A person in contact with the world around him cannot use only scientific facts and insensitive logical judgment. Much more often he needs empirical knowledge for living contemplation and the work of the senses - sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch.

What does empirical knowledge mean?

The whole process of cognition is usually divided into two parts: theoretical and empirical. The first is considered the highest, based on the fact that it is based on problems and laws that are their solution. The judgment of it as an ideal is debatable: the theory is good for already studied processes, the features of which have long been considered and described by someone else. Empirical knowledge is a completely different form of knowledge. It is original, because a theory cannot be created without analyzing one's own feelings from the object of study. It is also called sensual contemplation, which means:

1. Primary processing of knowledge about the object. The example is primitive: humanity would never have known that fire is hot if one day its flame had not burned someone.
2. The starting point of the general cognitive process. During it, all the senses are activated in a person. For example, having discovered a new species, a scientist uses empirical knowledge and establishes an observation over it and fixes all changes in the behavior, weight, color of an individual.
3. The interaction of the individual with the outside world. Man himself is still a mammal, and therefore, in the process of sensory study, he relies on instincts.

Empirical knowledge in philosophy

Each science has a unique vision of the need to use the senses in the process of learning. environment and society. Philosophy believes that the empirical level of knowledge is a category that serves to strengthen ties in society. Developing observational abilities and, a person shares experience with others and develops thinking contemplation - a constructive perception that arises from a symbiosis of feelings and inner vision (point of view).

Signs of empirical knowledge

The features characteristic of any process under study are called its features. In philosophy, a similar concept is used - signs that reveal the characteristics of the ongoing process. Peculiarities empirical knowledge include:

• collection of facts;
• their primary generalization;
• description of observed data;
• a description of the information acquired during the experiment;
• systematization and classification of information.

Methods of empirical knowledge

It is unrealistic to understand the mechanism of a philosophical or sociological category without first working out the rules for conducting research. The empirical path of knowledge needs methods such as:

1. Observation- third-party study of the object, relying on the data of the senses.
2. Experiment- directed intervention in the process or its reproduction in the laboratory.
3. Measurement– giving the results of the experiment a statistical form.
4. Description- fixation of the representation received from the senses.
5. Comparison- analysis of two similar objects in order to identify their similarities or differences.

Functions of empirical knowledge

The functions of any philosophical category mean the goals that can be achieved by its application. They reveal the very necessity of the existence of a concept or phenomenon from the point of view of utility. The empirical method of cognition has the following functions:

1. educational- and existing skills.
2. managerial- can affect the management of a person's behavior.
3. Appraisal and orientation- empirical knowledge of the world contributes to the assessment of the reality of being and one's place in it.
4. Purposeful- the acquisition of correct guidelines.

Empirical knowledge - types

The sensory way of acquiring knowledge can belong to one of three varieties. All of them are interconnected with each other and without this unity the empirical method of knowing the world is impossible. These types include:

1. Perception- creation of a full-fledged image of the object, the synthesis of sensations from the contemplation of the totality of all aspects of the object. For example, an apple is perceived by a person not as sour or red, but as a whole object.
2. Feeling- an empirical type of knowledge, reflecting in the human mind the properties of individual aspects of an object and their effect on the senses. Each of the characteristics is felt in isolation from the others - taste, smell, color, size, shape.
3. Representation- a generalized visual image of an object, the impression of which was made in the past. Memory and imagination play an important role in this process: they restore memories of an object in its absence.

For the empirical level scientific knowledge two main methods are characteristic: observation and experiment.

Observation is the original method of empirical knowledge. Observation is a purposeful, deliberate, organized study of the object under study, in which the observer does not interfere with this object. It relies mainly on such sensory abilities of a person as sensation, perception, representation. In the course of observation, we gain knowledge about the external aspects, properties, features of the object under study, which must be fixed in a certain way by means of language (natural and (or) artificial), diagrams, diagrams, numbers, etc. The structural components of observation include: the observer, the object of observation, the conditions and means of observation (including instruments, measuring instruments). However, observation can take place without instruments. Observation is essential for cognition, but it has its drawbacks. First, the cognitive capabilities of our senses, even enhanced by devices, are still limited. While observing, we cannot change the object under study, actively intervene in its existence and in the conditions of the process of cognition. (We note in parentheses that the activity of a researcher is sometimes either not needed - because of the fear of distorting the true picture, or simply impossible - because of the inaccessibility of the object, for example, or for moral reasons). Secondly, by observing, we get ideas only about the phenomenon, only about the properties of the object, but not about its essence.

