What sciences belong to natural science? Modern problems of natural science

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.

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.

note

It is a mistake to classify mathematics as a natural science, which, together with logic, is included in another group - formal and differs in the form of methodology. For the same reasons, computer science does not belong to the natural sciences, but another science - natural computer science - on the contrary, does.

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Instructions

There are quite a lot of such sciences and areas that combine several disciplines at once:
- at first glance, a rather unusual humanitarian discipline (combines geophilosophy, cognitive geography, cultural landscape science, statisticalization and others);
- art criticism;
- cultural geography;
- science of science (including scientometrics, scientific ethics, psychology of science, factology and others);
- ;
- psycholinguistics;
- psychology;
- religious studies;
- rhetoric;
- philosophy;
- philology (linguistics, semiotics and many other disciplines);
- cultural studies;
- social science and.

This list shows only the largest humanities and their groups, but this list is far from the most complete, since all possible disciplines are quite difficult due to their large number.

It is also interesting that the body of humanities disciplines took shape quite late - only at the beginning of the 19th century, when it was characterized by the words “science of the spirit.” This term was first used by Scheel in the translation of the work “System of Logic” by J. St. Mill. A significant role in the formation of these disciplines was also played by the work of V. Dilthey “Introduction to the Sciences of the Spirit” (1883), in which the author substantiated the principle of humanitarian methodology and examined a number of fundamentally important issues. It was the German Dilthey who introduced another term - “objectification of life”, which helped to consider the problem of interpreting historically existing forms of scientific knowledge.

The famous Russian scientist M.M. Bakhtin, in turn, believed that the main task of real humanitarian research is the problem of understanding both speech and text as an objective cultural reality. It is through textual, and not through formulaic, designation that one can understand the subject of study, since knowledge is the embodiment of the text, its intentions, grounds, reasons, goals and design. Thus, in the type of disciplines under consideration, the primacy remains with speech and text, as well as its meaning and the so-called hermeneutic research.

The last concept appeared thanks to such a science as hermeneutics, which is the very art of interpretation, correct interpretation and understanding. In the 20th century, it developed into one of the directions of philosophy, based on a literary text. A person sees the surrounding reality exclusively through the prism of the surrounding cultural layer or through a set of a certain number of basic texts.

Instructions

The basic sciences classified as “natural” are astronomy and geology, which over time could change and combine, interacting with each other. This is how the disciplines of geophysics, soil science, autophysics, climatology, physical chemistry and physics arose.

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 atomic masses and the outstanding invention of Dmitry Mendeleev in 1869 (the periodic law of the universe).

NATURAL SCIENCES

received citizenship rights from the 18th century. for the totality of all sciences involved in the study of nature. The first researchers of nature (natural philosophers) included, each in their own way, all of nature in the circle of their mental activity. The progress of the natural sciences and their deepening into them led to the division, which has not yet ended, of a single science into its individual branches - depending on the subject of research or according to the principle of division of labor. The natural sciences owe their authority, on the one hand, to scientific accuracy and consistency, and on the other hand, to their practical significance as a means of conquering nature. The main areas of the natural sciences - life, Earth, Universe - allow us to group them as follows: 1) chemistry, physical chemistry; 2) botany, zoology; 3) anatomy, the doctrine of origin and development, the doctrine of heredity; 4) geology, mineralogy, paleontology, meteorology, geography (physical); 5) together with astrophysics and astrochemistry. Mathematics, according to a number of natural philosophers, does not belong to the natural sciences, but is a decisive tool for their thinking. Moreover, among the natural sciences, depending on the method, there is the following difference: descriptive sciences are content with the study of factual data and their connections, which they generalize into rules and laws; exact natural sciences put facts and connections into mathematical form; however, this is not carried out consistently. Pure nature is limited to scientific research; applied science (medicine, agriculture and forestry, and in general) uses it to master and transform nature. Next to the natural sciences are spiritual sciences, combines both those and others into a single science, they act like private sciences; Wed Physical.

Philosophical Encyclopedic Dictionary. 2010 .

