Page 40 of 60

40. Forms of empirical and theoretical levels of scientific knowledge.

Theoretical knowledge as its highest and most developed form, one should first of all determine its structural components. The main ones include the problem, hypothesis, theory and law, which at the same time act as forms, “nodal points” in the construction and development of knowledge at its theoretical level.

A problem is a form of theoretical knowledge, the content of which is what has not yet been known by man, but what needs to be known. In other words, this is knowledge about ignorance, a question that arose in the course of cognition and requires an answer. A problem is not a frozen form of knowledge, but a process that includes two main points (stages of the movement of knowledge) - its formulation and solution. Correct derivation of problematic knowledge from previous facts and generalizations, the ability to correctly pose the problem - necessary prerequisite its successful solution.

Thus, a scientific problem is expressed in the presence of a contradictory situation (appearing in the form of opposing positions), which requires appropriate resolution. The determining influence on the way of posing and solving a problem is, firstly, the nature of thinking of the era in which the problem is formulated, and, secondly, the level of knowledge about those objects that concern the problem that has arisen. Each historical era has its own characteristic forms of problem situations.

A hypothesis is a form of theoretical knowledge containing an assumption formulated on the basis of a number of facts, the true meaning of which is uncertain and requires proof. Hypothetical knowledge is probable, not reliable, and requires verification and justification. In the course of proving the put forward hypotheses: a) some of them become a true theory, b) others are modified, clarified and specified, c) others are discarded and turn into delusions if the test gives a negative result. The development of a new hypothesis, as a rule, is based on the results of testing the old one, even if these results were negative.

Theory is the most developed form of scientific knowledge, providing a holistic reflection of the natural and essential connections of a certain area of ​​reality. Examples of this form of knowledge are Newton's classical mechanics, evolutionary theory Charles Darwin, A. Einstein's theory of relativity, theory of self-organizing integral systems(synergetics), etc.

a law can be defined as a connection (relationship) between phenomena and processes, which is:

a) objective, since it is inherent primarily real world, sensory-objective activity of people, expresses the real relationships of things;

b) essential, concrete-universal. Being a reflection of what is essential in the movement of the universe, any law is inherent in all processes of a given class, of a certain type (type) without exception, and operates always and wherever the corresponding processes and conditions unfold;

c) necessary, because being closely connected with the essence, the law acts and is implemented with “iron necessity” in appropriate conditions;

d) internal, since it reflects the deepest connections and dependencies of a given subject area in the unity of all its moments and relationships within the framework of some integral system;

e) repeating, stable, since “the law is solid (remaining) in the phenomenon”, “identical in the phenomenon”,

their “calm reflection” (Hegel). It is an expression of a certain constancy of a certain process, the regularity of its occurrence, the uniformity of its action under similar conditions.

Empirical cognition, or sensory, or living contemplation, is the process of cognition itself, which includes three interrelated forms:

1. sensation - reflection in the human mind of individual aspects, properties of objects, their direct impact on the senses;

2. perception - a holistic image of an object, directly given in living contemplation of the totality of all its sides, a synthesis of these sensations;

3. representation - a generalized sensory-visual image of an object that influenced the senses in the past, but is not perceived at the moment.

Epistemological nature scientific fact as a form of empirical knowledge remains controversial. There are three points of view on this issue. Either they talk about facts as real phenomena, or they understand facts as statements of scientists about these phenomena, events, or they make attempts to consider a fact both as knowledge and as a phenomenon.

As shown above, in legal science, a scientific fact is its most important part and can only be knowledge about an event, process, subject, and not the actual event itself, etc.

Identifying a scientific fact with the phenomenon itself is as illegitimate as identifying a person with his photograph. Really existing phenomenon and the result of his knowledge, although they are in close connection and dependence, nevertheless represent two qualitatively various areas- social being and thinking. Therefore, a scientific fact is, first of all, knowledge about any event, phenomenon, process or their combination. By its logical naturescientific factrepresents a judgment in the form of an affirmation or negation. Essentially, this is an assertoric judgment in which the connection between the subject and the predicate is defined as factual, really existing or non-existent.

There are six types of facts: single facts, single illustration facts, generalized facts, classifications, statistical facts and correlations.

