Full text search:

Where to look:

everywhere
only in title
only in text

Withdraw:

description
words in the text
header only

Home > Abstract >Philosophy

I. Naturally scientific knowledge and its features 3

Introduction 3

1.Object and subject of study natural sciences. The place of natural science in the system of sciences 4

2. Natural science as an integral system. Structure of Natural Science 9

Conclusion 13

II.What is meant by a natural science concept. 15

For example quantum physics 15

III. What knowledge in scientific form historically developed earlier: natural sciences or humanities 20

References 23

I. Natural science knowledge and its features

Introduction

Science is one of the oldest, most important and complex components of human culture. This is a whole diverse world of human knowledge, which allows man to transform nature and adapt it to satisfy his ever-increasing material and spiritual needs. This and a complex system research activities aimed at producing new knowledge. It is also a social institution that organizes the efforts of hundreds of thousands of scientific researchers who devote their knowledge, experience, and creative energy to understanding the laws of nature, society, and man himself.

Science is closely connected with material production, with the practice of transforming nature and social relations. Most of the material culture of society is created on the basis of science, primarily the achievements of natural science. The scientific picture of the world has always been the most important integral part human worldview. Scientific understanding nature, especially in the present era, significantly determines the content of a person’s inner spiritual world, the scope of his ideas, sensations, experiences, the dynamics of his needs and interests.

1. The object and subject of the study of natural sciences. The place of natural science in the system of sciences

The word “natural science” (nature – nature) means knowledge about nature, or natural history. IN Latin the word “nature” corresponds to the word natura, therefore in German, which became in the 17-19 centuries. in the language of science, everything about nature began to be called “Naturwissenchaft”. On the same basis, the term “natural philosophy” appeared - general philosophy nature. In ancient Greek, the word “nature” is very close to the word “physis” (“fuzis”).

Initially, all knowledge about nature really belonged to physics (in ancient times - “physiology”). This is how Aristotle (3rd century BC) called his predecessors “physicists” or physiologists. Physics thus became the basis of all natural sciences.

There are currently two definitions of natural science.

1. Natural science is the science of nature as a single integrity.

2. Natural science is a set of sciences about nature, taken as a whole.

The first definition speaks of one unified science about nature, emphasizing the unity of nature, its indivisibility. The second speaks of natural science as a totality, i.e. set of sciences studying nature, although it contains the phrase that this set should be considered as a single whole.

The natural sciences include physics, chemistry, biology, cosmology, astronomy, geography, geology and partly psychology. In addition, there are many sciences that arose at the intersection of these (astrophysics, physical chemistry, biophysics, etc.).

The goal of natural science, ultimately, is an attempt to solve the so-called “world mysteries”, formulated at the end of the 19th century by E. Haeckel and E.G. Dubois-Reymond. Here are these riddles, two of which relate to physics, two to biology and three to psychology (Fig. 1):

Natural science, developing, is approaching the solution of these riddles, but new questions arise, and the process of knowledge is endless. Indeed, our knowledge can be compared to an expanding sphere. The wider the sphere, the more points of contact it has with the unknown. An increase in the scope of knowledge leads to the emergence of new, unsolved problems.

The task of natural science is to understand the objective laws of nature and promote their practical use in the interests of man. Natural scientific knowledge is created as a result of generalization of observations obtained and accumulated in the process of practical activity of people, and is itself the theoretical basis of their activity.

The subject of natural science is nature. Nature is the entire material, energy and information world of the Universe. The origins of the modern understanding of nature go back to ancient times. The first interpretations of nature developed as a myth about the emergence (birth) of the world and its development, i.e. cosmogony. The inner meaning of these legends expresses the transition from unorganized chaos to an ordered cosmos. The world in cosmogonies is born from natural elements: fire, water, earth, air; sometimes a fifth element is added to them - ether. All this is the primary material for the construction of space. Elements unite and separate.

The image of nature is born in myths, and in various cosmogonies, and in theogonies (literally: “the birth of the gods”). Myth always reflects a certain reality; it expresses figuratively, in the form of fantastic stories, the desire to understand natural phenomena, social relations and human nature.

Later, natural philosophy (philosophy of nature) arose, which, despite the similarity of cosmogonic images, was fundamentally different from mythology.

In mythology, nature is clearly depicted in symbolic form as a certain space within which the activities of divine and Space Force. Natural philosophy tried to express general view on nature as a whole and support it with evidence.

In ancient philosophy, nature became the object of theoretical reflection. Natural philosophy tried to develop a unified, internally consistent view of nature. Comprehending the phenomenon of nature, natural philosophy tries to understand it from the inside, from itself, i.e. identify such laws of the existence of nature that do not depend on humans. In other words, an image of nature was gradually formed that, if possible, was cleared of purely human ideas, which often likened nature to man himself, and therefore could distort the true, independent life of nature. Thus, the task was to know what nature is like in itself, without man.

Already the first philosophers considered such important problems that served as the basis for further development scientific knowledge. These include: matter and its structure; atomism - the doctrine that the world consists of atoms, the smallest indivisible particles substances (Leucippus, Democritus); harmony (mathematical) of the Universe; relationship between matter and force; ratio of organic and inorganic.

From Aristotle, the greatest philosopher Ancient Greece(IV century BC), the understanding of nature has already received the status of an integral teaching. He identified natural philosophy with physics, studied questions about the composition physical bodies, types of movement, causality, etc. Aristotle defined nature as a living organism, driven by an end in itself and producing all the variety of objects included in it, because it has a soul, inner strength– entelechy. Aristotle did not reduce movement only to movement in space, but also considered such forms as emergence and destruction, qualitative changes.

In the Hellenistic era, natural philosophy began to rely not only on philosophical reasoning, but also on extensive observations in astronomy, biology, geography, and physics. During this era, the term “natural philosophy” itself appeared, which was introduced by the Roman philosopher Seneca. Since in ancient philosophy it was believed that philosophy should rise above everyday life, everyday life, this doomed natural philosophy to speculativeness, and invented schemes and theories began to dominate in it.

In medieval culture, it was believed that nature spoke to people in the symbolic language of divine will, since nature and man are the creation of God. But in the Renaissance that followed the Middle Ages, this view changed significantly. Natural philosophy diverged in two directions: 1 – mysticism continued the tradition of speculative concepts of nature; 2 – “magic”, from which experimental science – natural science – was gradually formed. The transition from a religious picture of the world to a natural science one was facilitated by the emergence of a special view of the world, called “pantheism” (“omnitheism”). Pantheism is the doctrine that everything is God; identification of God and the universe. This teaching deifies the universe, creates a cult of nature, recognizes the infinity of the universe and the innumerable multitude of its worlds.

A special role in the creation of methods for the scientific, experimental study of nature was played by G. Galileo, who argued that the book of nature was written in triangles, squares, circles, etc.

With the formation of science and methods of natural science, in the 17-18 centuries. Natural philosophy has changed significantly. I. Newton, the creator of the mechanical picture of the world, understood natural philosophy as a theoretical, mathematically structured doctrine of nature, “ exact science about nature". In this picture of the world, nature was identified with a clock mechanism.

The rejection of the divine and poetic understanding of nature led to a change in attitude towards nature. It becomes the object of active exploitation - intellectual and industrial. Nature is a workshop. Fr. Bacon calls the scientist a natural scientist who, through experiment, wrests from nature its secrets. The most important task of science is to conquer nature and increase the power of man: “Knowledge is power!”

Thus, nature acts as a generalized concept, sometimes identified with the boundless cosmos. At the same time, the process of development of natural science and the specialization in science associated with this process led to the fact that nature ceased to exist as a whole for specialists; it became fragmented. The conquest of nature, the creation of machine culture, destroys the integrity of nature itself, as well as the internal connections of man with nature, which leads him to an environmental disaster. The need for such an organization of interaction between society and nature that would meet the needs of future generations and solve the problem of human survival requires not only the formation of so-called environmental ethics, but also a rethinking of the very concept of “nature” into which man should be “inscribed.” There are undeniable arguments that define the “human face” of nature:

nature is such that it has the possibility and necessity of generating man. All physical constants that characterize the fundamental structures of the world are such that only with them could a person exist. In the absence of man, there would be no one to know nature.

man is born “out of nature.” Let us recall the development of the human embryo.

the natural basis of man is the foundation on which only the emergence of specific human existence, consciousness, activity, culture.

Thus, the modern understanding of nature as a subject of natural science involves the development of new ways of studying it, the formation of integration approaches and interdisciplinary connections. Therefore, fundamentally new ideas of modern scientific picture the world no longer fit into the traditional technogenic approach understanding of nature as a “dead mechanism” that can be experimented with and which can be mastered in parts, transforming and subordinating it to man.

Nature begins to be understood as an integral living organism. Almost until the middle of the twentieth century, such an understanding of nature was perceived as a kind of relic or return to mythological consciousness. However, as V.I. Vernadsky’s ideas about the biosphere were established in science and widely disseminated, after the development of modern ecology, a new understanding of nature as an organism, and not a mechanical system, became scientific principle. A new understanding of nature stimulated the search for new ideals of human relations with nature, which would become the basis for solving modern global problems.

3.1. ItemAndstructurenatural sciencesConceptnatural sciences

A person’s desire to understand the world around him is expressed in various forms, methods and directions. research activities. Each of the main parts of the objective world - nature, society and man - is studied by its own separate sciences. The body of scientific knowledge about nature is formed by natural science. Etymologically, the word “natural science” comes from the combination of two words: “nature”, which means nature, and “knowledge”, i.e. knowledge about nature.

