2191.08kb.
T.G. Grushevitskaya, A.P. Sadokhin
CONCEPTS
MODERN
NATURAL
Tutorial
For students
Full-time and part-time
Departments of universities
Moscow
"Graduate School"
Reviewers:
Department of Philosophy and Sociology, St. Petersburg Maritime State technical university (Head of the Department, Doctor of Philosophy, Prof. AV Soldatov);
Member of the International Academy of Informatization and the Academy of Social Education, Ph.D. Sciences, prof. A.V. Fedotov; Dr. Philos. Sciences, Associate Professor V.I. Smirnov (St. Petersburg State Academic Institute of Painting, Sculpture, Architecture named after I.E.Repin).
Professional education of the Russian Federation as
Textbook for university students.
Grushevitskaya T.G., Sadokhin A.P.
G90 Concepts of modern natural science: Textbook. manual-M.: Higher. shk., 1998.-383 p.
ISBN 5-06-003474-7
The course is studied in all universities in the country as compulsory. The manual is written in accordance with the requirements of the "State Educational Standard" and provides basic knowledge, forming a future specialist with a broad scientific outlook.
The work highlights the specificity of science as a form of cognition, the history of science, sets out the main modern concepts of physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, etc.
For students of technical and humanitarian universities, for teachers and students of technical schools and colleges.
ISBN 5-06-003474-7 © "Higher School", 1998
Foreword
TOPIC 1. SCIENCE AND ITS ROLE IN THE LIFE OF SOCIETY
THEME 2. SCIENTIFIC THEORY. STRUCTURE AND BASIS OF THE THEORY
TOPIC 3. METHODS OF SCIENTIFIC Cognition. DEVELOPMENT OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE
THEME 4. THE RISE OF SCIENCE. THE APPEARANCE OF THE FIRST NUCLEAR PROGRAMS
TOPIC 5. FORMATION OF THE BASIS OF NATURAL KNOWLEDGE IN THE ERA OF THE MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE
THEME 6. SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION XVI - XVII centuries. AND THE FORMATION OF CLASSICAL SCIENCE
TOPIC 7. SPECIFICITY AND NATURE OF MODERN SCIENCE
THEME 8. PHYSICAL PICTURE OF THE WORLD
TOPIC 9. STRUCTURAL LEVELS OF THE ORGANIZATION OF MATTER
TOPIC A 10. PHYSICAL INTERACTIONS
TOPIC 11. CONCEPTS OF SPACE AND TIME IN MODERN NATURE
TOPIC 12. DETERMINISM AND CAUSALITY IN MODERN PHYSICS. DYNAMIC AND STATISTICAL LAWS
TOPIC 13. PRINCIPLES OF MODERN PHYSICS
TOPIC 14. COSMOLOGICAL MODELS OF THE UNIVERSE
TOPIC 15. EVOLUTION OF THE UNIVERSE
TOPIC 16. PROBLEMS OF SELF-ORGANIZATION OF MATTER
THEME 17. FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHEMICAL PICTURE OF THE WORLD
TOPIC 18. MODERN CHEMISTRY CONCEPTS
TOPIC 19. ORIGIN AND ESSENCE OF LIFE
TOPIC 20. EVOLUTION OF THE ORGANIC WORLD
TOPIC 21. MODERN THEORY OF EVOLUTION
THEME 22. MAN AS A SUBJECT OF NATURAL KNOWLEDGE
THEME 23. HUMAN, BIOSPHERE AND SPACE
TOPIC 24. ON THE WAY TO THE NOOSPHERE
Questions for the exam and test
FOREWORD
The reform of higher education carried out in our country aims to make it more versatile and fundamental. For this, in the curricula of higher educational institutions new lecture courses are being introduced, designed to ensure, among other things, the independent formation of worldview orientations and personality attitudes, to help the student master the modern natural science picture of the world and the chosen profession.
Today society does not need specialists who are able to solve only narrowly utilitarian problems within the limits of knowledge gained during training. Modern requirements for a specialist imply his readiness to improve his qualifications, the desire to keep abreast of the latest achievements in his field, to be able to creatively adapt them to his work.
Therefore, the main task of modern education is to develop the creative abilities of students so that after graduation, the graduate can become a creative person capable of various forms of activity. The course "Concepts of modern natural science" is focused on the realization of these goals.
The relevance of the introduction into the educational process of the course "Concepts of Modern Natural Science" is also due to the fact that in last years in our country, various kinds of irrational types of knowledge are becoming more widespread, such as, for example, astrology, magic, mystical, etc. teachings. Gradually and quite consistently, they are pushing out of public consciousness the natural-scientific picture of the world based on rational ways of explaining it. Representatives of modern parascience persistently disseminate any doctrine, including mysticism, superstition, etc. Many of them are sincerely convinced that the status of the scientific worldview in modern society is no higher than that of any myth, and they promote boundless worldview pluralism. Therefore, today, as never before, it is important to affirm natural science knowledge in the public consciousness.
The achievements of the natural sciences are an integral part of human culture. Knowledge of the main modern theories and concepts of natural science forms the scientific method of thinking, an adequate attitude of a person to the world around him. Any person needs to know that the world is rationally cognizable, that it is governed by objective laws that cannot be canceled or circumvented with the help of God or psychics. "Concepts of Modern Natural Science" is a course designed to acquaint the reader at the level of general ideas with the most important data of various sciences about the world and the place of man in it.
Finally, knowledge of the concepts of modern natural science should help students penetrate into the microcosm and extraterrestrial space, understand and imagine what material and intellectual costs are the production of modern televisions and computers, how important the problem of nature conservation is, what is the essence of man, etc.
However, developing a textbook for a completely new curriculum is always an extremely difficult and responsible business. At the same time, it becomes much more complicated if the title and subject of this course are defined very approximately and abstractly.
Firstly, the basis of the manual was made up of lecture courses, which have been taught by the authors for several years at the humanities faculties of the Kaluga State Pedagogical University. K.E. Tsiolkovsky and in the Kaluga branch of the Moscow Humanitarian and Economic Institute. As a result, the manual was created purposefully for students of various humanitarian specialties. Here, the authors saw their main task in making the presentation of the material available to future specialists, for whom natural science is not a professional discipline.
Secondly, since the range of humanitarian specialties in the higher education system is quite wide, the authors sought to make their work of interest to readers with a wide variety of needs and levels of training, as well as be useful for use in educational process exactly as educational and toolkit... This purpose of the manual is determined by the requirements of the "State Educational Standard" for the course "Concepts of Modern Natural Science", according to which the achievements of natural sciences are an integral part of human culture. Knowledge of the basics of natural sciences and methods of scientific knowledge forms the nature of students' thinking and contributes to the development of an adequate attitude to the world around them.
Thirdly, due to the fact that "Concepts of Modern Natural Science" is a course designed to show the place and significance of natural science in modern culture, to acquaint students at the level of general ideas with the most important concepts of the origin of nature and man, to help them master the modern natural-scientific picture of the world , the authors strove to reveal the relevant problems on the basis of the synthesis of natural science, philosophy and cultural studies. This methodological approach is due to the authors' belief that only in this way it is possible to show the unity and diversity of the world, to contribute to the formation of a holistic worldview among students. Therefore, when necessary, the authors used the scientific-historical and philosophical approaches to the description of the relevant topics and issues, tried to show not only the results of solving natural science problems, but also the paths in the development of knowledge that led to them.
These methodological approaches determined the content and structure of the textbook. The logic of the course presentation develops from questions of the history of science and the foundations of science of science (1-7 topics) through the description of the physical, chemical and biological pictures of the world (8-21 topics) to the disclosure of the essence of man and modern problems of his life (22-24 topics). At the same time, the authors provided for the possibility of presenting this course in various versions, depending on the capabilities and characteristics of the educational institution, forms of training, the structure of curricula and the qualifications of each teacher.
To what has been said it should be added that it is impossible to simultaneously be an expert in all scientific areas described in this course. Therefore, significant assistance in the work on the manual was provided by consultations, advice and recommendations from specialists in various scientific fields. In this regard, the authors express their deep gratitude to Doctor of Philosophy, prof. Biryukov V.F .; Ph.D., Assoc. Dronov A.I .; Ph.D., Assoc. A.E. Zubarev; Candidate of Chemical Sciences, Assoc. Savitkin N.I. for help and support provided in the preparation of the manuscript.
In conclusion, I would like to note that since sufficient experience in teaching the discipline itself has not yet been accumulated, the course program has not been firmly established, its content is being actively discussed, the authors are aware of the imperfection of their work. Therefore, they express in advance to all interested readers their gratitude for the benevolent and well-grounded comments and suggestions for improving their work.
TOPIC 1 SCIENCE AND ITS ROLE IN THE LIFE OF SOCIETY
THE PROBLEM OF DEFINING SCIENCE
Throughout their history, people have developed several ways of knowing and mastering the world around them. Science is undoubtedly one of these most important ways. We are well familiar with this word, we very often use it in everyday life, but we absolutely do not think about its real meaning. Today it is quite obvious to us that science is an integral part of the spiritual culture of society. With its emergence, unique spiritual products are accumulated in the treasury of knowledge passed down from generation to generation, which play an increasingly important role in realizing, understanding and transforming reality. At a certain stage of human history, science, like other, previously emerging elements of culture, develops into a relatively independent form of social consciousness. This is due to the fact that a number of problems facing society can only be solved with the help of science.
Understanding the role and place of science in people's lives is a complex process that is not completed even today. It has been and is being worked out for a long time and with difficulty, in the struggle of approaches, ideas, in the course of overcoming difficulties, contradictions, doubts and the emergence of new and new questions. Only in the 20s of this century a new scientific discipline emerged, called "science of science" and designed to reveal the essence and characteristics of science, the mechanism of its development and application, as well as the general laws of development and functioning of science as a system of knowledge and a special social institution.
The first thing that the founders of the science of science paid attention to was the etymology of the latin word "Scientia", which means "knowledge" in translation. From a certain time this word began to denote science and in this sense entered some European languages. But the problem is that not all knowledge is science. Knowledge is acquired by a person in the most diverse spheres of his life: in everyday life, in politics, in economics, in art, in engineering, but in them acquiring knowledge is not the main goal.