Single factscontain information about a particular legal phenomenon, event, its spatiotemporal characteristics, properties, and connections. These are, for example, statements that the Constitution of the Russian Federation was adopted during a national referendum on December 12, 1993, and the parliament in Russia is the Federal Assembly.

Single facts-illustrationscan be of two types. Along with information about any phenomenon or event, they provide information about the same phenomena or events contained in other sources. Thus, a reference may be given to a specific normative legal act and at the same time part or all of the text of the act or a quotation from the work of another author may be given. Another type of fact-illustration is characterized by the fact that information about a phenomenon or event is supplemented by its image in the form of a drawing, photograph, graphic diagram, etc.

However, the researcher is not limited to just stating individual facts, but strives to identify in the array of collected facts some common and distinctive features inherent in them,that is, to rise to a higher level of empirical analysis. Both qualitative signs of phenomena and processes, as well as their quantitative characteristics, indicating the intensity and frequency of manifestation of essential signs in the array of identified facts, are subject to generalization.

Qualitative generalizations are carried out by methods of comparison and classification, while quantitative data are obtained using methods of statistics and mathematics., obtained by comparison, juxtaposition, contain information about the presence or absence of any property, sign, connection in a certain set of similar phenomena and processes. Thus, judgments based on the results of a comparative legal study of the legislation of two or more states are also a type of generalized facts.

Information about the forms of manifestation of essential features in specific phenomena and processes is obtained using various types ofclassifications.In this case, the classification is based on the essential features of the phenomena and processes under study, characterized by various forms of their manifestation. Taking into account the peculiarities of the forms of manifestation of the characteristic taken as the basis of the classification, in the studied array of political and legal phenomena and processes, they are divided into separate types, classes, types. For example, all legal systems of the world, in accordance with the sources of law, are divided into three families: common, Romano-Germanic (continental), dualistic law. In the common law family, judicial precedent is recognized as the leading source of law. In the family of Romano-Germanic law, law acts in this capacity. The family of dualistic law includes countries that allow legal regulation social relations through both secular law and religious norms. Thus, thanks to classifications, it seems possible to establish common features and features of the manifestation of essential features in the phenomena and processes under study, to identify the specificity of the manifestation of the general in the specific.

Reliable information about the quantitative side of phenomena, processes, their characteristics, and connections is contained in statistical facts obtained using a very developed system of social statistics methods.Statistical factsrepresent quantitative characteristics of a particular phenomenon, process

sa, obtained as a result of specially organized mass observation of them. These may be judgments about the intensity of the observed phenomenon, based on the results statistical analysis in the form of groupings, time series, empirical typology or correlation analysis. Statistical facts can be presented in the form of various tables or judgments, for example: “There is a direct relationship between the workload of judges and the quality of their work, since the rank correlation coefficient between these factors is quite high and equal to 0.65.”

The highest form of empirical knowledge is an empirical law. It represents a connection identified by methodscorrelation analysis.This law fixes a coordinated change in two characteristics: the variability of one characteristic is in accordance with the variability of another, for example, the relationship between changes in the socio-cultural and professional structure of the population and possible crime trends, between material well-being population and the opportunity to obtain higher professional education.

By their epistemological nature, statistical patterns should be distinguished from objective social laws, including patterns of functioning and development of legal phenomena.

Objective social, including legal, laws are essential, general, necessary and stable connections. Only if all these signs are present can a connection be considered as an objective pattern. As a form of manifestation of objective laws, statistical patterns reveal only stable, repeating connections that are determined by objective patterns and at the same time depend on external, random factors. Moreover, statistical patterns can reflect imaginary, that is, false, connections that disappear when their true cause is revealed.

Due to the fact that statistical patterns do not reveal what is necessary, they are irrefutable primarily only in relation to the totality of phenomena that were studied in the process of statistical analysis.

Scientific facts - special kind knowledge. The main feature of scientific facts is that they always represent reliable, true judgments. In this they differ from scientific hypotheses and theoretical knowledge, which may be probabilistic in nature or even be the result of subjective delusion. Like knowledge real event, the process fact is an absolute, eternal truth, remaining unchanged even during the period of change from one scientific theory to another. Knowledge of an event or phenomenon can be expanded, supplemented with some new features, but the previously available information does not lose reliability. A scientific fact, refuted by new knowledge, is from the very beginning an error, false knowledge, but not a scientific fact.

