Means and results of scientific knowledge. Means and methods of knowledge

Science is a specific activity of people, the main purpose of which is to obtain knowledge about reality. Knowledge is the main product scientific activity. The products of science also include the style of rationality, which spreads to all spheres of human activity; and various devices, installations and methods used outside of science, primarily in production. Scientific activity is also a source of moral values.

Although science is focused on obtaining true knowledge about reality, science and truth are not identical. True knowledge can also be unscientific. It can be obtained in a variety of areas of human activity: in everyday life, economics, politics, art, engineering. Unlike science, obtaining knowledge about reality is not the main, defining goal of these areas of activity (in art, for example, such a main goal is new artistic values, in engineering - technologies, inventions, in economics - efficiency, etc.).

It is important to emphasize that the definition of "unscientific" does not imply a negative assessment. Scientific activity is specific. Other spheres of human activity - everyday life, art, economics, politics, etc. - each have their own purpose, their own goals. The role of science in the life of society is growing, but scientific justification is not always and everywhere possible and appropriate.

The history of science shows that scientific knowledge is not always true. The concept of "scientific" is often used in situations that do not guarantee the receipt of true knowledge, especially when it comes to theories. Many (if not most) scientific theories have been refuted in the course of the development of science.

Science does not recognize parascientific concepts: alchemy, astrology, parapsychology, ufology, torsion fields, etc. She does not recognize these concepts, not because she does not want to, but because she cannot, because, according to T. Huxley, "accepting something on faith, science commits suicide." And there are no reliable, precisely established facts in such concepts. Coincidences are possible. However, parascientific concepts and objects of parascience can sometimes be transformed into scientific concepts and objects of science. This requires the reproducibility of experimental results, the use of scientific concepts in the creation of theories and the predictiveness of the latter. For example, alchemy, as a parascience of the transformation of elements, has found a "continuation" in the modern scientific field associated with the radioactive transformation of elements.

Regarding such problems, F. Bacon wrote as follows: “And therefore, the one who, when they showed him the image of those who escaped shipwreck by taking a vow, displayed in the temple and at the same time sought an answer, did he now recognize the power of the gods, asked in turn: “And where is the image of those who died after they made a vow?” This is the basis of almost all superstitions - in astrology, in beliefs, in predictions, and the like. without attention they pass by the one that deceived, although the latter happens much more often. Meanwhile, at the present time, as before, there are a number of hard-to-explain phenomena and objects that can be transformed from the field of parascience or faith into the subject of scientific knowledge. For example, the well-known problem of the Shroud of Turin. According to legend, the imprint of the body of the founder of the Christian religion was preserved on it, and the nature of this imprint was still unknown. The results of scientific research, obtained using computer processing of three-dimensional images of this print and published in the scientific press, clearly show that it arose as a result of interaction with the fabric of the shroud of a powerful energy impulse, the source of which was inside the shroud. The nature of this source remains a mystery requiring further scientific research.

Important features of the appearance of modern science are related to the fact that today it is a profession. Until recently, science was the free activity of individual scientists. It was not a profession and was not specially funded in any way. As a rule, scientists provided for their lives by paying for their teaching work at universities. Today, however, a scientist is a special profession. In the 20th century, the concept of "scientific worker" appeared. Now in the world about 5 million people are professionally engaged in science.

The development of science is characterized by confrontations various directions. New ideas and theories are established in a tense struggle. M. Planck said on this occasion: "Usually new scientific truths do not win in such a way that their opponents are convinced and they admit they are wrong, but for the most part in such a way that these opponents gradually die out, and the younger generation assimilate the truth immediately." The development of science takes place in the constant struggle of different opinions, directions, the struggle for the recognition of ideas.

What are the criteria for scientific knowledge, its characteristics?

One of the important distinctive qualities of scientific knowledge is its systematization. It is one of the criteria of scientific character. But knowledge can be systematized not only in science. Cookbook, phone book, travel atlas, etc. and so on. - everywhere knowledge is classified and systematized. Scientific systematization is specific. It is characterized by a desire for completeness, consistency, clear grounds for systematization and, most importantly, an internal, scientifically based logic for building this systematization.

Scientific knowledge as a system has a certain structure, the elements of which are facts, laws, theories, pictures of the world. Separate scientific disciplines are interconnected and interdependent. The desire for validity, evidence of knowledge is an important criterion of scientific character. Justification of knowledge, bringing it into a single system has always been characteristic of science. The very emergence of science is sometimes associated with the desire for evidence-based knowledge. Apply different ways substantiation of scientific knowledge. To substantiate empirical knowledge, multiple checks, the use of various experimental methods, statistical processing of experimental results, reference to homogeneous experimental results, etc. are used. When substantiating theoretical concepts, their consistency, compliance with empirical data, and the ability to describe and predict phenomena are checked.

Science appreciates original, "crazy" ideas that allow a completely new look at the known range of phenomena. But the orientation towards innovations is combined in it with the desire to eliminate from the results of scientific activity everything subjective, associated with the specifics of the scientist himself. This is one of the differences between science and art. If the artist had not created his creation, then it simply would not exist. But if a scientist, even a great one, had not created a theory, then it would still have been created, because it is a necessary stage in the development of science, it is a reflection of the objective world. This explains the often observed simultaneous creation of a certain theory by different scientists. Gauss and Lobachevsky - the creators of non-Euclidean geometry, Poincare and Einstein - the theory of relativity, etc.

Although scientific activity is specific, it uses reasoning techniques used by people in other areas of activity, in everyday life. Any type of human activity is characterized by reasoning techniques that are also used in science, namely: induction and deduction, analysis and synthesis, abstraction and generalization, idealization, description, explanation, prediction, hypothesis, confirmation, refutation, etc.

The main methods of obtaining empirical knowledge in science are observation and experiment.

Observation is such a method of obtaining empirical knowledge, in which the main thing is not to make any changes in the studied reality during the study by the process of observation itself.

In contrast to observation, in the framework of an experiment, the phenomenon under study is placed in special conditions. As F. Bacon wrote, "the nature of things reveals itself better in a state of artificial constraint than in natural freedom."

It is important to emphasize that empirical research cannot begin without a certain theoretical attitude. Although they say that facts are the air of a scientist, nevertheless, comprehension of reality is impossible without theoretical constructions. IP Pavlov wrote about this as follows: "... every moment a certain general idea of the subject is required in order to have something to cling to the facts ...".

The tasks of science are by no means reduced to the collection of factual material. Scientific theories do not appear as direct generalizations of empirical facts. As A. Einstein wrote, "no logical path leads from observations to the basic principles of the theory." Theories arise in the complex interaction of theoretical thinking and empirical knowledge, in the course of resolving purely theoretical problems, in the process of interaction between science and culture in general. When constructing a theory, scientists use various ways theoretical thinking. In the course of a thought experiment, the theorist, as it were, plays out the possible behaviors of the idealized objects developed by him. One of the most important thought experiments in the history of natural science is contained in Galileo's critique of the Aristotelian theory of motion. He refutes Aristotle's assumption that the natural rate of fall of a heavier body is higher than that of a lighter body. “If we take two falling bodies,” Galileo argues, “whose natural velocities are different, and we combine the body moving faster with the body moving slower, then it is clear that the motion of the body falling faster will slow down, and the motion of the other body will accelerate” . Thus, the total speed will be less than the speed of one rapidly falling body. However, two bodies connected together make up a body larger than the original body, which had a greater speed, which means that the heavier body moves at a slower speed than the lighter one, and this contradicts the assumption. Since the Aristotelian assumption was one of the premises of the proof, it has now been refuted: its absurdity has been proven. Another example of a thought experiment is the development of the idea of the atomism of the world in ancient Greek philosophy, which consists in the sequential cutting of a piece of a substance into two halves. As a result of repeated repetition of this action, it is necessary to choose between the complete disappearance of matter (which, of course, is impossible) and the smallest indivisible particle - an atom. Closer thought experiments are the Carnot cycle in thermodynamics, and more recently thought experiments in the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, in particular, in Einstein's justification of general and special relativity.

A mathematical experiment is a modern version of a thought experiment in which possible consequences variations of conditions in the mathematical model are calculated on computers. An example is the Monte Carlo method, which makes it possible to mathematically model random processes (diffusion, scattering of electrons in solids, detection, communication, etc.) and, in general, any processes that are influenced by random factors, namely, the estimation of some integral using the average the value of the integrand of some random variable with a known distribution function. In this case, it is sufficient to compare a limited number of experimental data with a practically unlimited set of calculated values obtained by changing a large number of parameters in order to confirm the correctness of the mathematical experiment.

Of great importance for scientists, especially for theorists, is the philosophical understanding of the established cognitive traditions, the consideration of the studied reality in the context of the picture of the world. Appeal to philosophy is especially important at critical stages in the development of science. Great scientific achievements have always been associated with the advancement of philosophical generalizations. Philosophy contributes to the effective description, explanation, and understanding of the reality of the studied science. Often philosophers themselves, as a result of comprehending the general picture of the world, come to fundamental conclusions that are of paramount importance for the natural sciences. It is enough to recall the teachings of the ancient Greek philosopher Democritus on the atomistic structure of substances or to name the famous work of G.F. Hegel's "Philosophy of Nature", which gives a philosophical generalization of the picture of the world. Historical meaning"Philosophy of Nature" consists in an attempt to rationally systematize and establish a connection between the individual stages of development of inorganic and organic nature. In particular, this allowed Hegel to predict the periodic system of elements: “You should have set yourself the task of knowing the indicators of the ratios of a series of specific gravity as a certain system arising from a rule that would specify the arithmetic multiplicity into a series of harmonic knots. The same requirement should have been set and knowledge of the above series of chemical affinity". In turn, the great naturalists, studying natural phenomena, rose to philosophical generalizations natural patterns. This is the universal complementarity principle formulated by N. Bohr: a more precise definition of one of the complementary characteristics of an object or phenomenon leads to a decrease in the accuracy of others. This principle is implemented in all methods that study nature, man, society. In quantum mechanics, it is known as the Heisenberg principle: . Another example is the duality of electromagnetic radiation: a manifestation of wave and corpuscular nature. Depending on the conditions of the experiment, matter exhibits its wave or corpuscular properties. For example, light behaves like an electromagnetic wave when interacting with a diffraction grating and is described by Maxwell's system of equations. In experiments on the external photoelectric effect, the Compton effect, light behaves like a particle (photon) with the energy formula "src="http://hi-edu.ru/e-books/xbook331/files/AD5.gif" border=" 0" align="absmiddle" alt="- frequency of electromagnetic radiation

With increasing frequency, Occam's razor ": the closer we are to the truth, the simpler the basic laws that describe it, or: do not multiply entities beyond what is necessary, that is, explain the facts in the simplest way.

The famous chemist and philosopher M. Polanyi showed at the end of the 50s of our century that the premises on which the scientist relies in his work cannot be fully expressed in language. Polanyi wrote: "That a large number of study time that students of chemistry, biology and medicine devote to practical training, testifies to the important role played in these disciplines by the transfer of practical knowledge and skills from teacher to student. From the foregoing, we can conclude that in the very center of science there are areas of practical knowledge that cannot be conveyed through formulations. "Polani called this type of knowledge implicit. This knowledge is transmitted not in the form of texts, but through direct demonstration of samples and direct communication in a scientific school.

The term "mentality" is used to refer to those layers of spiritual culture that are not expressed in the form of explicit knowledge, but, nevertheless, significantly determine the face of a particular era or people. But any science has its own mentality, which distinguishes it from other areas of scientific knowledge, but is closely related to the mentality of the era.

The most important means of preserving and spreading the scientific mentality are the migration of scientists to work from laboratory to laboratory, preferably not only within the same country, and the creation and support of scientific schools. Only in scientific schools can young scientists acquire scientific experience, knowledge, methodology and mentality of scientific creativity. As an example, in physics we can mention the mighty Rutherford schools abroad and the school of A.F. Joffe in our country. The destruction of scientific schools leads to the complete destruction of scientific traditions and science itself.

Under the term<наука>usually understood as the sphere of human activity, the function of which is the development and theoretical systematization of objective knowledge about reality. At present, science has become a direct productive force and the most important social institution which affects all spheres of society.

To understand the essence and meaning of scientific knowledge, it is important to understand one particular feature of science. If in art and literature this or that work is so closely connected with the author who created it, that without this author the work would simply not exist, then in science the situation is fundamentally different. Theories of I. Newton, C. Darwin, A. Einstein, etc. reflect the personality traits of their creators, who made brilliant discoveries in the field of natural science. However, these theories would have appeared sooner or later anyway, since they constitute a necessary stage in the development of science. This is evidenced by facts from the history of science, when different scientists come to the same ideas independently of each other.