Thus, art through artistic images reflects reality, creates aesthetic values, expresses the artist's attitude to the real world. The economy, in order to ensure the activities of society, must be based on true knowledge of reality, but it must be evaluated according to the criteria of efficiency and practical results. Religion creates a world of transcendental knowledge in which man communicates with God. Philosophy forms human knowledge about being, about a person's place in the world and about his own inner world.
Along with these forms of social consciousness, science is part of a single culture. But it is precisely in the comparison and interaction with them that the specificity of science is manifested. Religion, philosophy, art, and science all reflect reality in their own way and at the same time create their own world, their artificial reality. Science creates a world of knowledge, consisting only of experimentally proven data about this world, and conclusions obtained on the basis of the laws of logic. In this world, the person himself, the subjective element of this world, his value orientations is assigned a very insignificant role (for this there is art, morality, religion). Therefore, only complementing each other, all these constituent parts of culture can fulfill their main function - to provide and facilitate human life, being a link between man and nature. If, in this relationship, one part is given more importance than others, then this leads to the impoverishment of the culture as a whole and a distortion of its main purpose.
THE RELATIONSHIP OF SCIENCE, PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION
History knows examples of the predominance of some spheres of culture to the detriment of others. First of all, this concerns the relationship between science, philosophy and religion in the Middle Ages and in modern times. Thus, medieval science was ruled by religion, which slowed down the development of science for at least a millennium and consigned to oblivion many of the achievements of ancient science. Having escaped from the power of religion in the Renaissance, science begins to develop rapidly, but retains the place of the main element in the worldview of educated people for philosophy (for the illiterate majority, religion still plays the leading role). And only in the XIX century. in connection with the successes of natural science, science began to claim a dominant position in the culture and worldview of man and society. At the same time, a conflict broke out between science and philosophy, which continued almost to the present day. Its essence boils down to the struggle for the right to possess the ultimate truth. Science, not realizing its boundaries, wanted to provide answers to all questions, to lead humanity to a better future. Usually this future was presented as a world of material prosperity and satiety, built on the basis of the achievements of science and technology. Against the background of a low standard of living inherent in most people at the beginning of the 20th century, the flawedness of such ideas about the "brave new world" remained incomprehensible not only to the majority of the population, attracted by the promise of those benefits that it never had, but also to politicians who purposefully lead their peoples into the world of high technologies, and even some of the thinkers (philosophers, writers, artists), propagandizing these ideas with all the fervor of converts. Only a few philosophers and culturologists were able to understand at the beginning of the 20th century that this path leads to disaster. This became clear in the middle of our century, after the creation nuclear weapons and impending ecological disaster.
Nevertheless, the vestiges of the ideology of scientism - the belief in science as the only saving force - persist to this day. Having arisen in the depths of enlightenment, having received development in the philosophy of positivism, in the second half of our century it transformed into a tendency to unlimited praise of the achievements of the natural sciences as opposed to social and humanitarian disciplines.
It was this belief that led to the modern ecological state of the planet, the danger of thermonuclear warfare, but most importantly, to a sharp decline in the ethical and aesthetic indicators of culture, the ever-increasing influence of technocratic psychology, which stimulated consumerism in modern society.
This role of scientism is due to the fact that it, as a world outlook, is based on rational calculation, and where there is a certain pragmatic goal, a person professing this ideology will strive for this goal, regardless of any ethical obstacles.
The individual feels lost and powerless in such a scientistic world. Science taught him to doubt spiritual values, surrounded him with material comfort, taught him to see in everything, above all, a rationally attainable goal. Naturally, such a person inevitably becomes a cold, calculating pragmatist, considering other people only as a means to achieve their goals. He loses the goal for which a person is worth living, the integrity of his worldview is destroyed. Indeed, since the industrial revolution, new scientific thinking began to destroy the religious picture of the world that has been functioning for millennia, in which a universal and unshakable knowledge was offered to man about how to live and what are the principles that underlie the world order. At the same time, the paradox of scientific thinking lies in the fact that, destroying the naive, holistic view of the world, which is given by religion or religious philosophy, questioning every postulate that was previously taken on faith, science does not give in return for the same holistic convincing worldview - all concrete truths sciences cover only a fairly narrow range of phenomena. Science taught a person to doubt everything and immediately generated a worldview deficit around him, which she is fundamentally unable to fill, for this is a matter of philosophy or religion.
There is no doubt that science is a tremendous achievement in human culture. It makes a person's life from generation to generation easier, more comfortable, independent, beckons with the prospect of an abundance of material and spiritual benefits. But deified science is a completely different phenomenon, generating completely opposite results. Objectively, science is only one of the spheres of human culture, which has its own specifics and tasks, and one should not try to change this situation. Science in itself cannot be considered the highest value of human civilization, it is only a means in solving various problems of human existence. In a normal harmonious society there should be a place for science, and for art, and for philosophy, and for religion, and for all other parts of human culture.
Thus, based on the above ideas about the essence and role of science in culture and society, we can give it a more precise definition. The science - it is a part of culture, which is a set of objective knowledge about being. Substantially, this concept also includes the process of obtaining this knowledge and various forms and mechanisms of their application in the practical life of people.
STRUCTURE OF SCIENCE AND ITS FUNCTIONS
The philosophical concept of objective being includes nature, society and man. According to these three elements of objective being in science, three spheres of knowledge about these constituent parts of being are clearly distinguished. it content aspect of science.
Depending on the sphere of being, and therefore on the kind of reality being studied, three directions of scientific knowledge differ: natural science - knowledge about nature, social science - knowledge about various types and forms of social life, as well as knowledge about man as a thinking being. Naturally, these three spheres are not and should not be considered as three parts of a single whole, which are only side by side, adjacent to each other. The border between these spheres is relative.
The entire body of scientific knowledge about nature is formed by natural science. Its structure is a direct reflection of the logic of nature. The total volume and structure of natural science knowledge is large and varied.
This includes knowledge about the substance and its structure, about the movement and interaction of substances, about chemical elements and compounds, about living matter and life, about the Earth and Space. Fundamental natural science directions originate from these objects of natural science.
Bodies, their movement, transformations and forms of manifestation at various levels are the object of physical scientific knowledge. By virtue of their fundamental character, they underlie natural science and condition all other knowledge.
Chemical elements, their properties, transformations and compounds are reflected by chemical knowledge. They have many points of contact with physical knowledge, on the basis of which a number of related disciplines arise - physical chemistry, chemical physics, etc.
Biological knowledge encompasses a group of knowledge about living things; as their subject of study, they have a cell and everything derived from it. Biological knowledge is based on knowledge about a substance, chemical elements. Because of this, at the junction of sciences, such sciences as biophysics, biochemistry, etc.
The Earth as a planet is the subject of geological knowledge. They consider the structure and development of our planet. Geochemistry, paleontology, geophysics, etc. appear at the junction with other groups of knowledge.
One of the most ancient, but at the same time the most modern direction in science is cosmological knowledge, the subject of which is the universe as a whole. Cosmology studies the states and changes of space objects.
The second fundamental direction of scientific knowledge is social science. Its subject is social phenomena and systems, structures, states, processes. Social sciences provide knowledge about individual varieties and the entire totality of social ties and relations.
By its nature, scientific knowledge about society is numerous, but it can be grouped in three directions: sociological, the subject of which is society as a whole; economic - reflect labor activity people, property relations, social production, exchange, distribution and relations based on them in society; state-legal knowledge - have as their subject state-legal structures and relations in social systems, they are considered by all sciences about the state and political sciences.
The third fundamental direction of scientific knowledge is scientific knowledge about man and his thinking. A person is the object of study of a large number of different sciences, which consider him in various aspects. From the totality of sciences humanitarian sciences focused on the interests of a person who acts for them as a measure of all things. But man himself and his thinking abilities are studied by psychology - the science of human consciousness; logic - the science of the forms of correct thinking.
Mathematics is the science of the quantitative relations of reality. It is an interdisciplinary science. Its results are used in both natural and social sciences.
Along with the indicated main scientific directions, the knowledge of science about itself should be attributed to a separate group of knowledge. The emergence of this branch of knowledge refers to the 20s of our century and means that science in its development has risen to the level of understanding its role and significance in people's lives. Science of science today is considered an independent, rapidly developing scientific discipline.
One of the most important conditions for a truly scientific approach to the study of any object is its analysis in various aspects, among which, in addition to the above-mentioned content, one of the main places belongs to structural. With regard to scientific knowledge, this aspect means the division of scientific knowledge into groups depending on their subject, nature, degree of explanation of reality and practical significance.
In this case, we single out: factual knowledge - a set of systematized facts of objective reality; theoretical or fundamental knowledge - theories that explain the processes occurring in objective reality; technical and applied knowledge, or technology, - knowledge about the practical application of factual or fundamental knowledge, as a result of which a certain technical effect is achieved; practical-applied, or praxeological, knowledge - knowledge about the economic effect that can be obtained in the case of applying the above groups of knowledge.
IN logical aspect scientific knowledge is thought activity, the highest form of logical knowledge, a product of human creativity. Its starting point is sensory cognition, passing from sensation to perception and representation. After that, there is a transition to rational knowledge, which develops from a concept to judgment and inference. This corresponds to the level of empirical and theoretical knowledge.
And finally social aspect scientific knowledge presents it as a social phenomenon, a collective process of research and the application of the results of this research. In this aspect, we are interested in scientific institutions, teams, educational institutions, organizations of scientists, etc.
Having determined the structure of scientific knowledge, we thereby got the opportunity to define science. It is understood as a dynamic system of objectively true knowledge about the essential connections of reality, received and developed as a result of special social activities and transformed through their application into a direct practical force of society.
The problem of the functions of science is closely related to the structure of scientific knowledge. There are several of them:
1. descriptive - identifying essential properties and relationships of reality;
2. systematizing - assignment of the described by classes and sections;
3. explanatory - a systematic presentation of the essence of the object under study, the reasons for its occurrence and development;
4. production-practical - the possibility of applying the knowledge gained in production, for the regulation of social life, in social management;
5. predictive - predicting new discoveries within the framework of existing theories, as well as recommendations for the future;
6. worldview - the introduction of acquired knowledge into the existing picture of the world, rationalization of a person's relationship to reality.