Scientific observation, in its essence, is contemplation, but active contemplation. Why active? Because the observer does not just fix the facts mechanically, but purposefully seeks them out, relying on the already existing diverse experience, assumptions, hypotheses, and theories. Scientific observation is carried out with a certain chain, is aimed at certain objects, involves the choice of certain methods and instruments, is distinguished by systematic, reliable results, and control over correctness.

On the other hand, the second main method of empirical scientific knowledge is distinguished by its actively transformative character. Compared to experiment, observation is a passive way of research. An experiment is an active, purposeful method for studying phenomena under certain conditions of their occurrence, which can be systematically recreated, changed, and controlled by the researcher himself. That is, a feature of the experiment is that the researcher actively systematically intervenes in the conditions of the scientific research, which makes it possible to reproduce the studied phenomena artificially. The experiment makes it possible to isolate the phenomenon under study from other phenomena, to study it, so to speak, in its "pure form", in accordance with a predetermined goal. Under experimental conditions, it is possible to discover such properties that cannot be observed in vivo. The experiment involves the use of an even greater arsenal of special instruments, installation tools than observation.

Experiments can be classified into:

Ø direct and model experiments, the first ones are carried out directly on the object, and the second ones - on the model, i.e. on its "substitute" object, and then extrapolated to the object itself;

Ø field and laboratory experiments, differing from each other in the place of conduct;

Ø search experiments, not related to any already put forward versions, and verification experiments, aimed at testing, confirming or refuting a specific hypothesis;

Ø measuring experiments, designed to reveal the exact quantitative relationships between the objects of interest to us, the sides and the properties of each of them.

A special kind of experiment is a thought experiment. In it, the conditions for studying phenomena are imaginary, the scientist operates with sensual images, theoretical models, but the scientist's imagination is subject to the laws of science and logic. thought experiment refers more to the theoretical level of knowledge than to the empirical.

The actual conduct of the experiment is preceded by its planning (choosing the goal, the type of experiment, thinking through its possible results, understanding the factors that affect this phenomenon, determining the quantities that should be measured). In addition, it is necessary to choose the technical means of conducting and controlling the experiment. Particular attention should be paid to the quality of measuring instruments. The use of these particular measuring instruments must be justified. After the experiment, the results are statistically and theoretically analyzed.

Comparison and measurement can also be attributed to the methods of the empirical level of scientific knowledge. Comparison is a cognitive operation that reveals the similarity or difference of objects (or the stages of their development). Measurement is the process of determining the ratio of one quantitative characteristic of an object to another, homogeneous with it and taken as a unit of measurement.

The result of empirical knowledge (or the form of the empirical level of knowledge) are scientific facts. Empirical knowledge is a set of scientific facts that form the basis of theoretical knowledge. A scientific fact is an objective reality fixed in a certain way - with the help of language, figures, numbers, diagrams, photographs, etc. However, not everything that results from observation and experiment can be called a scientific fact. A scientific fact arises as a result of a certain rational processing of observational and experimental data: their comprehension, interpretation, rechecking, statistical processing, classification, selection, etc. The reliability of a scientific fact is manifested in the fact that it is reproducible and can be obtained through new experiments conducted at different times. The fact retains its validity regardless of multiple interpretations. The reliability of facts largely depends on how, by what means they are obtained. Scientific facts (as well as empirical hypotheses and empirical laws that reveal stable repeatability and relationships between the quantitative characteristics of the objects under study) represent knowledge only about how processes and phenomena proceed, but do not explain the causes and essence of phenomena, processes that underlie scientific facts.

