Scientific Perspectivism and the Methodology of Modern Mathematical Physics

Perspectival realists often appeal to the methodology of science to secure a realist account of the retention and continued success of scientific claims through the progress of science (e.g. Massimi, 2016). However, in the context of modern physics, the retention and continued success of scientific claims is typically only definable within a mathematical framework. In this paper, I argue that this concern leaves the perspectivist open to Cassirer’s (1910) neo-Kantian critique of the applicability of mathematics in the natural sciences. To support this criticism, I present a case study on the conservation of energy in modern physics.

Belief revision as a problem of scientific epistemology

The fundamental question that must be answered by any theory of knowledge that claims to be adequate is the question of how it is possible to change our knowledge. The very fact of change undoubtedly takes place, and the problem is to theoretically explicate this fact. The methodological significance of this issue is due to the fact that changing knowledge means nothing more than its development, namely, the question of the ways and means of developing our knowledge is of central importance both for the logic and methodology of science, and for general epistemology. This work is of a review character, and aims to draw the reader’s attention to a new promising direction in the modern theory of knowledge called “belief revision”.

Discourse of Historical Cognition: an Epistemological Analysis

The purpose of this article is to consider the discourse of researchers actively working in the field of historical knowledge. In other words, the article examines the features of the verbalization of basic concepts and methodological attitudes of modern historical knowledge. Discourse analysis, in contrast to the traditional philosophical and methodological, allows you to penetrate into the microcosm of historical work, to observe the “historian at the workbench” outside the “spotlights” and other attributes of public demonstration. Discourse analysis is a specific section of historical epistemology. From the author's point of view, epistemology adheres to a descriptive attitude. It is intended to describe, not prescribe, as is the case with the methodology of science. The goal of the article is to trace and show the dynamics of the historical vocabulary in the hope of seeing emerging trends in the rethinking of the models of the historical process as a whole. Discourse analysis allows you to detail intellectual changes and see “point shifts” in patterns of thinking, which ultimately lead to “tectonic transformations” of the entire field of historical research. Science, according to the theory of P. Bourdieu, is a specific social game, and contains a competitive struggle within itself, in which the winner acquires the right to general recognition and authority, which consolidate the concepts he invented as legitimate. History is no exception here. The article focuses on such concepts that have gained legitimacy as “historical reconstruction”, “temporality”, “past”, “presentism”, “antiquarianism”, “narrative”, “contingent”. It is shown that words are the triggers of search thinking.

Department of Logic and Methodology of Science: Achievements and Prospects

The article provides an overview of activity of the department of logic and methodology of science of the H.S. Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy, National Academy of Science of Ukraine. This activity includes scientific research, translation of philosophical literature, organization of seminars on urgent problems of modern philosophy. Research projects, on the one hand, are based on scientific traditions formed over the years in the Institute, and on the other hand, they focus on the transformations in scientific cognition and science, and build the projections for the future. It presents methodological backgrounds of the project «Semiotic analysis of cultural phenomena» (2018–2020), and outlines research tasks of the projects «Communicative transformations in modern science» (2020–2021) and «Logical, ontological and axiological dimensions of modern scientific knowledge» (2022–2024). Involvement of young scholars in research in logic, methodology and philosophy of science is the major challenge for the department.

MODERN PRINCIPLES OF COMPARATIVE LITERATURE

The article deals with the analysis of modern scientific approaches to critical studies. The current importance of the science of literature critical studies has been analyzed from different perspectives. The author tries to justify in which issues of literature the perspective of this field is more important. There are also the peculiarities of the methodology of science, the main scientific directions and ideas about the name of the discipline. Special emphasis was placed on national comparative studies. It is well known that literature critical studies as an independent branch of science emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century. The uniqueness of this field is that it determines the place and contribution of national literatures to world civilization by comparing them with each other. There are relatively little-studied areas of literature critical studies in our country. Some foreign experts are trying to prove that the head of the discipline has stuck in a dead end having no perspectives. Comparison in the broadest sense is the process of perceiving the commonalities and differences of life events. However, the function of this discipline is not limited to finding the properties in X and in Y. In fact, what is the importance of literature critical studies as a science today? The article is devoted to a critical assessment of this issue from different perspectives. The peculiarities of the formation of the discipline are also analyzed. It is claimed that the task of the article is to teach students to use theoretical knowledge, practical skills, modern comparative methods and techniques, to distinguish between national and cultural features of the studied literature, to understand the relationship of national literature with world literature and to draw conclusions based on the analysis.

