chemistry.

The modern trend in the development of natural science is such that, simultaneously with the differentiation of scientific knowledge, opposite processes are taking place - the connection of individual areas of knowledge, the creation of synthetic scientific disciplines. It is important that the unification of scientific disciplines occurs both within various fields of natural science and between them. Thus, in chemical science, at the intersection of organic chemistry with inorganic and biochemistry, the chemistry of organometallic compounds and bioorganic chemistry, respectively, arose. Examples of interscientific synthetic disciplines in natural science include such disciplines as physical chemistry, chemical physics, biochemistry, biophysics, and physicochemical biology.

However, the modern stage of development of natural science - integral natural science - is characterized not so much by the ongoing processes of synthesis of two or three related sciences, but by a large-scale unification of different disciplines and areas of scientific research, and the tendency towards large-scale integration of scientific knowledge is steadily increasing.

In natural science, a distinction is made between fundamental and applied sciences. Fundamental sciences - physics, chemistry, astronomy - study the basic structures of the world, and applied sciences are concerned with applying the results of fundamental research to solve both cognitive and socio-practical problems. For example, metal physics and semiconductor physics are theoretical applied disciplines, and metal science and semiconductor technology are practical applied sciences.

Thus, knowledge of the laws of nature and the construction of a picture of the world on this basis is the immediate, immediate goal of natural science. Promoting the practical use of these laws is the ultimate goal.

Natural science differs from the social and technical sciences in its subject, goals and research methodology.

At the same time, natural science is considered as a standard of scientific objectivity, since this area of ​​knowledge reveals universally valid truths accepted by all people. For example, another large complex of sciences - social science - has always been associated with group values ​​and interests that exist both among the scientist himself and in the subject of research. Therefore, in the methodology of social science, along with objective research methods, the experience of the event being studied and the subjective attitude towards it become of great importance.

Natural science also has significant methodological differences from the technical sciences, due to the fact that the goal of natural science is to understand nature, and the goal of technical science is to solve practical issues related to the transformation of the world.

However, it is impossible to draw a clear line between the natural, social and technical sciences at the current level of their development, since there are a number of disciplines that occupy an intermediate position or are complex. Thus, economic geography is located at the intersection of natural and social sciences, and bionics is at the intersection of natural and technical sciences. A complex discipline that includes natural, social, and technical sections is social ecology.

Thus, modern natural science is a vast, developing complex of natural sciences, characterized by simultaneous processes of scientific differentiation and the creation of synthetic disciplines and focused on the integration of scientific knowledge.

Natural science is the basis for the formation scientific picture of the world.

The scientific picture of the world is understood as a holistic system of ideas about the world, its general properties and patterns, arising as a result of a generalization of basic natural science theories.

The scientific picture of the world is in constant development. In the course of scientific revolutions, qualitative transformations are carried out in it, the old picture of the world is replaced by a new one. Each historical era forms its own scientific picture of the world.

Classification of sciences by subject of research

According to the subject of research, all sciences are divided into natural, humanitarian and technical.

Natural Sciences study phenomena, processes and objects of the material world. This world is sometimes called the outer world. These sciences include physics, chemistry, geology, biology and other similar sciences. Natural sciences also study man as a material, biological being. One of the authors of the presentation of the natural sciences as a unified system of knowledge was the German biologist Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919). In his book “World Mysteries” (1899), he pointed to a group of problems (mysteries) that are the subject of study of essentially all natural sciences as a unified system of natural scientific knowledge, natural science. “The Mysteries of E. Haeckel” can be formulated as follows: how did the Universe arise? what types of physical interaction operate in the world and do they have a single physical nature? What does everything in the world ultimately consist of? what is the difference between living and nonliving things and what is the place of man in the endlessly changing Universe and a number of other questions of a fundamental nature. Based on the above concept of E. Haeckel about the role of natural sciences in understanding the world, the following definition of natural science can be given.

Natural science is a system of natural scientific knowledge created by natural sciences V the process of studying the fundamental laws of development of nature and the Universe as a whole.

Natural science is the most important branch of modern science. Unity and integrity are given to natural science by the natural scientific method that underlies all natural sciences.