Scientific knowledge is built and organized according to certain laws, which are the expression of its essence and meaning. So, let's consider the distinctive qualities of scientific knowledge:

1) Systematization. The scientific systematization of knowledge is characterized by a desire for completeness, a clear understanding of the foundations of systematization and their consistency. The system, unlike the sum of certain elements, is characterized by internal unity, the impossibility of removing or adding any elements to its structure without good reason. Scientific knowledge always acts as certain systems, their elements are the initial principles, fundamental concepts (axioms), as well as knowledge derived from these principles and concepts according to the laws of logic.
2) Validity, conclusiveness of the knowledge obtained are characteristic features of scientific character. The most important ways to substantiate empirical knowledge are verification by observations and experiments, reference to primary sources, statistical data. When substantiating theoretical concepts, the mandatory requirements for them are their consistency, compliance with empirical data, the ability to describe known phenomena and predict new ones. Substantiation of scientific knowledge, bringing it into a coherent, unified system, in my opinion, is the most important factor in the development of science.
3) Theoretic nature of knowledge involves obtaining 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 science in the full sense of the word. At the heart of science are fundamental research, pure interest in the surrounding world, and then applied research is carried out on their basis, if they are allowed by the existing level of technological development. So, in the Ancient East, scientific knowledge was used only in religious magical rituals and ceremonies or in direct practical activity, therefore, in this case, we cannot speak of the existence of science as an independent sphere of culture.
4) Rationality of knowledge. 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 justifying knowledge. Today this position seems trivial, but the knowledge of the world mainly with the help of the mind appeared only in Ancient Greece. Eastern civilization never adopted this specifically European path, giving priority to intuition and extrasensory perception.
5) Immediate goal and highest value scientific knowledge- objective truth, comprehended mainly by rational means and methods, but of course, not without the participation of living contemplation and non-rational means. Hence the characteristic feature of scientific knowledge - objectivity and intersubjectivity, the elimination of subjective moments not inherent in the subject of research for the implementation of the "purity" of its consideration. For example, A. Einstein's formula E = mc2 says nothing about the individuality of its author, his feelings and experiences. This formula expresses the objective fact of the connection between the mass of a material body and the energy concentrated in it. At the same time, in my opinion, it should be borne in mind that the activity of the subject - essential condition and the premise of scientific knowledge. The latter is impossible without a constructive-critical and self-critical attitude of the subject to reality and to himself, excluding inertia, dogmatism, apologetics, subjectivism. Constant orientation towards truth, recognition of its intrinsic value, continuous search for it in difficult and complex conditions is an essential characteristic of scientific knowledge.
6) Internal consistency and external justification (A. Einstein's criterion). External justification means that scientific knowledge should not be speculative, it should explain the phenomena of the objective world. This criterion also applies to mathematics, in which external justification means the orientation of mathematical knowledge towards solving problems of mathematical content.

Also, the essential features of scientific knowledge are the principles of verifiability and falsification. According to the principle of verification, a certain concept or judgment has a meaning if it is reducible to direct experience or a statement about it, i.e. empirically verifiable. A distinction is made between direct verification, when there is a direct verification of statements formulating observational and experimental data, and indirect verification. Using the principle of verification makes it possible to separate scientific and non-scientific knowledge, but it does not cope well with its task if some system of representations is built in such a way that almost any observed fact can be explained in its favor (religion, ideology, astrology, etc.). ).

The principle of falsification was proposed by the well-known methodologist of science of the 20th century. K. Popper; the essence of this principle is that the criterion of the scientific status of a theory is its falsifiability, or refutation, i.e. experiments aimed at trying to disprove a certain theory most effectively confirm its truth and scientific character. So, if all the crows you know are dark in color, then, following this principle, direct your search not to find another dark crow, but look for a white crow among them. Another case - we can observe as many examples as we like, every minute confirming the law of universal gravitation. But only one example (for example, a stone that fell not on the ground, but flew away from the ground) is enough to recognize this law as false. The importance of the principle of falsification is due to the following. It's easy to get confirmations, or verifications, for almost every theory if you only look for confirmations. According to Popper, each<хорошая>scientific theory is a kind of prohibition - it<запрещает>occurrence of certain events. The more a theory forbids, the better it is. A theory that is not refuted by any conceivable event is unscientific; it can be said that irrefutability is not a virtue of a theory, but its vice. Every real test of a theory is an attempt to falsify (refute) it.

So, the main meaning of scientific knowledge is the discovery of the objective laws of reality - natural, social (social), the laws of cognition itself, thinking, etc. form of idealized objects. If this is not the case, then there is no science, because the very concept of scientificity presupposes the discovery of laws, a deepening into the essence of the phenomena being studied.

On the basis of knowledge of the laws of functioning and development of the objects under study, science predicts the future in order to further the practical development of reality. The focus of science on the study of not only objects that are transformed in today's practice, but also those that can become the subject of practical development in the future, is also an important function of scientific knowledge.

It should be noted that there are practically no publications that systematically disclose the means and methods of activity. The material about them is scattered across various sources. Therefore, we decided to consider this issue in sufficient detail and try to build the means and methods of scientific research in a certain system. In addition, the means and most of the methods relate not only to scientific, but also to practical activities, to learning activities etc.

2.2.1 Means of scientific research (means of knowledge).

In the course of the development of science, the means of cognition are developed and improved: material, mathematical, logical, linguistic . In addition, in recent times, it is obviously necessary to add information tools to them as a special class. All means of cognition are specially created means. In this sense, material, informational, mathematical, logical, linguistic means of cognition have a common property: they are designed, created, developed, substantiated for certain cognitive purposes.

Material means of knowledge These are, first of all, devices for scientific research. In history, the emergence of material means of cognition is associated with the formation empirical research methods - observation, measurement, experiment.

These funds are directly aimed at the objects under study, they own the main role in the empirical testing of hypotheses and other results of scientific research, in the discovery of new objects, facts. The use of material means of cognition in science in general - a microscope, a telescope, a synchrophasotron, satellites of the Earth, etc. - has a profound influence on the formation of the conceptual apparatus of sciences, on the ways of describing the subjects studied, the methods of reasoning and ideas, on the generalizations, idealizations and arguments used.

Information means of knowledge . Mass introduction of computer technology, information technologies, means of telecommunications radically transforms research activities in many branches of science, making them the means of scientific knowledge. In particular, in recent decades, computer technology has been widely used to automate experiments in physics, biology, technical sciences, etc., which allows hundreds, thousands of times to simplify research procedures and reduce data processing time. In addition, information tools can significantly simplify the processing of statistical data in almost all branches of science. And the use of satellite navigation systems greatly increases the accuracy of measurements in geodesy, cartography, etc.

Mathematical means of knowledge . The development of mathematical means of cognition has an ever greater influence on the development of modern science; they also penetrate into the humanities and social sciences.

Mathematics, being the science of quantitative relations and spatial forms abstracted from their specific content, has developed and applied specific means of abstracting form from content and formulated the rules for considering form as an independent object in the form of numbers, sets, etc., which simplifies, facilitates and accelerates the process of cognition, allows you to more deeply reveal the connection between objects from which the form is abstracted, to isolate the initial positions, to ensure the accuracy and rigor of judgments. Mathematical tools make it possible to consider not only directly abstracted quantitative relations and spatial forms, but also logically possible ones, that is, those that are derived according to logical rules from previously known relations and forms.

Under the influence of mathematical means of cognition, the theoretical apparatus of the descriptive sciences undergoes significant changes. Mathematical tools make it possible to systematize empirical data, identify and formulate quantitative dependencies and patterns. Mathematical tools are also used as special forms of idealization and analogy (mathematical modeling).

Logical means of knowledge . In any study, the scientist must decide logical tasks:

What logical requirements must be met? reasoning, allowing to make objectively true conclusions; how to control the nature of these reasoning?

What logical requirements must be met? description empirically observed characteristics?

how logically analyze initial systems of scientific knowledge, how to coordinate some knowledge systems with other knowledge systems (for example, in sociology and closely related psychology)?

- how build a scientific theory , allowing to give scientific explanations, predictions, etc.?

The use of logical means in the process of constructing reasoning and evidence allows the researcher to separate controlled arguments from intuitive or uncritically accepted, false from true, confusion from contradictions.

Language means of knowledge . An important linguistic means of cognition are, among other things, the rules for constructing definitions of concepts ( definitions ). In any scientific research, the scientist has to clarify the introduced concepts, symbols and signs, to use new concepts and signs. Definitions are always associated with language as a means of cognition and expression of knowledge.

The rules for using languages, both natural and artificial, with the help of which the researcher builds his reasoning and evidence, formulates hypotheses, draws conclusions, etc., are the starting point for cognitive actions. Knowledge of them has a great influence on the effectiveness of the use of linguistic means of cognition in scientific research.

Along with the means of cognition are the methods of scientific cognition (methods of research).

Means and methods are the most important components of the logical structure of the organization of activities. Therefore, they constitute a major section of methodology as a doctrine of the organization of activities.
It should be noted that there are practically no publications that systematically disclose the means and methods of activity. The material about them is scattered across various sources. Therefore, we decided to consider this issue in sufficient detail and try to build the means and methods of scientific research in a certain system. In addition, the means and most of the methods relate not only to scientific, but also to practical activities, to educational activities, etc.
Means of scientific research (means of knowledge). In the course of the development of science, means of cognition are developed and improved: material, mathematical, logical, linguistic. In addition, in recent times, it is obviously necessary to add information tools to them as a special class. All means of cognition are specially created means. In this sense, material, informational, mathematical, logical, linguistic means of cognition have a common property: they are designed, created, developed, substantiated for certain cognitive purposes.
Material means of cognition are, first of all, instruments for scientific research. In history, the emergence of material means of cognition is associated with the formation of empirical methods of research - observation, measurement, experiment.
These funds are directly aimed at the objects under study, they play the main role in the empirical testing of hypotheses and other results of scientific research, in the discovery of new objects, facts. The use of material means of cognition in science in general - a microscope, a telescope, a synchrophasotron, satellites of the Earth, etc. - has a profound influence on the formation of the conceptual apparatus of sciences, on the ways of describing the subjects studied, the methods of reasoning and representations, on the generalizations, idealizations and arguments used.
Information means of knowledge. The mass introduction of computer technology, information technology, telecommunications fundamentally transforms research activities in many branches of science, making them the means of scientific knowledge. In particular, in recent decades, computer technology has been widely used to automate experiments in physics, biology, technical sciences, etc., which allows hundreds, thousands of times to simplify research procedures and reduce data processing time. In addition, information tools can significantly simplify the processing of statistical data in almost all branches of science. And the use of satellite navigation systems greatly increases the accuracy of measurements in geodesy, cartography, etc.
Mathematical means of knowledge. The development of mathematical means of cognition has an ever greater influence on the development of modern science; they also penetrate into the humanities and social sciences.
Mathematics, being the science of quantitative relations and spatial forms abstracted from their specific content, has developed and applied specific means of abstracting form from content and formulated the rules for considering form as an independent object in the form of numbers, sets, etc., which simplifies, facilitates and accelerates the process of cognition, allows you to more deeply reveal the connection between objects from which the form is abstracted, to isolate the initial positions, to ensure the accuracy and rigor of judgments. Mathematical tools make it possible to consider not only directly abstracted quantitative relations and spatial forms, but also logically possible ones, that is, those that are derived according to logical rules from previously known relations and forms.
Under the influence of mathematical means of cognition, the theoretical apparatus of the descriptive sciences undergoes significant changes. Mathematical tools make it possible to systematize empirical data, identify and formulate quantitative dependencies and patterns. Mathematical tools are also used as special forms of idealization and analogy (mathematical modeling).
Logical means of knowledge. In any study, the scientist has to solve logical problems:
- what logical requirements must satisfy the reasoning, allowing to make objectively true conclusions; how to control the nature of these reasoning?
- what logical requirements should satisfy the description of empirically observed characteristics?
- how to logically analyze the original systems of scientific knowledge, how to coordinate some knowledge systems with other knowledge systems (for example, in sociology and closely related psychology)?
- how to build a scientific theory that allows you to give scientific explanations, predictions, etc.?
The use of logical means in the process of constructing reasoning and evidence allows the researcher to separate controlled arguments from intuitive or uncritically accepted, false from true, confusion from contradictions.
Language means of knowledge. An important linguistic means of cognition are, among other things, the rules for constructing definitions of concepts (definitions). In any scientific research, the scientist has to clarify the introduced concepts, symbols and signs, to use new concepts and signs. Definitions are always associated with language as a means of cognition and expression of knowledge.
The rules for using languages, both natural and artificial, with the help of which the researcher builds his reasoning and evidence, formulates hypotheses, draws conclusions, etc., are the starting point for cognitive actions. Knowledge of them has a great influence on the effectiveness of the use of linguistic means of cognition in scientific research.
Along with the means of cognition are the methods of scientific cognition (methods of research).
Methods of scientific research. An essential, sometimes decisive role in the construction of any scientific work is played by the applied research methods.
Research methods are divided into empirical (empirical - literally - perceived through the senses) and theoretical (see Table. 3).
Regarding research methods, the following circumstance should be noted. In the literature on epistemology and methodology, there is a kind of double division, a division of scientific methods, in particular, theoretical methods, everywhere. Thus, the dialectical method, theory (when it acts as a method - see below), the identification and resolution of contradictions, the construction of hypotheses, etc. It is customary to call them, without explaining why (at least, the authors of such explanations could not be found in the literature), methods of cognition. And such methods as analysis and synthesis, comparison, abstraction and concretization, etc., that is, the main mental operations, are methods of theoretical research.
A similar division takes place with empirical research methods. So, V.I. Zagvyazinsky divides empirical research methods into two groups:
1. Working, private methods. These include: the study of literature, documents and results of activities; observation; survey (oral and written); method of expert assessments; testing.
2. Complex, general methods, which are based on the use of one or more private methods: survey; monitoring; study and generalization of experience; experimental work; experiment.

