Lecture 2. Methods of natural sciences

Lecture 1. Natural science and humanitarian culture

Culture is a system of means of human activity, thanks to which the activity of an individual, groups, humanity in their interaction with nature and among themselves is programmed, implemented, stimulated.

These means are created by people, constantly improved and consist of three substantive types of cultures - material, social and spiritual.

Material culture is a set of material and energy means of being of a person and society.

social culture- a system of rules for the behavior of people in various types of communication and specialized areas of social activity.

Spiritual culture is an integral part of the cultural achievements of mankind

The relationship between natural science and humanitarian cultures is as follows:

· they have a single basis, expressed in the needs and interests of a person, and humanity in creating optimal conditions for self-preservation and improvement;

· carry out the mutual exchange of the achieved results (this has found its expression, for example, in the ethics of natural science, the rationalization of humanitarian culture, etc.);

· mutually coordinate in the historical and cultural process;

are independent parts of a unified system of knowledge of science;

· have a fundamental value for man, because he expresses the unity of nature and society.

Lecture 2. Methods of natural sciences

Natural science uses both general scientific methods of cognition (analysis, synthesis, generalization, abstraction, induction, deduction, analogy, logical method, historical method, analogy, modeling, classification), and specific scientific methods inherent in specific sciences (spectroscopy, the method of labeled atoms). , crystallography, etc.). Scientific methods, according to the ratio of empirical and theoretical, are divided into methods of empirical (experimental) research: observation, experiment, measurement, description, comparison, theoretical methods (idealization, formalization, axiomatization, hypothetical-deductive method), as well as mixed methods.

Analysis- mental or real decomposition of an object into its constituent parts.

Synthesis- combining the elements learned as a result of the analysis into a single whole.

Generalization- the process of mental transition from the singular to the general, from the less general to the more general, for example: the transition from the judgment "this metal conducts electricity" to the judgment "all metals conduct electricity", from the judgment: "the mechanical form of energy turns into heat" to to the proposition “every form of energy is converted into thermal energy”.

Abstraction (idealization)- mental introduction of certain changes in the object under study in accordance with the objectives of the study. As a result of idealization, some properties, features of objects that are not essential for this study may be excluded from consideration.

Induction- excretion process general position from the observation of a number of particular individual facts, i.e. knowledge from the particular to the general. In practice, incomplete induction is most often used, which involves the conclusion about all the objects of the set based on the knowledge of only a part of the objects. Incomplete induction based on experimental research and including theoretical justification is called scientific induction. The conclusions of such induction are often probabilistic.

Deduction- the process of analytical reasoning from the general to the particular or less general. It is closely related to generalization.

Analogy- a probable, plausible conclusion about the similarity of two objects or phenomena in any feature, based on their established similarity in other features.

Modeling- reproduction of the properties of the object of knowledge on its specially arranged analogue - the model. Models can be real (material) and ideal (abstract).

historical method implies the reproduction of the history of the object under study in all its versatility, taking into account all the details and accidents.

Boolean Method is, in fact, a logical reproduction of the history of the object under study. At the same time, this history is freed from everything accidental, insignificant.

Classification is the process of organizing information. In the process of studying new objects, in relation to each such object, a conclusion is made: does it belong to the already established classification groups. In some cases, this reveals the need to restructure the classification system. There is a special classification theory - taxonomy . It considers the principles of classification and systematization of complexly organized areas of reality.

The natural sciences deal with matter, energy, their relationship and transformation, as well as with objectively measurable phenomena.

In ancient times, philosophers were engaged in this science. Later, the basis of this doctrine was developed by natural scientists of the past such as Pascal, Newton, Lomonosov, Pirogov. They developed natural science.

The natural sciences differ from the humanities in the presence of an experiment, which consists in active interaction with the object under study.

Humanitarian knowledge studies human activity in the field of spiritual, mental, cultural and social. There is a judgment that the humanities study the student himself, in contrast to the natural sciences.

Basic natural knowledge

Basic natural knowledge includes:

Physical Sciences:

• physics,
• engineering,
• about the materials
• chemistry;

• biology,
• medicine;

• geography,
• ecology,
• climatology,
• soil science,
• anthropology.