In the previous lecture, we defined sensationalism, and in this lecture we will clarify the concept of "empiricism". Empiricism is a direction in the theory of knowledge that recognizes sensory experience as the source of knowledge and believes that the content of knowledge can be presented either as a description of this experience, or reduced to it. Empiricism reduces rational knowledge to combinations of the results of experience. F. Bacon (XVI-XVII centuries) is considered the founder of empiricism. F. Bacon believed that all previous science (ancient and medieval) had a contemplative character and neglected the needs of practice, being in the grip of dogma and authority. And "truth is the daughter of Time, not Authority." And what does the time (New time) say? Firstly, that “knowledge is power” (also an aphorism of F. Bacon): common task of all sciences - increasing the power of man over nature and bringing benefits. Secondly, that the one who listens to it dominates nature. Nature is conquered by submission to her. What does this, according to F. Bacon, mean? That the knowledge of nature must proceed from nature itself and be based on experience, i.e. move from the study of single facts from experience to general provisions. But F. Bacon was not a typical empiricist, he was, so to speak, an intelligent empiricist, because the starting point of his methodology was the union of experience and reason. Self-guided experience is groping. The true method lies in the mental processing of materials from experience.

General logical methods of scientific knowledge are used both at the empirical and theoretical levels. These methods include: abstraction, generalization, analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, analogy, etc.

We talked about abstraction and generalization, about induction and deduction, about analogy in the lecture of the first topic "Philosophy of Knowledge".

Analysis is a method of cognition (method of thinking), which consists in the mental division of an object into its component parts with the aim of their relatively self-study. Synthesis involves mental reunion constituent parts object under study. Synthesis allows you to present the object of study in the relationship and interaction of its constituent elements.

Let me remind you that induction is a method of cognition based on inferences from the particular (single) to the general, when the train of thought is directed from establishing the properties of individual objects to identifying the general properties inherent in a whole class of objects; from knowledge of the particular, knowledge of facts to knowledge of the general, knowledge of laws. Induction is based on inductive reasoning, which does not give reliable knowledge, they only, as it were, "suggest" the thought to the discovery of general patterns. Deduction is based on inferences from the general to the particular (singular). Unlike inductive reasoning, deductive reasoning gives reliable knowledge, provided that such knowledge was contained in the initial premises. Inductive and deductive methods of thinking are interconnected. Induction leads human thought to hypotheses about the causes and general patterns of phenomena; deduction allows us to derive empirically verifiable consequences from general hypotheses. F. Bacon, instead of the deduction common in antiquity in the Middle Ages, proposed induction, and R. Descartes was an adherent of the deduction method (albeit with elements of induction), considering all scientific knowledge as a single logical system, where one proposition is derived from another.

4. The goal of the theoretical level of scientific knowledge is to know the essence of the objects under study, or to obtain objective truth - laws, principles that allow you to systematize, explain, predict scientific facts established at the empirical level of knowledge (or those that will be established). By the time of their theoretical processing, scientific facts are already processed at the empirical level: they are initially generalized, described, classified ... Theoretical knowledge reflects phenomena, processes, things, events from the side of their common internal connections and patterns, i.e. their essence.

The main forms of theoretical knowledge are scientific problem, hypothesis and theory. The need to explain new scientific fantasies obtained in the course of cognition forms a problematic situation. The scientific problem is the awareness of the contradictions that have arisen between the old theory and the new scientific phantoms that need to be explained, but the old theory can no longer do this. (Therefore, it is often written that the problem is knowledge about ignorance.) For the purpose of a hypothetical scientific explanation of the essence of the scientific facts that led to the formulation of the problem, a hypothesis is put forward. This is probabilistic knowledge about the possible patterns of any objects. The hypothesis must be empirically verifiable, must not contain formal logical contradictions, must have internal harmony, compatibility with the fundamental principles of this science. One of the criteria for evaluating a hypothesis is its ability to explain the maximum number of scientific facts and consequences derived from it. A hypothesis that explains only those facts that led to the formulation of a scientific problem is not scientifically sound. Convincing confirmation of the hypothesis is the discovery in the experience of new scientific facts confirming the consequences predicted by the hypothesis. That is, the hypothesis must also have predictive power, i.e. predict the emergence of new scientific facts that have not yet been discovered by experience. The hypothesis should not include unnecessary assumptions. A hypothesis, comprehensively tested and confirmed, becomes a theory.(in other cases, it is either specified and modified, or discarded). Theory is a logically substantiated, practice-tested, integral, developing system of ordered, generalized, reliable knowledge about the essence of a certain area of ​​reality. The theory is formed as a result of the discovery of general laws that reveal the essence of the studied area of ​​being. This is the highest, most developed form of reflection of reality and organization. scientific knowledge. The hypothesis gives an explanation at the level of the possible, the theory - at the level of the real, reliable. The theory not only describes and explains the development and functioning of various phenomena, processes, things, etc., but also predicts still unknown phenomena, processes and their development, becoming a source of new scientific facts. The theory streamlines the system of scientific facts, includes them in its structure and derives new facts as consequences from the laws and principles that form it.