However, the name of these groups of methods is probably not entirely successful, since it is difficult to answer the question: "private" - in relation to what? Similarly, "general" - in relation to what? The distinction, most likely, goes on a different basis.
It is possible to resolve this double division both in relation to theoretical and empirical methods from the standpoint of the structure of activity.
We consider methodology as a doctrine of the organization of activities. Then, if scientific research is a cycle of activity, then its structural units are directed actions. As you know, an action is a unit of activity, the distinguishing feature of which is the presence of a specific goal. The structural units of action are operations correlated with the objective-objective conditions for achieving the goal. The same goal, correlated with the action, can be achieved in different conditions; an action can be implemented by different operations. At the same time, the same operation can be included in different actions (A.N. Leontiev).
Based on this, we distinguish (see Table 3):
- methods-operations;
- action methods.
This approach does not contradict the definition of a method, which gives encyclopedic Dictionary :
- firstly, a method as a way to achieve a goal, solve a specific problem - a method-action;
- secondly, the method as a set of techniques or operations of practical or theoretical mastering of reality is a method-operation.
Thus, in the future we will consider research methods in the following grouping:
Theoretical methods:
- methods - cognitive actions: identifying and resolving contradictions, posing a problem, building a hypothesis, etc.;
- methods-operations: analysis, synthesis, comparison, abstraction and concretization, etc.
Empirical methods:
- methods - cognitive actions: examination, monitoring, experiment, etc.;
- methods-operations: observation, measurement, questioning, testing, etc.
Theoretical methods (methods-operations). Theoretical methods-operations have a wide field of application, both in scientific research and in practice.
Theoretical methods - operations are defined (considered) according to the main mental operations, which are: analysis and synthesis, comparison, abstraction and concretization, generalization, formalization, induction and deduction, idealization, analogy, modeling, thought experiment.
Analysis is the decomposition of the whole under study into parts, the selection of individual features and qualities of a phenomenon, process or relations of phenomena, processes. Analysis procedures are an integral part of any scientific research and usually form its first phase, when the researcher moves from an undivided description of the object under study to revealing its structure, composition, properties and features.
One and the same phenomenon, process can be analyzed in many aspects. A comprehensive analysis of the phenomenon allows you to consider it deeper.
Synthesis is the combination of various elements, aspects of an object into a single whole (system). Synthesis is not a simple summation, but a semantic connection. If we simply connect phenomena, no system of connections will arise between them, only a chaotic accumulation of individual facts is formed. Synthesis is the opposite of analysis, with which it is inextricably linked. Synthesis as a cognitive operation appears in various functions of theoretical research. Any process of formation of concepts is based on the unity of the processes of analysis and synthesis. Empirical data obtained in a particular study are synthesized during their theoretical generalization. In theoretical scientific knowledge, synthesis acts as a function of the relationship of theories related to the same subject area, as well as a function of combining competing theories (for example, the synthesis of corpuscular and wave representations in physics).
Synthesis also plays an important role in empirical research.
Analysis and synthesis are closely related. If the researcher has a more developed ability to analyze, there may be a danger that he will not be able to find a place for details in the phenomenon as a whole. The relative predominance of synthesis leads to superficiality, to the fact that details essential for the study, which may have great importance to understand the phenomenon as a whole.
Comparison is a cognitive operation that underlies judgments about the similarity or difference of objects. With the help of comparison, quantitative and qualitative characteristics of objects are revealed, their classification, ordering and evaluation are carried out. A comparison is a comparison of one with another. In this case, an important role is played by the bases, or signs of comparison, which determine the possible relationships between objects.
Comparison makes sense only in a set of homogeneous objects that form a class. Comparison of objects in a particular class is carried out according to the principles essential for this consideration. At the same time, objects that are comparable in one feature may not be comparable in other features. The more accurately the signs are estimated, the more thoroughly the comparison of phenomena is possible. Analysis is always an integral part of comparison, since for any comparison in phenomena, it is necessary to isolate the corresponding signs of comparison. Since comparison is the establishment of certain relationships between phenomena, then, naturally, synthesis is also used in the course of comparison.
Abstraction is one of the main mental operations that allows you to mentally isolate and turn individual aspects, properties or states of an object into an independent object of consideration. pure form. Abstraction underlies the processes of generalization and concept formation.
Abstraction consists in isolating such properties of an object that do not exist by themselves and independently of it. Such isolation is possible only in the mental plane - in abstraction. So, geometric figure the body itself does not really exist and cannot be separated from the body. But thanks to abstraction, it is mentally singled out, fixed, for example, with the help of a drawing, and independently considered in its special properties.
One of the main functions of abstraction is to highlight the common properties of a certain set of objects and fix these properties, for example, through concepts.
Concretization is a process opposite to abstraction, that is, finding a holistic, interconnected, multilateral and complex. The researcher initially forms various abstractions, and then, on their basis, through concretization, reproduces this integrity (mental concrete), but at a qualitatively different level of cognition of the concrete. Therefore, dialectics distinguishes in the process of cognition in the coordinates "abstraction - concretization" two processes of ascent: ascent from the concrete to the abstract and then the process of ascent from the abstract to the new concrete (G. Hegel). The dialectic of theoretical thinking consists in the unity of abstraction, the creation of various abstractions and concretization, the movement towards the concrete and its reproduction.
Generalization is one of the main cognitive mental operations, consisting in the selection and fixation of relatively stable, invariant properties of objects and their relationships. Generalization allows you to display the properties and relationships of objects, regardless of the particular and random conditions of their observation. Comparing objects of a certain group from a certain point of view, a person finds, singles out and designates with a word their identical, common properties, which can become the content of the concept of this group, class of objects. Separating general properties from private ones and designating them with a word makes it possible to cover the entire variety of objects in an abbreviated, concise form, reduce them to certain classes, and then, through abstractions, operate with concepts without directly referring to individual objects. One and the same real object can be included in both narrow and wide classes, for which the scales of common features are built according to the principle of genus-species relations. The function of generalization consists in ordering the variety of objects, their classification.
Formalization - displaying the results of thinking in precise terms or statements. It is, as it were, a mental operation of the “second order”. Formalization is opposed to intuitive thinking. In mathematics and formal logic, formalization is understood as the display of meaningful knowledge in a sign form or in a formalized language. Formalization, that is, the abstraction of concepts from their content, ensures the systematization of knowledge, in which its individual elements coordinate with each other. Formalization plays an essential role in the development of scientific knowledge, since intuitive concepts, although they seem clearer from the point of view of ordinary consciousness, are of little use for science: in scientific knowledge it is often impossible not only to solve, but even to formulate and pose problems until the structure of the concepts related to them will be clarified. True science is possible only on the basis of abstract thinking, consistent reasoning of the researcher, flowing in a logical language form through concepts, judgments and conclusions.
In scientific judgments, links are established between objects, phenomena or between their specific features. In scientific conclusions, one judgment proceeds from another; on the basis of already existing conclusions, a new one is made. There are two main types of inference: inductive (induction) and deductive (deduction).
Induction is a conclusion from particular objects, phenomena to a general conclusion, from individual facts to generalizations.
Deduction is a conclusion from the general to the particular, from general judgments to particular conclusions.
Idealization is the mental construction of ideas about objects that do not exist or are not feasible in reality, but those for which there are prototypes in the real world. The process of idealization is characterized by abstraction from the properties and relations inherent in the objects of reality and the introduction into the content of the formed concepts of such features that, in principle, cannot belong to their real prototypes. Examples of concepts that are the result of idealization can be the mathematical concepts of "point", "line"; in physics - "material point", "absolutely black body", "ideal gas", etc.
Concepts that are the result of idealization are said to be thought of as idealized (or ideal) objects. Having formed concepts of this kind about objects with the help of idealization, one can subsequently operate with them in reasoning as with really existing objects and build abstract schemes of real processes that serve for a deeper understanding of them. In this sense, idealization is closely related to modeling.
Analogy, modeling. Analogy is a mental operation when the knowledge obtained from the consideration of any one object (model) is transferred to another, less studied or less accessible for study, less visual object, called the prototype, the original. It opens up the possibility of transferring information by analogy from model to prototype. This is the essence of one of special methods theoretical level - modeling (construction and research of models). The difference between analogy and modeling lies in the fact that if analogy is one of the mental operations, then modeling can be considered in different cases both as a mental operation and as an independent method - a method-action.
Model - an auxiliary object, selected or transformed for cognitive purposes, giving new information about the main object. Modeling forms are diverse and depend on the models used and their scope. By the nature of the models, subject and sign (information) modeling are distinguished.
Object modeling is carried out on a model that reproduces certain geometric, physical, dynamic, or functional characteristics modeling object - the original; in a particular case - analog modeling, when the behavior of the original and the model is described by common mathematical relationships, for example, by common differential equations. In sign modeling, diagrams, drawings, formulas, etc. serve as models. The most important type of such modeling is mathematical modeling (see more details below).
Simulation is always used together with other research methods, it is especially closely related to the experiment. The study of a phenomenon on its model is a special kind of experiment - a model experiment, which differs from a conventional experiment in that in the process of cognition an “intermediate link” is included - a model that is both a means and an object pilot study replacing the original.
A special kind of modeling is a thought experiment. In such an experiment, the researcher mentally creates ideal objects, correlates them with each other within the framework of a certain dynamic model, mentally imitating the movement and those situations that could take place in a real experiment. At the same time, ideal models and objects help to identify “in pure form” the most important, essential connections and relationships, to mentally play out possible situations, to weed out unnecessary options.
Modeling also serves as a way of constructing a new one that did not exist earlier in practice. The researcher, having studied the characteristic features of real processes and their tendencies, looks for new combinations of them on the basis of the leading idea, makes their mental redesign, that is, models the required state of the system under study (just like any person and even an animal, he builds his activity, activity on the basis of initially formed "model of the necessary future" - according to N.A. Bernshtein). At the same time, models-hypotheses are created that reveal the mechanisms of communication between the components of the studied, which are then tested in practice. In this understanding, modeling has recently become widespread in the social and human sciences - in economics, pedagogy, etc., when different authors offer different models of firms, industries, educational systems etc.
Along with operations logical thinking theoretical methods-operations can also include (perhaps conditionally) imagination as a thought process for creating new ideas and images with its specific forms of fantasy (creation of implausible, paradoxical images and concepts) and dreams (as the creation of images of the desired).
Theoretical methods (methods - cognitive actions). The general philosophical, general scientific method of cognition is dialectics - the real logic of meaningful creative thinking, reflecting the objective dialectics of reality itself. The basis of dialectics as a method of scientific knowledge is the ascent from the abstract to the concrete (G. Hegel) - from general and content-poor forms to dissected and richer content, to a system of concepts that make it possible to comprehend an object in its essential characteristics. In dialectics, all problems acquire a historical character, the study of the development of an object is a strategic platform for cognition. Finally, dialectics is oriented in cognition to the disclosure and methods of resolving contradictions.
The laws of dialectics: the transition of quantitative changes into qualitative ones, the unity and struggle of opposites, etc.; analysis of paired dialectical categories: historical and logical, phenomenon and essence, general (universal) and singular, etc. are integral components of any well-structured scientific research.
Scientific theories verified by practice: any such theory, in essence, acts as a method in the construction of new theories in this or even other areas of scientific knowledge, as well as in the function of a method that determines the content and sequence of the researcher's experimental activity. Therefore, the difference between scientific theory as a form of scientific knowledge and as a method of cognition in this case is functional: being formed as a theoretical result of past research, the method acts as a starting point and condition for subsequent research.
Proof - method - theoretical (logical) action, during which the truth of a thought is substantiated with the help of other thoughts. Any proof consists of three parts: the thesis, arguments (arguments) and demonstration. According to the method of conducting evidence, there are direct and indirect, according to the form of inference - inductive and deductive. Evidence Rules:
1. The thesis and arguments must be clear and precise.
2. The thesis must remain identical throughout the proof.
3. The thesis should not contain a logical contradiction.
4. The arguments given in support of the thesis must themselves be true, not subject to doubt, must not contradict each other and be a sufficient basis for this thesis.
5. The proof must be complete.
In the totality of methods of scientific knowledge, an important place belongs to the method of analyzing knowledge systems (see, for example,). Any scientific knowledge system has a certain independence in relation to the reflected subject area. In addition, knowledge in such systems is expressed using a language whose properties affect the relationship of knowledge systems to the objects being studied - for example, if any sufficiently developed psychological, sociological, pedagogical concept is translated into, say, English, German, French - Will it be unequivocally perceived and understood in England, Germany and France? Further, the use of language as a carrier of concepts in such systems presupposes one or another logical systematization and logically organized use of linguistic units to express knowledge. And, finally, no system of knowledge exhausts the entire content of the object under study. In it, only a certain, historically concrete part of such content always receives a description and explanation.
The method of analysis of scientific knowledge systems plays an important role in empirical and theoretical research tasks: when choosing an initial theory, a hypothesis for solving a chosen problem; when distinguishing between empirical and theoretical knowledge, semi-empirical and theoretical solutions to a scientific problem; when substantiating the equivalence or priority of the use of certain mathematical tools in various theories related to the same subject area; when studying the possibilities of disseminating previously formulated theories, concepts, principles, etc. to new subject areas; substantiation of new possibilities for the practical application of knowledge systems; when simplifying and clarifying knowledge systems for training, popularization; to harmonize with other knowledge systems, etc.
Further, the theoretical methods-actions will include two methods of constructing scientific theories:
- deductive method (synonym - axiomatic method) - a method of constructing a scientific theory, in which it is based on some initial provisions of the axiom (synonym - postulates), from which all other provisions of this theory (theorem) are derived in a purely logical way through proof. The construction of a theory based on the axiomatic method is usually called deductive. All concepts of deductive theory except fixed number initial concepts (such initial concepts in geometry, for example, are: point, line, plane) are introduced by means of definitions expressing them through previously introduced or derived concepts. The classic example of a deductive theory is the geometry of Euclid. Theories are built by the deductive method in mathematics, mathematical logic, theoretical physics;
- the second method has not received a name in the literature, but it certainly exists, since in all other sciences, except for the above, theories are built according to the method, which we will call inductive-deductive: first, an empirical basis is accumulated, on the basis of which theoretical generalizations (induction) are built, which can be built into several levels - for example, empirical laws and theoretical laws - and then these obtained generalizations can be extended to all objects and phenomena covered by this theory (deduction) - see Fig. 6 and Fig. 10. The inductive-deductive method is used to build most of the theories in the sciences of nature, society and man: physics, chemistry, biology, geology, geography, psychology, pedagogy, etc.
Other theoretical research methods (in the sense of methods - cognitive actions): identifying and resolving contradictions, posing a problem, building hypotheses, etc., up to the planning of scientific research, we will consider below in the specifics of the time structure research activities- construction of phases, stages and stages of scientific research.
Empirical methods (methods-operations).
The study of literature, documents and results of activities. The issues of working with scientific literature will be considered separately below, since this is not only a research method, but also an obligatory procedural component of any scientific work.
A variety of documentation also serves as a source of factual material for research: archival materials in historical research; documentation of enterprises, organizations and institutions in economic, sociological, pedagogical and other research, etc. The study of performance results plays an important role in pedagogy, especially in studying the problems of professional training of pupils and students; in psychology, pedagogy and sociology of labor; and, for example, in archeology, during excavations, an analysis of the results of people's activities: based on the remains of tools, utensils, dwellings, etc., makes it possible to restore their way of life in a particular era.
Observation is, in principle, the most informative research method. This is the only method that allows you to see all aspects of the phenomena and processes under study, accessible to the perception of the observer - both directly and with the help of various instruments.
Depending on the goals that are pursued in the process of observation, the latter can be scientific and non-scientific. Purposeful and organized perception of objects and phenomena of the external world, associated with the solution of a certain scientific problem or task, is commonly called scientific observation. Scientific observations involve obtaining certain information for further theoretical understanding and interpretation, for the approval or refutation of a hypothesis, etc.
Scientific observation consists of the following procedures:
- determination of the purpose of observation (for what, for what purpose?);
- choice of object, process, situation (what to observe?);
- choice of method and frequency of observations (how to observe?);
- choice of methods for registering the observed object, phenomenon (how to record the information received?);
- processing and interpretation of the information received (what is the result?) - see, for example,.
Observed situations are divided into:
- natural and artificial;
- controlled and not controlled by the subject of observation;
- spontaneous and organized;
- standard and non-standard;
- normal and extreme, etc.
In addition, depending on the organization of observation, it can be open and hidden, field and laboratory, and depending on the nature of fixation, it can be ascertaining, evaluating and mixed. According to the method of obtaining information, observations are divided into direct and instrumental. According to the scope of the studied objects, continuous and selective observations are distinguished; by frequency - constant, periodic and single. A special case of observation is self-observation, which is widely used, for example, in psychology.
Observation is necessary for scientific knowledge, since without it science would not be able to obtain initial information, would not have scientific facts and empirical data, therefore, the theoretical construction of knowledge would also be impossible.
However, observation as a method of cognition has a number of significant drawbacks. The personal characteristics of the researcher, his interests, and finally, his psychological state can significantly affect the results of observation. The objective results of observation are even more subject to distortion in those cases when the researcher is focused on obtaining a certain result, on confirming his existing hypothesis.
To obtain objective results of observation, it is necessary to comply with the requirements of intersubjectivity, that is, observation data must (and / or can) be obtained and recorded, if possible, by other observers.
Replacing direct observation with instruments indefinitely expands the possibilities of observation, but also does not exclude subjectivity; evaluation and interpretation of such indirect observation is carried out by the subject, and therefore the subjective influence of the researcher can still take place.
Observation is most often accompanied by another empirical method - measurement
Measurement. Measurement is used everywhere, in any human activity. So, almost every person during the day takes measurements dozens of times, looking at the clock. The general definition of measurement is as follows: “Measurement is a cognitive process that consists in comparing ... a given quantity with some of its value, taken as a comparison standard” (see, for example,).
In particular, measurement is an empirical method (method-operation) of scientific research.
You can select a specific dimension structure that includes the following elements:
1) a cognizing subject that carries out measurement with certain cognitive goals;
2) measuring instruments, among which there can be both devices and tools designed by man, and objects and processes given by nature;
3) the object of measurement, that is, the measured quantity or property to which the comparison procedure is applicable;
4) method or measurement method, which is a set of practical actions, operations performed using measuring instruments, and also includes certain logical and computational procedures;
5) the measurement result, which is a named number, expressed using the appropriate names or signs.
The epistemological substantiation of the measurement method is inextricably linked with the scientific understanding of the ratio of qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the object (phenomenon) being studied. Although only quantitative characteristics are recorded using this method, these characteristics are inextricably linked with the qualitative certainty of the object under study. It is thanks to the qualitative certainty that it is possible to single out the quantitative characteristics to be measured. The unity of the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the object under study means both the relative independence of these aspects and their deep interconnection. The relative independence of quantitative characteristics makes it possible to study them during the measurement process, and use the measurement results to analyze the qualitative aspects of the object.
The problem of measurement accuracy also applies to epistemological grounds measurements as a method of empirical knowledge. Measurement accuracy depends on the ratio of objective and subjective factors in the measurement process.
These objective factors include:
- the possibility of identifying certain stable quantitative characteristics in the object under study, which in many cases of research, in particular, social and humanitarian phenomena and processes is difficult, and sometimes even impossible;
- the capabilities of measuring instruments (the degree of their perfection) and the conditions in which the measurement process takes place. In some cases, finding exact value magnitude is fundamentally impossible. It is impossible, for example, to determine the trajectory of an electron in an atom, etc.
The subjective factors of measurement include the choice of measurement methods, the organization of this process, and a whole range of cognitive capabilities of the subject - from the qualifications of the experimenter to his ability to correctly and competently interpret the results.
Along with direct measurements, the method of indirect measurement is widely used in the process of scientific experimentation. With indirect measurement, the desired value is determined on the basis of direct measurements of other quantities associated with the first functional dependence. According to the measured values of the mass and volume of the body, its density is determined; the resistivity of a conductor can be found from the measured values of resistance, length and cross-sectional area of the conductor, etc. The role of indirect measurements is especially great in cases where direct measurement is impossible under objective reality. For example, the mass of any space object (natural) is determined using mathematical calculations based on the use of measurement data of other physical quantities.
Special attention should be paid to the discussion of measurement scales.
Scale - a numerical system in which the relationships between the various properties of the studied phenomena, processes are translated into the properties of a particular set, as a rule, a set of numbers.
There are several types of scales. First, we can distinguish between discrete scales (in which the set of possible values of the estimated value is finite - for example, the score in points is “1”, “2”, “3”, “4”, “5”) and continuous scales (for example, mass in grams or volume in liters). Secondly, there are relationship scales, interval scales, ordinal (rank) scales and nominal scales (name scales) - see Fig. 5, which also reflects the power of the scales - that is, their "resolution". The power of the scale can be defined as the degree, the level of its ability to accurately describe phenomena, events, that is, the information that the ratings in the corresponding scale carry. For example, a patient's condition can be assessed on a scale of names: "healthy" - "sick". great information will carry measurements of the state of the same patient in a scale of intervals or ratios: temperature, arterial pressure etc. You can always go from a more powerful scale to a "weaker" one (by aggregating - compressing - information): for example, if you enter a "threshold temperature" of 37 C and consider that the patient is healthy if his temperature is less than the threshold and sick otherwise, then you can go from the scale of relations to the scale of names. The reverse transition in the example under consideration is impossible - the information that the patient is healthy (that is, that his temperature is less than the threshold) does not allow us to say exactly what his temperature is.