There are two other types: formal, social and human sciences.

Chemistry, biology, earth sciences, astronomy, physics are part of this knowledge. There are also cross-cutting disciplines, such as biophysics, which take into account different aspects of several subjects.

Until the 17th century, these disciplines were often referred to as "natural philosophy" due to the lack of experiments and procedures used today.

Chemistry

Much of what defines modern civilization comes from advances in knowledge and technology brought about by the natural science of chemistry. For example, modern production of sufficient quantities of food is impossible without the Haber-Bosch process, which was developed during the First World War. This chemical process allows you to create ammonia fertilizer from atmospheric nitrogen, instead of relying on a biologically fixed source of nitrogen, such as cow dung, greatly increasing soil fertility and, as a result, the amount of food.

Within these broad categories of chemistry, in countless fields of knowledge, many of which have important influence on everyday life. Chemists improve many products, from the food we eat to the clothes we wear to the materials we build our homes with. Chemistry helps protect our environment and seeks new sources of energy.

Biology and medicine

Thanks to advances in biology, especially in the 20th century, physicians were able to use various medicines for the treatment of many diseases that were previously fatal. Through research in biology and medicine, the disasters of the 19th century, such as plague and smallpox, have been greatly brought under control. Infant and maternal mortality in industrialized countries has declined sharply. Biological geneticists have even understood the individual code within each individual.

earth science

The science that studies the receipt and practical use knowledge about the earth allowed mankind to extract a huge amount of minerals and oil from the earth's crust, for the operation of the engines of modern civilization and industry. Paleontology, the knowledge of the earth, provides a window into the distant past, even further than humans existed. Through discoveries in geology and similar information in the natural sciences, scientists are able to better understand the history of the planet and predict changes that may occur in the future.

Astronomy and physics

In many ways, physics is the science that underlies both the natural sciences and offers some of the most unexpected discoveries XX century. Among the most notable of these was the discovery that matter and energy are permanent and the mere transition from one state to another.

Physics is a natural science based on experiments, measurements and mathematical analysis with the aim of finding quantitative physical laws for everything from the nanocosm to solar systems and galaxies of the macrocosm.

Based on research through observation and experiment, physical laws and theories are explored that explain the functioning of natural forces such as gravity, electromagnetism or nuclear interactions.The discovery of new laws of the natural science of physics puts theoretical knowledge into the existing base and can also be used for practical applications such as the development of equipment, electronic devices, nuclear reactors, etc.

Thanks to astronomy, scientists have discovered a huge amount of information about the universe. In previous centuries, it was believed that the entire universe was just Milky Way. A series of debates and observations in the 20th century showed that the universe is literally millions of times larger than previously thought.

Various kinds of sciences

The work of philosophers and naturalists of the past and the ensuing scientific revolution helped create the modern knowledge base.

The natural sciences are often referred to as "hard science" due to their heavy use of objective data and quantitative methods that rely on numbers and math. In contrast, social sciences like psychology, sociology, and anthropology rely more on qualitative assessments or alphanumeric data and tend to have fewer concrete conclusions. Formal kinds of knowledge, including mathematics and statistics, are highly quantitative in nature and usually do not involve the study of natural phenomena or experiments.

Today actual problems The development of the humanities and natural sciences have many parameters for solving the problems of being a person and society in the world, they gave.

sciences studying the properties of nature and natural formations. The use of terms natural, technical, fundamental, etc. to the areas of human activity is rather conditional, since each of them has a fundamental component (studying problems on the border of our knowledge and ignorance), an applied component (studying the problems of applying the acquired knowledge in practice), a natural science component (studying problems that arise or exist independently from our will). These terms are, so to speak, diatropic, i.e. describe only the core - the most feature or part of an object.