Synonyms:

See what “NATURAL SCIENCES” is in other dictionaries:

Noun, number of synonyms: 5 natural history (5) natural science (7) ... Synonym dictionary

This article lacks links to sources of information. Information must be verifiable, otherwise it may be questioned and deleted. You can... Wikipedia

Natural Sciences- in the era of Enlightenment (XVIII century) this is how the sciences involved in the study of nature began to be called. The beginning of research in this direction was laid by ancient natural philosophers, including nature in the circle of their mental activity. Over time, it happened... The beginnings of modern natural science

natural Sciences- gamtos mokslai statusas T sritis ekologija ir aplinkotyra apibrėžtis Mokslai, siekiantys pažinti gamtą, atrasti ir ištirti jos dėsnius, jų tarpusavio ryšius. Skirstomi į fizinius ir biologinius. Prie fizinių gamtos mokslų priskiriami fizika,… … Ekologijos terminų aiškinamasis žodynas

Natural Sciences- sciences that study the properties of nature and natural formations. Use of terms natural, technical, fundamental, etc. to areas of human activity is quite conditional, since each of them has a fundamental component... ... Theoretical aspects and foundations of the environmental problem: interpreter of words and ideomatic expressions

NATURAL SCIENCES- the name for the totality of all sciences involved in the study of nature. The main spheres of the natural sciences: matter, life, man, the Earth, the Universe, allow us to group them as follows: 1) physics, chemistry, physical chemistry; 2) biology,… … Professional education. Dictionary

Mathematics Scientific research in the field of mathematics began to be carried out in Russia in the 18th century, when L. Euler, D. Bernoulli and other Western European scientists became members of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. According to the plan of Peter I, academicians are foreigners... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

This term has other meanings, see standard. The norm in a number of sciences about living organisms, including humans (medicine, biology, as well as sociology, etc.) is considered as a certain reference point, standard, standard for... ... Wikipedia

- 'NATURE SCIENCES AND CULTURAL SCIENCES' (1910) is one of Rickert’s most significant works, which sets out the foundations of the methodology of historical knowledge he developed. The book is a revision and publication, and in a significantly... History of Philosophy: Encyclopedia

The division of sciences introduced by G. Rickert according to their subject and method. This division coincides with the opposition between nomothetic science and idiographic science proposed by V. Windelband and developed in detail by Rickert. In recent... ... Philosophical Encyclopedia

Books

Natural Sciences: A Book of Stories, Soloukh S.. The book of stories by Sergei Soloukh, a three-time winner of the Yuri Kazakov Prize for the best story of the year (2003, 2004 and 2005), is called “Natural Sciences” - with mathematical precision.…
Biology. Introduction to Natural Sciences. 5th grade. Workbook. Tutorial. Federal State Educational Standard, Andreeva A. E.. The workbook is an addition to the textbook by A. E. Andreeva “Biology. Introduction to Natural Sciences. Grade 5” and is intended for individual work of students in lessons at school and ...

In the modern world, there are thousands of different sciences, educational disciplines, sections and other structural links. However, a special place among all is occupied by those that directly concern a person and everything that surrounds him. This is a system of natural sciences. Of course, all other disciplines are important too. But it is this group that has the most ancient origin, and therefore has special significance in people’s lives.

What are natural sciences?

The answer to this question is simple. These are disciplines that study man, his health, as well as the entire environment: soil in general, space, nature, substances that make up all living and nonliving bodies, their transformations.

The study of natural sciences has been interesting to people since ancient times. How to get rid of a disease, what the body consists of from the inside, and what they are, as well as millions of similar questions - this is what has interested humanity from the very beginnings of its emergence. The disciplines in question provide answers to them.

Therefore, to the question of what natural sciences are, the answer is clear. These are disciplines that study nature and all living things.

Classification

There are several main groups that belong to the natural sciences:

Chemical (analytical, organic, inorganic, quantum, organoelement compounds).
Biological (anatomy, physiology, botany, zoology, genetics).
chemistry, physical and mathematical sciences).
Earth sciences (astronomy, astrophysics, cosmology, astrochemistry,
Sciences about the earth's shells (hydrology, meteorology, mineralogy, paleontology, physical geography, geology).

Only the basic natural sciences are presented here. However, it should be understood that each of them has its own subsections, branches, side and subsidiary disciplines. And if you combine all of them into a single whole, you can get a whole natural complex of sciences, numbering in hundreds of units.

Moreover, it can be divided into three large groups of disciplines:

applied;
descriptive;
accurate.

Interaction between disciplines

Of course, no discipline can exist in isolation from others. All of them are in close harmonious interaction with each other, forming a single complex. For example, knowledge of biology would be impossible without the use of technical means designed on the basis of physics.