Consider, following mainly, the properties of the four main types of scales, listing them in descending order of power.
The relationship scale is the most powerful scale. It allows you to evaluate how many times one measured object is greater (less) than another object, taken as a standard, unity. For ratio scales, there is a natural reference point (zero). Ratio scales measure almost all physical quantities - linear dimensions, areas, volumes, current strength, power, etc.
All measurements are made with some degree of accuracy. Measurement accuracy - the degree of closeness of the measurement result to the true value of the measured quantity. Measurement accuracy is characterized by measurement error - the difference between the measured and the true value.
There are systematic (constant) errors (errors) due to factors that act in the same way when measurements are repeated, for example, a malfunction of a measuring device, and random errors caused by variations in measurement conditions and / or threshold accuracy of the measurement tools used (for example, devices).
It is known from probability theory that with a sufficiently large number of measurements, the random measurement error can be:
- greater than the standard error (usually denoted by the Greek letter sigma and equal to the square root of the variance - see definition below in section 2.3.2) in about 32% of cases. Accordingly, the true value of the measured value is in the interval of the mean value plus / minus the standard error with a probability of 68%;
- more than twice the mean square error only in 5% of cases. Accordingly, the true value of the measured value is in the interval of the mean value plus/minus twice the standard error with a probability of 95%;
- more than triple the mean square error only in 0.3% of cases. Accordingly, the true value of the measured value is in the interval of the average value plus / minus three times the standard error with a probability of 99.7%
Therefore, it is extremely unlikely that the random measurement error will be greater than three times the root mean square error. Therefore, as the range of the "true" value of the measured value, the arithmetic mean plus/minus three times the standard error (the so-called "rule of three sigma") is usually chosen.
It must be emphasized that what has been said here about the accuracy of measurements refers only to the scales of ratios and intervals. For other types of scales, the situation is much more complicated and requires the reader to study special literature (see, for example,).
The interval scale is used quite rarely and is characterized by the fact that there is no natural reference point for it. An example of an interval scale is the Celsius, Réaumur, or Fahrenheit temperature scale. The Celsius scale, as you know, was set as follows: the freezing point of water was taken as zero, its boiling point as 100 degrees, and, accordingly, the temperature interval between freezing and boiling water was divided into 100 equal parts. Here already the statement that the temperature of 30C is three times more than 10C will be incorrect. The interval scale stores the ratio of interval lengths (differences). We can say: a temperature of 30C differs from a temperature of 20C twice as much as a temperature of 15C differs from a temperature of 10C.
The ordinal scale (rank scale) is a scale, with respect to the values of which it is no longer possible to talk about how many times the measured value is greater (less) than another, nor how much it is greater (less). Such a scale only arranges objects by assigning certain points to them (the result of measurements is simply the ordering of objects).
For example, the Mohs mineral hardness scale is constructed in this way: a set of 10 reference minerals is taken to determine the relative hardness by scratching. Talc is taken as 1, gypsum as 2, calcite as 3, and so on up to 10 as diamond. A certain hardness can be unambiguously assigned to any mineral. If the studied mineral, for example, scratches quartz (7), but does not scratch topaz (8), then, accordingly, its hardness will be equal to 7. The Beaufort wind force and Richter earthquake scales are similarly constructed.
Order scales are widely used in sociology, pedagogy, psychology, medicine, and other sciences that are not as precise as, say, physics and chemistry. In particular, the ubiquitous scale of school marks in points (five-point, twelve-point, etc.) can be attributed to the order scale.
A special case of the ordinal scale is the dichotomous scale, in which there are only two ordered gradations - for example, “entered the institute”, “did not enter”.
The scale of names (nominal scale) is actually no longer associated with the concept of “value” and is used only to distinguish one object from another: telephone numbers, state registration numbers of cars, etc.
The measurement results must be analyzed, and for this it is often necessary to build derivative (secondary) indicators on their basis, that is, to apply one or another transformation to the experimental data. The most common derived indicator is the averaging of values - for example, average weight people, average height, average income per capita, etc. The use of one or another measurement scale determines the set of transformations that are acceptable for measurement results in this scale (for more details, see publications on measurement theory).
Let's start with the weakest scale - the scale of names (nominal scale), which distinguishes pairwise distinguishable classes of objects. For example, in the scale of names, the values of the attribute "gender" are measured: "male" and "female". These classes will be distinguishable no matter what different terms or signs are used to designate them: "female" and "male", or "female" and "male", or "A" and "B", or "1" and "2", or "2" and "3", etc. Therefore, for the naming scale, any one-to-one transformations are applicable, that is, preserving a clear distinguishability of objects (thus, the weakest scale - the naming scale - allows the widest range of transformations).
The difference between the ordinal scale (rank scale) and the naming scale is that classes (groups) of objects are ordered in the rank scale. Therefore, it is impossible to change the values of features arbitrarily - the ordering of objects (the order in which one object follows another) must be preserved. Therefore, for an ordinal scale, any monotonic transformation is admissible. For example, if the score of object A is 5 points, and object B is 4 points, then their ordering will not change if we multiply the number of points by a positive number that is the same for all objects, or add it to some number that is the same for all, or square it and etc. (for example, instead of "1", "2", "3", "4", "5" we use "3", "5", "9", "17", "102" respectively). In this case, the differences and ratios of the “points” will change, but the ordering will remain.
For the interval scale, not any monotonic transformation is allowed, but only one that preserves the ratio of the differences in estimates, that is, a linear transformation - multiplication by a positive number and / or adding a constant number. For example, if 2730C is added to the temperature value in degrees Celsius, then we get the temperature in Kelvin, and the difference of any two temperatures in both scales will be the same.
And, finally, in the most powerful scale - the scale of relations - only similarity transformations are possible - multiplication by a positive number. Substantially, this means that, for example, the ratio of the masses of two objects does not depend on the units in which the masses are measured - grams, kilograms, pounds, etc.
We summarize what has been said in Table. 4, which reflects the correspondence between the scales and the allowed transformations.