IN modern usage the term "natural science" in itself general view denotes a set of natural sciences that have as the subject of their research various natural phenomena and processes, as well as the patterns of their evolution. In addition, natural science is an independent science about nature as a single whole and, as such, allows us to study any object in the world around us more deeply than any of the natural sciences alone can do. Therefore, natural science, along with the sciences of society and thinking, is the most important part human knowledge. It includes both the activity of obtaining knowledge and its results, i.e. system of scientific knowledge about natural processes and phenomena.

The role of natural science in human life is difficult to overestimate. It is the basis of all types of life support - physiological, technical, energetic. In addition, natural science serves as a theoretical basis for industry and Agriculture, all technologies, various types production. Thus, it acts as the most important element of human culture, one of the significant indicators of the level of civilization.

The noted characteristics of natural science allow us to conclude that it is a subsystem of science and, as such, is associated with all elements of culture - religion, philosophy,

ethics, etc. On the other hand, natural science is an independent field of knowledge with its own structure, subject and methods.

The concept of “natural science” appeared in modern times in Western Europe and came to mean the entirety of the natural sciences. The roots of this idea go back to Ancient Greece, during the time of Aristotle, who was the first to systematize the then existing knowledge about nature in his “Physics”. However, these ideas were quite amorphous, and therefore today natural science is understood as the so-called exact natural science is knowledge that corresponds not only to the first four, but also to the last, fifth criterion of scientificity. The most important characteristic of exact natural science is the experimental method, which makes it possible to empirically test hypotheses and theories, as well as formalize the acquired knowledge in mathematical formulas.

Itemnatural sciences

There are two widely held views about the subject of natural science:

natural science is the science of Nature as a single integrity;

natural science is a set of sciences about Nature, considered as a whole.

At first glance, these definitions are different from each other. One speaks of a single science about Nature, and the other speaks of a collection of separate sciences. Nevertheless, in fact, the differences are not so great, since the totality of sciences about Nature means not just the sum of disparate sciences, but single complex closely interrelated natural sciences that complement each other.

Being an independent science, natural science has its own subject of research, different from the subject of special (private) natural sciences. The specificity of natural science is that it studies the same natural phenomena from the standpoint of several sciences at once, identifying the most general patterns and trends. This is the only way to imagine Nature as one whole system, to identify the foundations on which all the diversity of objects and phenomena of the surrounding world is built. The result of such research is the formulation of basic laws connecting the micro-, macro- and mega-worlds, Earth and Space, physical and chemical phenomena with life and intelligence in the Universe.

At school, certain natural sciences are studied - physics, chemistry, biology, geography, astronomy. This serves as the first stage of knowledge of Nature, without which it is impossible to move on to understanding it as a single integrity, to the search for deeper connections between physical, chemical and biological phenomena.

niyami. That's what it is the main task of this course. With its help, we must more deeply and accurately understand individual physical, chemical and biological phenomena that occupy an important place in natural science picture peace; and also identify hidden connections, creating an organic unity of these phenomena, which is impossible within the framework of special natural sciences.

Structure of natural science

We have already talked about the structure of science, which is a complex branched system of knowledge. Natural science is an equally complex system, 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.

The basis, the foundation of all natural sciences, undoubtedly, is physics, the subject of which are bodies, their movements, transformations and forms of manifestation on various levels. Today it is impossible to engage in any natural science without knowing physics. Inside physics stands out big number subsections differing in specific subject matter and research methods. The most important among them is mechanics - the study of the balance and movement of bodies (or their parts) in space and time. Mechanical motion is the simplest and at the same time the most common form of motion of matter. Mechanics was historically the first physical science And for a long time served as a model for all natural sciences. The branches of mechanics are:

statics, which studies the conditions of equilibrium of bodies;

kinematics, which deals with the movement of bodies with geometric point vision;

3) dynamics, which considers the movement of bodies under the influence
applied forces.

Mechanics also includes hydrostatics, pneumatic and hydrodynamics.

Mechanics is the physics of the macrocosm. In modern times, the physics of the microworld arose. It is based on statistical mechanics, or molecular kinetic theory, which studies the movement of liquid and gas molecules. Later appeared atomic physics and particle physics. The branches of physics are thermodynamics, which studies thermal processes; physics of oscillations (waves), closely related to optics, electricity, acoustics. Named times

Physics is not exhausted by affairs; new physical disciplines are constantly appearing in it.

The next step is chemistry, studying chemical elements, their properties, transformations and compounds. It is very easy to prove that it is based on physics. To do this, it is enough to remember school lessons in chemistry, which talked about the structure chemical elements and them electronic shells. This is an example of use physical knowledge in chemistry. In chemistry, inorganic and organic chemistry, chemistry of materials and other sections.

In turn, chemistry underlies biology- the science of living things, studying the cell and everything derived from it. At the core biological knowledge- knowledge about matter, chemical elements. Among the biological sciences, botany (the subject is the plant kingdom) and zoology (the subject is the animal world) should be highlighted. Anatomy, physiology and embryology study the structure, function and development of the body. Cytology examines living cell, histology - properties of tissues, paleontology - fossil remains of life, genetics - problems of heredity and variability.

Geosciences are next element structures of natural science. This group includes geology, geography, ecology, etc. All of them consider the structure and development of our planet, which is the most complex combination physical, chemical and biological phenomena and processes.

Completes this grand pyramid knowledge about Nature cosmologic, studying 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 Nature itself.

The structure of natural science is not limited to the above-mentioned sciences. The fact is that in science there are very complex processes of differentiation and integration of scientific knowledge. Differentiation of science is the selection within a science of narrower, private areas of research, turning them into independent sciences. So, within physics, physics stood out solid, plasma physics.

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

Thus, the pyramid of natural sciences that we have built becomes significantly more complicated, including a large number of additional and intermediate elements.

It should also be noted that the system of natural science is by no means unshakable; not only are new sciences constantly appearing in it, but their role is also changing, and the leader in natural science is periodically changing. So, from the 17th century. until the middle of the 20th century. Such a leader, undoubtedly, was physics. But now this science has almost completely mastered its area of ​​reality, and most of physicists are engaged in research of an applied nature (the same applies to chemistry). Today, biological research is experiencing a boom (especially in borderline areas - biophysics, biochemistry, molecular biology). According to some reports, in the mid-1980s biological sciences was occupied up to 50% US scientists, 34% - in our country. The USA and Great Britain finance a wide variety of biological research without objection. So the 21st century will obviously become the century of biology.

3.2. Storynatural sciences

Being an integral part of science and culture, natural science has the same long and complex history. Natural science cannot be understood without tracing the history of its development as a whole. According to historians of science, the development of natural science went through three stages and at the end of the 20th century. entered the fourth. These stages are ancient Greek natural philosophy, medieval natural science, classical natural science of the New and Modern times and modern natural science of the 20th century.

The development of natural science is subject to this periodization. At the first stage, there was an accumulation of applied information about the nature and ways of using its forces and bodies. This is the so-called natural philosophical stage development of science, characterized by direct contemplation of nature as an undivided whole. At the same time, there is a correct embrace of the general picture of nature while neglecting particulars, which is characteristic of Greek natural philosophy.

Later, a theoretical understanding of the causes, methods and features of changes in nature is added to the process of accumulating knowledge, and the first concepts of a rational explanation of changes in nature appear. The so-called analytical stage in the development of science, when there is an analysis of nature, the identification and study of individual things and phenomena, searches individual reasons and consequences. This approach is typical for initial stage development of any science, and in terms of historical development science - for late Middle Ages and New Time. At this time, methods and theories are combined into natural science as an integral science of nature,

there is a series of scientific revolutions, each time radically changing practice social development.

The result of the development of science is synthetic stage, when scientists recreate complete picture world on the basis of already known particulars.

3.3. StartSciences Ancient Greek natural philosophy

The very first human knowledge about nature developed in ancient times. Already primitive people, in their struggle with nature, getting their own food and protecting themselves from wild animals, gradually accumulated knowledge about nature, its phenomena and the properties of the material things around them. However, knowledge primitive people were not scientific, since they were neither systematized nor united by any theory. Generated by human material activity and livelihood, this knowledge took the form of practical experience.

Science is a complex, multifaceted social phenomenon that could not arise and develop outside society. Therefore, science appears only when special objective conditions are created for this that meet the criteria of science that we have introduced. The ancient Greek knowledge of the 6th-4th centuries corresponds to these conditions. BC. While ancient greek culture acquired fundamentally new features that culture did not possess Ancient East, generally recognized as the birthplace of human civilization.

The emergence of such criteria of science as systematicity and rationality was ultimately facilitated by a one-of-a-kind revolution that occurred in the archaic era - the emergence private property. The rest of the world, in particular the civilizations of the East, demonstrated the so-called “Asian mode of production” and the corresponding type of state - oriental despotism. In such a society, power relations are primary, and property relations are secondary. Property in such a society is controlled by those in whose hands the power is located - officials of various ranks and, of course, Supreme ruler states. They create a well-functioning system of accounting and control, in which any person takes his assigned place and is in the complete will of the ruler and officials, communication with whom cannot be based on purely logical and rational principles. A chance or whim of an official can change a person’s life forever. This leads to the fatalism characteristic of eastern civilizations, as well as to the lack of priority

theta personality, refusal rational way knowledge of the world and other specific features of these civilizations.

The emergence of private property and commodity production in Ancient Greece brought to life their characteristic political, legal and other institutions, in particular democratic self-government and law protecting the interests of citizens. Now every citizen personally discussed and adopted laws. Thus, public life freed from the power of religious and mystical ideas, the law ceased to be a blind force dictated from above, but became democratic norm adopted by a majority of votes during public discussion. The discussion of these laws was based on rhetoric, the art of persuasion and logical argumentation. Thus, an apparatus of logical, rational justification was gradually formed, which became a universal algorithm for the production of knowledge, and science emerged as evidence-based and systematized knowledge.