Great Definition

Incomplete definition ↓

NATURAL SCIENCES

acquired the rights of citizenship since the 18th century. the name for the totality of all sciences dealing with the study of nature. The first researchers of nature (natural philosophers) included, each in his own way, all of nature in the circle of his mental activity. The progressive development of the natural sciences and their deepening into research led to the dismemberment, which has not yet ended, of a single science of nature into its separate branches - depending on the subject of research or according to the principle of division of labor. By your authority natural Sciences owe, on the one hand, scientific accuracy and consistency, and on the other hand, to their practical value as a means of conquering nature. The main areas of the natural sciences - matter, life, man, the Earth, the Universe - allow us to group them as follows: 1) physics, chemistry, physical chemistry; 2) biology, botany, zoology; 3) anatomy, physiology, the doctrine of origin and development, the doctrine of heredity; 4) geology, mineralogy, paleontology, meteorology, geography (physical); 5) astronomy together with astrophysics and astrochemistry. Mathematics, according to a number of natural philosophers, does not belong to the natural sciences, but is a decisive tool for their thinking. In addition, among the natural sciences, depending on the method, there is the following difference: the descriptive sciences are content with the study of factual data and their relationships, which they generalize into rules and laws; exact natural sciences clothe facts and connections in mathematical form; however, this distinction is made inconsistently. The pure science of nature is limited scientific research, applied science (medicine, agriculture and forestry, and technology in general) uses it to master and transform nature. Next to the sciences of nature are the sciences of the spirit, and philosophy unites both of them into a single science, they act as particular sciences; cf. Physical picture of the world.

1. Natural sciences - concept and subject of study 3

2. History of the birth of natural science 3

3. Patterns and features of the development of natural science 6

4. Classification of natural sciences 7

5. Basic methods of natural science 9

Literature

Arutsev A.A., Ermolaev B.V., et al. Concepts of modern natural science. - M., 1999.

Matyukhin S.I., Frolenkov K.Yu. Concepts of modern natural science. - Orlov, 1999.

1. Natural sciences - the concept and subject of study

Natural science is the natural sciences or the totality of sciences about nature. On present stage development of all sciences are divided into public or humanitarian, and natural.

Subject of study social sciences is human society and the laws of its development, as well as phenomena, one way or another connected with human activity.

The subject of study of the natural sciences is the Nature surrounding us, that is, various types of matter, the forms and laws of their movement, their connections. The system of natural sciences taken in their mutual connection, as a whole, forms the basis of one of the main areas of scientific knowledge about the World - natural science.

The immediate or immediate goal of natural science is knowledge of objective Truth , entity search phenomena of nature, the formulation of the basic laws of Nature, which makes it possible to foresee or create new phenomena. The ultimate goal of natural science is practical use of learned laws , forces and substances of Nature (production-applied side of knowledge).

Natural science, therefore, is the natural scientific foundation of the philosophical understanding of Nature and Man as part of this Nature, the theoretical basis of industry and Agriculture, technology and medicine.

1. 2. History of the birth of natural science

The origins of modern science are the ancient Greeks. More ancient knowledge has come down to us only in the form of fragments. They are unsystematic, naive and alien to us in spirit. The Greeks were the first to invent proof. Neither in Egypt, nor in Mesopotamia, nor in China such a concept existed. Maybe because all these civilizations were based on tyranny and unconditional submission to authorities. In such circumstances, even the very idea of ​​reasonable evidence seems seditious.

In Athens for the first time ever world history a republic emerged. Despite the fact that it flourished in the labor of slaves, in Ancient Greece conditions were created under which a free exchange of opinions became possible, and this led to an unprecedented flourishing of the sciences.

In the Middle Ages, the need for a rational knowledge of nature completely died out along with attempts to comprehend the destiny of man within the framework of various religious denominations. For almost ten centuries, religion has given exhaustive answers to all questions of life that were not subject to criticism or even discussion.

The writings of Euclid, the author of the geometry that is now studied in all schools, were translated into Latin language and became known in Europe only in the XII century. However, at that time they were perceived simply as a set of witty rules that had to be memorized - they were so alien to the spirit of medieval Europe, accustomed to believe, and not to seek the roots of Truth. But the volume of knowledge grew rapidly, and they could no longer be reconciled with the direction of thought of medieval minds.