As noted above, the results of any measurements, as a rule, refer to one of the main (listed above) types of scales. However, obtaining measurement results is not an end in itself - these results must be analyzed, and for this it is often necessary to build derived indicators on their basis. These derived indicators can be measured on other scales than the original ones. For example, a 100-point scale can be used to assess knowledge. But it is too detailed, and, if necessary, it can be rebuilt into a five-point scale ("1" - from "1" to "20"; "2" - from "21" to "40", etc.), or a two-point scale (for example , positive score - everything above 40 points, negative - 40 or less). Consequently, the problem arises - what transformations can be applied to certain types of source data. In other words, the transition from which scale to which is correct. This problem in measurement theory is called the problem of adequacy.
To solve the problem of adequacy, one can use the properties of the relationship between the scales and the transformations allowed for them, since by no means any operation in the processing of initial data is acceptable. So, for example, such a common operation as calculating the arithmetic mean cannot be used if the measurements are obtained in an ordinal scale. The general conclusion is that it is always possible to move from a more powerful scale to a less powerful one, but not vice versa (for example, based on the ratings obtained on the ratio scale, you can build scores on the ordinal scale, but not vice versa).
Having completed the description of such an empirical method as measurement, let us return to the consideration of other empirical methods of scientific research.
Survey. This empirical method is used only in the social and human sciences. The survey method is divided into oral survey and written survey.
Oral survey (conversation, interview). The essence of the method is clear from its name. During the survey, the questioner has personal contact with the respondent, that is, he has the opportunity to see how the respondent reacts to a particular question. The observer can, if necessary, ask various additional questions and thus obtain additional data on some uncovered issues.
Oral surveys give concrete results, and with their help you can get comprehensive answers to complex questions of interest to the researcher. However, the respondents answer the questions of a “delicate” nature in writing much more frankly and at the same time give more detailed and thorough answers.
The respondent spends less time and energy on a verbal response than on a written one. However, this method also has its downsides. All respondents are in different conditions, some of them can get additional information through leading questions of the researcher; facial expression or any gesture of the researcher has some effect on the respondent.
Questions used for interviews are planned in advance and a questionnaire is drawn up, where space should also be left for recording (recording) the answer.
Basic requirements for writing questions:
1) the survey should not be random, but systematic; at the same time, questions that are more understandable to the respondent are asked earlier, more difficult - later;
2) questions should be concise, specific and understandable for all respondents;
3) questions should not contradict ethical standards.
Survey Rules:
1) during the interview, the researcher should be alone with the respondent, without extraneous witnesses;
2) each oral question is read from the question sheet (questionnaire) verbatim, unchanged;
3) exactly adheres to the order of the questions; the respondent should not see the questionnaire or be able to read the questions following the next one;
4) the interview should be short - from 15 to 30 minutes, depending on the age and intellectual level of the respondents;
5) the interviewer should not influence the respondent in any way (indirectly prompt the answer, shake his head in disapproval, nod his head, etc.);
6) the interviewer may, if necessary, if this answer is unclear, ask additionally only neutral questions (for example: “What did you mean by that?”, “Explain a little more!”).
7) answers are recorded in the questionnaire only during the survey.
The responses are then analyzed and interpreted.
Written survey - questioning. It is based on a pre-designed questionnaire (questionnaire), and the answers of respondents (interviewees) to all positions of the questionnaire constitute the desired empirical information.
The quality of empirical information obtained as a result of a survey depends on such factors as the wording of the questionnaire questions, which should be understandable to the interviewee; qualifications, experience, conscientiousness, psychological characteristics of researchers; the situation of the survey, its conditions; the emotional state of the respondents; customs and traditions, ideas, everyday situation; and also - the attitude to the survey. Therefore, when using such information, it is always necessary to make allowance for the inevitability of subjective distortions due to its specific individual “refraction” in the minds of the respondents. And when it comes to fundamentally important issues, along with the survey, they also turn to other methods - observation, expert assessments, and analysis of documents.
Particular attention is paid to the development of a questionnaire - a questionnaire containing a series of questions necessary to obtain information in accordance with the objectives and hypothesis of the study. The questionnaire must meet the following requirements: be reasonable in relation to the purposes of its use, that is, provide the required information; have stable criteria and reliable rating scales that adequately reflect the situation under study; the wording of the questions should be clear to the interviewee and consistent; Questionnaire questions should not cause negative emotions in the respondent (respondent).
Questions can be closed or open-ended. A question is called closed if it contains a complete set of answers in the questionnaire. The respondent only marks the option that coincides with his opinion. This form of the questionnaire significantly reduces the time of filling out and at the same time makes the questionnaire suitable for processing on a computer. But sometimes there is a need to find out directly the opinion of the respondent on a question that excludes pre-prepared answers. In this case, open-ended questions are used.
When answering an open question, the respondent is guided only by his own ideas. Therefore, such a response is more individualized.
Compliance with a number of other requirements also contributes to the increase in the reliability of answers. One of them is that the respondent should be provided with the opportunity to evade the answer, to express an uncertain opinion. To do this, the rating scale should provide for answers: “it’s hard to say”, “I find it difficult to answer”, “sometimes differently”, “when how”, etc. But the predominance of such options in the answers is evidence of either the incompetence of the respondent, or the unsuitability of the wording of the question to obtain the necessary information.
In order to obtain reliable information about the phenomenon or process under study, it is not necessary to interview the entire contingent, since the object of study can be numerically very large. In cases where the object of study exceeds several hundred people, a selective survey is used.
Method of expert assessments. In essence, this is a kind of survey associated with the involvement in the assessment of the phenomena under study, the processes of the most competent people, whose opinions, complementing and rechecking each other, make it possible to fairly objectively evaluate the researched. The use of this method requires a number of conditions. First of all, this is a careful selection of experts - people who know the area being assessed, the object under study well and are capable of an objective, unbiased assessment.
The choice of an accurate and convenient system of assessments and appropriate measurement scales is also essential, which streamlines judgments and makes it possible to express them in certain quantities.
It is often necessary to train experts to use the proposed scales for an unambiguous assessment in order to minimize errors and make assessments comparable.
If experts acting independently of each other consistently give identical or similar estimates or express similar opinions, there is reason to believe that they are approaching objective ones. If the estimates differ greatly, then this indicates either an unsuccessful choice of the grading system and measurement scales, or the incompetence of experts.
Varieties of the expert assessment method are: the commission method, the brainstorming method, the Delphi method, the heuristic forecasting method, etc. A number of these methods will be discussed in the third chapter of this work (see also).
Testing is an empirical method, a diagnostic procedure consisting in the application of tests (from the English test - a task, a test). Tests are usually given to the subjects either in the form of a list of questions that require short and unambiguous answers, or in the form of tasks, the solution of which does not take much time and also requires unambiguous solutions, or in the form of some short-term practical work subjects, such as qualifying trial work in vocational education, in labor economics, etc. Tests are divided into blank, hardware (for example, on a computer) and practical; for individual and group use.
Here, perhaps, are all the empirical methods-operations that the scientific community has at its disposal today. Next, we will consider empirical methods-actions, which are based on the use of methods-operations and their combinations.
Empirical methods (methods-actions).
Empirical methods-actions should, first of all, be divided into two classes. The first class is the methods of studying an object without its transformation, when the researcher does not make any changes, transformations in the object of study. More precisely, it does not make significant changes to the object - after all, according to the principle of complementarity (see above), the researcher (observer) cannot but change the object. Let's call them object tracking methods. These include: the tracking method itself and its particular manifestations - examination, monitoring, study and generalization of experience.
Another class of methods is associated with the active transformation of the object being studied by the researcher - let's call these methods transforming methods - this class will include such methods as experimental work and experiment.
Tracking, often, in a number of sciences is, perhaps, the only empirical method-action. For example, in astronomy. After all, astronomers can not yet influence the studied space objects. The only possibility is to track their state through methods-operations: observation and measurement. The same, to a large extent, applies to such branches of scientific knowledge as geography, demography, etc., where the researcher cannot change anything in the object of study.
In addition, tracking is also used when the goal is to study the natural functioning of an object. For example, when studying certain features of radioactive radiation or when studying the reliability of technical devices, which is checked by their long-term operation.
Survey - as a special case of the tracking method - is the study of the object under study with one or another measure of depth and detail, depending on the tasks set by the researcher. A synonym for the word “examination” is “inspection”, which means that the examination is basically the initial study of an object, carried out to familiarize itself with its condition, functions, structure, etc. Surveys are most often applied to organizational structures- enterprises, institutions, etc. - or in relation to public entities, for example, settlements for which surveys can be external and internal.
External surveys: survey of the socio-cultural and economic situation in the region, survey of the goods and services market and labor market, survey of the state of employment of the population, etc. Internal surveys: surveys within the enterprise, institutions - survey of the state of the production process, surveys of the contingent of employees, etc. .
The survey is carried out through the methods-operations of empirical research: observation, study and analysis of documentation, oral and written survey, involvement of experts, etc.
Any examination is carried out according to a detailed program developed in advance, in which the content of the work, its tools (compilation of questionnaires, test kits, questionnaires, a list of documents to be studied, etc.), as well as criteria for assessing the phenomena and processes to be studied, are planned in detail. This is followed by the following stages: collecting information, summarizing materials, summing up and preparing reporting materials. At each stage, it may be necessary to adjust the survey program when the researcher or a group of researchers conducting it is convinced that the collected data is not enough to obtain the desired results, or the collected data does not reflect the picture of the object under study, etc.
According to the degree of depth, detail and systematization, surveys are divided into:
- Pilot (reconnaissance) surveys carried out for preliminary, relatively surface orientation in the object under study;
- specialized (partial) surveys conducted to study certain aspects, aspects of the object under study;
- modular (complex) examinations - for the study of whole blocks, complexes of questions programmed by the researcher on the basis of a sufficiently detailed preliminary study of the object, its structure, functions, etc.;
- system surveys - conducted already as full-fledged independent studies on the basis of isolating and formulating their subject, purpose, hypothesis, etc., and involving a holistic consideration of the object, its system-forming factors.
At what level to conduct a survey in each case, the researcher or the research team decides, depending on the goals and objectives of scientific work.
Monitoring. This is constant supervision, regular monitoring of the state of the object, the values of its individual parameters in order to study the dynamics of ongoing processes, predict certain events, and also prevent undesirable phenomena. For example, environmental monitoring, synoptic monitoring, etc.
Study and generalization of experience (activity). When conducting research, the study and generalization of experience (organizational, industrial, technological, medical, pedagogical, etc.) is used for various purposes: to determine the existing level of detail of enterprises, organizations, institutions, functioning technological process, identifying shortcomings and bottlenecks in the practice of a particular field of activity, studying the effectiveness of applying scientific recommendations, identifying new patterns of activity that are born in the creative search of advanced leaders, specialists and entire teams. The object of study can be: mass experience - to identify the main trends in the development of a particular industry National economy; negative experience - to identify typical shortcomings and bottlenecks; advanced experience, in the process of which new positive findings are identified, generalized, become the property of science and practice.
The study and generalization of best practices is one of the main sources for the development of science, since this method makes it possible to identify urgent scientific problems, creates the basis for studying the patterns of development of processes in a number of areas of scientific knowledge, primarily the so-called technological sciences.
Best Practice Criteria:
1) Novelty. It can manifest itself in varying degrees: from the introduction of new provisions in science to the effective application of already known provisions.
2) High performance. Best practices should deliver above average results for the industry, group of similar facilities, etc.
3) Compliance with modern achievements of science. Achieving high results does not always indicate the correspondence of experience to the requirements of science.
4) Stability - maintaining the effectiveness of the experience under changing conditions, achieving high results for a sufficiently long time.
5) Replicability - the ability to use experience by other people and organizations. Best practices can be made available to other people and organizations. It cannot be associated only with the personal characteristics of its author.
6) Optimal experience - achieving high results with a relatively economical expenditure of resources, and also not to the detriment of solving other problems.
The study and generalization of experience is carried out by such empirical methods-operations as observation, surveys, the study of literature and documents, etc.
The disadvantage of the tracking method and its varieties - survey, monitoring, study and generalization of experience as empirical methods-actions - is the relatively passive role of the researcher - he can study, track and generalize only what has developed in the surrounding reality, without being able to actively influence what is happening. processes. We emphasize once again that this shortcoming is often due to objective circumstances. This shortcoming is deprived of object transformation methods: experimental work and experiment.
The methods that transform the object of study include experimental work and experiment. The difference between them lies in the degree of arbitrariness of the researcher's actions. If the experimental work is a non-strict research procedure, in which the researcher makes changes to the object at his own discretion, based on his own considerations of expediency, then the experiment is a completely strict procedure, where the researcher must strictly follow the requirements of the experiment.
Experimental work is, as already mentioned, a method of making deliberate changes to the object under study with a certain degree of arbitrariness. So, the geologist himself determines where to look, what to look for, by what methods - to drill wells, dig pits, etc. In the same way, an archaeologist, paleontologist determines where and how to excavate. Or, in pharmacy, a long search for new drugs is carried out - out of 10 thousand synthesized compounds, only one becomes medicine. Or, for example, experienced work in agriculture.
Experimental work as a research method is widely used in the sciences related to human activities - pedagogy, economics, etc., when models are created and tested, as a rule, author's ones: educational institutions etc., or various author's methods are created and tested. Or an experimental textbook, an experimental preparation, a prototype are created and then they are tested in practice.
Experimental work is in a sense similar to a thought experiment - both here and there, as it were, the question is posed: “what happens if ...?” Only in a mental experiment the situation is played out “in the mind”, while in experimental work the situation is played out by action.
But, experimental work is not a blind chaotic search through “trial and error”.
Experimental work becomes a method of scientific research under the following conditions:
1. When it is put on the basis of data obtained by science in accordance with a theoretically justified hypothesis.
2. When accompanied by deep analysis, conclusions are drawn from it and theoretical generalizations are made.
In experimental work, all methods-operations of empirical research are used: observation, measurement, analysis of documents, expert review etc.
Experimental work occupies, as it were, an intermediate place between object tracking and experiment.
It is a way of active intervention of the researcher in the object. However, experimental work gives, in particular, only the results of the effectiveness or inefficiency of certain innovations in a general, summary form. Which of the factors of implemented innovations give a greater effect, which less, how they influence each other - experimental work cannot answer these questions.
For a deeper study of the essence of a particular phenomenon, the changes occurring in it, and the reasons for these changes, in the process of research, they resort to varying the conditions for the occurrence of phenomena and processes and the factors influencing them. Experiment serves this purpose.
An experiment is a general empirical research method (method-action), the essence of which is that phenomena and processes are studied under strictly controlled and controlled conditions. The basic principle of any experiment is a change in each research procedure of only one of some factors, while the rest remain unchanged and controllable. If it is necessary to check the influence of another factor, the following research procedure is carried out, where this last factor is changed, and all other controlled factors remain unchanged, and so on.
During the experiment, the researcher deliberately changes the course of some phenomenon by introducing a new factor into it. The new factor introduced or changed by the experimenter is called the experimental factor, or independent variable. Factors that have changed under the influence of the independent variable are called dependent variables.
There are many classifications of experiments in the literature. First of all, depending on the nature of the object under study, it is customary to distinguish between physical, chemical, biological, psychological experiments, etc. According to the main goal, experiments are divided into verification (empirical verification of a certain hypothesis) and search (collection of the necessary empirical information to build or refine the put forward conjecture , ideas). Depending on the nature and variety of the means and conditions of the experiment and the methods of using these means, one can distinguish between direct (if the means are used directly to study the object), model (if a model is used that replaces the object), field (in natural conditions, for example, in space), laboratory (in artificial conditions) experiment.
Finally, one can speak of qualitative and quantitative experiments, based on the difference in the results of the experiment. Qualitative experiments, as a rule, are undertaken to identify the impact of certain factors on the process under study without establishing an exact quantitative relationship between characteristic quantities. To ensure the exact value of the essential parameters that affect the behavior of the object under study, a quantitative experiment is necessary.
Depending on the nature of the experimental research strategy, there are:
1) experiments carried out by the method of "trial and error";
2) experiments based on a closed algorithm;
3) experiments using the "black box" method, leading to conclusions from knowledge of the function to knowledge of the structure of the object;
4) experiments with the help of an “open box”, which allow, based on knowledge of the structure, to create a sample with given functions.
IN last years Experiments in which the computer acts as a means of cognition have become widespread. They are especially important when real systems do not allow either direct experimentation or experimentation with the help of material models. In a number of cases, computer experiments dramatically simplify the research process - with their help, situations are “played out” by building a model of the system under study.
In talking about experiment as a method of cognition, one cannot fail to note one more type of experimentation, which plays an important role in natural science research. This is a mental experiment - the researcher operates not with concrete, sensual material, but with an ideal, model image. All knowledge gained in the course of mental experimentation is subject to practical verification, in particular in a real experiment. That's why this species experimentation should be attributed to the methods of theoretical knowledge (see above). P.V. Kopnin, for example, writes: Scientific research it is really experimental only when the conclusion is drawn not from speculative reasoning, but from sensual, practical observation of phenomena. Therefore, what is sometimes called a theoretical or thought experiment is not actually an experiment. A thought experiment is ordinary theoretical reasoning that takes on the external form of an experiment.
The theoretical methods of scientific knowledge should also include some other types of experiment, for example, the so-called mathematical and simulation experiments. "The essence of the method of mathematical experiment is that experiments are carried out not with the object itself, as is the case in the classical experimental method, but with its description in the language of the corresponding section of mathematics" . A simulation experiment is an idealized study by simulating the behavior of an object instead of actual experimentation. In other words, these types of experimentation are variants of a model experiment with idealized images. More details about mathematical modeling and simulation experiments are discussed below in the third chapter.
So, we have tried to describe the research methods from the most general positions. Naturally, in each branch of scientific knowledge, certain traditions have developed in the interpretation and use of research methods. Thus, the method of frequency analysis in linguistics will refer to the tracking method (method-action) carried out by the methods-operations of document analysis and measurement. Experiments are usually divided into ascertaining, training, control and comparative. But all of them are experiments (methods-actions) carried out by methods-operations: observations, measurements, tests, etc.