Humanitarian sciences- these are sciences that study the laws of development of society and man as a social, spiritual being. These include history, law, economics and other similar sciences. Unlike, for example, biology, where a person is considered as a biological species, in the humanities we are talking about a person as a creative, spiritual being. Technical science- this is the knowledge that a person needs to create the so-called “second nature”, the world of buildings, structures, communications, artificial energy sources, etc. Technical sciences include astronautics, electronics, energy and a number of other similar sciences. In technical sciences, the interrelation between natural sciences and the humanities is more evident. Systems created on the basis of knowledge of technical sciences take into account knowledge from the field of humanities and natural sciences. In all the sciences mentioned above, it is observed specialization and integration. Specialization characterizes an in-depth study of individual aspects and properties of the object, phenomenon, or process under study. For example, an ecologist can devote his entire life to researching the causes of “blooming” in a reservoir. Integration characterizes the process of combining specialized knowledge from various scientific disciplines. Today there is a general process of integration of natural sciences, humanities and technical sciences in solving a number of pressing problems, among which global problems of the development of the world community are of particular importance. Along with the integration of scientific knowledge, the process of education of scientific disciplines at the intersection of individual sciences is developing. For example, in the twentieth century. Sciences such as geochemistry (geological and chemical evolution of the Earth), biochemistry (chemical interactions in living organisms) and others arose. The processes of integration and specialization eloquently emphasize the unity of science and the interconnection of its sections. The division of all sciences according to the subject of study into natural, humanitarian and technical faces a certain difficulty: what sciences include mathematics, logic, psychology, philosophy, cybernetics, general systems theory and some others? This question is not trivial. This is especially true for mathematics. Mathematics, as one of the founders of quantum mechanics, the English physicist P. Dirac (1902-1984), noted, it is a tool specially adapted to deal with abstract concepts of any kind, and in this area there is no limit to its power. The famous German philosopher I. Kant (1724-1804) made the following statement: there is as much science in science as there is mathematics in it. The peculiarity of modern science is manifested in the widespread use of logical and mathematical methods in it. There are currently discussions about the so-called interdisciplinary and general methodological sciences. The first ones can present their knowledge O laws of the objects under study in many other sciences, but as additional information. The latter develop general methods of scientific knowledge; they are called general methodological sciences. The question of interdisciplinary and general methodological sciences is debatable, open, and philosophical.

Theoretical and empirical sciences

According to the methods used in the sciences, it is customary to divide sciences into theoretical and empirical.

Word "theory" borrowed from ancient Greek and means “mental consideration of things.” Theoretical Sciences create various models of real-life phenomena, processes and research objects. They make extensive use of abstract concepts, mathematical calculations, and ideal objects. This allows us to identify significant connections, laws and patterns of the phenomena, processes and objects being studied. For example, in order to understand the laws of thermal radiation, classical thermodynamics used the concept of an absolutely black body, which completely absorbs the light radiation incident on it. In the development of theoretical sciences, the principle of putting forward postulates plays an important role.

For example, A. Einstein accepted the postulate in the theory of relativity that the speed of light is independent of the movement of the source of its radiation. This postulate does not explain why the speed of light is constant, but represents the initial position (postulate) of this theory. Empirical Sciences. The word “empirical” is derived from the first and last name of the ancient Roman physician, philosopher Sextus Empiricus (3rd century AD). He argued that only the data of experience should underlie the development of scientific knowledge. From here empirical means experienced. Currently, this concept includes both the concept of experiment and traditional methods of observation: description and systematization of facts obtained without the use of experimental methods. The word “experiment” is borrowed from the Latin language and literally means trial and experience. Strictly speaking, an experiment “asks questions” to nature, that is, special conditions are created that make it possible to reveal the action of an object under these conditions. There is a close relationship between theoretical and empirical sciences: theoretical sciences use data from empirical sciences, empirical sciences verify the consequences arising from theoretical sciences. There is nothing more effective than a good theory in scientific research, and the development of theory is impossible without original, creatively designed experiment. Currently, the term “empirical and theoretical” sciences has been replaced by the more adequate terms “theoretical research” and “experimental research”. The introduction of these terms emphasizes the close connection between theory and practice in modern science.

Basic and applied sciences

Taking into account the result of the contribution of individual sciences to the development of scientific knowledge, all sciences are divided into fundamental and applied sciences. The former greatly influence our way of thinking the second - to ours Lifestyle.