Theory is the basis practical activities people.

There is a group of methods that are of primary importance precisely for the theoretical level of knowledge. These are axiomatic, hypothetical-deductive, idealization methods, the method of ascent from the abstract to the concrete, the method of unity of historical and logical analysis, etc.

The axiomatic method is a method of constructing a scientific theory, in which it is based on some initial provisions - axioms, or postulates, from which all other provisions of this theory are derived logically (according to strictly defined rules).

The axiomatic method is associated with the hypothetical-deductive method - a method of theoretical research, the essence of which is to create a system of deductively interconnected hypotheses, from which, ultimately, statements about empirical facts are derived. First, a hypothesis (hypotheses) is created, which is then deductively developed into a system of hypotheses; then this system is subjected to experimental verification, during which it is refined and concretized.

A feature of the idealization method is that the theoretical study introduces the concept of an ideal object that does not exist in reality (the concepts of “point”, “ material point”, “straight”, “black body”, “ ideal gas" etc.). In the process of idealization, there is an extreme abstraction from all the real properties of the object with the simultaneous introduction into the content of the formed concepts of features that are not realized in reality (Alekseev P.V., Panin A.V. Philosophy. - P.310).

Before considering the method of ascent from the abstract to the concrete, let us clarify the concepts of "abstract" and "concrete". Abstract is one-sided, incomplete, content-poor knowledge about an object. Concrete is a comprehensive, complete, meaningful knowledge about an object. The concrete appears in two forms: 1) in the form of a sensory-concrete, from which research begins, leading then to the formation of abstractions (mentally abstract), and 2) in the form of a mental-concrete, final research based on the synthesis of previously identified abstractions (Alekseev P .V., Panin A.V. Philosophy. - P.530). Sensual-concrete is an object of cognition that appears before the subject in its still unknown completeness (integrity) at the very beginning of the cognition process. Cognition goes back from the “living contemplation” of an object to attempts to construct theoretical abstractions and from them to finding truly scientific abstractions that allow one to build a scientific concept of an object (i.e. mentally concrete), reproducing all the essential, internal regular connections of a given object as a whole. That is, this method, in fact, consists in the movement of thought towards an ever more complete, comprehensive and holistic perception of an object, from less meaningful to more meaningful.

A developing object in its development goes through a number of stages (stages), a number of forms, i.e. has its own history. Knowledge of an object is impossible without studying its history. To represent an object historically means to mentally represent the whole process of its formation, the whole variety of successive forms (stages) of the object. However, all these historical stages (forms, stages) are naturally connected internally. Logical analysis makes it possible to identify these interrelations and leads to the discovery of a law that determines the development of an object. Without understanding the patterns of development of an object, its history will look like a collection or even a heap of individual forms, states, stages...

All methods of the theoretical level are interconnected.

As many scientists rightly point out, in spiritual creativity, along with rational moments, there are also non-rational moments (not “ir-”, but “non-”). One of these moments is intuition The word "intuition" comes from lat. "I'm looking closely." Intuition is the ability to comprehend the truth without a preliminary detailed proof, as if as a result of some sudden insight, without a clear awareness of the ways and means leading to this.

28. Empirical and theoretical level of scientific knowledge. Their main forms and methods

Scientific knowledge has two levels: empirical and theoretical.

- it is direct sensory exploration real and experiential objects.