Scientific knowledge is impossible without a certain conscious and unconscious use of the historically established means of cognition. In our time, when science is becoming a direct productive force, and the scientific and technological revolution is gaining wider scope, the study and development of these means is urgent task epistemology and philosophy of science. The means of scientific knowledge are the language of science, special scientific equipment(devices) and methods through which science discovers and studies its objects.

For the purposes of science, to describe the objects it studies, ordinary, natural language turns out to be inadequate. As is known, ordinary language, having such advantages as universality, expressiveness, high combinatoriality, etc., is not free at the same time from a number of features that prevent its canonical use. These include the ambiguity of words and expressions, the bulkiness and immensity of some turns, the fuzziness of syntactic and semantic rules, the diversity and uncertainty of pragmatics. The language of science, on the other hand, is constructed in such a way as to overcome or minimize some of the above features of natural language.

The language of science can be divided into specialized languages and special formalized languages. Specialized languages the sciences achieve precision (i.e., unambiguity and quantitative certainty) through scientific definitions and the application of mathematics. So, the dictionary of any science (specialized language), including its main terms, can be divided into two unequal parts. The first is a small number of so-called basic "words", with the help of which all other, derived terms are defined. The latter are almost completely unambiguous. For example, in the dictionary of classical kinematics, "path", denoted by the symbol s, and "time" - t, are taken as initial undefined terms. They are enough to build the rest of the terms ("speed", "acceleration", etc.). At the same time, in connection with the requirement of compactness, visibility and elegance of the language of science, newly introduced derivative terms are always, when possible, determined not through the original, but through the nearest derivative terms (for example, “acceleration” is defined through “speed”, and not through “way " and time"). The terms “equals”, “add”, “divide”, etc., which are widely used in kinematics, physics in general and other sciences, are defined in the dictionary of mathematics and play a kind of auxiliary role in the definitions and statements of special sciences.

The language of mathematics differs from the natural one in that the transition from one expression to another is carried out according to some pre-established and strictly defined rules. Moreover, mathematics (especially its variables) allows you to abstract (abstract) from the subject content of your linguistic expressions and focus on operations, connections and relations of expressions used in mathematics. Mathematics has formal rules for transforming some mathematical expressions into others, but the connections and relationships of mathematical expressions ultimately reflect the connections and relationships of objects and phenomena of objective reality. In terms of language, the transformation of mathematical expressions is based on a general semiotic phenomenon - synonymy, and in the transitivity (transitivity) of mathematical expressions, the continuity of thinking and the continuity of meaning (meaning) are manifested.

In its abstractness and formality of the rules for constructing and transforming expressions formalized languages go beyond mathematics. These specially created artificial languages differ from natural ones not only in the special character of their signs, but also in a very special syntax. When constructing a formalized language, its dictionary, or alphabet, containing characters of a certain kind, is first precisely established. Then the rules for constructing sentences from alphabetic characters that are considered meaningful or correct in the given language are indicated. And, finally, the transformation rules are formulated and listed, allowing one to derive others from some correct sentences. In such a fully formalized language there is no place for linguistic intuition, no obscure, implied rules.

The advantage of formal sign systems is the possibility of carrying out within their framework the study of cognizable objects in a purely formal way (operating with signs) without direct reference to real objects. However, it should be taken into account that formalized sign systems represent (represent) certain provisions of the theory. Consequently, in the final analysis, such systems (formalisms) do not completely lose their connection with reality, with empiricism. Formalisms must have an empirical interpretation, and not necessarily the only one. The latter circumstance testifies to the heuristic possibilities of formalized systems. And the construction and use of such systems in cognition are called formalization method. It was with the help of the formalization method, with the help of Maxwell's mathematical equations, that such a kind of matter as a field was theoretically discovered (we have already mentioned this).