Talking so far about science and scientific knowledge, we considered them as an already existing object of research, which we analyzed from a formal point of view.
However, humanity in its history has accumulated the most diverse knowledge, and scientific knowledge is only one of the types of this knowledge. Therefore, the question arises about the criteria for the scientific character of knowledge, which, accordingly, allows them to be classified as scientific or some other.
CRITERIA FOR SCIENTIFICITY KNOWLEDGE
One of the main criteria of scientific character is the consistency of knowledge. The system, in contrast to a simple sum of parts, is characterized by internal unity, the impossibility of removing any elements. Scientific knowledge always acts as certain systems: these systems have initial principles, fundamental concepts and knowledge derived from these principles and concepts. In addition, the system includes interpreted experimental facts, experiments, mathematical apparatus, practical conclusions and recommendations that are important for this science.
But the principle of consistency alone is not enough to call some knowledge a science. After all, outside of science there is systematized knowledge - for example, religious knowledge, which also outwardly looks like harmonious, logically grounded systems.
Science is not just a system or a body of knowledge, but also an activity to obtain new knowledge, which provides for the existence of people specializing in this, relevant organizations coordinating research, as well as the availability of the necessary materials, technologies, and means of recording information. This means that science appears only when special objective conditions in society are created for this: a more or less clear social demand for objective knowledge, the social possibility of identifying a special group of people whose main task is to answer this demand; the beginning of the division of labor within this group; the accumulation of knowledge, skills, cognitive techniques that serve as the basis on which science is formed; the emergence of means of fixing information, without which it is impossible to transfer the accumulated information to future generations, as well as its operational change
An important criterion of scientific character is the presence of the goal of scientific knowledge, which is defined as the comprehension of truth for the sake of truth itself, or theoreticalness. If science is aimed only at solving practical problems, it ceases to be a science in the full sense of the word. Thus, the scientific knowledge that existed in the East was used only as auxiliary in religious magical ceremonies and rituals. Therefore, we cannot talk about the presence of science there as an independent cultural phenomenon.
A distinctive feature of scientific knowledge is its rational nature. Today this position seems trivial, but the belief in the possibility of reason did not appear immediately and not everywhere. Eastern civilization never accepted this position, giving priority to intuition and supersensible perception. This criterion is closely related to the intersubjectivity property of scientific knowledge, which is understood as general validity, general validity of knowledge, its invariance, the ability to obtain the same result by different researchers.
The defining features of science are also the presence of an experimental research method and the mathematization of science. These signs appeared in modern times, giving science a modern look, as well as linking it with practice.
Seminar lesson plan (2 hours)
1. Science as a cultural phenomenon. The purpose and objectives of science.
2. Scientism as a worldview and its role in the formation of modern civilization.
3. Scientific knowledge and its various aspects.
4. Criteria of scientific character.
Topics of reports and abstracts
1. VI Vernadsky on the relationship between science, philosophy and religion.
2. Science as a social institution.
3. Science and philosophy.
4. Science and religion.
LITERATURE
1. Bernal J. Science in the history of society. M., 1956.
2. Vernadsky V.I. Transactions on the general history of science. M., 1988.
3. Vernadsky V.I. Philosophical thoughts of a naturalist. M., 1988.
4. Good GM Science about science. Kiev, 1989.
5. Zinchenko V.P. Science - an integral part of culture? // Problems of Philosophy. 1990. # 1.
6. Ilyin V.V., Kalinkin A.T. The nature of science. M., 1985.
7. Yordanov I. Science as a logical and social system. Kiev, 1979.
8. Scientific progress: cognitive and socio-cultural aspects. M., 1993.
9. Fundamentals of Science of Science. M., 1985.
10. Rachkov P.A. Science of Science. M., 1974.
11. Philosophy and methodology of science. M., 1996.
12. Filatov V.P. Images of Science in Russian Culture // Problems of Philosophy. 1990. No. 5.
Introduction
Modern science unites more than a thousand different scientific disciplines, each of which contains special theories, concepts, methods of cognition and experimental techniques. Achievements of science lay the foundations of a person's worldview. In this process, one of the main places belongs to natural scientific knowledge, which is formed by a whole group of natural sciences that create a holistic and adequate idea of \u200b\u200bthe objective world.
At the same time, the current level of development of society makes increased demands on the level of professional training of specialists, in which a significant place belongs to natural science knowledge. Today society needs specialists who are focused not only on solving utilitarian problems within the framework of the knowledge gained during training. Modern requirements for a specialist are based on his ability to constantly improve his qualifications, the desire to keep abreast of the latest achievements in the profession, the ability to creatively adapt them to his work. The educational system is faced with the task of training highly qualified specialists with fundamental, versatile knowledge about various processes and phenomena of the surrounding world. For this purpose, the curricula of higher educational institutions include such disciplines and lecture courses that should form a student's broad ideological orientations and attitudes, help him to more fully master the scientific picture of the world and the chosen profession. The course "Concepts of modern natural science" is intended to realize these goals.
This discipline does not imply a deep and detailed study of all natural laws and processes, phenomena and facts, methods and experiments. The purpose of the course is to familiarize oneself with the basic provisions and the current state of development of the natural sciences, which help to form an idea of \u200b\u200bthe complete picture of the surrounding world, a person's place in it, and to understand the problems of society development.
The key word of the course is the concept of "concept" (from lat. conception -understanding, explanation), which means a relatively systemic explanation or understanding of some phenomena or events. As applied to this training course, it presupposes a popular meaningful description of natural science knowledge that forms a general picture of the world in the mind of a person. Various natural-scientific ideas about the structure of the world represent the basic knowledge necessary to understand the world in accordance with the level of knowledge of each era. In addition, without natural science knowledge, it is difficult to understand not only the development of technology and technology, but also the development of society and culture.
The course "Concepts of Modern Natural Science" covers the main problems, ideas and theories of natural sciences, scientific principles of cognition, methodology, models and results of modern natural science, which together make up the scientific picture of the world. In this regard, the task of the course is to form knowledge about interdisciplinary, general scientific approaches and methods, develop systems thinking in the course of analyzing the problems of modern natural science, expanding the cognitive horizons of students by going beyond the boundaries of their narrow professional interests.
As a result of studying the discipline, students should receive knowledge that allows them to take into account in the future professional activity fundamental laws of nature and basic research methods, as well as information about the most important historical stages and ways of development of natural science.
The manual has been prepared in accordance with the State educational standard higher professional education, which is introduced into the curricula for students of all humanitarian specialties. It is based on previously published textbooks and lecture courses given by the author in various universities.
The experience of teaching this discipline to students of different humanitarian specialties shows that one should not present the material of the natural sciences, delving into "technical details", if this is not justified by the general concept and methodological approach to the presentation of the subject. The author saw his main task as making the presentation of the material available for assimilation by future specialists, for whom natural science is not a professional discipline.
The range of humanitarian specialties in the higher education system is quite wide and diverse, therefore the author sought to give his work a universal character so that it would be useful for students of various humanitarian specialties - economists, psychologists, philosophers, historians, sociologists, managers, lawyers, etc. This orientation of the educational the manual assumes a conscious refusal to assimilate physical and chemical formulas, memorize numerous rules and laws and focus on the most important concepts of modern natural science, which are the foundation of the scientific picture of the world. The textbook is both a scientific and a popular publication, providing a quick and accessible introduction to a wide range of readers in the problems of natural sciences.
The author expresses gratitude to the reviewers and fellow lecturers for their valuable comments and recommendations expressed during the creation of the textbook, as well as to all interested readers for possible comments and suggestions.
Chapter 1. Science in the context of culture
1.1. Science as part of culture
Throughout their history, people have developed many ways of knowing and mastering the world around them. Among them, one of the most important places is occupied by science, the main purpose of which is to describe, explain and predict the processes of reality that make up the subject of its study. In the modern sense, science is considered as:
The highest form of human knowledge;
Social institution, consisting of various organizations and institutions engaged in obtaining new knowledge about the world;
Developing knowledge system;
The way of knowing the world;
A system of principles, categories, laws, techniques and methods for obtaining adequate knowledge;
An element of spiritual culture;
The system of spiritual activity and production.
All the above meanings of the term "science" are legitimate. But this ambiguity also means that science is a complex system designed to provide generalized holistic knowledge about the world. Moreover, this knowledge cannot be disclosed by any one separate science or a set of sciences.
To understand the specifics of science, it should be considered as part of a culture created by man, compared with other spheres of culture.
A specific feature of human life is the fact that it occurs simultaneously in two interrelated aspects - natural and cultural. Initially, a person is a living being, a product of nature, however, in order to exist in it comfortably and safely, he creates inside nature an artificial world of culture, a "second nature." Thus, a person exists in nature, interacts with it as a living organism, but at the same time "doubles" the external world, developing knowledge about it, creating images, models, assessments, household items, etc. It is such a thing-cognitive activity of a person and constitutes the cultural aspect of human existence.
Culture finds its embodiment in the objective results of activities, ways and methods of human existence, in various norms of behavior and various knowledge about the world around. The entire set of practical manifestations of culture is divided into two main groups: material and spiritual values. Material values \u200b\u200bform material culture, and the world of spiritual values, which includes science, art, religion, forms the world of spiritual culture.
Spiritual culture encompasses the spiritual life of society, its social experience and results, which appear in the form of ideas, scientific theories, artistic images, moral and legal norms, political and religious beliefs and other elements of the human spiritual world.
Science is an integral part of culture, which determines many important aspects of society and human life. She, like other spheres of culture, has its own tasks that distinguish them from each other. So, the economy is the foundation that provides all the activities of society, it arises on the basis of a person's ability to work. Morality regulates relations between people in society, which is very important for a person who cannot live outside of society and must limit his own freedom in the name of the survival of the entire collective. Religion arises from a person's need for comfort in situations that cannot be solved rationally (for example, the death of loved ones, illness, unhappy love, etc.).