The epistemological essence of the fact does not change at the level of generalizations. A generalized, or statistical, fact makes it possible to identify the general, repeating properties of the totality of observed phenomena, their quantitative side. Generalized facts are true and subsequently irrefutable only in relation to the studied facts. The extension of these conclusions to the entire set of phenomena is conditional, probabilistic, or, as G. Hegel said, problematic.

Reliability, truth as a necessary sign of a fact follows from the basic requirement of scientific knowledge - the principle of objectivity. A fact is primary scientific knowledge, which is not included in the sphere of theoretical knowledge, but forms its empirical basis, since it is not possible to substantiate the reliability of theoretical knowledge in any other way. ..

Cognition is a specific type of human activity aimed at understanding the world around us and oneself in this world. One of the levels of scientific knowledge is empirical. The empirical level of scientific knowledge is characterized by the direct study of really existing, sensory objects. The special role of empirics in science lies in the fact that only at this level of research we deal with the direct interaction of a person with the natural or social objects being studied.

Living contemplation (sensory cognition) predominates here; the rational element and its forms (judgments, concepts, etc.) are present here, but have a subordinate significance. Therefore, the object under study is reflected primarily from its external connections and manifestations, accessible to living contemplation and expressing internal relationships. At this level, the process of accumulating information about the objects and phenomena under study is carried out by conducting observations, performing various measurements, and delivering experiments. Here, the primary systematization of the obtained factual data is also carried out in the form of tables, diagrams, graphs, etc. In addition, already at the empirical level, the level of scientific knowledge - as a consequence of the generalization of scientific facts - it is possible to formulate some empirical patterns.

Distinguish the following types forms of scientific knowledge: general logical. These include concepts, judgments, inferences; local-logical. These include scientific ideas, hypotheses, theories, laws.

Concept is a thought that reflects the property and necessary characteristics of an object or phenomenon. Concepts can be: general, individual, concrete, abstract, relative, absolute, etc. General concepts are associated with a certain set of objects or phenomena, individual concepts relate only to one, specific - to specific objects or phenomena, abstract - to their individual characteristics, relative concepts are always presented in pairs, and absolute concepts do not contain pairwise relations.

Judgment- is a thought that contains the affirmation or denial of something through a connection of concepts. Judgments can be affirmative and negative, general and particular, conditional and disjunctive, etc.

Inference is a thinking process that connects a sequence of two or more judgments, resulting in a new judgment. Essentially, inference is a conclusion that makes possible the transition from thinking to practical action. There are two types of inferences:

A higher degree of scientific knowledge finds its expression, as noted, in local logical forms. In this case, the process of cognition goes from a scientific idea to a hypothesis, subsequently turning into a law or theory.

Law- these are necessary, essential, stable, repeating relationships between phenomena in nature and society. The law reflects the general connections and relationships inherent in all phenomena of a given kind or class.

The law is objective in nature and exists independently of people’s consciousness. Knowledge of laws is the main task of science and serves as the basis for people’s transformation of nature and society.

Ticket 40. Object of empirical knowledge. Correlation of the concepts “object of empirical knowledge”, “sensibly perceived thing”, “thing in itself”.

The empirical level of scientific knowledge is a derivative of the activity of reason.

Reason - First stage thinking, focused on processing information about sensory objects and acting according to given schemes, algorithms, templates and rules. Its most important function is to distinguish something, or generalize (the lowest form of thinking).

STRUCTURE OF EMPIRICAL KNOWLEDGE

1. The mechanism of operation of the empirical level is provided by reason. Reason is the initial level of thinking, at which the operation of abstractions occurs within the limits of an unchanging scheme, a given template, a rigid standard. This is the ability to reason consistently and clearly, to construct one’s thoughts correctly, to clearly classify, and strictly systematize facts. Here they deliberately distract from the development, interconnection of things and the concepts that express them, considering them as something stable and unchanging. Main function reason - division and calculation. Thinking as a whole is impossible without reason; it is always necessary, but its absolutization inevitably leads to metaphysics. Reason is ordinary everyday thinking, or what is often called common sense. Logic of reason is a formal logic that studies the structure of statements and evidence, focusing on the form of “ready-made” knowledge, and not on its content and development. The activity of the mind consists in applying to the material of sensory data such operations as abstraction, analysis, comparison, generalization, induction, putting forward hypotheses, empirical laws, deductive derivation of verifiable consequences from them, their justification or refutation, etc.