Modern science, especially natural science, is inconceivable without such material means of cognition as appliances, with the help of which decisive facts are obtained and the truth of scientific theories is proved. Devices enhance the cognitive power of the senses, allow a person to go far beyond his natural capabilities. With the help of instruments, a person began to penetrate into such areas of the world that are inaccessible without them. First of all, it is a micro- and mega-world. So, with the help of automatic interplanetary stations "Mars", "Mariner" and "Phoenix", scientists over the past few decades have learned more about Mars than in the entire previous history of civilization.

With the complication of the cognitive process, scientific instruments become more complex. This is natural and natural. However, it is important that in connection with this, the role of the device in cognition changes significantly, and this, in turn, creates certain epistemological difficulties. Previously, devices did not have a significant effect on either the subject or the object. They were to a certain extent external to the cognitive process. This can be represented by such a scheme (Fig. 6), where
S - subject, O - object, P - device:

At present, devices have become true intermediaries between the subject and the object. They are included in the structure of the cognitive process, influencing the subject and object of knowledge. Accordingly, the scheme (Fig. 7) will look like this:

In connection with the essential role of the device in cognition, the problem arises objectivity of knowledge obtained with the instrument. In cases where the effect of the device on the object cannot be neglected, a theory of the interaction between the device and the object is developed. And by calculating the appropriate corrections, they mentally restore the object in the form in which it was before turning on the device. Unfortunately, at present this is feasible only with respect to macroscopic objects. For microscopic objects (elementary particles, individual atoms, etc.), due to the statistical nature of the relationship between theory and experimental data, it is not yet possible to take into account the individual effects of the device on the object. Absolutizing this difficulty, some natural scientists (including such well-known ones as W. Heisenberg and N. Bohr) began to lean towards a special kind of “physical” idealism in interpreting the role of the device in cognition: “selective” (in Eddington’s terminology), or “ instrumental idealism. Some opponents of materialism even declared the "fundamental uncontrollability" of the impact of the device on micro-objects and that nature (the outside world) is fabricated with the help of the device. In other words, the microworld is created by the will of the observer either as a collection of particles or as a set of waves. It is possible to overcome this form of idealism and obtain a correct philosophical solution to the problem of the relationship between the instrument and the object only on the basis of Firstly, to recognize the objectivity and inexhaustibility of the object of study, and, Secondly, on a deep and comprehensive account of the functions of the device in the experiment.

Devices can indeed create an environment for generating object properties that appear only when it interacts with the device. These are the so-called dispositional properties. Academician V.A. Fock notes that the electron contains the properties of being a particle or a wave not in reality (actually), but only in the possibility. Depending on what type of device is chosen for observation, either one or the other possibility is realized. But these possibilities are objective. They are defined nature, the structural organization of the object. Strictly speaking, there is no sour, sweet, etc. in nature, but there are substances with a certain structural organization, which, when interacting with certain human sense organs, give rise to these properties. There is also no doubt that as our understanding of micro-objects deepens and our technical capabilities expand, more “sensitive” devices will be built, capable of recording the possible properties of objects. And, of course, deeper and more comprehensive theories will be created that take into account specific acts of interaction between the device and the object.

End of work -

This topic belongs to:

Philosophy

State educational institution.. higher vocational education.. Chelyabinsk State Pedagogical University..

If you need additional material on this topic, or you did not find what you were looking for, we recommend using the search in our database of works:

What will we do with the received material:

If this material turned out to be useful for you, you can save it to your page on social networks:

All topics in this section:

Samsonov, V.F
From 17 Philosophy: textbook. allowance for universities / V.F. Samsonov. - Chelyabinsk: Chelyab Publishing House. state ped. un-ta, 2010. - 498 p. ISBN 978-5-85716-821-9

The main types of worldview
The question of the status of philosophy, its subject and functions is one of the most important philosophical questions proper. The historical-philosophical process itself constantly puts it forward

Philosophy as a worldview system: its meaning and purpose
Historically, philosophy has acted as a search for wisdom. And the latter was understood very broadly. It meant not only the totality of theoretical knowledge, but also the thoughts of people

Main problems and directions of philosophy
The relationship of man to the world is diverse. But philosophy as a theoretical system considers this relationship in a generalized and extremely abstract way. In a theoretical, conceptual form

Philosophy and Science. Specificity of philosophical knowledge
The scientific and philosophical worldview as a theoretical system of knowledge is such a system of understanding the world and the place of a person in it, which is based on science and itself

Subject areas and functions of philosophy
The specifics of the philosophical worldview and the most important aspects of the main question of philosophy are concretized in the relevant sections (subject areas) of philosophical knowledge.

Philosophy and education
The problem of education and upbringing is one of the problems determined by general social needs and the development of society. IN modern conditions global problems and world

Information for reflection
1. According to V.G. Krotov, philosophy is hard labor of understanding. Explain the correctness of this image. 2. The American philosopher George Santayana wrote: “Right philosophy begins

The Importance of Ontological Problems in Philosophy
Ontology is a branch of philosophy that studies the basic principles and the most general forms of being. The term "ontology" was introduced into scientific circulation by the German

Historical and philosophical excursion into ontological issues
There is little in common between philosophers of different eras in matters of ontology. The Eleatics, in contrast to the being of the sensible world, built ontology as the doctrine of the "true" transcendent

Understanding Being in Dialectical Materialist Philosophy
Marxist-Leninist philosophy is characterized by the removal of traditional ontology as a separate part of philosophy due to the extreme abstractness of the very concept of being. But she doesn't deny

The problem of existence in the logical-linguistic aspect
Even when elucidating the most general forms of being, philosophers disagree on the question of what exists. In this regard, they make various ontological assumptions and decisions. Yes, with

Information for reflection
1. The Syrian poet Maarri said: “To many, the meaning of life is explained by the grave…”. Give a philosophical interpretation of this judgment. 2. "In our unique life, every day is historical"

Main historical forms of dialectics
The term "dialectics" (from the Greek dialektike techne - the art of conversing, arguing) in philosophy is ambiguous. We will be primarily interested in the materialistic

Principles and laws of materialistic dialectics
Modern materialistic dialectics is based on three main principles: universal connection, development and contradiction. They are concretized in the basic laws of dialectics. But

The Methodological Role of Materialist Dialectics
The conscious application of dialectics in scientific activity makes it possible to use concepts correctly, take into account the interconnection of phenomena, their inconsistency, variability, and the possibility of transition

Metaphysics as an alternative to dialectics
An alternative to dialectics as a method of thinking and cognition in philosophy is metaphysics (anti-dialectical method). Metaphysics as a whole is characterized by a one-sided approach to

Information for reflection
1. “Determinism is the doctrine of universal lack of freedom” (V. Krotov). What is the positive rational meaning of this expression? 2. What does the catchphrase have to do with dialectics

Significance of the problem of consciousness in philosophy
Consciousness in broad sense words call the special ability of the subject (man and society). In terms of content, this is the inner, spiritual world of a person and the spiritual life of society. Philoso

The problem of consciousness in the history of philosophy
Features of the approach of any philosophical direction to the problem of consciousness are determined primarily by the orientation in the opposition "matter - consciousness" (i.e., the solution of the main question of philosophy)

Material basis and ideal nature of consciousness
As evidenced by philosophical and private scientific research in the field of consciousness research, the latter is complex, multifaceted, multi-qualitative in its structure and functions.

Consciousness as a form of reflection. The social essence of consciousness
Consideration of consciousness in the epistemological aspect is associated with the concept of "reflection", because consciousness, from a materialistic point of view, is the highest form of reflection of reality. Reflection as atri

Structure and functions of consciousness
For research purposes, in accordance with various aspects of the consideration of consciousness, it is structured (divided) on various grounds and various levels, spheres,

Information for reflection
1. “To know means to have information. To understand is to penetrate beyond knowledge through information…” (V. Kutyrev). Argument the truth of this thesis. 2. "Thought spoken is a lie"

Definition of thought and language
The problem of the relationship between language and thinking is one of the ancient and "eternal" problems. This is a classic problem. And now the disputes around it do not subside (see, for example: Thinking - without language? .. //

Connection of thinking and language with objective reality and human activity
Natural language, unlike thinking, is inherently material and objectively real. The materiality of language is its essential property, especially in epistemological terms.

The problem of meaning and the communicative essence of language
The central problem of semantics and semiotics in general is the problem of the meaning of a linguistic sign. This problem is complex and not solved in modern science. In constitution

Information for reflection
1. What did Voltaire call "the Universe in alphabetical order"? 2. The French philosopher Pierre Gassendi noted: “In philosophy, oh, how you should take care of words, precisely so that there is no eternal

The problem of the cognizability of the world
The terms "theory of knowledge", "epistemology" (from the Greek gnosis - knowledge) and "philosophy of knowledge" are used in philosophy as equivalent

Initial concepts of epistemology
The basic concepts of modern epistemology are "knowledge", "subject", "object", "reflection", "knowledge", "truth", "practice". Cognition is a creative agent

The main modern approaches to cognition
In connection with the difficulties of determining the specific determination of knowledge, as well as the difficulties of distinguishing between the objective and the subjective in cognition, in the history of philosophy and the philosophy of science,

The essence of the dialectical-materialist concept of knowledge
Let us dwell on the main provisions of the modern dialectical-materialist concept of cognition. The fundamental principle of modern dialectical materialist theory is

The role of language and practice in cognition
Philosophical analysis of language in connection with the development of a general theory of knowledge was developed in the 17th-18th centuries. in the works of Descartes, Bacon, Hobbes, Locke, Leibniz, Gartley and others. Thus, John Locke noted,

Education as a special form of knowledge
Education is a necessary condition for the rise of each person to a higher, scientific level of knowledge. Education itself in the epistemological aspect can be considered as a special

Information for reflection
1. "Imagination," according to Albert Einstein, "is more important than knowledge." Explain the rationale behind this opinion. 2. Why "every definition is a limitation" (B. Sp

The problem of truth and its definition
The problem of truth is one of the most important problems of philosophy and the central problem of the theory of knowledge. What exactly is the problem of truth? It concerns the answer to

Practice as a criterion of truth
In dialectical-materialist epistemology, socio-historical practice acts as a criterion of truth because it, as the material activity of people, has

Does modern thinking need the category of truth?
Despite the fundamental nature of the correspondence concept of truth in comparison with other theories, it still faces serious difficulties. Firstly,

Opinion, faith, delusion as epistemological phenomena
The phenomena indicated in the title are directly related to the process of cognition and comprehension of the truth. The terms "opinion" and "faith" are ambiguous. Opinion in a broad sense

Information for reflection
1. Russian writer and philosopher A.I. Herzen rightly remarked: "Truth does not always have to be all and for all." Explain what property of truth this remark points to.

The role of the method in scientific knowledge
By themselves, language and instruments as material means of cognition are not sufficient for cognition. And in some areas of knowledge, these tools generally play an insignificant role. Explain scientific facts and

Methodological role of dialectical-materialist philosophy in scientific knowledge
The methodological function of philosophy is manifested in the fact that it formulates the most general laws, principles, categories in which the experience of human interaction is concentrated

The main forms of scientific knowledge
Effective application of the totality of scientific methods gives new knowledge. But this knowledge does not appear immediately in a finished and complete form. Cognition is a process during which enrichment takes place.

Information for reflection
1. “No matter how perfect the theory is, it is only an approximation to the truth” (A. Butlerov). Prove the truth of this proposition. 2. Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky noted: “Scientific hypotheses

The subject of social philosophy and the specifics of the knowledge of society
The concept of "society" is the central category of social philosophy. The word "society" and the word "social" associated with it, as well as the terms associated with them, are not the same.

The main interpretations of the nature of society in the history of philosophy
Philosophical views on the nature and essence of society developed and improved along with the real history of mankind. So, already the philosophers of antiquity tried to comprehend and re

On the specifics of social laws
The question of social determinism is the question of how the functioning and development of society are predetermined by objective factors and to what extent they are

Information for reflection
1. "Society is nothing but the result of a mechanical balance of brute forces" (I. Ten). Does this judgment reflect the essence of social relations? Justify your answer. 2. Al

The concept of nature and the relevance of its analysis
The interaction of nature and society is one of the actual problems social philosophy and all humanitarian knowledge. It covers a wide variety of areas of social reality.