The end of the Middle Ages is usually associated with the discovery of America in 1492. Some point even more the exact date: December 13, 1250 - the day when King Frederick II of Hohenstaufen died in the castle of Florentino near Lucera. Of course, one should not take such dates seriously, but several such dates taken together create an undoubted feeling of the authenticity of the turning point that occurred in the minds of people at the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries. In history, this period is called the Renaissance. Obeying the internal laws of development and for no apparent reason, Europe in just two centuries revived the rudiments of ancient knowledge, which had been forgotten for more than ten centuries and later called scientific.

During the Renaissance in the minds of people there was a turn from the desire to realize their place in the world to attempts to understand its rational structure without reference to miracles and divine revelation. At first, the coup was aristocratic in nature, but the invention of printing spread it to all strata of society. The essence of the turning point is the liberation from the pressure of authorities and the transition from the medieval faith to the knowledge of modern times.

The church strongly opposed new trends, she strictly judged philosophers who recognized that there are things true from the point of view of philosophy, but false from the point of view of faith. But the collapsed dam of faith could no longer be repaired, and the liberated spirit began to look for new ways for its development.

Already in the XIII century, the English philosopher Roger Bacon wrote: “There is a natural and imperfect experience that is not aware of its power and is not aware of its methods: it is used by artisans, not scientists ... Above all speculative knowledge and arts is the ability to produce experiments, and this science is the queen of sciences...

Philosophers must know that their science is powerless unless they apply powerful mathematics to it... It is impossible to distinguish sophism from proof without verifying the conclusion by experience and application.”

In 1440, Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464) wrote the book On Scientific Ignorance, in which he insisted that all knowledge about nature must be written down in numbers, and all experiments on it should be carried out with scales in hand.

However, the adoption of new views was slow. Arabic numerals, for example, came into general use already in the 10th century, but even in the 16th century, calculations were carried out everywhere not on paper, but with the help of special tokens, even less perfect than clerical accounts.

It is customary to begin the real history of natural science with Galileo and Newton. According to the same tradition, Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) is considered the founder of experimental physics, and Isaac Newton (1643-1727) the founder of theoretical physics. Of course, in their time (see historical reference) there was no such division of the single science of physics into two parts, there was not even physics itself - it was called natural philosophy. But such a division is deep meaning: it helps to understand the features of the scientific method and, in essence, is equivalent to the division of science into experience and mathematics, which was formulated by Roger Bacon.

Natural science is a sphere of human activity aimed at obtaining new information about the surrounding world, which lives according to objective laws independent of man. In contrast to the natural sciences, the object of study humanities is human activity itself, as a subjective process. However, this subjective process is being studied objective methods. It is the latter circumstance that makes it possible to consider the humanities as sciences, and not as art. If the goal of the natural scientific activity of a person is to know the world as it really is, then the goal of human activity in the field of art is to show how the world is subjectively perceived by a person.

Modern natural science cannot be represented as a kind of archive, where a huge amount of facts and various information about the structure of the surrounding world has simply been accumulated “sorted into shelves”. Natural science compares facts, observations and seeks to create its MODEL, in which these facts are collected into a single, CONSISTENT system based on theoretical concepts, provisions and generalizations. Natural science also seeks to expand and refine the picture of the world being created, using this model to plan and carry out new observations and experiments.

Given some distinctive features(requirements) scientific methodology in the field of natural science:

predictiveness - scientific concepts generalized in the form of a theory, models should predict the behavior of objects of the surrounding world, observed in an experiment or directly in the environment

reproducibility - scientific experiments should be carried out in such a way that they can be reproduced by other researchers and in other laboratories

minimal sufficiency - in the process of describing scientific data, it is impossible to create concepts in excess of those that are necessary (the so-called principle of "Occam's razor")

objectivity - when building a scientific theory, hypotheses, it is unacceptable to selectively take into account only selected (discarding other data) facts and observations, depending on the personal inclinations, interests, attachments and level of training of the scientist.

succession - scientific work should maximally take into account and refer to the background of the issue under study

The natural sciences are not only about getting new information, but also about getting information about how to get new information. Being both a goal and a means of human activity, natural science is a self-developing and self-accelerating process.

universe black hole space

System classification of natural sciences

Traditionally, natural sciences include such sciences as physics, chemistry, biology, geology, geography, and other disciplines.

