The classical stage in the development of science is one of the most important eras in history. It falls on the 17th-19th centuries. This is the era of the greatest discoveries and inventions. It is largely due to the achievements of scientists that it is considered as a classical stage of science. In this era, a model of knowledge was laid. Consider further what was the science of the classical period.
Stages
The formation of classical science began with the formation of a mechanistic picture of the world. It was based on the idea that the laws of physics and mechanics apply not only to the natural environment, but also to other areas, including the activities of society. Classical science was formed gradually. The first stage falls on the 17-18 centuries. It is associated with Newton's discovery of the law of gravity and the development of his achievements by European scientists. At the second stage - at the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th century. - the differentiation of science began. It was driven by the industrial revolutions.
Features
Classical science has the following specific features:
- Physics was the key area of knowledge. Scientistswere of the opinion that it is on this discipline that all other areas are based, not only natural, but also humanitarian. Newton's physics considered the world as a mechanism, a set of material bodies, the movement of which is determined by strict natural laws. This understanding of what is happening has spread to sociological processes.
- The world was seen as a combination of forces of repulsion and attraction. All processes, including social ones, were presented by the classical science of modern times as the movement of elements of matter, devoid of qualitative features. Calculations began to take precedence in methods, and special attention was paid to precise measurements.
- Classical science of modern times was formed on its own basis. She was not influenced by religious attitudes, but relied solely on her conclusions.
- The classical philosophy of science influenced the education system that developed in the Middle Ages. Special polytechnic educational institutions began to be added to the existing universities. At the same time, educational programs began to be formed according to a different scheme. It was based on mechanics, followed by physics and chemistry, biology and sociology.
Age of Enlightenment
It falls on the 17th-end of the 18th century. At this stage, classical science was influenced by Newton's ideas. In his work, he provided evidence that the force of gravity, which is revealed in terrestrial conditions, is the same force that keeps the planet onorbit and other celestial bodies. Many scientists came to the idea of a universal beginning even before Newton. However, the merit of the latter lies in the fact that it was he who was able to clearly formulate the fundamental significance of the forces of gravity within the framework of the picture of the world. This pattern was the basis until the 19th century. The pattern was challenged by Einstein and Bohr. The first, in particular, proved that at the speed of light and huge distances characteristic of the mega world, space and time, as well as directly the mass of bodies, do not obey Newtonian laws. Bohr, carrying out studies of the microworld, found that the previously derived laws also do not apply to elementary particles. Their behavior can only be predicted according to the theory of probability.
Rationalistic outlook
This is one of the main features that classical science has. During the Enlightenment, a rationalistic worldview was established in the minds of scientists as opposed to a religious one (based on dogmas). It was believed that the development of the universe proceeds according to the laws inherent only to it. The idea of such self-sufficiency was substantiated in Laplace's Celestial Mechanics. The Bible was replaced by the "Encyclopedia of Crafts, Sciences and Arts" created by Rousseau, Voltaire and Diderot.
Knowledge is power
During the Enlightenment, science was considered the most prestigious occupation. F. Bacon became the author of the well-known slogan "knowledge is power". In the minds of people, the opinion was established that human knowledge and social progress have enormous potential. This mindset hasthe name of social and cognitive optimism. Many social utopias were formed on this basis. Almost immediately after the appearance of the work of T. More, there were books by T. Campanella, F. Bacon. In the work of the latter, "New Atlantis," the project for the state organization of the system was first outlined. The founder of classical economic science - Petty - formulated the initial principles of knowledge in the field of economic activity. They proposed methods for calculating the national income. Classical economics viewed we alth as a flexible category. In particular, Petty said that the income of the ruler depends on the amount of goods of all subjects. Accordingly, the richer they are, the more taxes can be collected from them.
Institutionalization
She was quite active in the Enlightenment. It was at this stage that the classical organization of the scientific system began to take shape, which exists today. During the Enlightenment, special institutions arose that united professional scientists. They were called academies of sciences. In 1603, the first such institution arose. It was the Roman Academy. Galileo was one of its first members. It is worth saying that soon it was the academy that defended the scientist from the attacks of the church. In 1622 a similar institution was established in England. In 1703, Newton became head of the Royal Academy. In 1714, Prince Menshikov, close associate of Peter the Great, became a foreign member. In 1666, the Academy of Sciences was founded in France. Its memberswere chosen only with the consent of the king. At the same time, the monarch (at that time it was Louis XIV) showed a personal interest in the activities of the academy. Peter the Great himself was elected a foreign member in 1714. With his support, in 1725, a similar institution was created in Russia. Bernoulli (biologist and mathematician) and Euler (mathematician) were elected as its first members. Later, Lomonosov was also admitted to the academy. In the same period, the level of research in universities began to rise. Special universities began to emerge. For example, in 1747 the Mining School was opened in Paris. A similar institution in Russia appeared in 1773
Specialization
As another evidence of the increase in the level of organization of the scientific system is the emergence of special areas of knowledge. They were specialized research programs. According to I. Latkatos, 6 key directions were formed in this era. They were studied:
- Energy of various kinds.