ON THE NEED FOR STRENGTHENING THE PHILOSOPHICAL TRAINING OF YOUNG SCIENTISTS AT A TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

Изучение философии и методологии науки, философских проблем специальных наук магистрантами, аспирантами, молодыми учеными в техническом вузе - важная часть их теоретико-методологической, общенаучной подготовки. Специальные научные знания, получаемые студентами в техническом вузе, исследования, проводимые учеными, в том числе и молодыми, должны осмысливаться как в контексте широкого социокультурного, так и в конкретно-научном диапазоне. Очень важно, чтобы в этом контексте молодой ученый - аспирант, ассистент, избравший научный путь развития, освоил рациональные и эмпирические способы, методы исследования. Это возможно в том случае, если повысить уровень теоретико-методологической подготовки будущих специалистов, инженеров, молодых ученых. The study of philosophy and methodology of science, philosophical problems of special sciences by undergraduates, graduate students, and young scientists at a technical university is an important part of their theoretical, methodological, general scientific training. Special scientific knowledge obtained by students in a technical university, research carried out by scientists, including young people, should be comprehended both in the context of a wide socio-cultural and in a specific scientific range. It is very important that in this context a young scientist - graduate student, assistant, who has chosen the scientific path of development, mastered rational and empirical methods, research methods. This is possible if the level of theoretical and methodological training of future specialists, engineers, and young scientists is raised.

French Musical: history and specificity of the genre

French Musical is “younger” than the Broadway, popular; however, there is yet no serious scientific approach towards its examination. The subject of this research is nationalization of the French Musical in historical and genre contexts. The goal is to disclose role of French Musical as a relatively young genre on the theoretical level. The article employs the interdisciplinary approach, which involves the scientific theories and concepts from other fields; historical-culturological approach, which reveals the factors contributing to assimilation of French culture with the traditions of other cultures; systemic approach aimed at examination of professional performance in French Musical as a result of development of the genre in late XX – early XXI centuries. The scientific novelty consists in introduction of the previously missing biographical materials and new information on the establishment and development of the genre of French Musical and its national specificity. The theoretical significance lies in characterization of the concepts of “French Musical”, “popular culture”, “interpretation of classical music”, “musical performance” in the context of art history knowledge, as well as methodology of science. The practical significance lies in broader understanding of the role of establishment and proliferation of French Musical, comparison of the use of chanson and jazz in the Musicals of France and the United States. The main result consists the statement that French Musical contains the key to understanding the French people, their thought pattern, and tastes. This genre allows them to express and defend their values and uniqueness.

Beyond logic there is only nonsense

This paper provides an interpretation of Father Bocheński’s saying “Beyond logic there is only nonsense.” He considered the battle against superstitions of various kinds as one of the most important intellectual and social duties. The phrase in itself suggests that logic is a weapon in the mentioned battle. Logic is understood broadly, that is, as semantics, formal logic and the methodology of science, and was considered by Bocheński as the main instrument of rational philosophy. Hence, the formula under discussion has an explicit metaphilosophical significance, although Bochenski’s understanding of the concept of differs from that of the Vienna Circle.

Critical thinking and the methodology of science

Scientific literacy concerns understanding the methodology of science at least as much as understanding scientific knowledge. More than this, it also requires an understanding of why the methodology of science delivers (or fails to deliver) epistemic credibility. To justify scientific claims as credible, it is important to understand how the nature of our reasoning is embodied in scientific methodology and how the limits of our reasoning are therefore the limits of our inquiry. This paper makes explicit how aspects of critical thinking, including argumentation and reasoning, underpin the methodology of science in the hope of making the development of scientific literacy in students more actionable.

PRINCIPLE OF BEAUTY IN SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE: SOCIOCULTURAL VERSION OF THE GNOSEOLOGICAL APPROACH

The article addresses the problem of the genesis of the beauty principle in scientific cognition from the standpoint of the gnoseological approach supplemented by some conceptual generalizations from the fields of social epistemology and sociology of thinking. The relevance of this approach is due to the critical attitude to gnoseology as a general theory and methodology of science on the part of non-classical epistemology, the history of science and scientific theories of the middle range. An external factor that actualizes the current internal scientific situation is the prolongation of integration processes typical for postmodern culture associated with the search for points of contact between science and art. The article shows that despite the addition of the principle of beauty to the heuristic tools of modern exemplary science, there is an unresolved problem of the genetic relationship between aesthetics and science. This connection was best demonstrated in detail by the example of the similarity and difference between mathematics and music initiated in antique culture and reflecting the love of symmetry and harmony inherent in the Greek worldview. On the other hand, the differences in the perception of works of science and art which are obvious to ordinary consciousness required ancient thinkers to introduce concepts and principles that synthesize different aspects of the manifestations of the useful, true, and beautiful. In this connection, the binary mythopoetic cosmos-chaos opposition, which is found in its direct form in archaic and natural-philosophical cosmologies, is proposed as the historically first form that integrates the complex and contradictory content of the beauty principle. The results of the study lead to the conclusion that only natural philosophical models of the cosmos make a fundamental distinction between the “chaos” of opinions about phenomena and the “cosmos” of the true knowledge about their speculative entities. It is this worldview scheme of a single, conceptually ordered, and therefore truly beautiful world that served as an ideal model for classical European science.