Fundamental Sciences explore the deepest elements, structures, laws of the universe. In the 19th century It was customary to call such sciences “purely scientific research,” emphasizing their focus exclusively on understanding the world and changing our way of thinking. We were talking about such sciences as physics, chemistry and other natural sciences. Some scientists of the 19th century. argued that “physics is the salt, and everything else is zero.” Today, such a belief is a delusion: it cannot be argued that the natural sciences are fundamental, and the humanities and technical sciences are indirect, depending on the level of development of the former. Therefore, it is advisable to replace the term “fundamental sciences” with the term “fundamental scientific research,” which is developing in all sciences.

Applied Sciences, or applied scientific research, set as their goal the use of knowledge from the field of fundamental research to solve specific problems in the practical life of people, i.e. they influence our way of life. For example, applied mathematics develops mathematical methods for solving problems in the design and construction of specific technical objects. It should be emphasized that the modern classification of sciences also takes into account the target function of a particular science. Taking this into account, we talk about exploratory scientific research to solve a specific problem or task. Exploratory scientific research makes a connection between fundamental and applied research in solving a specific task and problem. The concept of fundamentality includes the following features: the depth of research, the scale of application of research results in other sciences and the functions of these results in the development of scientific knowledge as a whole.

One of the first classifications of natural sciences is the classification developed by a French scientist (1775-1836). The German chemist F. Kekule (1829-1896) also developed a classification of natural sciences, which was discussed in the 19th century. In his classification, the main, basic science was mechanics, that is, the science of the simplest of types of movement - mechanical.

CONCLUSIONS

1. E. Haeckel considered all natural sciences as the fundamental basis of scientific knowledge, emphasizing that without natural science the development of all other sciences will be limited and untenable. This approach emphasizes the important role of natural science. However, the development of natural science is significantly influenced by the humanities and technical sciences.

2. Science is an integral system of natural sciences, humanities, technical, interdisciplinary and general methodological knowledge.

3. The level of fundamentality of science is determined by the depth and scope of its knowledge, which are necessary for the development of the entire system of scientific knowledge as a whole.

4. In jurisprudence, the theory of state and law belongs to the fundamental sciences; its concepts and principles are fundamental to jurisprudence as a whole.

5. The natural scientific method is the basis of the unity of all scientific knowledge.

QUESTIONS FOR SELF-TEST AND SEMINARS

1. Subject of study of natural sciences.

2. What do the humanities study?

3. What do technical sciences study?

4. Fundamental and applied sciences.

5. The connection between theoretical and empirical sciences in the development of scientific knowledge.

MAIN HISTORICAL STAGES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATURAL SCIENCE

Basic concepts: classical, non-classical and post-non-classical science, natural scientific picture of the world, development of science before the modern era, development of science in Russia

Classical, non-classical and post-non-classical science

Researchers studying science in general distinguish three forms of historical development of science: classical, non-classical and post-non-classical science.

Classical science refers to science before the beginning of the twentieth century, meaning scientific ideals, tasks of science and understanding of the scientific method that were characteristic of science before the beginning of the last century. This is, first of all, the belief of many scientists of that time in the rational structure of the surrounding world and in the possibility of an accurate cause-and-effect description of events in the material world. Classical science explored the two dominant physical forces in nature: the force of gravity and the electromagnetic force. The mechanical, physical and electromagnetic pictures of the world, as well as the concept of energy based on classical thermodynamics, are typical generalizations of classical science. Non-classical science- this is the science of the first half of the last century. The theory of relativity and quantum mechanics are the basic theories of non-classical science. During this period, a probabilistic interpretation of physical laws was developed: it is absolutely impossible to predict the trajectory of particles in quantum systems of the microworld. Post-non-classical science(fr. post- after) - science of the late twentieth century. and the beginning of the 21st century. During this period, much attention is paid to the study of complex, developing systems of living and inanimate nature based on nonlinear models. Classical science dealt with objects whose behavior could be predicted at any desired time. New objects appear in non-classical science (objects of the microworld), the forecast of whose behavior is given on the basis of probabilistic methods. Classical science also used statistical, probabilistic methods, but it explained the impossibility of predicting, for example, the movement of a particle in Brownian motion a large number of interacting particles, the behavior of each of them obeys the laws of classical mechanics.