2. Subject area of ​​the empirical level. To understand the nature of the empirical level of scientific knowledge, it is necessary, following A. Einstein, to distinguish at least three qualitatively various types items:

1) things in themselves (objects);

2) their representation (representation) in sensory data (sensory objects);

3) empirical (abstract) objects.

We can say: the empirical object is a side, an aspect of a sensory object, and the latter, in turn, is an aspect, a side of the “thing in itself.” Thus, empirical knowledge, being directly a set of statements about empirical objects, represents an abstraction of the third level in relation to the world of “things in themselves.”

Working mechanism:

1. Things in themselves.

2. Filter 1: target setting of consciousness (practical or cognitive). The target setting plays the role of a kind of filter, a mechanism for selecting important, significant for the “I” sensory information received in the process of the object’s influence on sensory analyzers. Sensory objects are the result of the consciousness “seeing” “things in themselves”, and not simply “looking” at them.

3. Sensory images of things.

4. Filter 2: the number of filters, and as a result, the activity and constructiveness of consciousness here (compared to the second step) increases sharply. With such filters empirical level scientific knowledge are:

a) language structures;

b) accumulated stock of empirical knowledge;

c) the interpretative potential of the mind (in particular, the dominant scientific theories) and so on.

IF NECESSARY: (5. Protocol sentences, i.e. single empirical statements (with or without an existential quantifier). Their content is the discursive fixation of the results of single observations; when drawing up such protocols, it is recorded exact time and observation location. As you know, science is highest degree purposeful and organized cognitive activity. Observations and experiments are carried out in it not by chance, not haphazardly, but in the vast majority of cases quite purposefully - to confirm or refute some idea or hypothesis. Therefore, there is no need to talk about “pure”, uninterested, unmotivated, unbiased by any theory observations and, accordingly, observation protocols in developed science. For modern philosophy science - this is an obvious position.

6. More high level empirical knowledge are facts. Scientific facts are inductive generalizations of protocols; they are necessarily general statements of a statistical or universal nature. They assert the absence or presence of certain events, properties, relationships in the subject area under study and their intensity (quantitative certainty). Their symbolic representations are graphs, diagrams, tables, classifications, and mathematical models.

In understanding the nature of fact in modern scientific methodology, two extreme trends stand out: factualism and theoreticism. If the first emphasizes the independence and autonomy of facts in relation to various theories, then the second, on the contrary, argues that facts are completely dependent on theory and when theories change, the entire factual basis of science changes. The correct solution to the problem is that a scientific fact, having a theoretical load, is relatively independent of theory, since it is fundamentally determined by material reality.

The structure of a scientific fact: in the structure of a scientific fact there are three elements:

Sentence (“linguistic component” of a fact);

A sensory image associated with a sentence (“perceptual component”);

The third part is devices, tools and practical actions, skills used to obtain the appropriate sensory image (“material-practical component”). For example, the fact that iron melts at a temperature of 1530 C° includes a corresponding sentence, a sensory image of liquid metal, thermometers and equipment for melting the metal. It is easy to understand that a fact is not just a proposal or some real state of affairs if one asks the question of how to convey this fact to people of a different culture, say, the ancient Egyptians or the Greeks of the Homeric era. It is completely insufficient (if at all possible) to translate the sentence “Iron melts at a temperature of 1530 C°” into their language. They simply will not understand it, and even if they did, they would treat it as some kind of hypothesis or theoretical speculation. This fact can become a fact only in a culture that has the appropriate technology and practical skills necessary to reproduce this fact.

7. The third, even higher level of empirical knowledge is empirical laws various types(functional, causal, structural, dynamic, statistical, etc.). Scientific laws are a special type of relationship between events, states or properties, which are characterized by temporal or spatial constancy (dimensionality). Just like facts, laws have the character of general (universal or statistical) statements with a general quantifier: “All bodies expand when heated,” “All metals are electrically conductive,” “All planets revolve around the Sun in elliptical orbits,” etc. . etc. Scientific empirical laws (like facts) are the result of hypothetical generalizations - induction through enumeration, eliminative induction, induction as reverse deduction, confirmatory induction. Since inductive ascent from the particular to the general, as a rule, is an ambiguous conclusion and is capable of yielding in conclusion only conjectural, probabilistic knowledge, empirical knowledge itself is, in principle, hypothetical.