The task of science is to obtain objective knowledge about the world, knowledge of the laws according to which the world around us functions and develops. With this knowledge, it is much easier for a person to transform this world, to make it more convenient and safe for himself. Thus, science is a cultural sphere that is most closely related to the task of directly transforming the world, increasing its convenience for humans.
In accordance with the transformative role of science, its high authority was formed, which was expressed in the appearance scientism -a worldview based on a belief in science as the only force designed to solve all human problems. Scientism declared science to be the pinnacle of human knowledge, while he absolutized the methods and results of the natural sciences, denying the scientific character of social humanitarian knowledge as having no cognitive value. From such ideas gradually arose the idea of \u200b\u200btwo unrelated cultures - natural science and humanitarian.
In contrast to scientism in the second half of the twentieth century. ideology was formed anti-scientism, considering science a dangerous force leading to the death of humanity. Its supporters are convinced of the limited possibilities of science to solve fundamental human problems and deny science to positively influence culture. They believe that science increases the well-being of the population, but at the same time increases the danger of human death. Only by the end of the 20th century, having comprehended both the positive and negative aspects of science, mankind developed a more balanced position in relation to the role of science in modern society.
While recognizing the important role of science in the life of society, one should not agree with its "claims" to a dominant position. Science in itself cannot be considered the highest value of human civilization, it is only a means in solving some problems of human existence. The same applies to other areas of culture. Only mutually complementing each other, all spheres of culture can fulfill their main function - to provide and facilitate human life. If, in this relationship, some part of the culture is given more importance than others, this leads to the impoverishment of the culture as a whole and disruption of its normal functioning.
Based on this assessment, science is today considered as a part of culture, which is a collection of objective knowledge about being, the process of obtaining this knowledge and applying it in practice.
1.2. Natural science and humanitarian culture
Culture, being the result of human activity, cannot exist in isolation from the natural world, which is its material basis. It is inextricably linked with nature and exists within it, but having a natural basis, it retains its social content. This kind of duality of culture has led to the formation of two types of culture: natural science and humanitarian (or two ways of relating to the world, its cognition). At the initial stage of human history, both types existed as a single whole, since human knowledge was equally directed at nature and at itself. However, each type gradually developed its own principles and approaches, determined its goals; natural science culture sought to study nature and conquer it, while humanitarian culture aimed to study man and his world.
For the first time the idea of \u200b\u200bthe difference between natural science and humanitarian knowledge was put forward at the end of the 19th century. the German philosopher W. Dilthey and the philosophers of the Baden school of neo-Kantianism W. Windelband and G. Rickert. The terms “science of nature” and “science of the spirit” proposed by them quickly became generally accepted, while the very idea was firmly established in philosophy. Finally, in 1960-1970. English historian and writer Charles Snow formulated the idea of \u200b\u200ban alternative to two cultures: natural science and humanitarian. He stated that the spiritual world of the intelligentsia is more and more clearly splitting into two camps, in one of which there are artists, in the other - scientists. In his opinion, the two cultures are in constant conflict with each other, and mutual understanding between the representatives of these cultures is impossible due to their absolute alienation.
A thorough study of the question of the relationship between natural science and humanitarian cultures really allows us to find significant differences between them. There are two extreme points of view. Proponents of the first claim that it is natural science, with its precise methods of research, that should become the model that should be imitated by the humanities. Radical representatives of this point of view are positivists, who consider mathematical physics to be the "ideal" of science, and the deductive method of mathematics is the main method of constructing any scientific knowledge. Supporters of the opposite position argue that such a view does not take into account all the complexity and specificity of humanitarian knowledge and therefore is utopian and unproductive.
Focusing on the creative essence of culture, it can be argued that the fundamental feature of natural science culture is its ability to "discover" the world, nature, which are a self-sufficient system that functions according to its own laws, cause-and-effect relationships. Natural science culture focuses on the study and study of natural processes and laws, its specificity lies in high degree objectivity and reliability of knowledge about nature. She seeks to read the endless "book of nature" as accurately as possible, to master its powers, to cognize it as an objective reality that exists independently of man.
At the same time, the history of human culture testifies to the fact that any spiritual activity of people takes place not only in the form of natural science knowledge, but also in the form of philosophy, religion, art, social and humanitarian sciences. All these types of activities make up the content of humanitarian culture. The main subject of humanitarian culture, therefore, are inner world a person, his personal qualities, human relationships, etc., and its specificity is determined by the social position of a person and the spiritual values \u200b\u200bprevailing in society.
The differences between natural science and humanitarian knowledge are caused not only by different goals, subjects and objects of these directions of cognitive activity, but also by two main ways of the thinking process, which have a physiological nature. It is known that the human brain is functionally asymmetric: its right hemisphere is associated with a figurative intuitive type of thinking, the left hemisphere is associated with a logical type. Accordingly, the predominance of one type of thinking or another determines a person's inclination to an artistic or rational way of perceiving the world.
Rational knowledge serves as the basis of natural science culture, since it is focused on dividing, comparing, measuring and categorizing knowledge and information about the surrounding world. It is best suited for the accumulation, formalization and transmission of an ever-increasing amount of knowledge. In the aggregate of various facts, events and manifestations of the surrounding world, it reveals something common, stable, necessary and natural, gives them a systemic character through logical comprehension. Natural scientific knowledge is characterized by a striving for truth, the development of a special language for the most accurate and unambiguous expression of the knowledge gained.
Intuitive thinking, on the contrary, acts as the basis for humanitarian knowledge, since it is distinguished by an individual character and cannot be subject to strict classification or formalization. It is based on the inner experiences of a person and does not have strict objective criteria of truth. However, intuitive thinking has tremendous cognitive power, as it is associative and metaphorical in nature. Using the method of analogy, it is able to go beyond logical constructions and give birth to new phenomena of material and spiritual culture.
Thus, natural science and humanitarian cultures are not isolated by chance. But this division does not exclude their initial interdependence, which does not have the character of incompatible opposites, but rather acts as complementarity. The urgency of the problem of interaction of two cultures is that they turned out to be too “distanced” from each other: one explores nature “in itself”, the other - a person “in itself”. Each of the cultures considers the interaction of man and nature either in the cognitive or in the “submissive” plan, while the appeal to human existence requires deepening the unity of not only natural-scientific and humanitarian cultures, but also the unity of human culture as a whole. The solution to this problem rests on the paradox that the laws of nature are the same for all people and everywhere, but the worldview, norms and ideals of people are different and sometimes incompatible.
The fact that there are differences between natural science and humanitarian cultures does not negate the need for unity between them, which can be achieved only through their direct interaction. Today, both in natural science and in the humanities, integration processes are intensifying due to general research methods; in this process, the technical equipment of humanitarian research is enriched. This establishes links between the humanities and the natural sciences, which are also interested in this. So, for example, the results of logical and linguistic research are used in the development of information tools for natural science. Joint developments of natural scientists and humanitarians in the field of ethical and legal problems of science are gaining more and more importance.
In recent years, under the influence of advances in technical progress and such a general scientific method of research as the systems approach, the former confrontation between natural scientists and humanities has significantly weakened. Humanitarians understood the importance and necessity of using in their knowledge not only the technical and informational means of natural science and the exact sciences, but also effective scientific research methods that originally arose within the framework of natural science. The experimental method of research from natural sciences penetrates into the humanities (sociology, psychology); in turn, naturalists are increasingly turning to the experience of humanitarian knowledge. Thus, we can talk about the humanization of natural science and the scientization of humanitarian knowledge, which are actively occurring today and are gradually blurring the boundaries between the two cultures.
1.3. Scientific knowledge criteria
Throughout its history, mankind has accumulated a huge amount of knowledge about the world, different in nature. In it, along with scientific knowledge, there are religious, mythological, everyday knowledge, etc. The existence of various types of knowledge raises the question of the criteria that make it possible to distinguish scientific knowledge from non-scientific. In modern science of science, it is customary to distinguish four main criteria of scientific knowledge.
The first of them is consistency knowledge, according to which science has a certain structure, and is not an incoherent set of separate parts. The system, in contrast to the amount, is characterized by internal unity, the impossibility of withdrawing or adding any elements to its structure without good reason. Scientific knowledge always acts as definite systems; in these systems there are initial principles, fundamental concepts (axioms), as well as knowledge derived from these principles and concepts according to the laws of logic. On the basis of the accepted initial principles and concepts, new knowledge is substantiated, new facts, results of experiments, observations, measurements are interpreted. A chaotic set of correct statements, not systematized relative to each other, cannot be considered scientific knowledge in itself.
The second criterion of science is availability of a mechanism for obtaining new knowledge. This provides not only a proven method of practical and theoretical research, but also the presence of people specializing in this activity, relevant organizations, as well as the necessary materials, technologies and means of recording information. Science appears when objective conditions in society are created for this, there is enough high level development of civilization.
The third criterion of scientific character - theoretical knowledge, defining goal of scientific knowledge. All scientific knowledge is organized in theories and concepts that are consistent with each other and with the dominant ideas about the objective world. After all, the ultimate goal of science is to obtain truth for the sake of truth itself, and not for the sake of a practical result. If science is aimed only at solving practical problems, it ceases to be a science in the full sense of the word. Science is based on fundamental research, pure interest in the world around us, and then applied research is based on them, if the level of development of technology allows. Thus, the scientific knowledge that existed in the East was used only in religious magical rituals and ceremonies, or in direct practical activities. Therefore, we cannot talk about the existence of science there for many centuries as an independent sphere of culture.
The fourth criterion for scientific character is rationality knowledge, that is, acquiring knowledge only on the basis of rational procedures. Unlike other types of knowledge, scientific knowledge is not limited to the statement of facts, but seeks to explain them, to make it understandable for the human mind. The rational style of thinking is based on the recognition of the existence of universal causal relationships accessible to the mind, as well as formal proof as the main means of substantiating knowledge. Today this situation seems trivial, but the knowledge of the world mainly with the help of reason appeared only in Ancient Greece... Eastern civilization did not accept this specific European path, giving priority to intuition and supersensible perception.
For science, starting from the New Age, an additional, fifth criterion of scientific character is introduced. This presence experimental research method, mathematization of science, which connected science with practice, created a modern civilization focused on the conscious transformation of the surrounding world in the interests of man.
