The phenomenon of New Knowledge in the conceptual framework of the philosophy of science

Abstract

The article, as a result of the analysis of the philosophical and methodological content of the new knowledge and dynamics of science concepts, substantiates the thesis about the necessity to radically shift the research priorities of the modern philosophy of science. The author critically evaluates the current methodological potential of the philosophy of science, which has developed on the basis of postpositivist concepts of scientific knowledge, and he attempts to outline the philosophical-methodological problems associated with modern scientific trends. According to the author, attention on the philosophy of science should be focused today, first of all, on interdisciplinary research programs that are implemented in the most popular and advanced areas of scientific knowledge. Within these programs, it is not the theoretical constructions (and their relationships), but the disciplinary structures of knowledge that act as the main cognitive unit of the organization of knowledge. Thus, to the fore of the philosophical-methodological approaches come the tasks related to the search and the analysis of methodological guidelines that provide cognitively effective communication (mutual understanding) of scientists within collaborations, i. e. interdisciplinary scientific teams. The author believes that the epistemological perspectives of comprehension and methodological development of such guidelines open up when referring to the cultural-historical dimensions of scientific knowledge. It is the cultural-historical epistemology that takes into account the existential, motivational attitudes of the scientist, which at the same time assume methodologically significant parameters of scientific research (the style of scientific thinking, the dignity of knowledge, and the historical continuity of science as a cultural phenomenon). As a result, the cultural-historical epistemology opens up the possibility of an effective methodological orientation of the most important areas in modern science.