The emergence of proven methods for obtaining new knowledge was associated with the absence among the Greeks of the priestly caste, which in the East monopolized intellectual and spiritual activity. There, knowledge was available only to initiates; it was carefully stored and passed on, as it was considered given by the gods, but no changes were allowed in it. In ancient Greece, due to the specifics natural conditions traditional poleis (small independent city-states) were so poor that they could not afford to support non-working people. Therefore, not only priests, but also rulers early stages the development of policies had to work1. And many positions were elective. Therefore, about no secret knowledge there was no question, they were available to any citizen and free man.

The formation of theoretical knowledge, its separation from everyday practical interests are associated with this feature Greek civilization like classic slavery. It was economic basis ancient civilization. Thus, during the heyday of Athens in the V-IV centuries. BC. there were up to 400 thousand slaves who worked in the fields, in workshops, and also performed almost all household work. Gradually, the development of slavery led to the formation of a disdainful attitude of free Greeks towards physical labor, and then towards all instrumental and practical activities. Politics, war, art, and philosophy were considered activities worthy of a free person. This formed the ideology of contemplation, an abstract and speculative attitude towards

1 Suffice it to recall the descriptions of the life of King Odysseus in Homer’s Iliad.

reality. The activities of a free person (including science) were separated from crafts - the occupation of slaves.

It was very important step for the development of science, since it was the rejection of the material-practical relationship to reality that gave rise to idealization - an indispensable condition of science (generalization of the principles of instrumental labor activity only gives rise to abstraction, which is what higher animals are capable of). The ability to think in concepts, to form them, to move in the plane of “pure” thought is a great achievement of ancient Greek philosophy, the most important foundation and prerequisite for any science. Without a clear distinction between the sphere of “theoretical” and the sphere of “ practical application In theory this would be impossible. Therefore, the achievements of ancient science and philosophy - the planimetry of Hipparchus, the geometry of Euclid, the aporia of the Eleatics, Diogenes' search for the essence of man - all this does not have any obvious connections with material production. Practice, conditioning abstraction, prevents the emergence of idealization as its logical continuation. It would never occur to any practitioner to deal with questions of the essence of the world, knowledge, truth, man, beauty. All these purely “impractical” issues are very far from both the sphere of mass production and the consciousness of producers. But without them, true science cannot arise; this is precisely what the example of the Ancient East shows.

But a decisive refusal from practical activity also had reverse side: in particular, the rejection of experiment as a method of knowledge closed the way to the formation of experimental natural science, which arose only in modern times.

Ancient science appeared in the form of scientific programs (paradigms). They defined the goal of scientific knowledge - the study of the process of transformation of the original Chaos into Cosmos - intelligently organized and arranged world through the search for a cosmic (order-forming) principle. It is no coincidence that the first major representatives of natural philosophy - Thales, Anaximander, Heraclitus, Diogenes - in their statements were guided by the idea of ​​​​the unity of existence, the origin of things from some natural source (water, air, fire), as well as the universal animation of matter.

Also science programs used the idea of ​​the unity of the micro- and macrocosmos, the similarity of the world and man to substantiate the possibility of knowing the world. Claiming that similar is known by similar means, the ancient Greeks believed that the only instrument of knowledge could be human mind, rejecting experiment as a method of understanding the world. This was how the rationalist position was clearly formulated, which later became dominant in European culture.

Ancient Greek philosophers, without resorting to systematic research and experiment, based primarily on their own observations, tried to capture and explain the entire surrounding reality with a single glance. The natural scientific ideas that emerged at this time were of an extremely broad philosophical nature and existed as natural philosophy (philosophy of nature), which was distinguished by direct contemplation of the surrounding world as a whole and speculative conclusions from this contemplation.

The first scientific program of antiquity was the mathematical program introduced by Pythagoras and later developed by Plato. It was based, as was the basis of other ancient programs, on the idea that the world (Cosmos) is an ordered expression of a number of original entities. Pythagoras found these essences in numbers and presented them as the fundamental principle of the world. Thus, in the mathematical program, the world is based on quantitative relations of reality. This approach allowed us to see behind the world the qualitatively diverse various items their quantitative unity. The brightest incarnation math program became the geometry of Euclid, whose famous book “Elements” appeared around 300 BC. In addition, the Pythagoreans first put forward the idea of ​​a spherical shape of the Earth.

Natural science was further developed in the ancient atomism of Democritus - the doctrine of the discrete structure of matter, according to which the whole world consists of emptiness and atoms that differ from each other, in perpetual motion and interaction. These ideas formed the second scientific program of antiquity - the atomistic program of Leucippus-Democritus. The atomic program made several very important assumptions. Among them is the idea of ​​emptiness, which underlies the concept of infinite space. This is exactly how Democritus’s idea was born, although not supported by other thinkers, that the world as a whole is a boundless emptiness with many independent closed worlds-spheres. These worlds were formed as a result of a vortex, circular collision of atoms. In these vortices, large and heavy atoms accumulated in the center, and small and light atoms were forced out to the outskirts. From the former the earth arose, from the latter the sky. In every closed world, the earth is in the center, and the stars are on the outskirts. The number of worlds is infinite, many of them can be inhabited. These worlds arise and die. While some are in their prime, others are just being born or are already dying.

A contemporary of Democritus, Empedocles, who was the first to express the idea of ​​​​the uncreatability and indestructibility of matter, explained the reason

eclipses of the Sun, guessed that light travels at a high speed, which we are not able to notice. He tried to explain the origin of animals. In his opinion, individual organs of animals first appeared, which, in the process of random combinations, began to give rise to a variety of living beings. Associations of organs that did not correspond to each other inevitably died, and only those in which the united organs accidentally turned out to be mutually suitable survived.

Yours higher development Ancient Greek natural philosophy received its teachings from Aristotle, who united and systematized all contemporary knowledge about the world around him. It became the basis of the third, continuum program of ancient science. The main treatises that make up Aristotle’s teaching on nature are “Physics”, “On the Heavens”, “Meteorology”, “On the Origin of Animals”, etc. In these treatises the most important scientific problems, which later became the basis for the emergence of individual sciences. Special attention Aristotle devoted his attention to the issue of the movement of physical bodies, thereby laying the foundation for the study of mechanical motion and the formation of concepts of mechanics (speed, force, etc.). True, Aristotle’s ideas about motion are radically different from modern ones. He believed that there are perfect circular movements celestial bodies and imperfect movements of earthly objects. If celestial movements are eternal and unchangeable, have no beginning and end, then earthly movements have them and are divided into natural and violent. Aristotle believed that every body has a place assigned to it in accordance with its nature, which this body strives to occupy. The movement of bodies to their place is a natural movement, it occurs by itself, without the application of force. An example is the fall of a heavy body downward, the upward movement of fire. All other movements on Earth require the application of force, are directed against the nature of bodies and are violent. Aristotle proved the eternity of motion, but did not recognize the possibility of self-motion of matter. Everything that moves is set in motion by other bodies. The primary source of movement in the world is the prime mover - God. Like the model of the Cosmos, these ideas, thanks to the indisputable authority of Aristotle, were so rooted in the minds of European thinkers that they were refuted only in modern times after the discovery of the idea of ​​inertia by G. Galileo.

Aristotle's idea of ​​physical interaction is closely related to his concept of motion. Therefore, interaction is understood by him as the action of the mover on the movable, i.e. unilateral influence of one body on another. This directly contradicts Newton's well-known third law, which states that action always equals reaction.

Aristotle's doctrine of space and time comes from the concept of continuity. Therefore, space for him is the extension of bodies, and time is their duration. Aristotle's space and time exist only together with matter, therefore his concept of space and time can be called relative. He denies the existence of emptiness, the entire Cosmos is filled with matter, it is not homogeneous, since it has a center and periphery, top and bottom. It is in relation to them that we divide movements into natural and violent.

Aristotle's concept of cause-and-effect relationships is based on the concepts of expediency and final cause. For him, the course of any process is determined by its result. The thinker perceives nature as a single living organism, all parts of which are interconnected, and one thing happens for the sake of the other. So, It is raining not because the appropriate meteorological conditions developed, but so that bread could grow. This approach is called teleologism. He does not deny the existence of accidents, but they are of a secondary nature, occurring due to an oversight of nature.

Aristotle's cosmology was geocentric in nature, since it was based on the idea that at the center of the world is our planet Earth, which has a spherical shape and is surrounded by water, air and fire, behind which there are spheres of large heavenly bodies, orbiting the Earth along with other small stars.

Aristotle's indisputable achievement was the creation formal logic, set out in his treatise “Organon” and placing science on a solid foundation of logically based thinking using a conceptual-categorical apparatus. He also owns the statement of order scientific research, which includes studying the history of the issue, stating the problem, introducing arguments for and against, and justifying the decision. After his works, scientific knowledge was finally separated from metaphysics (philosophy), and a differentiation of scientific knowledge itself also occurred. It highlighted mathematics, physics, geography, fundamentals of biology and medical science.

Concluding the story about ancient science, one cannot fail to mention the works of other outstanding scientists of this time. Astronomy was actively developing, which needed to reconcile the observed movement of the planets (they move along very complex trajectories, making oscillatory, loop-like movements) with their expected movement in circular orbits, as required by the geocentric model of the world. The solution to this problem was the system of epicycles and deferents of the Alexandrian astronomer Claudius Ptolemy (1st-2nd centuries AD). To save the geocentric model of the world, he assumed that there are

A circle is drawn with its center offset relative to the center of the Earth. Along this circle, called the deferent, moves the center of a smaller circle, called the epicycle.