Using the above criteria, you can always distinguish between scientific knowledge and unscientific (pseudoscience). This is especially important today, since pseudoscience, which has always existed alongside science, has recently attracted an increasing number of supporters.
The structure of pseudoscientific knowledge is usually not of a systemic nature, but rather fragmented. Pseudoscience is characterized by an uncritical analysis of the initial data (myths, legends, stories of third parties), disregard for conflicting facts, and often direct manipulation of facts.
Despite this, pseudoscience is enjoying success. There are appropriate grounds for this. One of them is the fundamental incompleteness of the scientific worldview, which leaves room for conjectures and inventions. But if earlier these voids were mainly filled with religion, today their place is taken by pseudoscience, whose arguments, if wrong, are clear to everyone. Pseudoscientific explanations are more accessible to an ordinary person than dry scientific reasoning, which is often impossible to understand without special education. Therefore, the roots of pseudoscience lie in the very nature of man.
The first are relict pseudosciences, among which are well-known astrology and alchemy. Once they were a source of knowledge about the world, a breeding ground for the birth of true science. They became pseudosciences after the advent of chemistry and astronomy.
In modern times, appeared occult pseudosciences -spiritualism, mesmerism, parapsychology. Common to them is the recognition of the existence of the otherworldly (astral) world, which does not obey physical laws. It is believed that this is the highest world in relation to us, in which any miracles are possible. You can communicate with this world through mediums, psychics, telepaths, while various paranormal phenomena arise, which become the subject of pseudoscience study.
In the XX century appeared modernist pseudosciences, in which the mystical basis of the old pseudosciences was transformed under the influence of science fiction. Among these sciences, the leading place belongs to ufology, which studies UFOs.
How can one separate genuine science from counterfeits? For this, the methodologists of science, in addition to the already named criteria of scientific character, formulated several most important principles.
The first one is verification principle (practical confirmation): if a concept or judgment is reducible to direct experience (i.e. empirically verifiable), then it makes sense. In other words, scientific knowledge can be tested for compliance with experience, and unscientific knowledge is not available for such verification.
Distinguish between direct verification, when there is a direct verification of statements, and indirect, when a logical relationship is established between indirectly verified statements. Since the concepts of a developed scientific theory, as a rule, are difficult to reduce to experimental data, indirect verification is used for them, which asserts: if it is impossible to experimentally confirm some concept or judgment of the theory, one can limit ourselves to experimental confirmation of the conclusions from them. For example, the concept of "quark" was introduced in physics back in the 1930s, but such a particle of matter could not be detected in experiments. At the same time, quark theory predicted a number of phenomena that allowed experimental verification, during which the expected results were obtained. This indirectly confirmed the existence of quarks.
Immediately after its appearance, the verification principle was sharply criticized by its opponents. The essence of the objections boiled down to the fact that science cannot develop only on the basis of experience, since it presupposes the obtaining of such results that cannot be reduced to experience and cannot be directly derived from it. In science, there are formulations of laws that cannot be verified using the verification criterion. In addition, the very principle of verifiability is "unverifiable", that is, it should be classified as meaningless, subject to exclusion from the system of scientific statements.
In response to this criticism, scientists proposed another criterion for distinguishing between scientific and non-scientific knowledge - the principle of falsification, formulated by the greatest philosopher and methodologist of science of the XX century. K. Popper. In accordance with this principle, only fundamentally refutable (falsified) knowledge can be considered scientific. It has long been known that no amount of experimental evidence is sufficient to prove a theory. So, we can observe as many examples as we like that every minute confirm the law of universal gravitation. But one example is enough (for example, a stone that did not fall to the ground, but flew away from the ground) to recognize this law as false. Therefore, a scientist should direct all his efforts not to search for another experimental proof of a hypothesis or theory formulated by him, but to an attempt to refute his statement; a critical desire to refute a scientific theory is the most effective way to confirm its scientific nature and truth. A critical refutation of the conclusions and statements of science does not allow it to stagnate, is the most important source of its growth, although it makes any scientific knowledge hypothetical, depriving it of completeness and absoluteness.
The falsification criterion has also been criticized. It was argued that the principle of falsifiability is insufficient, since it is inapplicable to those provisions of science that cannot be compared with experience. Moreover, the real scientific practice contradicts the immediate abandonment of the theory if the only empirical fact contradicting it is found.
In fact, true science is not afraid to make mistakes, to recognize its previous conclusions as false. If some concept, for all its pseudoscience, claims that it cannot be refuted, denies the very possibility of a different interpretation of any facts, this indicates that we are faced not with science, but with pseudoscience.
In a concise and accessible form, the full course disciplines, highlights the most important modern concepts of the sciences of inanimate and living nature. It is a supplemented and revised version of the textbook recommended by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation for studying the course "Concepts of Modern Natural Science". For undergraduate students, undergraduates, graduate students and teachers of the humanities profile, for teachers of secondary schools, lyceums and colleges, as well as for a wide range of readers interested in various aspects of natural science.
* * *
The given introductory fragment of the book Concepts of modern natural science (A.P. Sadokhin) provided by our book partner - Liters company.
Chapter 1. Science in the context of culture
1.1. Science as part of culture
Throughout their history, people have developed many ways of knowing and mastering the world around them. Among them, one of the most important places is occupied by science, the main purpose of which is to describe, explain and predict the processes of reality that make up the subject of its study. In the modern sense, science is considered as:
The highest form of human knowledge;
Social institution, consisting of various organizations and institutions engaged in obtaining new knowledge about the world;
Developing knowledge system;
The way of knowing the world;
A system of principles, categories, laws, techniques and methods for obtaining adequate knowledge;
An element of spiritual culture;
The system of spiritual activity and production.
All the above meanings of the term "science" are legitimate. But this ambiguity also means that science is a complex system designed to provide generalized holistic knowledge about the world. Moreover, this knowledge cannot be disclosed by any one separate science or a set of sciences.
To understand the specifics of science, it should be considered as part of a culture created by man, compared with other spheres of culture.
A specific feature of human life is the fact that it occurs simultaneously in two interrelated aspects - natural and cultural. Initially, a person is a living being, a product of nature, however, in order to exist in it comfortably and safely, he creates inside nature an artificial world of culture, a "second nature." Thus, a person exists in nature, interacts with it as a living organism, but at the same time "doubles" the external world, developing knowledge about it, creating images, models, assessments, household items, etc. It is such a thing-cognitive activity of a person and constitutes the cultural aspect of human existence.
Culture finds its embodiment in the objective results of activities, ways and methods of human existence, in various norms of behavior and various knowledge about the world around. The entire set of practical manifestations of culture is divided into two main groups: material and spiritual values. Material values \u200b\u200bform material culture, and the world of spiritual values, which includes science, art, religion, forms the world of spiritual culture.
Spiritual culture encompasses the spiritual life of society, its social experience and results, which appear in the form of ideas, scientific theories, artistic images, moral and legal norms, political and religious beliefs and other elements of the human spiritual world.
Science is an integral part of culture, which determines many important aspects of society and human life. She, like other spheres of culture, has its own tasks that distinguish them from each other. So, the economy is the foundation that provides all the activities of society, it arises on the basis of a person's ability to work. Morality regulates relations between people in society, which is very important for a person who cannot live outside of society and must limit his own freedom in the name of the survival of the entire collective. Religion arises from a person's need for comfort in situations that cannot be solved rationally (for example, the death of loved ones, illness, unhappy love, etc.).
The task of science is to obtain objective knowledge about the world, knowledge of the laws according to which the world around us functions and develops. With this knowledge, it is much easier for a person to transform this world, to make it more convenient and safe for himself. Thus, science is a cultural sphere that is most closely related to the task of directly transforming the world, increasing its convenience for humans.
In accordance with the transformative role of science, its high authority was formed, which was expressed in the appearance scientism -a worldview based on a belief in science as the only force designed to solve all human problems. Scientism declared science to be the pinnacle of human knowledge, while he absolutized the methods and results of natural sciences, denying the scientific nature of social and humanitarian knowledge as having no cognitive value. From such ideas gradually arose the idea of \u200b\u200btwo unrelated cultures - natural science and humanitarian.
In contrast to scientism in the second half of the twentieth century. ideology was formed anti-scientism, considering science a dangerous force leading to the death of humanity. Its supporters are convinced of the limited possibilities of science to solve fundamental human problems and deny science to positively influence culture. They believe that science increases the well-being of the population, but at the same time increases the danger of human death. Only by the end of the 20th century, having comprehended both the positive and negative aspects of science, mankind developed a more balanced position in relation to the role of science in modern society.
While recognizing the important role of science in the life of society, one should not agree with its "claims" to a dominant position. Science in itself cannot be considered the highest value of human civilization, it is only a means in solving some problems of human existence. The same applies to other areas of culture. Only mutually complementing each other, all spheres of culture can fulfill their main function - to provide and facilitate human life. If, in this relationship, some part of the culture is given more importance than others, this leads to the impoverishment of the culture as a whole and disruption of its normal functioning.
Based on this assessment, science is today considered as a part of culture, which is a collection of objective knowledge about being, the process of obtaining this knowledge and applying it in practice.
1.2. Natural science and humanitarian culture
Culture, being the result of human activity, cannot exist in isolation from the natural world, which is its material basis. It is inextricably linked with nature and exists within it, but having a natural basis, it retains its social content. This kind of duality of culture has led to the formation of two types of culture: natural science and humanitarian (or two ways of relating to the world, its cognition). At the initial stage of human history, both types existed as a single whole, since human knowledge was equally directed at nature and at itself. However, each type gradually developed its own principles and approaches, determined its goals; natural science culture sought to study nature and conquer it, while humanitarian culture aimed to study man and his world.
For the first time the idea of \u200b\u200bthe difference between natural science and humanitarian knowledge was put forward at the end of the 19th century. the German philosopher W. Dilthey and the philosophers of the Baden school of neo-Kantianism W. Windelband and G. Rickert. The terms “science of nature” and “science of the spirit” proposed by them quickly became generally accepted, while the very idea was firmly established in philosophy. Finally, in 1960-1970. English historian and writer Charles Snow formulated the idea of \u200b\u200ban alternative to two cultures: natural science and humanitarian. He stated that the spiritual world of the intelligentsia is more and more clearly splitting into two camps, in one of which there are artists, in the other - scientists. In his opinion, the two cultures are in constant conflict with each other, and mutual understanding between the representatives of these cultures is impossible due to their absolute alienation.