At the empirical level, the following research processes:

1. Formation of the empirical base of the study:

Accumulation of information about the studied objects and phenomena;

Determining the scope of scientific facts as part of the accumulated information;

Introduction of physical quantities, their measurement and systematization of scientific facts in the form of tables, diagrams, graphs, etc.;

2. Classification and theoretical generalization information about the received scientific facts:

Introduction of concepts and designations;

Identification of patterns in the connections and relationships of objects of knowledge;

Revealing common features the objects of knowledge and their reduction into general classes according to these features;

Primary formulation of initial theoretical positions.

In this way, empirical level scientific knowledge contains two components:

1. Sensory experience.

2. Primary theoretical understanding sensory experience.

The basis of the content of empirical scientific knowledge received in sensory experience, are scientific facts. If any fact, as such, is a reliable, single, independent event or phenomenon, then a scientific fact is a fact that is firmly established, reliably confirmed and correctly described in the ways accepted in science.

Revealed and fixed by the methods accepted in science, a scientific fact has a coercive power for the system of scientific knowledge, that is, it subordinates the logic of the reliability of the study.

Thus, at the empirical level of scientific knowledge, an empirical research base is formed, whose reliability is formed by the coercive force of scientific facts.

Empirical level scientific knowledge uses the following methods:

1. observation. Scientific observation is a system of measures for the sensory collection of information about the properties of the studied object of knowledge. The main methodological condition for correct scientific observation is the independence of the results of observation from the conditions and process of observation. The fulfillment of this condition ensures both the objectivity of observation and the implementation of its main function - the collection of empirical data in their natural, natural state.

Observations according to the method of conducting are divided into:

- immediate(information is obtained directly by the senses);

- indirect(human senses are replaced by technical means).

2. Measurement. Scientific observation is always accompanied by measurement. Measurement is a comparison of any physical quantity of the object of knowledge with the reference unit of this quantity. Measurement is a sign of scientific activity, since any research becomes scientific only when measurements are made in it.

Depending on the nature of the behavior of certain properties of an object in time, measurements are divided into:

- static, in which time-constant values ​​are determined (external dimensions of bodies, weight, hardness, constant pressure, specific heat capacity, density, etc.);

- dynamic, in which time-varying quantities are found (oscillation amplitudes, pressure drops, temperature changes, changes in quantity, saturation, speed, growth rates, etc.).

According to the method of obtaining the measurement results, they are divided into:

- straight(direct measurement of a quantity with a measuring device);

- indirect(by mathematical calculation of a quantity from its known ratios with any quantity obtained by direct measurements).

The purpose of measurement is to express the properties of an object in quantitative characteristics, translate them into a language form and make the basis of a mathematical, graphical or logical description.

3. Description. The measurement results are used for the scientific description of the object of knowledge. A scientific description is a reliable and accurate picture of the object of knowledge, displayed by means of natural or artificial language.

The purpose of the description is to translate sensory information into a form convenient for rational processing: into concepts, into signs, into diagrams, into drawings, into graphs, into numbers, etc.

4. Experiment. An experiment is a research impact on an object of knowledge to identify new parameters of its known properties or to identify its new, previously unknown properties. An experiment differs from an observation in that the experimenter, unlike the observer, intervenes in the natural state of the object of cognition, actively influences both himself and the processes in which this object participates.

According to the nature of the goals set, the experiments are divided into:

- research, which are aimed at discovering new, unknown properties in an object;

- verification, which serve to test or confirm certain theoretical constructions.

According to the methods of conducting and tasks for obtaining the result, the experiments are divided into:

- quality, which are exploratory in nature, set the task of identifying the very presence or absence of certain theoretically assumed phenomena, and are not aimed at obtaining quantitative data;

- quantitative, which are aimed at obtaining accurate quantitative data about the object of knowledge or about the processes in which it participates.

After the completion of empirical knowledge, the theoretical level of scientific knowledge begins.

THEORETICAL LEVEL OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE is the processing of empirical data by thinking with the help of the abstract work of thought.

Thus, the theoretical level of scientific knowledge is characterized by the predominance of the rational moment - concepts, inferences, ideas, theories, laws, categories, principles, premises, conclusions, conclusions, etc.