It is impossible not to mention another ancient scientist who laid the foundations mathematical physics. This is Archimedes, who lived in the 3rd century. BC. His works on physics and mechanics were an exception to general rules ancient science, as he used his knowledge to build various machines and mechanisms. Nevertheless, the main thing for him, as for other ancient scientists, was science itself. And the mechanics for him become important means solutions mathematical problems. Although for Archimedes technology was just a game of the scientific mind, the result of science going beyond its boundaries (the same attitude towards technology and machines as toys was characteristic of all Hellenistic science), his work played a fundamental role in the emergence of such branches of physics as statics and hydrostatics . In statics, Archimedes introduced into science the concept of the center of gravity of bodies and formulated the law of leverage. In hydrostatics, he discovered the law that bears his name: a body immersed in a liquid is acted upon by a buoyant force equal to the weight of the liquid displaced by the body.

As can be seen from the above and far from full list ideas and directions of natural philosophy, at this stage the foundations of many were laid modern theories and branches of natural science. At the same time, the formation of style during this period seems no less important. scientific thinking, including the desire for innovation, criticism, the desire for orderliness and a skeptical attitude towards generally accepted truths, the search for universals that provide a rational understanding of the world around us.

DevelopmentSciencesVAveragecentury

The development of natural science in the Middle Ages was directly associated with the establishment of two world religions: Christianity and Islam, which claimed absolute knowledge of nature. These religions explained the origin of nature in the form of creationism, i.e. doctrine of the creation of nature by God. All other attempts to explain the world and nature from themselves, without the assumption of supernatural divine forces, were condemned and mercilessly suppressed. Many achievements of ancient science were forgotten.

Unlike antiquity, medieval science did not offer new fundamental programs, but at the same time it was not limited only to passive assimilation of the achievements of ancient science. Her contribution to the development of scientific knowledge was that a number of new interpretations and clarifications of concepts and research methods were proposed, which destroyed ancient scientific programs, preparing the ground for modern mechanics.

From the point of view of the Christian worldview, man was considered created in the image and likeness of God, so that he would be master earthly world. This is how a person’s consciousness penetrates very important idea, which never arose and could not arise in antiquity: since man is the master of this world, it means that he has the right to remake this world as he needs it. New, active approach to nature was also associated with a change in attitude towards work, which becomes the responsibility of every Christian. So gradually physical labor began to be used in medieval society more and more respect. At the same time, a desire arose to make this work easier, which gave rise to a new attitude towards technology. Now the invention of machines and mechanisms ceased to be empty fun, as in antiquity, but became a useful and respected matter. All this could not but reinforce a new, active and practical attitude towards the world.

Thus, it was the Christian worldview that sowed the seeds of a new attitude towards nature, which made it possible to move away from the contemplative attitude inherent in antiquity and to come to the experimental science of the New Age, which set the goal of the practical transformation of the world for the benefit of man.

Christian doctrine, combined with the emasculated philosophy of Aristotle, became dominant in the Middle Ages. philosophical direction and got the name scholastics. This line of thought was characterized by a simplification of Aristotle's natural philosophy and its adaptation to the dogmas of Christianity as the official religious doctrine. Scholasticism was torn away from reality, the pursuit of natural science was seen as a waste of time. However, scholasticism played a very important role important role in developing abilities to understand the world European man. It was supposed to serve the tasks of theology and study questions of the immortality of the soul, the finitude and infinity of the world, the existence of good, evil and truth in the world. In solving these problems, which are not given to man in the field of sensory reality and can only be studied with the help of reason, they were obtained most important results. This is, first of all, the development of logical-discursive thinking and the art of logical argumentation. The result was highest level mental discipline in the late Middle Ages. Without this, further progress of intellectual means of scientific knowledge would be impossible.

In the depths of medieval culture, such specific fields of knowledge as astrology, alchemy, iatrochemistry, and natural magic successfully developed. They were often called hermetic (secret) sciences. They represented intermediate between technical craft and natural philosophy, contained within themselves the germ of the future experimental science due to its practical

skoy orientation. For example, for a millennium, alchemists tried to use chemical reactions get philosopher's Stone, which helps transform any substance into gold, prepare an elixir of longevity. By-products of these searches and research were technologies for producing paints, glass, medicines, and various chemical substances etc. Thus, alchemical research, theoretically unsound, prepared the possibility of the emergence of modern science.

Very important for the development of classical science in modern times were new ideas about the world, which refuted some of the provisions of the ancient scientific picture of the world. They formed the basis of a mechanistic explanation of the world. Without such ideas, classical natural science simply could not have appeared.

Thus, the concepts of emptiness, infinite space and movement in a straight line appeared. The concepts “ average speed», « uniformly accelerated motion", the concept of acceleration matures. Of course, these concepts cannot yet be considered clearly formulated and conscious. But without them, however, the physics of the New Age could not have appeared.

A new understanding of mechanics, which in antiquity was an applied science, is also being laid. Antiquity and the early Middle Ages viewed all man-made instruments as artificial, alien to nature. Because of this, they had nothing to do with the knowledge of the world, since the principle was in effect: “like is known by like.” That is why only the human mind, due to the principle of man’s similarity to the cosmos (the unity of the micro- and macrocosmos), could cognize the world. Now tools began to be considered a part of nature, only processed by man, and due to their identity with it they could be used to understand the world. This opened up the possibility of using experimental method knowledge.

Another innovation was the rejection of the ancient idea of ​​​​a model of perfection - a circle. This model was replaced by the model of an infinite line, which contributed to the formation of ideas about the infinity of the Universe, and also formed the basis of the calculus of infinitesimal quantities, without which differential and integral calculus is impossible. All modern mathematics is built on it, and therefore all classical science.

DevelopmentSciencesVeraRenaissance

The development of science during the Renaissance is inextricably linked with the name of Leonardo da Vinci, who developed his method of understanding nature. He was convinced that knowledge comes from private experiences and

specific results to scientific generalization. In his opinion, experience is not only a source, but also a criterion of knowledge. Being an adherent of the experimental method of research, he studied the fall of bodies, the trajectory of projectiles, friction coefficients, resistance of materials, etc. In the course of his research, da Vinci laid the foundation for experimental natural science. For example, while studying practical anatomy, he left sketches internal organs person, provided with a description of their functions. As a result of many years of observations, he revealed the phenomenon of heliotropism (changes in the direction of growth of plant organs depending on the light source) and explained the reasons for the appearance of veins on the leaves. Leonardo da Vinci is considered the first researcher to identify the problem of the connection between living beings and their natural environment.

GlobalscientificrevolutionXVI — XVII bb.

In the XVI-XVII centuries. natural philosophical and scholastic knowledge of nature turned into modern natural science, systematic scientific knowledge based on experiments and mathematical presentation. During this period, a new worldview was formed in Europe and new stage in the development of science, associated with the first global natural science revolution. Its starting point was the exit in 1543. famous book Nicolaus Copernicus "On Rotation" celestial spheres" From this moment on, the transition from the geocentric to the heliocentric model of the Universe began.

In Copernicus's scheme, the Universe still remained a sphere, although its dimensions increased sharply (this was the only way to explain the apparent immobility of the stars). At the center of the Cosmos was the Sun, around which all the planets known at that time revolved, including the Earth with its satellite the Moon. New model The world immediately explained many previously incomprehensible effects, primarily the loop-like movements of the planets, which, according to new ideas, were caused by the movement of the Earth around its axis and around the Sun. For the first time, the change of seasons found its explanation.

The next step in the development of a heliocentric picture of the world was taken by Giordano Bruno, who rejected the idea of ​​space as a closed sphere, limited scope fixed stars. Bruno was the first to state that stars are not lamps created by God to illuminate the night sky, but suns like ours, and planets can revolve around them, on which people may possibly live. Thus, Bruno proposed a sketch of a new polycentric picture of the universe, which was finally established a century later: the Universe is eternal in time,

infinite in space, around infinite number stars revolve around many planets inhabited by intelligent beings.

However, despite the grandeur of this picture, it continued to remain a sketch, a sketch that needed fundamental justification. It was necessary to discover the laws operating in the world and proving the correctness of the assumptions of Copernicus and Bruno. Proving their ideas became one of the most important tasks of the first global scientific revolution which started with Galileo's discoveries Galilee. His works in the field of methodology of scientific knowledge predetermined the appearance of classical, and in many ways, modern science. He gave natural science an experimental and mathematical character and formulated a hypothetico-deductive model of scientific knowledge. But special meaning Galileo's works in the field of astronomy and physics are important for the development of natural science.

The fact is that since the time of Aristotle, scientists believed that there is a fundamental difference between earthly and celestial phenomena and bodies, since the heavens are the location of ideal bodies consisting of ether. Because of this, it was considered impossible to study celestial bodies while on Earth. This delayed the development of science. After the spotting scope was invented in 1608, Galileo improved it and turned it into a telescope with 30x magnification. With his help, he accomplished a number of outstanding astronomical discoveries. Among them are mountains on the Moon, spots on the Sun, phases of Venus, four largest satellite Jupiter. He was the first to see that Milky Way is a cluster huge variety stars All these facts proved that celestial bodies are not ethereal creatures, but completely material objects and phenomena. After all, there cannot be mountains on an ideal body, like on the Moon, or spots, like on the Sun.

With the help of his discoveries in mechanics, Galileo destroyed the dogmatic constructions of Aristotelian physics that had dominated for almost two thousand years. He was the first to test many of Aristotle's statements experimentally, thereby laying the foundations of a new branch of physics - dynamics, the science of the movement of bodies under the influence of applied forces. It was Galileo who formulated the concepts of physical law, speed, acceleration. But greatest discoveries The idea of ​​inertia and the classical principle of relativity became a scientist.