A thorough study of the question of the relationship between natural science and humanitarian cultures really allows us to find significant differences between them. There are two extreme points of view. Proponents of the first claim that it is natural science, with its precise methods of research, that should become the model that should be imitated by the humanities. Radical representatives of this point of view are positivists, who consider mathematical physics to be the "ideal" of science, and the deductive method of mathematics is the main method of constructing any scientific knowledge. Supporters of the opposite position argue that such a view does not take into account all the complexity and specificity of humanitarian knowledge and therefore is utopian and unproductive.
Focusing on the creative essence of culture, it can be argued that the fundamental feature of natural science culture is its ability to “discover” the world, nature, which are a self-sufficient system that functions according to its own laws, cause-and-effect relationships. Natural science culture focuses on the study and study of natural processes and laws, its specificity lies in a high degree of objectivity and reliability of knowledge about nature. She seeks to read the endless "book of nature" as accurately as possible, to master its powers, to know it as an objective reality that exists independently of man.
At the same time, the history of human culture testifies to the fact that any spiritual activity of people takes place not only in the form of natural science knowledge, but also in the form of philosophy, religion, art, social and humanitarian sciences. All these activities are the content of humanitarian culture. The main subject of humanitarian culture, therefore, is the inner world of a person, his personal qualities, human relationships, etc., and its specificity is determined by the social position of a person and the spiritual values \u200b\u200bprevailing in society.
The differences between natural science and humanitarian knowledge are caused not only by different goals, subjects and objects of these directions of cognitive activity, but also by two main ways of the thinking process, which have a physiological nature. It is known that the human brain is functionally asymmetric: its right hemisphere is associated with a figurative intuitive type of thinking, the left hemisphere is associated with a logical type. Accordingly, the predominance of one type of thinking or another determines a person's inclination to an artistic or rational way of perceiving the world.
Rational knowledge serves as the basis of natural science culture, since it is focused on dividing, comparing, measuring and categorizing knowledge and information about the surrounding world. It is best suited for the accumulation, formalization and transmission of an ever-increasing amount of knowledge. In the aggregate of various facts, events and manifestations of the surrounding world, it reveals something common, stable, necessary and natural, gives them a systemic character through logical comprehension. Natural scientific knowledge is characterized by a striving for truth, the development of a special language for the most accurate and unambiguous expression of the knowledge gained.
Intuitive thinking, on the contrary, acts as the basis for humanitarian knowledge, since it is distinguished by an individual character and cannot be subject to strict classification or formalization. It is based on the inner experiences of a person and does not have strict objective criteria of truth. However, intuitive thinking has tremendous cognitive power, as it is associative and metaphorical in nature. Using the method of analogy, it is able to go beyond logical constructions and give birth to new phenomena of material and spiritual culture.
Thus, natural science and humanitarian cultures are not isolated by chance. But this division does not exclude their initial interdependence, which does not have the character of incompatible opposites, but rather acts as complementarity. The urgency of the problem of interaction of two cultures is that they turned out to be too “distanced” from each other: one explores nature “in itself”, the other - a person “in itself”. Each of the cultures considers the interaction of man and nature either in the cognitive or in the “submissive” plan, while the appeal to human existence requires deepening the unity of not only natural-scientific and humanitarian cultures, but also the unity of human culture as a whole. The solution to this problem rests on the paradox that the laws of nature are the same for all people and everywhere, but the worldview, norms and ideals of people are different and sometimes incompatible.
The fact that there are differences between natural science and humanitarian cultures does not negate the need for unity between them, which can be achieved only through their direct interaction. Today, both in natural science and in the humanities, integration processes are intensifying due to general research methods; in this process, the technical equipment of humanitarian research is enriched. This establishes links between the humanities and the natural sciences, which are also interested in this. So, for example, the results of logical and linguistic research are used in the development of information tools for natural science. Joint developments of natural scientists and humanitarians in the field of ethical and legal problems of science are gaining more and more importance.
In recent years, under the influence of advances in technical progress and such a general scientific method of research as the systems approach, the former confrontation between natural scientists and humanities has significantly weakened. Humanitarians understood the importance and necessity of using in their knowledge not only the technical and informational means of natural science and the exact sciences, but also effective scientific research methods that originally arose within the framework of natural science. The experimental method of research from natural sciences penetrates into the humanities (sociology, psychology); in turn, naturalists are increasingly turning to the experience of humanitarian knowledge. Thus, we can talk about the humanization of natural science and the scientization of humanitarian knowledge, which are actively occurring today and are gradually blurring the boundaries between the two cultures.
1.3. Scientific knowledge criteria
Throughout its history, mankind has accumulated a huge amount of knowledge about the world, different in nature. In it, along with scientific knowledge, there are religious, mythological, everyday knowledge, etc. The existence of various types of knowledge raises the question of the criteria that make it possible to distinguish scientific knowledge from non-scientific. In modern science of science, it is customary to distinguish four main criteria of scientific knowledge.
The first of them is consistency knowledge, according to which science has a certain structure, and is not an incoherent set of separate parts. The system, in contrast to the amount, is characterized by internal unity, the impossibility of withdrawing or adding any elements to its structure without good reason. Scientific knowledge always acts as definite systems; in these systems there are initial principles, fundamental concepts (axioms), as well as knowledge derived from these principles and concepts according to the laws of logic. On the basis of the accepted initial principles and concepts, new knowledge is substantiated, new facts, results of experiments, observations, measurements are interpreted. A chaotic set of correct statements, not systematized relative to each other, cannot be considered scientific knowledge in itself.
The second criterion of science is availability of a mechanism for obtaining new knowledge. This provides not only a proven method of practical and theoretical research, but also the presence of people specializing in this activity, relevant organizations, as well as the necessary materials, technologies and means of recording information. Science appears when objective conditions are created for this in society, there is a sufficiently high level of development of civilization.
The third criterion of scientific character - theoretical knowledge, defining goal of scientific knowledge. All scientific knowledge is organized in theories and concepts that are consistent with each other and with the dominant ideas about the objective world. After all, the ultimate goal of science is to obtain truth for the sake of truth itself, and not for the sake of a practical result. If science is aimed only at solving practical problems, it ceases to be a science in the full sense of the word. Science is based on fundamental research, pure interest in the world around us, and then applied research is based on them, if the level of development of technology allows. Thus, the scientific knowledge that existed in the East was used only in religious magical rituals and ceremonies, or in direct practical activities. Therefore, we cannot talk about the existence of science there for many centuries as an independent sphere of culture.
The fourth criterion for scientific character is rationality knowledge, that is, acquiring knowledge only on the basis of rational procedures. Unlike other types of knowledge, scientific knowledge is not limited to the statement of facts, but seeks to explain them, to make them understandable for the human mind. The rational style of thinking is based on the recognition of the existence of universal causal relationships accessible to the mind, as well as formal proof as the main means of substantiating knowledge. Today this position seems trivial, but the knowledge of the world mainly with the help of reason appeared only in Ancient Greece. Eastern civilization never adopted this specific European path, giving priority to intuition and supersensible perception.
For science, starting from the New Age, an additional, fifth criterion of scientific character is introduced. This presence experimental research method, mathematization of science, which connected science with practice, created a modern civilization focused on the conscious transformation of the surrounding world in the interests of man.
Using the above criteria, you can always distinguish between scientific knowledge and unscientific (pseudoscience). This is especially important today, since pseudoscience, which has always existed alongside science, has recently attracted an increasing number of supporters.
The structure of pseudoscientific knowledge is usually not of a systemic nature, but rather fragmented. Pseudoscience is characterized by an uncritical analysis of the initial data (myths, legends, stories of third parties), disregard for conflicting facts, and often direct manipulation of facts.
Despite this, pseudoscience is enjoying success. There are appropriate grounds for this. One of them is the fundamental incompleteness of the scientific worldview, which leaves room for conjectures and inventions. But if earlier these voids were mainly filled with religion, today their place is taken by pseudoscience, whose arguments, if wrong, are clear to everyone. Pseudoscientific explanations are more accessible to an ordinary person than dry scientific reasoning, which is often impossible to understand without special education. Therefore, the roots of pseudoscience lie in the very nature of man.
The first are relict pseudosciences, among which are well-known astrology and alchemy. Once they were a source of knowledge about the world, a breeding ground for the birth of true science. They became pseudosciences after the advent of chemistry and astronomy.
In modern times, appeared occult pseudosciences -spiritualism, mesmerism, parapsychology. Common to them is the recognition of the existence of the otherworldly (astral) world, which does not obey physical laws. It is believed that this is the highest world in relation to us, in which any miracles are possible. You can communicate with this world through mediums, psychics, telepaths, while various paranormal phenomena arise, which become the subject of pseudoscience study.
In the XX century appeared modernist pseudosciences, in which the mystical basis of the old pseudosciences was transformed under the influence of science fiction. Among these sciences, the leading place belongs to ufology, which studies UFOs.
How can one separate genuine science from counterfeits? For this, the methodologists of science, in addition to the already named criteria of scientific character, formulated several most important principles.
The first one is verification principle (practical confirmation): if a concept or judgment is reducible to direct experience (i.e. empirically verifiable), then it makes sense. In other words, scientific knowledge can be tested for compliance with experience, and unscientific knowledge is not available for such verification.
Distinguish between direct verification, when there is a direct verification of statements, and indirect, when a logical relationship is established between indirectly verified statements. Since the concepts of a developed scientific theory, as a rule, are difficult to reduce to experimental data, indirect verification is used for them, which asserts: if it is impossible to experimentally confirm some concept or judgment of the theory, one can limit ourselves to experimental confirmation of the conclusions from them. For example, the concept of "quark" was introduced in physics back in the 1930s, but such a particle of matter could not be detected in experiments. At the same time, quark theory predicted a number of phenomena that allowed experimental verification, during which the expected results were obtained. This indirectly confirmed the existence of quarks.