The predominance of the rational moment in theoretical knowledge is achieved by abstracting- distraction of consciousness from sensually perceived concrete objects and transition to abstract representations.

Abstract representations are subdivided into:

1. Identification abstractions- grouping of many objects of knowledge into separate species, genera, classes, orders, etc., according to the principle of identity of any of the most significant features (minerals, mammals, composites, chordates, oxides, protein, explosive, liquids, amorphous, subatomic etc.).

Identification abstractions allow you to discover the most general and essential forms of interactions and connections between objects of knowledge, and then move from them to particular manifestations, modifications and options, revealing the fullness of the processes occurring between objects. material world.

Disregarding the non-essential properties of objects, the abstraction of identification makes it possible to translate specific empirical data into an idealized and simplified system of abstract objects for the purposes of cognition, capable of participating in complex operations of thinking.

2. Isolating abstractions. In contrast to the abstractions of identification, these abstractions single out into separate groups not the objects of cognition, but some of them. general properties or features (hardness, electrical conductivity, solubility, impact strength, melting point, boiling point, freezing point, hygroscopicity, etc.).

Isolating abstractions also make it possible to idealize empirical experience for the purpose of cognition and express it in terms capable of participating in complex operations of thinking.

Thus, the transition to abstractions allows theoretical knowledge to provide thinking with a generalized abstract material for obtaining scientific knowledge about the whole variety of real processes and objects of the material world, which could not be done, limited only to empirical knowledge, without abstraction from each of these innumerable objects or processes. .

As a result of abstraction, the following METHODS OF THEORETICAL KNOWLEDGE:

1. Idealization. Idealization is mental creation of objects and phenomena that are not feasible in reality to simplify the process of research and construction of scientific theories.

For example: the concepts of a point or a material point, which are used to designate objects that do not have dimensions; the introduction of various conventional concepts, such as: a perfectly flat surface, an ideal gas, an absolutely black body, an absolutely solid, absolute density, inertial reference frame, etc., to illustrate scientific ideas; orbit of an electron in an atom, pure formula chemical without impurities and other concepts that are impossible in reality, created to explain or formulate scientific theories.

Idealizations are appropriate:

When it is necessary to simplify the object or phenomenon under study in order to build a theory;

When it is necessary to exclude from consideration those properties and connections of the object that do not affect the essence of the planned research results;

When the real complexity of the object of study exceeds the existing scientific possibilities of its analysis;

When the real complexity of the objects of study makes it impossible or makes it difficult to describe them scientifically;

Thus, in theoretical knowledge, a real phenomenon or object of reality is always replaced by its simplified model.

That is, the idealization method in scientific knowledge is inextricably linked with the modeling method.

2. Modeling. Theoretical modeling is replacement of a real object by its analogue performed by means of language or mentally.

The main condition for modeling is that the created model of the object of knowledge, due to the high degree of its correspondence to reality, allows:

Conduct research of the object that is not feasible in real conditions;

Conduct research on objects that are in principle inaccessible in real experience;

Conduct research on an object that is directly inaccessible at the moment;

Reduce the cost of research, reduce its time, simplify its technology, etc.;

Optimize the process of building a real object by running the process of building a prototype model.

Thus, theoretical modeling performs two functions in theoretical knowledge: it investigates the object being modeled and develops a program of action for its material embodiment (construction).

3. thought experiment. The thought experiment is mental holding over the object of cognition unrealizable in reality research procedures.

Used as a theoretical testing ground for planned real research activities, or for the study of phenomena or situations in which a real experiment is not possible at all (for example, quantum physics, relativity theory, social, military or economic models development, etc.).

4. Formalization. Formalization is logical organization of content scientific knowledge means artificial language special symbols (signs, formulas).

Formalization allows:

Bring the theoretical content of the study to the level of general scientific symbols (signs, formulas);

Transfer the theoretical reasoning of the study to the plane of operating with symbols (signs, formulas);

Create a generalized sign-symbolic model of the logical structure of the phenomena and processes under study;

To carry out a formal study of the object of knowledge, that is, to carry out research by operating with signs (formulas) without directly referring to the object of knowledge.