How objective is such a classification, where and according to what principle should the boundaries between different sciences be drawn, can certain sections of natural science be singled out as separate sciences? Obviously, to answer this question, a natural classification of the hierarchy is needed. scientific knowledge, which would not depend on traditions and would be objective. In other words, an objective criterion is needed for separating a particular field of knowledge into a separate science.

Such a classification can be attributed to the systematic classification of sciences - not only natural ones. It is based on the following principle: the object of each science should be an integral, isolated system.

Let us dwell in more detail on the concept of "system".

A system is usually understood as a set of interacting elements, each of which is necessary for this system to perform its specific functions. As we can see, the definition of the system here consists of two parts, and the second part, concerning system elements, is non-trivial and non-obvious. It follows from this definition that not every constituent part of a system is a system element. So, for example, a signal light on the front panel of a computer will not be its system element, since the removal of the light or failure will not cause software tasks to fail, while the processor, obviously, is such an element.

It follows from our definition that the number of system elements in a system is always finite, while they themselves are discrete and their choice is not random. Separate elements and their properties, when combined into a system, always give rise to a new quality, a system function that cannot be reduced to the quality and functions of its constituent elements.

Systems are natural and artificial, objective and subjective. The natural sciences include sciences that have natural systems as the object of their study, which are always objective. Subjective systems are objects of study in the humanities. Note that some systems, for example, information systems, can be both artificial and objective at the same time. Another example: a computer, as an integral information system, is traditionally subject to study within the framework of computer science. From the point of view of systemic classification, it would be more accurate to single out as an independent science not computer science in general, but computer informatics, since Information Systems can be very different.

System elements are themselves systems; we can say that systems of different orders are nested in each other, like nesting dolls.

For example, philosophy has as an object for its study an extremely common system, consisting of only two elements - matter and consciousness. If we talk about the largest of the systems known to us, then such is the Universe, studied as an integral object by the science of cosmology.

systems of the lowest order known modern science, it is considered elementary particles. We still know little about internal structure elementary particles, even if we take into account the hypothesis of the existence of quarks, which have not yet been obtained in free form. Nevertheless, not only quarks, but also their properties (qualities) - charge, mass, spin and other characteristics can be attributed to the system elements that make up elementary particles.

The science that studies elementary particles as integral, isolated systems is called elementary particle physics.

Elementary particles are elements of systems of a higher order - atomic nuclei, and even higher - atoms. Accordingly, nuclear and atomic physics stand out.

In turn, atoms combine into molecules. The science that has molecules as its object of study is called chemistry. How can one not recall the well-known definition: molecules are called tiny particles substances that are still Chemical properties this stuff!

We will continue to move up the hierarchical ladder of the natural sciences. In living organisms, molecules participate in complex interactions - long sequences and cycles of reactions catalyzed by enzymes. There are, for example, the so-called. glycolytic pathway, Krebs cycle, Calvin cycle, pathways for the synthesis of amino acids, nucleic acids, and many others. All of them are complex, integral self-organizing systems, called biochemical. Accordingly, the science that studies them is called biochemistry.

Biochemical processes and complex molecular structures are combined into even more complex formations - living cells studied by cytology. Cells form tissues that are studied as integral systems by another science - histology. The next level of the hierarchy refers to isolated living complexes formed by tissues - organs. In the complex of biological disciplines, it is not customary to single out a science that could be called "organology", but in medicine such sciences as cardiology are known (studies the heart and cardiovascular system), pulmonology (lungs), urology (organs genitourinary system) and etc.

And, finally, we have approached science, which has a living organism as an object of its study, as an integral, isolated system (individual). This science is physiology. Distinguish between the physiology of humans, animals, plants and microorganisms.

The systemic classification of the natural sciences is not just some kind of abstract-logical construction, but is a completely pragmatic approach to solving organizational problems.

Imagine the following situation. Two applicants come to the scientific council for the defense of dissertations for the degree of candidate of biological sciences. The first studied the process of respiration in rats subjected to high physical exertion. He studied the content of individual metabolites of the Krebs cycle, the features of the functioning of the components of the electron transport chain in mitochondria, and other biochemical features of the respiratory process in rats that were forced to high physical activity.