At the same time, it is impossible to study transformations inside living beings without knowledge of chemistry, because each organism is a whole factory of reactions occurring at colossal speed.

The interconnection of the natural sciences has always been traced. Historically, the development of one of them entailed intensive growth and accumulation of knowledge in the other. As soon as new lands began to be developed, islands and land areas were discovered, zoology and botany immediately developed. After all, the new habitats were inhabited (albeit not all) by previously unknown representatives of the human race. Thus, geography and biology are closely linked together.

If we talk about astronomy and related disciplines, it is impossible not to note the fact that they developed thanks to scientific discoveries in the field of physics and chemistry. The design of the telescope largely determined the successes in this area.

There are a lot of similar examples that can be given. All of them illustrate the close relationship between all natural disciplines that make up one huge group. Below we will consider the methods of natural sciences.

Research methods

Before dwelling on the research methods used by the sciences under consideration, it is necessary to identify the objects of their study. They are:

Human;
life;
Universe;
matter;
Earth.

Each of these objects has its own characteristics, and to study them it is necessary to select one or another method. Among these, as a rule, the following are distinguished:

Observation is one of the simplest, most effective and ancient ways to understand the world.
Experimentation is the basis of chemical sciences and most biological and physical disciplines. Allows you to get the result and use it to draw a conclusion about
Comparison - this method is based on the use of historically accumulated knowledge on a particular issue and comparing it with the results obtained. Based on the analysis, a conclusion is drawn about the innovation, quality and other characteristics of the object.
Analysis. This method may include mathematical modeling, systematics, generalization, and effectiveness. Most often it is the final result after a number of other studies.
Measurement - used to assess the parameters of specific objects of living and inanimate nature.

There are also the latest, modern research methods that are used in physics, chemistry, medicine, biochemistry and genetic engineering, genetics and other important sciences. This:

electron and laser microscopy;
centrifugation;
biochemical analysis;
X-ray structural analysis;
spectrometry;
chromatography and others.

Of course, this is not a complete list. There are many different devices for working in every field of scientific knowledge. An individual approach is required to everything, which means that your own set of methods is formed, equipment and equipment are selected.

Modern problems of natural science

The main problems of natural sciences at the present stage of development are the search for new information, the accumulation of a theoretical knowledge base in a more in-depth, rich format. Until the beginning of the 20th century, the main problem of the disciplines under consideration was opposition to the humanities.

However, today this obstacle is no longer relevant, since humanity has realized the importance of interdisciplinary integration in mastering knowledge about man, nature, space and other things.

Now the disciplines of the natural science cycle are faced with a different task: how to preserve nature and protect it from the influence of man himself and his economic activities? And the problems here are the most pressing:

acid rain;
Greenhouse effect;
ozone layer destruction;
extinction of plant and animal species;
air pollution and others.

Biology

In most cases, in response to the question “What are natural sciences?” One word immediately comes to mind - biology. This is the opinion of most people not associated with science. And this is a completely correct opinion. After all, what, if not biology, directly and very closely connects nature and man?

All disciplines that make up this science are aimed at studying living systems, their interactions with each other and with the environment. Therefore, it is quite normal that biology is considered the founder of the natural sciences.

In addition, it is also one of the most ancient. After all, to oneself, one’s body, the surrounding plants and animals, it arose along with man. Genetics, medicine, botany, zoology, and anatomy are closely related to this discipline. All these branches make up biology as a whole. They give us a complete picture of nature, of man, and of all living systems and organisms.

Chemistry and physics

These fundamental sciences in the development of knowledge about bodies, substances and natural phenomena are no less ancient than biology. They also developed along with the development of man, his formation in the social environment. The main objectives of these sciences are the study of all bodies of inanimate and living nature from the point of view of the processes occurring in them, their connection with the environment.

Thus, physics examines natural phenomena, mechanisms and causes of their occurrence. Chemistry is based on the knowledge of substances and their mutual transformations into each other.

This is what natural sciences are.

Geosciences

And finally, we list the disciplines that allow us to learn more about our home, whose name is Earth. These include:

geology;
meteorology;
climatology;
geodesy;
hydrochemistry;
cartography;
mineralogy;
seismology;
soil science;
paleontology;
tectonics and others.

There are about 35 different disciplines in total. Together they study our planet, its structure, properties and features, which is so necessary for human life and economic development.