Galileo believed that a moving body tends to remain in constant uniform rectilinear motion or at rest, unless some external force will not stop him or divert him from the direction of his movement. Thus, motion by inertia is motion in the absence of the influence of other bodies on it.

According to the classical principle of relativity, no mechanical experiments carried out inside a system can establish whether the system is at rest or moving uniformly and in a straight line. Also, the classical principle of relativity states that between rest and uniform rectilinear movement there is no difference, they are described by the same laws. Equality of motion and rest, i.e. inertial systems(at rest or moving relative to each other uniformly and rectilinearly), Galileo proved by reasoning and numerous examples. For example, a traveler in the cabin of a ship with with good reason believes that the book lying on his table is at rest. But the man on the shore sees that the ship is sailing, and he has every reason to claim that the book is moving and, moreover, at the same speed as the ship. So is the book actually moving or at rest? This question obviously cannot be answered simply “yes” or “no.” A dispute between a traveler and a person on the shore would be a waste of time if each of them defended only his own point of view and denied the point of view of his partner. They are both right, and in order to reconcile their positions, they only need to recognize that at the same time the book is at rest relative to the ship and moves relative to the shore along with the ship.

Thus, the word “relativity” in the name of Galileo’s principle does not hide anything special. It has no other meaning than the one we put into the statement that motion or rest is always motion or rest relative to something that serves as a frame of reference for us.

In the course of further development of natural science, Johannes Kepler established the true orbits of the planets. In his three laws, he showed that the planets move in elliptical orbits, and their movement is uneven.

Rene Descartes' research in physics, cosmology, biology, and mathematics played a huge role in the development of science. Descartes' teaching represents a unified natural science and philosophical system, based on postulates about the existence of continuous matter filling all space, and its mechanical movement. The scientist set the task, based on the principles of the structure of the world and ideas about matter that he had established, using only the “eternal truths” of mathematics, to explain all known and unknown phenomena nature. Solving this problem, he revived the ideas of ancient atomism and built a grandiose picture of the Universe, covering all the elements in it natural world: from celestial bodies to the physiology of animals and humans. At the same time, Descartes built his model of nature only on the basis of mechanics, which at that time had reached greatest success. Picture of

nature as a complex mechanism, which Descartes developed in his teaching, later formed into an independent direction in the development of physics, called Cartesianism. Descartes (Cartesian) natural science laid the foundations for a mechanical understanding of nature, the processes of which were considered as the movements of bodies along geometrically described trajectories. However, Cartesian teaching was not exhaustive. In particular, the movement of the planets had to obey the law of inertia, i.e. be straight and uniform. But since the orbits of the planets remain continuous closed curves and no such movement occurs, it becomes obvious that some force deviates the movement of the planets from a rectilinear trajectory and causes them to constantly “fall” towards the Sun. From now on, the most important problem of the new cosmology was to clarify the nature and character of this force.

The nature of this force was discovered by Isaac Newton, whose work completed the first global natural science revolution. He proved the existence of gravity as a universal force and formulated the law universal gravity.

Newtonian physics became the pinnacle of development of views in understanding the natural world in classical science. Newton substantiated the physical and mathematical understanding of nature, which became the basis for all subsequent development of natural science and the formation of classical natural science. In the course of his research, Newton created methods of differential and integral calculus to solve mechanical problems. Thanks to this, he was able to formulate the basic laws of dynamics and the law of universal gravitation. Newtonian mechanics is based on the concepts of quantity of matter (body mass), momentum, force, and three laws of motion: the law of inertia, the law of proportionality of force and acceleration, and the law of equality of action and reaction.

In his mechanics, Newton abandoned the construction of a comprehensive picture of the Universe and created own method physical research, which relies on experience limited to facts and does not pretend to know all final causes. According to Newton's concept, physical reality characterized by the concepts of space, time, material point and force (interaction material points). Any physical action represents the movement of material points in space, controlled by the immutable laws of mechanics.

Although Newton loudly proclaimed: “I invent no hypotheses!”, nevertheless, he proposed a number of hypotheses and they played a very important role in the development of natural science. These hypotheses were associated with the further development of the idea of ​​a global

gravity, which remained quite mysterious and incomprehensible. In particular, it was necessary to answer the questions: “What is the mechanism of action of this force?”, “At what speed does it spread?”, “Does it have a material carrier?”

Trying to solve this problem, Newton proposed the principle of long-range action, which was confirmed, as it seemed then, by countless facts - the instantaneous action of bodies on each other at any distance without any intermediary links, through emptiness. The principle of long-range action is impossible without the use of the concepts of absolute space and absolute time, also proposed by Newton.

Absolute space was understood as the container of world matter. It can be compared to a large black box in which a material body can be placed, but it can also be removed, then there will be no matter, but space will remain. There must also be absolute time as a universal duration, a constant cosmic scale for measuring all countless specific movements, it can flow independently without participation material bodies. It was in such absolute space and time that the force of gravity instantly spread. It is impossible to perceive absolute space and time in sensory experience. Space, time and matter in this concept are three entities independent from each other.

The concept of long-range action dominated in science until the middle of the 19th century, the concept of absolute space and time - until the beginning of the 20th century.

Newton's work completed the first global scientific revolution, forming a classical polycentric scientific picture of the world and laying the foundation for classical science of the New Age.

Classicnatural scienceNewtime

It is natural that based on the noted achievements further development natural science acquired everything larger scale and depth. There are processes of differentiation of scientific knowledge, coupled with significant progress of already formed sciences and the emergence of new independent sciences. However, the natural sciences of that time developed within the framework of classical science, which had its own specific features that left an indelible imprint on the work of scientists and their results.

The most important characteristic of classical science is mechanism - the representation of the world as a machine, a gigantic mechanism that clearly functions on the basis of the eternal and unchanging laws of mechanics. It is no coincidence that the most common

The ultimate model of the Universe was a huge clock mechanism. Therefore, mechanics was the standard of any science, and they tried to build any science on its model. It was also considered as a universal method for studying surrounding phenomena. This was expressed in the desire to reduce any processes in the world (not only physical and chemical, but also biological and social processes) to simple mechanical movements. This reduction of the higher to the lower, the explanation of the complex through the simpler is called reductionism.

The consequences of mechanism were the predominance quantitative methods analysis of nature, the desire to decompose the process or phenomenon being studied to its smallest components, reaching final limit divisibility of matter. Randomness was completely excluded from the picture of the world; scientists strived for complete, complete knowledge about the world - absolute truth.

Another feature of classical science was metaphysics—the consideration of nature as, from century to century, an unchanging, always self-identical, non-developing whole. Each object or phenomenon was considered separately from others, its connections with other objects were ignored, and the changes that occurred with these objects and phenomena were only quantitative. Thus arose the strong anti-evolutionist stance of classical science.

The mechanistic and metaphysical nature of classical science was clearly manifested not only in physics, but also in chemistry and biology. This led to a refusal to recognize the qualitative specificity of Life and living things. They became the same elements in the world-mechanism as objects and phenomena of inanimate nature.

These features of classical science were most clearly manifested in the natural sciences of the 18th century, when many theories were created that were almost forgotten modern science. A reductionist tendency was clearly evident, the desire to reduce all branches of physics, chemistry and biology to the methods and approaches of mechanics. Striving to reach the final limit of the divisibility of matter, scientists of the 18th century. create “doctrines about weightless” electric and magnetic fluids, caloric, phlogiston as special substances that provide electric, magnetic and thermal properties, as well as the ability to burn, respectively. Among the most significant achievements natural sciences of the 18th century. It should be noted the development of atomic-molecular ideas about the structure of matter and the formation of the foundations of the experimental science of electricity.

From the middle of the 18th century. natural science began to become increasingly imbued with ideas evolutionary development nature. The works of M.V. played a significant role in this. Lomonosov, I. Kant, P.S. Laplace, in which the hypothesis was developed natural origin Sol-

nechny system. The influence of the ideas of universal connection and development, destroying the metaphysical nature of classical science, became even more noticeable in the 19th century. Classical science, while remaining generally metaphysical and mechanistic, prepared for the gradual collapse of the mechanical picture of the world.

If in the 17th and 18th centuries. the development of natural science coexisted with religion, and God was present in pictures of the world as the initial Creator, then the development of natural science in the 19th and 20th centuries. was accompanied by the final break between science and religion, the development of technical sciences, which ensured the rapid progress of Western civilizations.

The revolutionary discoveries of natural science were the principles of non-Euclidean geometry by K.F. Gauss, the concept of entropy and the second law of thermodynamics R.Yu.E. Clausius, periodic law chemical elements D.I. Mendeleev, theory natural selection C. Darwin and A. R. Wallace, theory genetic inheritance G.I. Mendel, electromagnetic theory J. Maxwell.

These and many other discoveries of the 19th century that we have not named. raised natural science to a qualitatively new level, turned it into a disciplinary organized science. From a science that collected facts and studied complete, complete, individual items, natural science in the 19th century. has become a systematic science about objects and processes, their origin and development. This happened during the complex scientific revolution of the mid-19th century. But all these discoveries remained within the framework of the methodological guidelines of classical science. It did not become a thing of the past, but only the idea of ​​the world-machine was adjusted, all the provisions about the knowability of the world and the possibility of obtaining absolute truth, and the desire for reductionism remained unchanged. The mechanistic and metaphysical features of classical science were only shaken, but not discarded. Because of this, the science of the 19th century. carried the seeds of a future crisis, which was to be resolved by the second global scientific revolution late XIX- beginning of the 20th century

3.4. GlobalscientificrevolutionendXIX — startedXX V.

The global scientific revolution begins with a series of remarkable discoveries that destroyed the entire classical scientific picture of the world. In 1888 G. Hertz discovered electromagnetic waves, brilliantly confirming the prediction of J. Maxwell. In 1895, V. Roentgen discovered rays, later called X-rays, which were short-wave electromagnetic

radiation. The study of the nature of these mysterious rays, capable of penetrating opaque bodies, led J.J. Thomson for the opening of the first elementary particle- electron.