The main historical forms of society's attitude to nature
From ancient times to the present day, people have not stopped thinking about nature and improving their ability to influence the environment. And, of course, each of the stages of social development

Geographical environment and development of society
The concept of "geographical environment" is close in meaning to the terms "nature", "natural environment", "environment", but in its content it is not reduced to them. It is

Ecology and education
The biosocial nature of man and his connection with nature give rise to specific form consciousness - ecological consciousness. The latter is a reflection of the interaction of two relative

Information for reflection
1. According to the French philosopher Blaise Pascal, nature is “an infinite sphere, in which the center is everywhere, and the circumference is nowhere.” What did the author mean by this? 2. "Nature is lighter

Material and production sphere of society
The prerequisites of society and its history are people, their activities and the material conditions of their life. These are the main constituent elements of society and its structure. With dialectic mate

Social sphere of public life
In the diverse life of society, a specific area is distinguished, which is called the social sphere. It covers the area of social reality that is associated with the structure

Political life of society
Political sphere social life appeared in a natural way as a result of the complication of this life, the emergence of social differentiation and social inequality in it. IN

Spiritual sphere of public life
As you know, human life is conscious, and, as they say, "man does not live by bread alone." Society cannot exist and develop without the spiritual sphere.

Information for reflection
1. "The economy is the physiology of the state" (V. Krotov). How do you understand this expression? Give it a rational-philosophical interpretation. 2. Jean-Jacques Rousseau noted: “If it weren’t for

The specificity of the philosophical understanding of culture
The relevance of a specific scientific and philosophical analysis of the problems of culture is determined by the very course of social development, especially in our country at the present time. After all, many

The main historical models of culture and modern approaches to its analysis
In the history of philosophical understanding of culture, some basic models (concepts) of culture can be distinguished. Thus, the "naturalistic" model reduced culture to a subject matter.

The structure of culture. Typology of cultures
Three main and most general aspects of culture can be stated: (1) culture is a value-based attitude to objective reality; (2) culture is artificial, created

Unity, diversity and inconsistency of culture
The culture of all mankind is diverse, colorful and inexhaustible in its concrete manifestations. At the same time, the diverse forms of culture coincide in their essence as ways of e

Functions of culture
The main (general) function of culture is humanistic. This is a system function. Culture as a whole acts as a human-forming phenomenon. She is humanistic and positive.

Information for reflection
1. “Culture is approximately everything that we do and that monkeys do not do” (L. Raglan). Is this statement correct in principle? 2. “Talents are not nobility to be passed on

The concept of value and the relevance of axiological issues
Value is the significance (real or possible role, function) of natural or cultural objects (physical or spiritual) for people's lives. Values have pain

Development of axiological problems in the history of philosophy
Although axiology as a special area of philosophical knowledge developed in the middle of the 19th century, and the term "axiology" was first used by the French philosopher P. Lapi in 1902 (then

A modern approach to the problem of values
Soviet philosophy ignored value issues for a long time and, following Marxist philosophy did not recognize the status of a special philosophical discipline for axiology. Resurgence of interest

Typology and hierarchy of values. Value systems
Values are multifaceted. Their classification can be presented as follows. According to the content, values are distinguished that correspond to ideas about the subsystem.

Information for reflection
1. Indian thinker Mohandas Gandhi noted: "The value of an ideal is that it moves away as we approach it." What is the real (practical) significance (useful)

Problems of philosophy of history and their relevance
Civilization has developed three main forms of theoretical attitude to history - theology of history, philosophy of history and scientific historiography. The object of these forms of historical consciousness

Philosophy of history in the history of philosophy
Essentially, the philosophy of history begins in antiquity with the work of Herodotus Thucydides. They tried to find out the driving forces of the historical process,

On non-traditional approaches to the problems of the philosophy of history
In the second half of the 20th century, we are faced with an irrational approach to society and its history in the form of so-called postmodernism. This direction is a philosopher

Information for reflection
1. The German philosopher Wilhelm Humboldt wrote: “In order to get closer to historical truth, you need to go along two roads at the same time - thoroughly, impartially, critically study events and, linking

Social progress and its criteria
The question of social progress is the question of the nature of social change, the question of the direction of change and the development of society. In the modern era, the question of essence

Global problems of our time
The contradictory nature of social progress was especially clearly manifested in the 20th century during the scientific and technological revolution. In the 1970s and 1980s, scientists and philosophers, public figures and

Social forecasting and scientific foresight
One of important functions philosophy as a scientific worldview is a heuristic function concerning the prediction of the development of reality. And the prediction theory

Information for reflection
1. "Modern Civilization: Exchange of Values for Conveniences" (E. Lets). Argue the truth of this judgment. 2. Russian poet S.I. Kirsanov wrote: When will you finally understand

The essence and significance of anthropological problems in modern philosophy
Man as a generic being is a representative of the highest level of living organisms on Earth, a subject of socio-historical activity and culture. Branch of philosophy that deals with the problem

The image of man in the history of philosophical thought
In various historical periods and in various concepts of philosophers, various images of a person were “drawn”. But if we generalize the mosaic of human paintings in accordance with the prevailing anthropological

Basic methodological principles and categories of modern philosophical and anthropological understanding of man
As already noted, this or that understanding of a person is largely determined by the methodological position of the scientist and philosopher. Man, as the most complex phenomenon on Earth, requires an appropriate, adequate

Information for reflection
1. “A person is not able to comprehend himself: he will always remain a mystery, a mystery to himself” (P. Buast). Express your opinion on this matter. 2. “A person cannot

The Dialectic of Human Integrity
For an adequate understanding of a person, it is important to find out the relationship between the biological and the social in him. The biological in man is his

The main aspects of human existence
The mode of existence of a person is activity, and the main types of activity, in our opinion, are work, play and creativity. Among the main aspects

Information for reflection
1. The philosopher Erich Fromm remarked: "Character is a substitute for the instincts that a person lacks." Give a philosophical interpretation of this statement. 2. Define a philosophical cat

The relevance of the problem of the meaning of life
The meaning of life in the most general terms can be described as the meaning (purpose) of life and a certain way of its implementation (realization). In essence, this concept implies a certain answer

Basic concepts of the meaning of life
In connection with the difference in worldview positions, different concepts of the meaning of life have arisen and continue to arise. The meaning of life can be interpreted from both rationalistic and irrationalistic points of view.

Life strategy and modern humanism
The general line of realization of a certain meaning of life is a life strategy. In the very general view life strategy is manifested in the ability to combine their individual

Information for reflection
1. “Man gives meaning to life” (V. Makushevich). How do you understand this expression? 2. “The meaning of life is experienced to the end sometimes individually, but is understood only by generations in geo

ancient philosophy
The subject of the history of philosophy is the emergence and development of the philosophical thought of mankind from ancient times to the present. This is a story of confrontation with

medieval philosophy
Medieval philosophy refers mainly to the era of feudalism (V-XV centuries AD). This is the time of the domination of religion and the church, in particular the domination of Christianity in Europe. Respectively

Renaissance philosophy
The Middle Ages are replaced by the Renaissance (XV-XVI centuries). This is the time of the beginning of the formation of bourgeois society and the development of industry, the time of great geographical discoveries (Colum

Russian philosophy
Russian philosophy is one of the important and original components of Russian and world culture. It embodied the hopes and searches of the Russian people, the peculiar features of the national

Information for reflection
1. Why "in philosophy live, without fading, and Plato, and Aristotle, and Descartes, and Spinoza, and Hegel, etc." (M. Rubinstein)? 2. Plato and Aristotle believed that the beginning of philosophizing in oud

The General Character of Modern Western Philosophy
Modern Western philosophy is usually called the postclassical stage of its development (the second half of the 19th–20th centuries). To understand its features, it is necessary to compare this philosophy with

The Positivist Tradition: Neopositivism and Analytic Philosophy
Positivism as a philosophical trend originates in the 30s of the XIX century. The focus of positivists has always been the question of the relationship between philosophy and science.

Anthropological-humanistic tendency: existentialism
Existentialism, or the philosophy of existence (from the Latin existentia - existence), arose in the mid-20s of the twentieth century. It has become especially popular in

Philosophical-theological tradition: Neo-Thomism
Neo-Thomism is a modern religious philosophy, the official philosophy of the Vatican. The theoretical foundation of neo-Thomism is the modernized philosophy of the medieval philosopher

Information for reflection
1. "Philosophy is the struggle against the bewitching of our mind by the means of our language." Representative of what direction Western philosophy does this statement belong? 2. Name

Dictionary of personalities
Abelard Pierre (1079-1142) - French philosopher, theologian and poet, creator of conceptualism. Abramyan Lev Arutyunovich (b. 1928) - arm. philosopher, specialist in the field of

In any philosophical system, of course, the mood of the soul of its creator is reflected. Who is the author of this judgment?
a) V. Vernadsky; b) C. Darwin; c) I. Mechnikov; d) D. Mendeleev; e) A. Chizhevsky. 10. The desired object is an American psychologist and philosopher B.F. Skinner, joking, but not without reason

What method of thinking is foreign in this list of terms?
a) dogmatism; b) dialectics; c) relativism; d) sophistry; e) eclectic. 3. Category expressing the internal source of development: a) harmony; b) denial;

What is the general theory of sign systems called?
a) Morse code b) semantics; c) semiotics; d) synergy; e) syntax. 2. In the 20th century, only one case of the revival of a dead language as a spoken language is known. Determine

What does the expression "confidence without evidence" (A. Amiel) mean?
a) an axiom; b) faith; c) courage; d) intuition; d) confidence. 4. A position that believes that sensory reflection is the only basis for reliable knowledge:

Which term is "extra" in this list (i.e. does not correspond to the basis of other terms)?
a) analogy; b) deduction; c) measurement; d) induction; e) modeling. 2. The general scientific theory of self-organization of systems is: a) automation; b) semiotics; V

Ethics is an unlimited responsibility for everything that lives. Who is the author of these lines?
a) A. Schweitzer; b) M. Scheler; c) L. Shestov; d) M. Schlick; e) A. Schopenhauer. Topic 11. Society as a structural and functional system 1. Spheres of public life in

Which of the philosophers believed that the goals and norms of human behavior determine values?
a) N. Berdyaev; b) M. Weber; c) W. Rostow; d) A. Toynbee; e) O. Spengler. Topic 14. Philosophy of history 1. Religious interpretation of the historical process as a

Which of these philosophers argued that hermeneutics is a method of historical interpretation?
a) L. Wittgenstein; b) W. Dilthey; c) J. Dewey; d) E. Gilson; e) E. Mach. 5. The Roman historian, who is credited with the authorship of the winged words regarding the study of history: “B

What, according to the English writer Joseph Addison, “most significantly elevates one person above another”?
a) wealth; b) arrogance; c) knowledge; d) beauty; e) physical abilities. 5. Maxim Gorky rightly believed: “You need to love what you do, and then work - even with

If you suddenly found the meaning of life, it's time to visit a psychiatrist. Who is the author of these words?
a) A. Ayer; b) A. Adler; c) P. Bayle; d) G. Frege; e) Z. Freud. 5. The highest goal of human aspirations: a) wealth; b) education; c) ideal; d) with

Everything that is real is reasonable, everything that is reasonable is real. Who is the author of these words?
a) G. Hegel; b) P. Holbach; c) I. Fichte; d) F. Nietzsche; e) A. Schweitzer. 5. One of the philosophers wrote: “My whole philosophy can be formulated in one expression: the world is with

Which of the Russian philosophers was the first to start talking about the "soul of Russia"?
a) N. Berdyaev; b) A. Losev; c) N. Fedorov; d) P. Florensky; e) P. Chaadaev. 10. Russian philosopher, whose ideas actively influenced the formation of the worldview of Alexander Blok, A

Means and results of scientific knowledge. Means and methods of knowledge

2.2.1 Means of scientific research (means of knowledge).

Philosophy

What will we do with the received material:

All topics in this section:

Fleet patrol ships - classification and purpose See what a "Patrol Ship" is in other dictionaries

History of samurai in japan School of samurai in japan

The history of the samurai in Japan Types of Japanese warriors

Categories

Latest Articles

Eggs, chicks and thrush nests

And Kuprin is a wonderful doctor summary

Basic concepts of the sphere of methodological activity of hoopoe

Presentation "Literacy (writing) L

We develop a child in a year

Cottage cheese recipes with photos - what can be cooked cold or hot at home

Kohlrabi cabbage: what is useful, how to store, what can be done

Urgent cash loans on the day of treatment Mos express bank loan online application

Is it possible to sell a mortgage apartment?

Advertising

Means and results of scientific knowledge. Means and methods of knowledge

2.2.1 Means of scientific research (means of knowledge).

Philosophy

What will we do with the received material:

All topics in this section:

You might be interested:

Categories

Latest Articles

Advertising