Another applicant studied basically everything the same, by the same methods, but he was not interested in the effect of physical exertion on breathing, but in the breathing process itself, as such, regardless of physical activity or even on which organism was examined.

The first applicant is informed that his work relates to physiology and therefore is accepted for consideration in this Council with a specialization in “physiology of humans and animals”, and another is denied, citing a discrepancy between the specialization of work (“biochemistry”) and the specialization of the council.

How did it happen that very similar works were assigned to different sciences? In the first case, physical activity is a function of a living organism as an integral system, and therefore work belongs to physiology. In the second, the object of study is not the organism as a whole, but a separate biochemical system.

Further climbing the hierarchical ladder of the natural sciences brings us to an interesting nodal point. Living organisms (individuals), as system elements, can be included in different systems higher order. A system consisting of only two elements - individuals (or populations of individuals) and environment(biotic and abiotic parts of it), is considered in ecology.

A system of individuals different types(or populations of different species) is studied by the science of biocenology. Accordingly, the subject (system) of studying this science can include many system elements. The totality of interacting populations of different species occupying the same territory is called biocenoses. Interestingly, biocenoses are not a random collection of populations. They are complex, self-organizing systems that have some features of living organisms. Like individuals, biocenoses are born, develop (the so-called succession), grow old and die. They are discrete: between different biocenoses it is very often possible to observe a pronounced boundary, while intermediate forms are absent or unstable. Biocenoses are usually named according to the dominant plant species - if it is, for example, oak, then the biocenosis is called oak forest, if it is feather grass, then it will be called "feather grass steppe".

A system of a higher order than the biocenosis is the biosphere of the Earth. In Russian, however, the word "biospherology" is absent; Instead, the term "the doctrine of the biosphere" is used. The priority of creating this science belongs to the outstanding Russian scientist, academician V. I. Vernadsky (1863-1945), who first drew attention to the fact that the biosphere is not just the sum of all the Earth's biocenoses, but a complex, self-organizing object, qualitatively different from any other known systems.

In turn, the biosphere is only one of the systemic elements of our planet. Unfortunately, there is no science that would describe the behavior of the Earth as an integral, self-organizing system for objective reasons. Modern natural science has accumulated too little information about how various planetary shells and levels of organization interact with each other - the biosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, mantle, core, etc.

Traditionally, it is not customary to single out our knowledge of the formation, structure and processes that determine behavior as a separate science. solar system as a whole. Objectively, however, such a field of knowledge exists and is considered within the framework of a complex of astronomical disciplines. The same applies to our galaxy.

And finally, the largest known to us natural systems- this is the Universe, which, as we have already said, is studied by the science of cosmology.

So, we have considered a whole string of natural sciences and their corresponding systems. But where are biology and physics familiar to us among them? Apparently, within the framework of an objective, systemic classification, we cannot call either one or the other discipline sciences. There is no separate isolated system (or at least a class of systems) in relation to which it would be possible to formulate the task of physics (or biology) as a science that studies this system: the principle "one science - one system" ceases to work. Biology and physics fall into many other sciences. Nevertheless, the traditional, subjective, classification also has every right to exist: it is convenient and will be used in natural science for a long time to come.

With all the variety of systems - large and small, natural and artificial, objective and subjective, there are some of their characteristics that are characteristic of all systems in general. They are called system-wide. There is also a science that studies them - systemology. The achievements of systemology help scientists working in other fields of knowledge to build hypotheses and draw correct scientific conclusions. For example, among researchers of gerontologists (gerontology is the science of aging), there is sometimes a point of view that the aging of animals and humans is determined by a certain aging gene, damaging which, one can ensure unlimited long-term youth. However, the findings of systemology tell us something else. All complex self-developing systems that are limited in spatial growth grow old, so the causes of human and animal aging lie much deeper. In the same time general conclusions systemology have only methodological value. They cannot replace specific knowledge. In the case under consideration, it is quite possible to assume that some genes can indeed accelerate aging, but by deleting these genes, or eliminating some other, specific causes of aging, we must understand that we will encounter other causes and can only postpone old age.