In non-classical science, the probabilistic nature of the forecast is explained by the probabilistic nature of the objects of study themselves (the corpuscular-wave nature of objects in the microworld).

Post-non-classical science deals with objects, the prediction of whose behavior becomes impossible from a certain moment, i.e. at this moment the action of a random factor occurs. Such objects have been discovered by physics, chemistry, astronomy and biology.

Nobel laureate in chemistry I. Prigogine (1917-2003) rightly noted that Western science developed not only as an intellectual game or a response to practical needs, but also as a passionate search for truth. This difficult search found expression in the attempts of scientists of different centuries to create a natural scientific picture of the world.

The concept of the natural scientific picture of the world

The modern scientific picture of the world is based on the reality of the subject of science. “For a scientist,” wrote (1863-1945), “it is obvious, since he works and thinks like a scientist, there is and cannot be any doubt about the reality of the subject of scientific research.” The scientific picture of the world is a kind of photographic portrait of what actually exists in the objective world. In other words, the scientific picture of the world is an image of the world that is created on the basis of natural scientific knowledge about its structure and laws. The most important principle of creating a natural scientific picture of the world is the principle of explaining the laws of nature from the study of nature itself, without resorting to unobservable causes and facts.

Below is a brief summary of the scientific ideas and teachings, the development of which led to the creation of the natural scientific method and modern natural science.

Ancient science

Strictly speaking, the development of the scientific method is associated not only with the culture and civilization of Ancient Greece. The ancient civilizations of Babylon, Egypt, China and India saw the development of mathematics, astronomy, medicine and philosophy. In 301 BC. e. The troops of Alexander the Great entered Babylon; representatives of Greek learning (scientists, doctors, etc.) always took part in his campaigns of conquest. By this time, the Babylonian priests had fairly developed knowledge in the fields of astronomy, mathematics and medicine. From this knowledge, the Greeks borrowed the division of the day into 24 hours (2 hours for each constellation of the zodiac), the division of the circle into 360 degrees, a description of the constellations and a number of other knowledge. Let us briefly present the achievements of ancient science from the point of view of the development of natural science.

Astronomy. In the 3rd century. BC e. Eratosthenes of Cyrenaia calculated the size of the Earth, and quite accurately. He also created the first map of the known part of the Earth in a degree grid. In the 3rd century. BC e. Aristarchus of Samos put forward a hypothesis about the rotation of the Earth and other planets known to him around the Sun. He substantiated this hypothesis with observations and calculations. Archimedes, the author of unusually profound works on mathematics, an engineer, built in the 2nd century. BC e. planetarium, powered by water. In the 1st century BC e. the astronomer Posidonius calculated the distance from the Earth to the Sun; the distance he obtained was approximately 5/8 of the actual one. The astronomer Hipparchus (190-125 BC) created a mathematical system of circles to explain the apparent motion of the planets. He also created the first catalog of stars, included 870 bright stars in it and described the appearance of a “new star” in a system of previously observed stars and thereby opened an important question for discussion in astronomy: whether any changes occur in the superlunar world or not. It was only in 1572 that the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) again addressed this problem.

The system of circles created by Hipparchus was developed by C. Ptolemy (100-170 AD), author geocentric system of the world. Ptolemy added descriptions of 170 more stars to Hipparchus's catalogue. The system of the universe of C. Ptolemy developed the ideas of Aristotelian cosmology and Euclid’s geometry (III century BC). In it, the center of the world was the Earth, around which the then-known planets and the Sun revolved in a complex system of circular orbits. Comparison of the locations of stars according to the catalogs of Hipparchus and Ptolemy - Tycho Brahe allowed astronomers in the 18th century. refute the postulate of Aristotle’s cosmology: “The constancy of the sky is a law of nature.” There is also evidence of significant achievements of ancient civilization in medicine. In particular, Hippocrates (410-370 BC) was distinguished by the breadth of his coverage of medical issues. His school achieved its greatest success in the field of surgery and in the treatment of open wounds.

A major role in the development of natural science was played by the doctrine of structure of matter and cosmological ideas of ancient thinkers.