8. The most general level of existence of empirical scientific knowledge is the so-called phenomenological theories, which represent a logically organized set of empirical laws (phenomenological thermodynamics, Kepler's celestial mechanics, etc.). Being the highest form of logical organization of empirical scientific knowledge, phenomenological theories, nevertheless, both by the nature of their origin and by the possibilities of justification, remain hypothetical, conjectural knowledge. And this is due to the fact that induction, that is, the substantiation of general knowledge with the help of private knowledge (observation and experiment data), does not have evidentiary logical force, and in best case scenario- only confirming.)

Is empirical knowledge a type of sensory knowledge?

Our knowledge is not only scientific, but also carried out at the logical level. Empirical knowledge includes elements logical thinking. The forms of empirical knowledge are facts and empirical generalizations. Therefore, no, empirical knowledge is not a type of sensory knowledge, since logic is included.

1. Forms and results of empirical knowledge.

Empirical knowledge has forms. Form is the type of result and the process itself. 1st form – facts, 2nd form – empirical generalizations. A fact is a scientific representation of phenomena, a kind of generalization of many similar experiments and observations. Empirical generalizations are the next step, at which stable connections and relationships are discovered in the array of phenomena of e. material. The fact is not an isolated observation, but also a generalization. What is the difference between the understanding of fact in positivism and epistemology? The fact has the character of a protocol sentence. For scientific philosophy, there is the content of an objective empirical generalization - this is the result of a logical synthesis, which is similar to the form of a theory. Empirical generalization is on the border, in it all connections between differences are eliminated and there is objective content. Empirical generalization, in contrast to Mach's principle of economy of thinking, has an objective content. Example - generalization of chemistry, 1 - Butlerov’s theory of structure chemical compounds(the property of an element significantly depends on the neighboring and other elements; one element can exhibit different properties), 2 – periodic law and table.

Empirical generalization performs a number of functions: 1-descriptive, 2-predictive (the periodic law predicted the discovery of new elements).

Generalizations underlie the doctrine of the biosphere. Vernadsky believed that the biosphere evolved in the speed of migration chemical elements. Biological evolution aims at the emergence of species. An empirical generalization does not contain an answer to the question - why does it have such content? Because the facts are like that. Why are the facts like this? No answer. The answer should be sought in more general sciences.

Levels scientific research: empirical and theoretical. Methods and forms of empirical knowledge. Theoretical level knowledge.

EMPIRICAL AND THEORETICAL are two types of scientific knowledge, the distinction of which is based primarily on the identification of empirical and theoretical research as two main directions, “vectors” of scientific cognitive activity. Empirical research is aimed directly at a real object, as it is given in observation and experiment. Theoretical research is specific in that the leading activity in it is to improve and develop the conceptual apparatus of science, work with various kinds of conceptual systems and models. Both of these types of research are organically interconnected and presuppose each other in the holistic structure of scientific knowledge. Empirical research, revealing new observational and experimental data, stimulates development theoretical research, poses new challenges for them. On the other hand, theoretical research, improving and developing the conceptual apparatus of science, opens up new prospects for explaining and predicting facts, orients and directs empirical research.

The difference between the empirical and theoretical stages of cognition is also manifested in the different ratio of sensory and rational correlates of cognitive activity.

Experiment, being the main method of empirical knowledge in many sciences, is always theoretically loaded, and any most abstract theory must always have an empirical interpretation. But with all the uncertainty of the boundaries between empirical and theoretical knowledge, the introduction of these categories certainly marked progress in the development of scientific methodology, since it contributed to the concretization of our ideas about the structure of cognitive activity in science. In particular, the use of these categories made it possible to clarify the structure of scientific knowledge as a whole, contributed to the formation of a more constructive approach to solving the problem of empirical substantiation of scientific knowledge, led to a more complete identification of the specifics of theoretical thinking in scientific research, and made it possible to clarify the logical structure of science’s implementation of basic cognitive functions, and also contributed to the solution of many fundamental problems of logic and methodology of scientific knowledge.