Immediately after its appearance, the verification principle was sharply criticized by its opponents. The essence of the objections boiled down to the fact that science cannot develop only on the basis of experience, since it presupposes the obtaining of such results that cannot be reduced to experience and cannot be directly derived from it. In science, there are formulations of laws that cannot be verified using the verification criterion. In addition, the very principle of verifiability is "unverifiable", that is, it should be classified as meaningless, subject to exclusion from the system of scientific statements.
In response to this criticism, scientists proposed another criterion for distinguishing between scientific and non-scientific knowledge - the principle of falsification, formulated by the greatest philosopher and methodologist of science of the XX century. K. Popper. In accordance with this principle, only fundamentally refutable (falsified) knowledge can be considered scientific. It has long been known that no amount of experimental evidence is sufficient to prove a theory. So, we can observe as many examples as we like that every minute confirm the law of universal gravitation. But one example is enough (for example, a stone that did not fall to the ground, but flew away from the ground) to recognize this law as false. Therefore, a scientist should direct all his efforts not to search for another experimental proof of a hypothesis or theory formulated by him, but to an attempt to refute his statement; a critical desire to refute a scientific theory is the most effective way to confirm its scientific nature and truth. A critical refutation of the conclusions and statements of science does not allow it to stagnate, is the most important source of its growth, although it makes any scientific knowledge hypothetical, depriving it of completeness and absoluteness.
The falsification criterion has also been criticized. It was argued that the principle of falsifiability is insufficient, since it is inapplicable to those provisions of science that cannot be compared with experience. Moreover, actual scientific practice contradicts the immediate abandonment of a theory if a single empirical fact contradicting it is found.
In fact, true science is not afraid to make mistakes, to recognize its previous conclusions as false. If some concept, for all its pseudoscience, claims that it cannot be refuted, denies the very possibility of a different interpretation of any facts, this indicates that we are faced not with science, but with pseudoscience.
1.4. The structure of scientific knowledge
The term "science" is usually understood as a special sphere of human activity, the main purpose of which is the development and theoretical systematization of objective knowledge about all aspects and areas of reality. With this understanding of the essence of science, it is a system, the diverse elements of which are interconnected by common worldview and methodological foundations. The elements of the system of science are various natural, social, humanitarian and technical scientific disciplines (individual sciences). Modern science includes more than 15,000 different disciplines, and the number of professional scientists in the world has exceeded 5 million. Therefore, science today has a complex structure that can be considered in several aspects.
In modern science of science, the main basis for the classification of scientific disciplines is the subject of research. Depending on the sphere of being, which acts as the subject of science research, it is customary to distinguish between natural (a complex of natural sciences), social (sciences about the types and forms of social life) and humanitarian (studying a person as a thinking being) sciences. This classification is based on the division of the world around us into three areas: nature, society and man. Each of these spheres is studied by the corresponding group of sciences, and each group, in turn, is a complex complex of many interacting independent sciences.
Thus, natural science, the subject of which is nature as a whole, includes physics, chemistry, biology, earth sciences, astronomy, cosmology, etc. Social science is economic sciences, law, sociology, political science. The complex of the humanities is formed by psychology, logic, cultural studies, linguistics, art history, etc. Mathematics occupies a special place, which, contrary to the widespread misconception, is not part of natural science. It is an interdisciplinary science that is used by both the natural sciences, social sciences and the humanities. Mathematics is often called the universal language of science; the special place of mathematics is determined by the subject of its research. This is the science of the quantitative relations of reality (all other sciences have as their subject some kind of qualitative aspect of reality), it has a more general, abstract character than all other sciences, it “does not care” what to count (see Table 1.1).
According to the orientation towards the practical application of the results, all sciences are combined into two large groups: fundamental and applied. Basic sciences -a system of knowledge about the most profound properties of objective reality, which does not have a pronounced practical orientation. Such sciences create theories that explain the foundations of human existence; the fundamental knowledge of these theories determines the characteristics of a person's idea of \u200b\u200bthe world and himself, that is, they are the basis for a scientific picture of the world. As a rule, fundamental research is conducted not because of external (social) needs, but because of internal (immanent) incentives; the fundamental sciences are characterized by axiological (value) neutrality. The discoveries and achievements of the fundamental sciences are decisive in the formation of a natural-scientific picture of the world, in a change in the paradigm of scientific thinking. In the fundamental sciences, basic models of cognition are developed, concepts, principles and laws that form the basis of applied sciences are identified. The fundamental sciences include mathematics, natural sciences (astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology, anthropology), social sciencies (history, economics, sociology, philosophy), humanities (philology, psychology, cultural studies).
Applied Science, on the contrary, they are viewed as a system of knowledge with a clearly expressed practical orientation. Based on the results of fundamental research, they focus on solving specific problems related to the interests of people. Applied sciences are ambivalent, that is, depending on the scope of application, they can provide both positive and negative impact per person, they are value-oriented. Applied sciences include technical disciplines, agronomy, medicine, pedagogy, etc.
There is a dichotomy (contradiction) between the fundamental and applied sciences, which has historical roots. In the process of conducting fundamental research, applied problems can be posed and solved, and conducting applied research often requires extensive use of fundamental developments, especially in interdisciplinary fields. However, this dichotomy is not fundamental, as can be seen from the analysis of the relationship between the natural and technical sciences. It is the development of technical sciences that clearly demonstrates the conventionality of the boundaries between fundamental and applied research.
1.5. Scientific picture of the world
In the process of cognition of the surrounding world, the results of cognition are reflected and fixed in the human mind in the form of knowledge, skills, skills, types of behavior and communication. The totality of the results of human cognitive activity forms a certain model, a picture of the world. In the history of mankind, a fairly large number of the most diverse pictures of the world were created and existed, each of which differed in its own vision of the world and its explanation. However, the broadest and most complete picture of the world is provided by the scientific picture of the world, which includes the most important achievements of science that create a certain understanding of the world and the place of man in it. The scientific picture of the world does not include private knowledge about the various properties of specific phenomena, about the details of the cognitive process itself; it is an integral system of ideas about the general properties, spheres, levels and patterns of reality. At its core, the scientific picture of the world is a special form of systematization of knowledge, qualitative generalization and ideological synthesis of various scientific theories.
Being an integral system of ideas about the general properties and laws of the objective world, the scientific picture of the world exists as a complex structure that includes component parts a general scientific picture of the world and a picture of the world of a separate science (physical, biological, geological, etc.). The picture of the world of a separate science, in turn, includes the corresponding numerous concepts - certain ways of understanding and interpreting any objects, phenomena and processes of the objective world.
The basis of the modern scientific picture of the world is the fundamental knowledge obtained primarily in the field of physics. However, in the last decades of the twentieth century. more and more the opinion is affirmed that biology occupies a leading position in the modern scientific picture of the world. This is expressed in the strengthening of the influence that biological knowledge has on the content of the scientific picture of the world. The ideas of biology are gradually gaining a universal character and become fundamental principles of other sciences. In particular, this is the idea of \u200b\u200bdevelopment, the penetration of which into cosmology, physics, chemistry, anthropology, sociology, etc. has led to a significant change in man's outlook on the world.
The concept of a scientific picture of the world is one of the fundamental concepts in natural science. Throughout its history, it has gone through several stages of development and, accordingly, the formation of scientific pictures of the world as a separate science or branch of sciences dominated, based on a new theoretical, methodological and axiological system of views, adopted as the basis for solving scientific problems. Such a system of scientific views and attitudes, shared by the overwhelming majority of scientists, is called a scientific paradigm.
With regard to science, the term "paradigm" in the general sense means a set of ideas, theories, methods, concepts and models for solving various scientific problems. At the paradigm level, the basic norms of differentiating scientific and unscientific knowledge are formed. As a result of the paradigm shift, there is a change in scientific standards. Theories formulated in different paradigms cannot be compared, since they are based on different standards of scientificity and rationality.
In science of science, it is customary to consider paradigms in two aspects: epistemic (theoretical and cognitive) and social. Epistemically, a paradigm is a collection of fundamental knowledge, values, beliefs and techniques that act as a model scientific activities... In social terms, the paradigm defines the integrity and boundaries of the scientific community that shares its main provisions.
During the period of the dominance of a paradigm in science, a relatively calm development of science occurs, but over time it is replaced by the formation of a new paradigm, which is affirmed through the scientific revolution, i.e., the transition to new system scientific values \u200b\u200band worldview. The philosophical concept of a paradigm is productive in describing the basic theoretical and methodological foundations of the scientific study of the world and is often used in the practice of modern science.
Table 1.1. Duration of some physical processes (sec)
Name: Concepts of modern natural science.
The textbook has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the State Educational Standard for Higher Professional Education in the discipline "Concepts of Modern Natural Science", which is included in the curricula of all humanitarian specialties of universities. The work presents a wide panorama of concepts that illuminate various processes and phenomena in animate and inanimate nature, describes modern scientific methods of understanding the world. The main attention is paid to the consideration of the concepts of modern natural science, which have an important ideological and methodological significance.
For students, graduate students and teachers of humanitarian faculties and universities, as well as everyone interested in the philosophical issues of natural science.
The proposed textbook was prepared in accordance with the State Educational Standard of Higher Professional Education and is intended for students of humanitarian specialties of universities.
It is well known that the modern education system must solve the problem of training highly qualified specialists with versatile and fundamental knowledge about the most diverse processes and phenomena of the surrounding world. Nowadays, society does not need specialists focused only on solving narrowly utilitarian problems. A highly qualified professional in demand in the labor market must have a broad outlook, skills to independently acquire new knowledge and critically reflect on it. In addition, he should have an idea of \u200b\u200bthe basic scientific concepts that explain the spatio-temporal relations of the objective world, the processes of self-organization in complex systems, such as animate and inanimate nature, the relationship of a person with the environment. natural environment and the place of man in the universe.