Anaxagoras(500-428 BC) argued that all bodies in the world consist of infinitely divisible small and innumerably many elements (seeds of things, homeomerism). Chaos was formed from these seeds through their random movement. Along with the seeds of things, as Anaxagoras argued, there is a “world mind”, as the subtlest and lightest substance, incompatible with the “seeds of the world.” The world mind creates order in the world out of chaos: it connects homogeneous elements and separates heterogeneous ones from each other. The sun, as Anaxagoras claimed, is a red-hot metal block or stone many times larger than the city of the Peloponnese.

Leucippus(V century BC) and his student Democritus(V century BC), as well as their followers in a later period - Epicurus (370-270 BC) and Titus Lucretius Cara (I V. n. BC) - created the doctrine of atoms. Everything in the world consists of atoms and emptiness. Atoms are eternal, they are indivisible and indestructible. There are an infinite number of atoms, the shapes of atoms are also infinite, some of them are round, others are hooked, etc., ad infinitum. All bodies (solid, liquid, gaseous), as well as what is called the soul, are composed of atoms. The variety of properties and qualities in the world of things and phenomena is determined by the variety of atoms, their number and the type of their compounds. The human soul is the finest atoms. Atoms cannot be created or destroyed. Atoms are in perpetual motion. The reasons that cause the movement of atoms are inherent in the very nature of atoms: they are characterized by heaviness, “shaking” or, in modern language, pulsating, trembling. Atoms are the only and true reality, reality. The void in which the eternal movement of atoms occurs is just a background, devoid of structure, an infinite space. Emptiness is a necessary and sufficient condition for the eternal movement of atoms, from the interaction of which everything is formed both on Earth and throughout the Universe. Everything in the world is causally determined due to necessity, the order that initially exists in it. The “vortex” movement of atoms is the cause of everything that exists not only on planet Earth, but also in the Universe as a whole. There are an infinite number of worlds. Since atoms are eternal, no one created them, and, therefore, there is no beginning of the world. Thus, the Universe is a movement from atoms to atoms. There are no goals in the world (for example, such a goal as the emergence of man). In understanding the world, it is reasonable to ask why something happened, for what reason, and it is completely unreasonable to ask for what purpose it happened. Time is the unfolding of events from atoms to atoms. “People,” Democritus argued, “have invented for themselves the image of chance in order to use it as a pretext to cover up their own unreasonableness.”

Plato (IV century BC) - ancient philosopher, teacher of Aristotle. Among the natural scientific ideas of Plato's philosophy, a special place is occupied by the concept of mathematics and the role of mathematics in the knowledge of nature, the world, and the Universe. According to Plato, sciences based on observation or sensory knowledge, such as physics, cannot lead to adequate, true knowledge of the world. From mathematics, Plato considered arithmetic to be the main one, since the idea of ​​number does not need its justification in other ideas. This idea that the world is written in the language of mathematics is deeply connected with Plato's teaching about the ideas or essences of things in the world around us. This teaching contains a deep thought about the existence of connections and relationships that are universal in the world. Plato found that astronomy is closer to mathematics than physics, since astronomy observes and expresses in quantitative mathematical formulas the harmony of the world created by the demiurge, or god, the best and most perfect, holistic, reminiscent of a huge organism. The doctrine of the essence of things and the concept of mathematics of Plato’s philosophy had a huge influence on many thinkers of subsequent generations, for example on the work of I. Kepler (1570-1630): “By creating us in his own image,” he wrote, “God wanted us to be able to perceive and share with him his own thoughts... Our knowledge (of numbers and quantities) is of the same kind as God’s, but at least insofar as we can understand at least something during this mortal life.” I. Kepler tried to combine earthly mechanics with celestial mechanics, suggesting the presence in the world of dynamic and mathematical laws governing this perfect world created by God. In this sense, I. Kepler was a follower of Plato. He tried to combine mathematics (geometry) with astronomy (the observations of T. Brahe and the observations of his contemporary G. Galileo). From mathematical calculations and observational data from astronomers, Kepler developed the idea that the world is not an organism, like Plato, but a well-oiled mechanism, a celestial machine. He discovered three mysterious laws, according to which planets do not move in circles, but By ellipses around the Sun. Kepler's laws:

1. All planets revolve in elliptical orbits, with the Sun at the focal point.

2. A straight line connecting the Sun and any planet describes the same area in equal periods of time.

3. The cubes of the average distances of the planets from the Sun are related as the squares of their periods of revolution: R 13/R 23 -T 12/T 22,

Where R 1, R 2 - the distance of the planets to the Sun, T 1, T 2 - period of revolution of the planets around the Sun. I. Kepler's laws were established on the basis of observations and contradicted Aristotelian astronomy, which was generally accepted during the Middle Ages and had its supporters in the 17th century. I. Kepler considered his laws illusory, since he was convinced that God determined the movement of planets in circular orbits in the form of a mathematical circle.