5. Analysis and synthesis. Analysis is a mental decomposition of the whole into its constituent parts, pursuing the following goals:

Study of the structure of the object of knowledge;

The division of a complex whole into simple parts;

Separation of the essential from the non-essential in the composition of the whole;

Classification of objects, processes or phenomena;

Highlighting the stages of a process, etc.

The main purpose of analysis is the study of parts as elements of the whole.

The parts, known and comprehended in a new way, are formed into a whole with the help of synthesis - a method of reasoning that constructs new knowledge about the whole from the union of its parts.

Thus, analysis and synthesis are inseparably linked mental operations as part of the process of cognition.

6. Induction and deduction.

Induction is a process of cognition in which knowledge of individual facts in the aggregate leads to knowledge of the general.

Deduction is a process of cognition in which each subsequent statement logically follows from the previous one.

The above methods of scientific knowledge allow us to reveal the deepest and most significant connections, patterns and characteristics of objects of knowledge, on the basis of which there are FORMS OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE - ways of cumulative presentation of research results.

The main forms of scientific knowledge are:

1. Problem - a theoretical or practical scientific question that needs to be addressed. A correctly formulated problem partially contains a solution, since it is formulated on the basis of the actual possibility of its solution.

2. Hypothesis - supposed way possible solution Problems. A hypothesis can act not only in the form of assumptions of a scientific nature, but also in the form of a detailed concept or theory.

3. Theory is an integral system of concepts that describes and explains any area of ​​reality.

Scientific theory is the highest form of scientific knowledge, passing in its formation the stage of posing a problem and putting forward a hypothesis, which is refuted or confirmed by the use of methods of scientific knowledge.

Basic terms

ABSTRAGING- distraction of consciousness from sensually perceived concrete objects and the transition to abstract ideas.

ANALYSIS (general concept) - mental decomposition of the whole into its component parts.

HYPOTHESIS- the proposed way of a possible solution to a scientific problem.

DEDUCTION- the process of cognition, in which each subsequent statement logically follows from the previous one.

SIGN - symbol, which serves to record the values, concepts, relationships, etc. of reality.

IDEALIZATION- mental creation of objects and phenomena that are impossible in reality to simplify the process of their study and the construction of scientific theories.

MEASUREMENT- comparison of any physical quantity of the object of knowledge with the reference unit of this quantity.

INDUCTION- the process of cognition, in which knowledge of individual facts in the aggregate leads to knowledge of the general.

THOUGHT EXPERIMENT- mental carrying out on the object of cognition of research procedures that are not feasible in reality.

OBSERVATION- a system of measures for the sensory collection of information about the properties of the object or phenomenon under study.

SCIENTIFIC DESCRIPTION- a reliable and accurate picture of the object of knowledge, displayed by means of a natural or artificial language.

SCIENTIFIC FACT- a fact firmly established, reliably confirmed and correctly described in the ways accepted in science.

PARAMETER- a value that characterizes any property of an object.

PROBLEM- a theoretical or practical scientific issue that needs to be addressed.

PROPERTY - outward manifestation one or another quality of an object that distinguishes it from other objects, or, conversely, makes it related to them.

SYMBOL- the same as the sign.

SYNTHESIS(process of thinking) - a method of reasoning that constructs new knowledge about the whole from the combination of its parts.

THEORETICAL LEVEL OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE- processing of empirical data by thinking with the help of abstract work of thought.

THEORETICAL SIMULATION- replacement of a real object with its analogue, made by means of the language or mentally.

THEORY- an integral system of concepts that describes and explains any area of ​​reality.

FACT- reliable, single, independent event or phenomenon.

FORM OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE- a way of cumulative presentation of the results of scientific research.

FORMALIZATION- logical organization of scientific knowledge by means of an artificial language or special symbols (signs, formulas).

EXPERIMENT- research impact on the object of knowledge to study previously known or to identify new, previously unknown properties.

EMPIRICAL LEVEL OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE- direct sensory study of objects that really exist and are accessible to experience.

EMPIRY- the area of ​​human relations with reality, determined by sensory experience.