The most important discovery of 1896 was the discovery of radioactivity by A. Becquerel. The study of this phenomenon began with the study of the mysterious blackening of a photographic plate lying next to uranium salt crystals. E. Rutherford in his experiments showed heterogeneity radioactive radiation, consisting of rays. Later, in 1911, he was able to build a planetary model of the atom.

To the great discoveries of the late 19th century. The works of A.G. should also be included. Stoletov on the study of the photoelectric effect, P.N. Lebedev about the pressure of light. In 1901, M. Planck, trying to solve the problems classical theory radiation from heated bodies, suggested that energy is emitted in small portions - quanta, and the energy of each quantum is proportional to the frequency of the emitted radiation. The proportionality coefficient connecting these quantities is now called Planck's constant (h). It is one of the few universal physical constants of our world and is included in all equations of the physics of the microworld. It was also discovered that the mass of an electron depends on its speed.

All these discoveries literally in a few years destroyed the orderly edifice of classical science, which back in the early 80s.

XIX century seemed almost finished. All previous appearances
discussions about matter and its structure, movement and its properties and types,
about the form physical laws, space and time were defined
overthrown. This led to a crisis in physics and all natural science, and
in addition, it became a symptom of a deeper crisis and the entire class
sical science.

The crisis of physics has become the first stage the second global scientific revolution in science and was experienced very hard by most scientists. It seemed to the scientists that everything they had learned was wrong.

IN better side The situation began to change only in the 20s.

XX century, with the advent second stage scientific revolution. He is holy
involved in the creation of quantum mechanics and its combination with theory
relativity, created in 1906-1916. Then the warehouses began
a new quantum relativistic picture of the world will emerge, in which
The revelations that led to the crisis in physics were explained.

The beginning third stage The scientific revolution was the mastery of atomic energy in the 40s. XX century and subsequent research, which is associated with the birth of electronic computers and cybernetics. Also during this period, physics passes the baton to chemistry, biology and the cycle of earth sciences, which begin to create their own scientific pictures of the world. It should also be noted that from the middle of the 20th century. science finally merged with technology, which, in turn, led to the modern scientific and technological revolution.

The main conceptual change in natural science of the 20th century. There was a rejection of the Newtonian model of obtaining scientific knowledge through experiment to explanation. A. Einstein proposed a different model, in which hypothesis and the rejection of common sense as a way of testing statements became primary in explaining natural phenomena, and experiment became secondary.

The development of Einstein's approach leads to the denial of Newtonian cosmology and forms a new picture of the world, in which logic and common sense stop working. It turns out that Newton's solid atoms are almost entirely filled with emptiness. Matter and energy pass into each other. three dimensional space and one-dimensional time turned into a four-dimensional space-time continuum. According to this picture of the world, planets move in their orbits not because they are attracted to the Sun by some force, but because the very space in which they move is curved. Subatomic phenomena simultaneously manifest themselves as both particles and waves. It is impossible to simultaneously calculate the location of a particle and measure its acceleration. The uncertainty principle fundamentally undermined Newtonian determinism. The concepts of causality and substance were violated; solid discrete bodies gave way to formal relationships and dynamic processes.

These are the main provisions of the modern quantum-relativistic scientific picture of the world, which becomes the main result of the second global scientific revolution. Associated with it is the creation of modern (non-classical) science, which in all its parameters differs from classical science.

3.5. Basicfeaturesmodernnatural sciencesHowSciences

The mechanistic and metaphysical nature of classical science was replaced by new dialectical principles of universal connection and development. Mechanics is no longer the leading science and universal method studying surrounding phenomena. Classic model The world-clockwork model was replaced by a model of the world-thought, for the study of which the systems approach and the method of global evolutionism are best suited. The metaphysical foundations of classical science, which considered each subject in isolation, without its connections with other subjects, as something special and complete, are also a thing of the past.

Now the world is recognized as a set of multi-level systems in a state of hierarchical subordination. At the same time, at each level of the organization of matter, its own laws apply.

numbers. Analytical activity, which was the main one in classical science, gives way to synthetic tendencies, a systematic and holistic consideration of objects and phenomena of the objective world. Confidence in the existence of a finite limit to the divisibility of matter, the desire to find the finite material fundamental basis of the world were replaced by the conviction of the fundamental impossibility of this and ideas about the inexhaustibility of matter in depth. It is considered impossible to obtain absolute truth. Truth is considered relative, existing in many theories, each of which studies its own slice of reality.

If classical science did not see the qualitative specificity of Life and Mind in the Universe, then modern science proves their non-random appearance in the world. This, on a new level, returns us to the problem of the purpose and meaning of the Universe, speaks of the planned emergence of intelligence, which will fully manifest itself in the future.

The features of modern science that we have named are embodied in new theories and concepts that have appeared in all areas of natural science. Among most important discoveries XX century - theory of relativity, quantum mechanics, nuclear physics, theory physical interaction; new cosmology based on theory big bang; evolutionary chemistry, striving to master the experience of living nature; genetics, decoding genetic code etc. But a true triumph non-classical science, undoubtedly, became cybernetics, which embodied the ideas systematic approach, as well as synergy and nonequilibrium thermodynamics, based on the method of global evolutionism.

Acceleration scientific and technological progress, associated with the increasing pace of social development, has led to the fact that the potential of modern science, laid down during the second global scientific revolution, has been largely exhausted. Therefore, modern science is again experiencing a state of crisis, which is a symptom of a new global scientific revolution.

Since the second half of the 20th century. researchers record the entry of natural science into a new stage of development - post-non-classicalchesical, which is characterized by a number of fundamental principles and forms of organization. Such principles are most often identified as evolutionism, cosmism, ecologism, the anthropic principle, holism and humanism. These principles orient modern natural science not so much towards the search for abstract truth, but rather towards usefulness for society and each person. The main indicator in this case is not economic feasibility, but the improvement of people’s living environment, the growth of their material and spiritual well-being. Natural science thus really turns its face to man, overcoming the eternal nihilism in relation to the urgent needs of people.

Modern natural science has mainly problemsnew, interdisciplinary direction instead of the previously dominant narrow disciplinary focus of natural science research. Today it is fundamentally important when solving complex complex problems use the capabilities of different natural sciences in their combination in relation to each specific case research. From here it becomes clear such a feature of post-non-classical science as the growing integration of natural, technical and humanities. Historically, they differentiated, sprang from a certain single basis, developing long time offline. It is characteristic that the leading element of growing integration is the humanities.

Feature Analysis modern natural science allows us to note such a fundamental feature as impossiblethe ability to freely experiment with basic objects. In other words, a real natural science experiment turns out to be dangerous to the life and health of people. The fact is that the powerful natural forces awakened by modern science and technology, if handled ineptly, can lead to the most difficult local, regional and even global crises and disasters.

Science researchers note that modern natural science organically merges with production, technology and everyday life of people, turning into most important factor progress of our entire civilization. It is no longer limited to the research of individual armchair scientists, but includes in its orbit complex teams of researchers from a wide variety of scientific directions. In the process of their research activities, representatives of various natural disciplines are becoming more and more clearly aware of the fact that the Universe is a systemic integrity with insufficiently understood laws of development and global paradoxes, in which the life of each person is connected with cosmic patterns and rhythms. The universal connection between processes and phenomena in the Universe requires a comprehensive study adequate to their nature and, in particular, global modeling based on the method of system analysis. In accordance with these tasks, methods of system dynamics, synergetics, game theory, and program-target control are increasingly used in modern natural science, on the basis of which forecasts for the development of complex natural processes are made.

Modern ideas about global evolutionism and synergetics make it possible to describe the development of nature as a successive change of structures born from chaos, temporarily gaining stability, and then again tending to chaotic

states. In addition, many natural complexes appear as complexly organized, multifunctional, open, non-equilibrium systems, the development of which is hardly predictable. In these conditions further evolution complex natural objects turns out to be fundamentally unpredictable and is associated with many random factors, which can become the basis for new forms of evolution.

All of these changes are taking place within the framework of the ongoing global scientific revolution, which will most likely end by the middle of the 21st century. Of course, now it’s difficult for us to imagine the appearance future science. Obviously, it will differ from both classical and modern (non-classical) science. However, some of the above features of the science of the future are already visible.

LiteratureForindependentstudying

Vernadsky V.I. Selected works on the history of science M., 1981.

Good G.M. Science about science. Kyiv, 1989.

Dubnischeva T.Ya. Concepts of modern natural science. Novosibirsk, 1997.

Ilyin V.V., Kalinkin L.T. The nature of science. M., 1985.

Kosareva L.M. The birth of modern science from the spirit of culture. M., 1997.

Kuznetsov V.I., Idlis G.M., Gutina V.N. Natural science. M., 1996.

Mikulinsky S.R. Essays on the development of historical and scientific thought. M., 1988.

Polikarpov V. S. History of science and technology. Rostov-on-Don, 1999.

9. Physical knowledge: its genesis and development. M.. 1993.
10. Philosophy and methodology of science. M., 1996.

The word "natural science" (Russian - "Natural science", "natural science", from "natural" - nature) means knowledge about nature, or natural science. The word "natural history" comes from the common Slavic "vedi" - science, knowledge. In Latin, the concept of “nature” is denoted by the word “natura” (“nature”). Therefore, in many European countries the science of nature was called "Naturwissenchaft". The international term “natural philosophy” (philosophy of nature) comes from this name.