Aristotle(IV century BC) - philosopher, founder of logic and a number of sciences, such as biology and control theory. The structure of the world, or cosmology, of Aristotle is as follows: the world, the Universe, has the shape of a ball with a finite radius. The surface of the ball is a sphere, so the Universe consists of spheres nested within each other. The center of the world is the Earth. The world is divided into sublunar and supralunar. The sublunary world is the Earth and the sphere on which the Moon is attached. The whole world consists of five elements: water, earth, air, fire and ether (radiant). Everything that is in the superlunar world consists of ether: stars, luminaries, the space between the spheres and the superlunar spheres themselves. Ether cannot be perceived by the senses. In knowing everything that is in the sublunary world, which does not consist of ether, our feelings and observations, corrected by the mind, do not deceive us and provide adequate information about the sublunary world.

Aristotle believed that the world was created for a specific purpose. Therefore, everything in the Universe has its own purpose or place: fire, air strive upward, earth, water - towards the center of the world, towards the Earth. There is no emptiness in the world, that is, everything is occupied by ether. In addition to the five elements that Aristotle talks about, there is also something “indefinite”, which he calls “first matter,” but in his cosmology “first matter” does not play a significant role. In his cosmology, the supralunar world is eternal and unchangeable. The laws of the supralunar world differ from the laws of the sublunar world. The spheres of the superlunar world move uniformly in circles around the Earth, making a full revolution in one day. On the last sphere is the “prime mover”. Being motionless, it gives movement to the whole world. The sublunary world has its own laws. Changes, emergence, decay, etc. dominate here. The sun and stars consist of ether. It has no effect on celestial bodies in the supralunar world. Observations indicating that something flickers, moves, etc. in the firmament, according to Aristotle’s cosmology, are a consequence of the influence of the Earth’s atmosphere on our senses.

In understanding the nature of movement, Aristotle distinguished four types of movement: a) increase (and decrease); b) transformation or qualitative change; c) emergence and destruction; d) movement as movement in space. Objects with respect to movement, according to Aristotle, can be: a) motionless; b) self-propelled; c) moving not spontaneously, but through the action of other bodies. Analyzing the types of movement, Aristotle proves that they are based on a type of movement, which he called movement in space. Movement in space can be circular, rectilinear and mixed (circular + rectilinear). Since there is no emptiness in Aristotle’s world, the movement must be continuous, that is, from one point in space to another. It follows that rectilinear motion is discontinuous, so, having reached the boundary of the world, a ray of light, propagating in a straight line, must interrupt its movement, i.e., change its direction. Aristotle considered circular motion to be the most perfect and eternal, uniform; it is precisely this that is characteristic of the movement of the celestial spheres.

The world, according to Aristotle's philosophy, is a cosmos where man has the main place. In matters of the relationship between living and nonliving things, Aristotle was a supporter of, one might say, organic evolution. Aristotle's theory or hypothesis of the origin of life assumes “spontaneous generation from particles of matter” that have a certain “active principle”, entelechy (Greek. entelecheia- completion), which under certain conditions can be created by an organism. The doctrine of organic evolution was also developed by the philosopher Empedocles (5th century BC).

The achievements of the ancient Greeks in the field of mathematics were significant. For example, the mathematician Euclid (3rd century BC) created geometry as the first mathematical theory of space. Only at the beginning of the 19th century. a new one has appeared non-Euclidean geometry, the methods of which were used to create the theory of relativity, the basis of non-classical science.

The teachings of ancient Greek thinkers about matter, substance, and atoms contained a deep natural scientific thought about the universal nature of the laws of nature: atoms are the same in different parts of the world, therefore, atoms in the world are subject to the same laws.

Questions for the seminar

Various classifications of natural sciences (Ampere, Kekule)

Ancient astronomy

Ancient medicine

The structure of the world.

Mathematics