Table of contents
From author 3
Chapter 1. Science as part of culture 5
1.1. Science among other spheres of culture 5
1.2. Natural science and humanitarian culture 7
1.3. Criteria for Scientific Knowledge 11
1.4. The structure of scientific knowledge 15
1.5. Scientific picture of the world 17
Chapter 2. The structure and methods of scientific knowledge 20
2.1. Levels and forms of scientific knowledge 20
2.2. Methods of Scientific Knowledge 23
2.3. Special empirical methods of scientific knowledge 25
2.4. Special theoretical methods of scientific knowledge 27
2.5. Special universal methods of scientific knowledge 29
2.6. General scientific approaches 32
2.7. Systems approach 33
2.8. Global Evolutionism 38
Chapter 3. Fundamentals of Natural Science 49
3.1. Subject and structure of natural science 49
3.2. Natural History 53
3.3. The beginning of science 54
3.4. Global scientific revolution of the late 19th - early 20th centuries 69
3.5. The main features of modern natural science as a science 71
Chapter 4. Physical picture of the world 75
4.1. The concept of the physical picture of the world 75
4.2. Mechanical world view 78
4.3. Electromagnetic picture of the world 81
4.4. Quantum field picture of the world 85
4.5. Relationship between dynamic and statistical laws 88
4.6. Principles modern physics 91
Chapter 5. Modern concepts of physics 96
5.1. Structural levels of organization of matter 96
5.2. Movement and physical interaction 106
5.3. Concepts of space and time in modern natural science 116
Chapter 6. Modern cosmological concepts 126
6.1. Cosmology and cosmogony 126
6.2. Cosmological models of the Universe 128
6.3. The Origin of the Universe - The Big Bang Concept 134
6.4. Structural Self-Organization of the Universe 138
6.5. Further complication of matter in the Universe 144
6.6. The problem of the existence and search of extraterrestrial civilizations 151
Chapter 7. Earth as a subject of natural science 157
7.1. The shape and size of the Earth 157
7.2. Earth among other planets of the solar system 159
7.3. Formation of the Earth 163
7.4. Geospheres of the Earth 170
7.5. Geodynamic Processes 179
Chapter 8. Modern concepts of chemistry 184
8.1. Specificity of chemistry as a science 184
8.2. The first level of chemical knowledge. The doctrine of the composition of matter 186
8.3. Second level of chemical knowledge. Structural Chemistry 193
8.4. The third level of chemical knowledge. The doctrine of the chemical process 197
8.5. The fourth level of chemical knowledge. Evolutionary chemistry 205
Chapter 9. Structural Living Standards 212
9.1. The structure of biological knowledge 212
9.2. Structural levels of organization of life 218
Chapter 10. The origin and essence of life 243
10.1. Essence of Life 243
10.2. Basic concepts of the origin of life 249
10.3. The current state of the problem of the origin of life 257
10.4. The emergence of life on Earth 260
10.5. Formation and development of the Earth's biosphere 267
10.6. The emergence of the plant and animal kingdoms 271
Chapter 11. Theory of the evolution of the organic world 278
11.1. Formation of the idea of \u200b\u200bdevelopment in biology 278
11.2. Charles Darwin's theory of evolution 284
11.3. Further development evolutionary theory. Anti-Darwinism 289
11.4. Fundamentals of Genetics 295
11.5. Synthetic theory of evolution 301
Chapter 12. Man as a subject of natural science 308
12.1. Human Origins Concepts 308
12.2. Similarities and differences between humans and animals 321
12.3. The essence of man. Biological and social in man 332
12.4. Ethology of Human Behavior 336
Chapter 13. The Phenomenon of Man in Modern Science 340
13.1. Essence and origins human consciousness 340
13.2. Human emotions 350
13.3. Human health, performance and creativity 353
13.4. Bioethics 365
Chapter 14. Man and the Biosphere 372
14.1. The concept and essence of the biosphere 372
14.2. Biosphere and space 376
14.3. Man and Space 378
14.4. Man and Nature 383
14.5. The concept of the noosphere by V.I. Vernadsky 393
14.6. Environmental protection 397
14.7. Rational use of natural resources 401
14.8. Anthropic principle in modern science 407
Conclusion 413
Bibliography 414
Questions for the exam (credit) for the course
"Concepts of modern natural science" 415
Glossary 416
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A.P. Sadokhin
Concepts of modern natural science
Tutorial
Introduction
Modern science unites more than a thousand different scientific disciplines, each of which contains special theories, concepts, methods of cognition and experimental techniques. Achievements of science lay the foundations of a person's worldview. In this process, one of the main places belongs to natural scientific knowledge, which is formed by a whole group of natural sciences that create a holistic and adequate idea of \u200b\u200bthe objective world.
At the same time, the current level of development of society makes increased demands on the level of professional training of specialists, in which a significant place belongs to natural science knowledge. Today society needs specialists who are focused not only on solving utilitarian problems within the framework of the knowledge gained during training. Modern requirements for a specialist are based on his ability to constantly improve his qualifications, the desire to keep abreast of the latest achievements in the profession, the ability to creatively adapt them to his work. The educational system is faced with the task of training highly qualified specialists with fundamental, versatile knowledge about various processes and phenomena of the surrounding world. For this purpose, the curricula of higher educational institutions include such disciplines and lecture courses that should form a student's broad ideological orientations and attitudes, help him to more fully master the scientific picture of the world and the chosen profession. The course "Concepts of modern natural science" is intended to realize these goals.
This discipline does not imply a deep and detailed study of all natural laws and processes, phenomena and facts, methods and experiments. The purpose of the course is to familiarize oneself with the basic provisions and the current state of development of the natural sciences, which help to form an idea of \u200b\u200bthe complete picture of the surrounding world, a person's place in it, and to understand the problems of society development.
The key word of the course is the concept of "concept" (from lat. conception - understanding, explanation), which means a relatively systemic explanation or understanding of some phenomena or events. As applied to this training course, it presupposes a popular meaningful description of natural science knowledge that forms a general picture of the world in the mind of a person. Various natural-scientific ideas about the structure of the world represent the basic knowledge necessary to understand the world in accordance with the level of knowledge of each era. In addition, without natural science knowledge, it is difficult to understand not only the development of technology and technology, but also the development of society and culture.
The course "Concepts of Modern Natural Science" covers the main problems, ideas and theories of natural sciences, scientific principles of cognition, methodology, models and results of modern natural science, which together make up the scientific picture of the world. In this regard, the task of the course is to form knowledge about interdisciplinary, general scientific approaches and methods, develop systems thinking in the course of analyzing the problems of modern natural science, expanding the cognitive horizons of students by going beyond the boundaries of their narrow professional interests.
As a result of studying the discipline, students should receive knowledge that allows them to take into account in their further professional activities the fundamental laws of nature and the main methods of research, as well as information about the most important historical stages and ways of development of natural science.
The manual has been prepared in accordance with the State Educational Standard of Higher Professional Education, which is introduced into the curricula for students of all humanitarian specialties. It is based on previously published textbooks and lecture courses given by the author in various universities.
The experience of teaching this discipline to students of different humanitarian specialties shows that one should not present the material of the natural sciences, delving into "technical details", if this is not justified by the general concept and methodological approach to the presentation of the subject. The author saw his main task as making the presentation of the material available for assimilation by future specialists, for whom natural science is not a professional discipline.
The range of humanitarian specialties in the higher education system is quite wide and diverse, therefore the author sought to give his work a universal character so that it would be useful for students of various humanitarian specialties - economists, psychologists, philosophers, historians, sociologists, managers, lawyers, etc. This orientation of the educational the manual assumes a conscious refusal to assimilate physical and chemical formulas, memorize numerous rules and laws and focus on the most important concepts of modern natural science, which are the foundation of the scientific picture of the world. The textbook is both a scientific and a popular publication, providing a quick and accessible introduction to a wide range of readers in the problems of natural sciences.
The author expresses gratitude to the reviewers and fellow lecturers for their valuable comments and recommendations expressed during the creation of the textbook, as well as to all interested readers for possible comments and suggestions.
Chapter 1. Science in the context of culture
1.1. Science as part of culture
Throughout their history, people have developed many ways of knowing and mastering the world around them. Among them, one of the most important places is occupied by science, the main purpose of which is to describe, explain and predict the processes of reality that make up the subject of its study. In the modern sense, science is considered as:
The highest form of human knowledge;
Social institution, consisting of various organizations and institutions engaged in obtaining new knowledge about the world;
Developing knowledge system;
The way of knowing the world;
A system of principles, categories, laws, techniques and methods for obtaining adequate knowledge;
An element of spiritual culture;
The system of spiritual activity and production.
All the above meanings of the term "science" are legitimate. But this ambiguity also means that science is a complex system designed to provide generalized holistic knowledge about the world. Moreover, this knowledge cannot be disclosed by any one separate science or a set of sciences.
To understand the specifics of science, it should be considered as part of a culture created by man, compared with other spheres of culture.
A specific feature of human life is the fact that it occurs simultaneously in two interrelated aspects - natural and cultural. Initially, a person is a living being, a product of nature, however, in order to exist in it comfortably and safely, he creates inside nature an artificial world of culture, a "second nature." Thus, a person exists in nature, interacts with it as a living organism, but at the same time "doubles" the external world, developing knowledge about it, creating images, models, assessments, household items, etc. It is such a thing-cognitive activity of a person and constitutes the cultural aspect of human existence.
Culture finds its embodiment in the objective results of activities, ways and methods of human existence, in various norms of behavior and various knowledge about the world around. The entire set of practical manifestations of culture is divided into two main groups: material and spiritual values. Material values \u200b\u200bform material culture, and the world of spiritual values, which includes science, art, religion, forms the world of spiritual culture.
Spiritual culture encompasses the spiritual life of society, its social experience and results, which appear in the form of ideas, scientific theories, artistic images, moral and legal norms, political and religious beliefs and other elements of the human spiritual world.
Science is an integral part of culture, which determines many important aspects of society and human life. She, like other spheres of culture, has its own tasks that distinguish them from each other. So, the economy is the foundation that provides all the activities of society, it arises on the basis of a person's ability to work. Morality regulates relations between people in society, which is very important for a person who cannot live outside of society and must limit his own freedom in the name of the survival of the entire collective. Religion arises from a person's need for comfort in situations that cannot be solved rationally (for example, the death of loved ones, illness, unhappy love, etc.).