At first, all knowledge about nature belonged to the sphere of interests of physics (or physiology). It is no coincidence that Aristotle (4th century BC) called his predecessors “physicists” or “physiologists” (the ancient Greek word “fusis” (physis) is very close in meaning to the Slavic word “nature”). Physics is the basis of all natural sciences.

Since nature is diverse in the types of objects, their properties and forms of movement, in the process of understanding it various natural sciences were formed: physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, geography, geology and many others. Each of the natural sciences deals with some specific properties of nature (matter moving in space and time).

When it is possible to discover some new properties of matter, new natural sciences appear, or at least new sections and directions in already existing natural sciences, the purpose of which is to further study these properties. This is how a whole family of natural sciences was formed. Based on the objects of study, they can be divided into two large groups: sciences about living and sciences about inanimate nature. The most important natural sciences that study inanimate nature, is physics, chemistry, astronomy. We offer a brief overview of them.

Physics studies the most general properties matter and the forms of its movement (mechanical, thermal, electromagnetic, atomic, nuclear) and is divided into many directions and sections ( general physics, theoretical physics, experimental physics, Mechanics, Molecular physics, atomic physics, nuclear physics, physics electromagnetic phenomena etc.).

Chemistry is the science of substances, their composition, structure, properties and mutual transformations. It studies the chemical form of the movement of matter and is divided into organic and inorganic chemistry, physical and analytical chemistry, colloidal chemistry (chemistry of solutions), etc.

Astronomy is the science of the Universe. She studies the movement of celestial bodies, their nature, origin and development. The most important branches of astronomy, which in our time have essentially become independent sciences, are cosmology and cosmogony. Cosmology is the physical doctrine of the Universe as an integrity, its structure and development. Cosmogony studies the origin and development of celestial bodies (planets, Sun, stars, etc.). The newest direction in the knowledge of space is astronautics.

Biology refers to the sciences of living nature. There are various definitions of it as a science. Here is one of them: “Biology is the study of life. The subject of biology is life as

a special form of movement of matter, the laws of development of living nature..." This definition of biology does not cause much controversy, but it looks even more complex issue:"What is life?" The conversation about this is yet to come, but this moment Let us note that physics, chemistry and biology, as the most important parts of natural science, differ from each other in the studied forms of matter movement (physical, chemical, biological). But this approach does not allow us to cover all natural sciences, much less their related areas(physical chemistry, physical biology, chemical physics, biophysics, astrophysics, etc.). Let us note that biology is undoubtedly the most ramified science (zoology, botany, morphology, cytology, histology, anatomy and physiology, microbiology, virology, embryology, ecology, genetics, etc.). Thus, in the process of understanding nature, separate natural sciences were formed. The stage of differentiation of knowledge, differentiation of sciences is necessary step knowledge. This is explained by the fact that there is a need to study everything more and diversity of natural objects being studied, deeper penetration into their details. But Nature (Universe, Life, Mind) is the only, unique, multifaceted, complex, self-regulating organism. If nature is one, then the idea of ​​it from the point of view of natural science should be unique. Natural science should become such a science. Consequently, we can now precisely define the subject and goals of this science. Natural science is the science of nature as a single integrity or a set of sciences about nature that form a single whole. It should be noted that natural science is not just a set of sciences, but a generalized, integrated science. This means that in our time, the differentiation of knowledge about nature should be replaced by its integration. The need for integration is explained, firstly, by the objective process of learning about nature and, secondly, by the fact that humanity learns the laws of nature not for the sake of simple curiosity, but for use in practical activities, for its own life support.

The role of natural science (natural sciences) in human life is difficult to overestimate. It is the basis of life support - physiological, technical, energetic. This theoretical basis industry and agriculture, all technologies, various types of production, including energy production, food, clothing, etc. Natural Science - essential element human culture, one of the most significant indicators of the development of civilization.

Natural science uses various techniques and methods of cognition (research): observation, measurement, experiment, comparison, induction, deduction, analysis and synthesis, abstraction and generalization, scientific hypothesis, modeling, system analysis, thought experiment etc. The most important feature natural sciences, in contrast to the humanities, is their experimental nature. Therefore, in general, the path to knowledge in natural science can be imagined as follows: observation - hypothesis to explain the observation - experiment to test the hypothesis - development of a theory (if the hypothesis is confirmed) - verification of the consequences arising from the theory. It should be noted that theory is the main form of knowledge, its accumulator. According to L. Boltzmann, “there is nothing more practical than good theory". This, naturally, does not deny the role of practice as a criterion of truth. Theory and experiment of the two most important methods of cognition are in a dialectical unity, the violation of which leads to the fact that theory becomes a pointless scheme, and experience becomes blind.

The concept of method (from the Greek word "methodos" - the path to something) means a set of techniques and operations used for the practical and theoretical development of reality.

The method equips a person with a system of principles, requirements, rules, guided by which she can achieve her goals. To master a method means to know how, in what sequence, certain actions should be performed to solve certain problems, and to be able to apply this knowledge in practice.

The doctrine of method began to develop in the bosom of modern science. its representatives believed correct method a guide in the process of achieving reliable, true knowledge. Thus, the famous 17th century philosopher F. Bacon compared the method of cognition to a lantern that illuminates the path for a traveler walking in the dark. And another famous scientist and philosopher of the same period, R. Descartes, outlined his understanding of the method in the following way: “The method,” he wrote, “I understand how accurate and simple rules, strict adherence to which... without unnecessary waste mental strength, but gradually and continuously increasing knowledge, the mind achieves true knowledge of everything that is available to it."

There is a separate branch of knowledge that directly deals with the study of methods. It was called methodology. Methodology literally means “the study of methods” (for this term comes from two Greek words: "methodos" - method - and "logos" - teaching). Studying the patterns of human development cognitive activity, methodology develops methods for it successful implementation. The most important task methodology is the study of the origin, essence, effectiveness and other characteristics of methods of cognition.

Methods of scientific knowledge are usually grouped according to the degree of their generality, that is, according to the breadth of application in the process of scientific research.

There are two known general methods in the history of knowledge: dialectical and metaphysical. These are general philosophical methods. From the middle of the 19th century, the dialectical method began to increasingly displace the metaphysical method from natural science.

The second group of cognition methods consists of general scientific methods, which are used in the most various areas sciences, that is, they have a very wide interdisciplinary range of applications. The classification of general scientific methods is closely related to the concept of levels of scientific knowledge.

There are two levels of scientific knowledge: empirical and theoretical. Some general scientific methods are applied only at the empirical level (observation, experiment, measurement), others at the theoretical level (idealization, formalization), and some (for example, modeling) at both the empirical and theoretical levels.

The empirical level of scientific knowledge is associated with the direct study of objects that really exist and which a person can perceive with the help of his senses. At this level, there is a process of accumulating information about the objects and phenomena being studied by making observations, performing various measurements, and setting up experiments. At this level, the primary systematization of the received factual data in the form of tables, diagrams, graphs, etc. also occurs. In addition, already at the second level of scientific knowledge, thanks to the generalization of scientific facts, it is possible to formulate some empirical patterns.

The theoretical level of scientific research is associated with the rational (logical) degree of knowledge. At this level, it is possible to identify the most profound, significant features, relationships, patterns characteristic of the objects and phenomena under study. Theoretical level - highest degree scientific knowledge. The result theoretical knowledge is hypotheses, theories, laws.

While distinguishing the two above-mentioned levels in scientific knowledge, one should not, however, separate them from each other, much less contrast them with each other. After all, the empirical and theoretical levels of knowledge are interconnected. The empirical level acts as the basis, the foundation of the theoretical. Hypotheses and theories are formulated in the process of theoretical understanding of scientific facts and statistical data obtained at the empirical level. Besides theoretical thinking inevitably relies on sensory-visual images (including diagrams, graphs, etc.) with which it deals empirical level research.

In turn, the empirical level of scientific knowledge cannot exist without achievements theoretical level. Empirical research, as a rule, is based on a certain theoretical construct, which determines the direction of this research, determines and justifies the methods used in this

The third group of methods of scientific knowledge consists of methods that are used for research only in a specific science or for the study of some specific phenomenon. Such methods are called concrete scientific methods. Each branch of science (biology, chemistry, geology, etc.) has its own specific methods research.

Moreover, specifically scientific methods, as a rule, contain various combinations certain general scientific methods of cognition. In concrete scientific methods one can notice the presence of observation, measurement, inductive or deductive reasoning, etc. The nature of their combination and use depends on the research conditions and the nature of the objects under study. Thus, specific scientific methods are inextricably linked with general scientific ones and represent a specific application of scientific methods. cognitive techniques for studying specific area objective world.

Concrete scientific methods are also associated with the general dialectical method, which is supposedly concretized in them. For example, the general dialectical principle of development is concretized in biology in the form of the natural-historical law of evolution of animal and plant species, which Darwin discovered in his time.

It should be added to the above that any method, taken separately, does not guarantee success in understanding certain aspects of material reality. It is also important to be able to correctly apply the scientific method in the process of cognition.

Introduction

Nowadays, no person can be considered educated if he does not show interest in natural sciences. The usual objection is that interest in the study of electricity or stratigraphy contributes little to the knowledge of human affairs, but only betrays a complete lack of understanding of human affairs.

The fact is that science is not only a collection of facts about electricity, etc.; it is one of the most important spiritual movements of our day. "Whoever does not try to understand this movement pushes himself out of this most significant phenomenon in history human activity... And there cannot be a history of ideas that excludes the history of scientific ideas."

Natural science is the science of the phenomena and laws of nature. Modern natural science includes many branches of natural science: physics, chemistry, biology, as well as numerous related branches, such as physical chemistry, biophysics, biochemistry and many others. Natural science touches upon a wide range of questions about the numerous and multifaceted manifestations of the properties of natural objects, which can be considered as a single whole.