- Metallurgical production.
- Electricity.
- Chemical processes.
- Biology.
- Astronomy.
Key Ideas
Despite the rather active differentiation during the rather long existence of the classical scientific system, it still retained a certain commitment to some general methodological trends and forms of rationality. They, in fact, influenced the worldview status. Among these features, one cannote the following ideas:
- The final expression of the truth in an absolute finished form, independent of the circumstances of knowledge. Such an interpretation was justified as a methodological requirement in explaining and describing idealized theoretical categories (force, material point, and so on), which were intended to replace real objects and their relationships.
- Setting for unambiguous causal descriptions of events, processes. It excluded probabilistic and random factors, which were considered as the result of incomplete knowledge, as well as subjective additions to the content.
- Isolation of subjective-personal elements from the scientific context, its inherent means and conditions for carrying out research activities.
- Interpretation of objects of knowledge as simple systems subject to the requirements of the immutability and static nature of their key characteristics.
Classical and non-classical science
In the late 19th - early 20th century, the above ideas were widely accepted. On their basis, a classical form of scientific rationality was formed. At the same time, it was believed that the picture of the world was built and fully substantiated. In the future, it will only be necessary to clarify and concretize some of its components. However, history decreed otherwise. This era was marked by a number of discoveries that did not fit into the existing picture of reality in any way. Bohr, Thompson, Becquerel, Dirac, Einstein, Broglie, Planck,Heisenberg and a number of other scientists revolutionized physics. They proved the fundamental failure of the established mechanistic natural science. Through the efforts of these scientists, the foundations for a new quantum-relativistic reality were laid. Thus, science moved to a new non-classical stage. This era continued until the 60s of the 20th century. During this period, a whole series of revolutionary changes took place in various fields of knowledge. In physics, quantum and relativistic theories are being formed, in cosmology - the theory of a non-stationary Universe. The advent of genetics provided a radical change in biological knowledge. Systems theory, cybernetics have made a significant contribution to the formation of a non-classical picture. All this led to the frontal development of ideas in industrial technologies and social practice.
The essence of the revolution
Classical and non-classical science are natural phenomena that arose during the formation and expansion of the system. The transition from one era to another was determined by the need to form a new form of rationality. In this sense, a revolution on a global scale was supposed to take place. Its essence was that the subject was introduced into the content of the "body" of knowledge. Classical science understood the studied reality as an objective one. Within the framework of existing concepts, cognition did not depend on the subject, conditions and means of his activity. In the non-classical model, the key requirement for obtaining a true description of reality is accounting and explicationinteractions between the object and the means by which its knowledge is carried out. As a result, the paradigm of science has changed. The subject of knowledge is considered not as an absolute objective reality, but as a certain section of it, given through the prism of methods, forms, means of research.
Classical, non-classical and post-non-classical science
The transition to a qualitatively new stage began in the 60s of the last century. Science began to acquire distinct post-non-classical (modern) features. At this stage there was a revolution directly in the nature of cognitive activity. It was caused by radical changes in the methods and means of obtaining, processing, storing, transferring and evaluating knowledge. If we consider post-non-classical science in terms of changing the type of rationality, then it has significantly expanded the scope of methodological reflection in relation to the key parameters and structural components of research activity. Unlike previous systems, it requires an assessment of the interactions and mediations of knowledge not only with the specifics of operations and means of researching the subject, but also with value-target aspects, that is, with the socio-cultural background of the historical era as with the real environment. The non-classical paradigm assumed the use of methodological regulators, presented in the form of relativity to the means of observation, the statistical and probabilistic nature of knowledge of the complementarity of various languages for describing objects. The modern model of the system directs the researcher to evaluate the phenomena of formation,improvement, self-organization of processes in cognizable reality. It involves the study of objects in a historical perspective, taking into account the cooperative, synergistic effects of their interaction and coexistence. The key task of the researcher was the theoretical reconstruction of the phenomenon in the widest possible range of its mediations and connections. This ensures the reconstruction of a systemic and holistic image of the process in the language of science.
The specifics of the modern model
It is worth saying that it is impossible to describe all the key indicators of the subject field of post-non-classical science. This is due to the fact that it extends its cognitive resources and efforts to almost all areas of reality, including socio-cultural systems, nature, spiritual and mental sphere. Post-non-classical science studies the processes of cosmic evolution, issues of human interaction with the biosphere, the development of advanced technologies from nanoelectronics to neurocomputers, the ideas of global evolutionism and co-evolution, and much more. The modern model is characterized by an interdisciplinary focus and problem-oriented search. The objects of study today are unique social and natural complexes, in the structure of which there is a person.
Conclusion
Such an impressive entry of science into the world of human systems creates fundamentally new conditions. They put forward a complex of rather complex worldview problems about the value and meaning of knowledge itself, the prospects for its existence and expansion,interactions with other forms of culture. In such a situation, it would be quite legitimate to ask about the real price of innovations, the likely consequences of their introduction into the system of human communication, spiritual and material production.