The distinction between these two types of scientific research and the types of knowledge that arise in connection with them is revealed both in genetic terms, in the aspect of the evolution of science, since the so-called. The empirical stage in the history of science precedes the emergence of the theoretical stage, and in the structure of developed science, where it is associated with the interaction of the theoretical apparatus of science and its empirical basis. At the empirical stage of science (its classic example is the experimental natural science of the 17th-18th centuries, and partly the 19th century), the decisive means of the formation and development of scientific knowledge are empirical research and the subsequent logical processing of its results, generating empirical laws , generalizations, classifications, etc. However, already in these early phases of the history of science, a certain conceptual activity is always carried out, aimed at improving and developing the original system of scientific abstractions that serve as the basis for ordering, classifying and typologizing empirical material. Further development of the conceptual apparatus of science, associated with the formation of theories, and then the construction of multi-layered theoretical systems, leads to a certain separation of the theoretical apparatus of science from its empirical basis and gives rise to the need special work on the empirical interpretation of the theory and the theoretical interpretation of empirical data. Such an interpretation, in turn, is necessary for the empirical substantiation of theories, which acts as a complex and multi-act process (see. Verifiability, Justification of theory, Falsification) and which cannot be adequately represented in primitive diagrams verificationism or falsificationism. Like any typology, the distinction between empirical and theoretical knowledge is a certain schematization and idealization, so attempts to carry it out on specific scientific material are associated with certain difficulties, primarily in connection with the so-called. theoretical loading of the empirically given. As methodological guideline however, it is of cardinal importance for the analysis of science.

To the number common methods Natural scientific knowledge includes methods of empirical knowledge - observation and experiment, the method of induction, the method of hypotheses and the axiomatic method. Particular and special are: probabilistic methods; methods used in generalizing and understanding empirical results - the only similarities and differences, accompanying changes; methods of analogy, thought and mathematical experiments. Observation as a way of understanding the world has been used by mankind since ancient times. Since the 17th century. The experimental method occupies a more important place. An experiment differs from passive observation in its active nature. The experimenter not only observes what happens during the phenomenon being studied, but creates conditions under which the patterns of processes appear more clearly. The development of experimental research methodology, begun by F. Bacon, received further development in the works of J. St. Mill and a group of methodologists ser. 19th century In the works of this period (17th - mid-19th centuries), the experimental method appears in close unity with the induction method. In the works of F. Bacon and J. St. Mill develops a system of rules for inductive generalization of experimental results, which are also methods for organizing experimental research. These rules represent particular methods of natural scientific knowledge—methods of single similarity and development of accompanying changes and “residues.”

The changes that took place in science in the 2nd half of the 19th century, which consisted in the fact that the study of phenomena of the micro-world, quite distant from the familiar and customary phenomena of the macro-world, began, led to an awareness of the fundamental importance of the method of hypotheses. Methodological understanding of hypotheses and their role in scientific knowledge, which began in the last third of the 19th century, received very strong development in the beginning. 20th century in connection with the emergence of electronic theory and physics of atomic and subatomic phenomena. The fundamental works of A. Pu-ankare “Science and Hypothesis” and P. Duhem “Physical Theory, Its Purpose and Structure” mark the transition from the empiric-inductivist concept to the hypothetic-deductive model of science. Since that time, the experimental method has been developing in close interaction with the method of hypotheses; the main task of experimental research is the verification (confirmation or refutation) of a particular hypothesis. A characteristic feature of this period is the extremely wide dissemination of statistical methods for processing experimental data.

Methods of analogy, thought and mathematical experiment are of a more special (private) nature. The method of analogies is a method of formulating hypotheses based on the transfer of patterns from already studied phenomena to those that have not yet been studied. The very idea of ​​using analogy was discussed by Aristotle, but this method became widespread only in the science of the New Age. One of its most striking applications is the use by J. C. Maxwell of hydrodynamic analogies in obtaining the equations of the electromagnetic field. The thought experiment method is a specific type of theoretical reasoning. It, like many other methods, arose back in ancient times(Zeno’s aporia), but became especially widespread in the science of modern times. Many thought experiments have played an outstanding role in the development of science, for example, Maxwell’s “demon”, Einstein’s “train” and “elevator”, Heisenberg’s “microscope”.