>What is natural science

Natural science is a branch of science based on the reproducible empirical testing of hypotheses and the creation of theories or empirical generalizations that describe natural phenomena.

The subject of natural science is facts and phenomena that are perceived by our senses. The scientist's task is to summarize these facts and create theoretical model, including the laws governing natural phenomena. It is necessary to distinguish between facts of experience, empirical generalizations and theories that formulate the laws of science. Phenomena, such as gravity, are directly given in experience; laws of science, for example the law of universal gravitation, are options for explaining phenomena. The facts of science, once established, retain their constant value; laws can be changed during the development of science, just as, say, the law of universal gravitation was adjusted after the creation of the theory of relativity.

The importance of feelings and reason in the process of finding truth is complex philosophical question. In science, a position that is confirmed by reproducible experience is recognized as truth.

Natural science as a science studies all processes and phenomena that have occurred and are occurring in real life. objective world, geographical envelope, outer space. This is a branch of science based on reproducible empirical testing (testing in practice) of hypotheses and the creation of theories that describe natural phenomena and processes.

Many achievements of modern natural science, which form the basis for high technology, are associated with a comprehensive study of natural objects and phenomena. With the involvement of modern technical means experiment, it was precisely this study that made it possible not only to create ultra-strong, superconducting and many other materials with unusual properties, but also to take a fresh look at the biological processes occurring inside a cell and even inside a molecule. Most branches of modern natural science are, in one way or another, associated with the molecular study of certain objects, which unites many natural scientists dealing with highly specialized problems. The results of this kind of research are the development and production of new high-quality products, and above all, consumer goods. In order to know at what price such products are given - the most important component of the economy, what are the prospects for the development of modern high-tech technologies that are closely related to economic, social, political and other problems, we need fundamental natural science knowledge, including a general conceptual understanding of the molecular processes on which they are based major achievements modern natural science.

Modern means of natural science - sciences about fundamental laws, natural phenomena and various properties of natural objects - make it possible to study many complex processes at the level of nuclei, atoms, molecules, and cells. The fruits of comprehension true knowledge everyone knows about nature precisely at this deep level educated person. Synthetic and composite materials, artificial enzymes, artificial crystals- all this is not only real objects developments of natural scientists, but also consumer products various industries industries producing a wide range of consumer goods. In this regard, the study of natural science problems in molecular level within fundamental ideas- concepts - without a doubt, relevant, useful and necessary for future specialists highly qualified natural science and technical profile, as well as for those whose professional activity has no direct relation to natural science, that is, for future economists, management specialists, commodity experts, lawyers, sociologists, psychologists, journalists, managers, etc.

Natural science studies facts and phenomena from the fields of philosophy, astrophysics, geology, psychology, genetics, evolution and is divided into a complex of sciences, each of which has its own object of study.

Natural science is divided into:

1. basic sciences;

2. applied sciences;

3. natural sciences;

4. Technical science;

5. social sciences;

6. humanities.

1. Basic sciences

Fundamental sciences include chemistry, physics, and astronomy. These sciences study the basic structure of the world.

Physics is the science of nature. Divided into mechanical, quantum, optical physics, physics of conductors, electricity.

Chemistry studies the structure of things and their structure. It is divided into 2 large sections: organic and inorganic. Physical chemistry, physical colloid chemistry, and biochemistry are also distinguished.

Astronomy studies structure and structure outer space and is subdivided into astrophysics. Astrology, cosmology, astronautics and space exploration.

2. Applied sciences

Applied sciences study basic sciences with practical application, implementation theoretical discoveries. TO applied sciences include metallurgy and semiconductor physics.

3. Natural sciences

Natural sciences study the processes and phenomena of virgin nature. They are divided into geology, geography, biology.

Geology, in turn, is divided into dynamic geology, history, and paleography.

Geography consists of 2 large sections: physical and economical geography.

Physical geography is divided into general agriculture, climatology, geomorphology, soil science, hydrology, cartography, topography, landscape science, geographical zoning, monitoring.

Economic geography includes regional studies, population geography, geography of the world economy, geography of transport, geography of the service sector, world economy, statistics, international economic relations.

Biology is the science of living organisms. Divided into botany, zoology, human and animal physiology, anatomy, histology (the science of tissues), cytology (the science of cells), ecology (the science of the relationship between man and environment) ethology (about behavior), evolutionary teaching.

4. Technical sciences

Technical sciences include sciences that study man-made instruments and objects. These include computer science, cybernetics, and synergetics.

5. Social Sciences

These are sciences that study the rules and structure of society, and objects living according to its laws. These include sociology, anthropology, archeology, sociometry, and social science. Science "Man and Society".

6. Humanities

The humanities include sciences that study the essence, structure and spiritual state person. These include philosophy, history, ethics, aesthetics, and cultural studies.

There are sciences that are at the intersection of entire blocks and sections of science. So, for example, at the intersection of natural and social sciences economic geography is located, at the intersection of natural and technical - bionics. Social ecology is an interdisciplinary science that includes social, natural and technical sciences.

Like other areas of human activity, natural science has specific features.

Universality—communicates knowledge that is true for the entire universe under the conditions under which it was acquired by man.

Fragmentation - studies not existence as a whole, but various fragments of reality or its parameters; itself is divided into separate disciplines. In general, the concept of being as a philosophical one is not applicable to science, which is private knowledge. Each science as such is a certain projection onto the world, like a spotlight highlighting areas of interest

General validity - in the sense that the knowledge it receives is suitable for all people, and its language is unambiguous, since science strives to fix its terms as clearly as possible, which helps to unite people living in the most different corners planets.

Depersonalization - in the sense that neither individual characteristics the scientist, nor his nationality or place of residence are in any way represented in final results scientific knowledge.

Systematic in the sense that it has a certain structure, and is not an incoherent collection of parts.

Incompleteness - in the sense that although scientific knowledge grows limitlessly, it still cannot reach absolute truth, after which there will be nothing left to explore.

Continuity - in the sense that new knowledge in a certain way and according to certain rules correlates with old knowledge.

Criticality - in the sense that it is always ready to question and reconsider even its most fundamental results.

Reliability - in the sense that its conclusions require, allow and are tested according to certain rules formulated in it.

Immorality - in the sense that scientific truths neutral in moral and ethical terms, and moral assessments can relate either to the activity of obtaining knowledge (the ethics of a scientist requires him to have intellectual honesty and courage in the process of searching for truth), or to the activity of applying it.

Rationality - in the sense that it obtains knowledge on the basis of rational procedures and laws of logic and comes to the formulation of theories and their provisions that go beyond the empirical level.

Sensibility - in the sense that its results require empirical verification using perception, and only after that are recognized as reliable.

Research methods used in natural science

The methods of natural science are based on the unity of empirical and theoretical aspects. They are interconnected and condition each other. Their rupture, or at least the preferential development of one at the expense of the other, closes the path to correct knowledge of nature: theory becomes pointless, experience becomes blind.

Natural science methods can be divided into groups:

A) general methods concern all natural science, any subject of nature, any science. This -- various shapes dialectical method, which makes it possible to connect together all aspects of the process of cognition, all its stages. For example, the method of ascent from the abstract to the concrete, etc. Those systems of branches of natural science, the structure of which corresponds to the actual historical process their developments (eg biology and chemistry) actually follow this method.

b) Special methods are also used in natural science, but do not relate to its subject as a whole, but only to one of its aspects (phenomena, essence, quantitative side, structural connections) or a certain method of research: analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction. Using special methods serve: observation, experiment, comparison and how to special case measurement. Mathematical techniques and methods are extremely important as special ways of studying and expressing quantitative and structural aspects and relationships of objects and processes of nature, as well as methods of statistics and probability theory. Role mathematical methods in natural sciences is steadily increasing with the increasingly widespread use of calculating machines. In general, there is a rapid mathematization of modern natural science. It is associated with methods of analogy, formalization, modeling, and industrial experiment.

c) Private methods are special methods, valid either only within separate industry natural sciences, or outside the branch of natural sciences where they originated. Thus, the methods of physics used in other branches of natural science led to the creation of astrophysics, crystal physics, geophysics, chemical physics and physical chemistry, biophysics. Spreading chemical methods led to the creation of crystal chemistry, geochemistry, biochemistry and biogeochemistry. Often a set of interrelated private methods is used to study one subject. For example, molecular biology simultaneously uses the methods of physics, mathematics, chemistry, cybernetics in their interrelation.

In the course of the progress of natural science, methods can move from a lower category to a higher one: specific ones can turn into special ones, and special ones into general ones.

The most important role in the development of natural science belongs to hypotheses, which are “a form of development of natural science, insofar as it thinks...”

The place of natural science in society

The place of natural science in the life and development of society follows from its connections with other social phenomena and institutions, primarily with technology, and through it with production, productive forces in general and with philosophy, and through it with the struggle of classes in the field of ideology. With all the internal integrity arising from the unity of both nature itself and the theoretical view of it, natural science is a very complex phenomenon, having by various parties and connections, often contradictory. Natural science is neither the basis nor the ideological superstructure of society, although in its most general part (where the picture of the world is formed), it is connected with this superstructure. The connection of natural science through technology with production, and through philosophy with ideology quite fully expresses the most essential social connections natural sciences. The connection between natural science and technology is due to the fact that “technology... serves the purposes of man because its character (essence) consists in determining it by external conditions (laws of nature).”

IN modern era natural science is ahead of technology in its development, since its objects are increasingly becoming completely new, previously unknown substances and forces of nature (for example, atomic Energy), and therefore, before the question of their technical application, a “frontal” study of them from the side of natural science is required. However, technology with its needs remains driving force development of natural science.