Naturally scientific method of cognition and its components. Basic sciences about nature (physics, chemistry, biology), their similarities and differences. Forms of scientific knowledge

Natural science, as noted above, is a set of sciences about the phenomena and laws of nature. Formed from two words: “nature” (nature) and “knowledge”, which literally means knowledge of nature. The word “concept” (translated from Latin, understanding, system) is a certain way of understanding, interpreting any phenomena, the main point of view, the guiding idea for illuminating them. The conceptual approach is useful not only for understanding the history of the development of natural science, but also for introducing specialists in technical and social sciences to the most important achievements of natural science. In the process of obtaining new knowledge, the researcher always uses a certain methodology. In the modern sense methodology– the doctrine of structure, logical organization, methods and means of activity. Method– is a way to achieve a goal, including a set of methods of practical or theoretical activity.

Scientific methods are divided into empirical and theoretical. Towards scientific methods empirical level

research includes:

1) observation – purposeful perception of phenomena of objective reality to establish the essential properties of the object of knowledge;

2) description – recording information about objects using natural or artificial language;

3) measurement - comparison of objects according to any similar properties or aspects

4) experiment - observation under specially created and controlled conditions in order to establish a causal relationship between given conditions and characteristics of the object under study;

Scientific methods are divided into empirical and theoretical. 5) modeling - reproducing the properties of an object on a specially created analogue (model), which allows one to study the processes characteristic of the original in the absence of the original itself. empirical level

theoretical level

1) idealization - mental selection of essential and abstraction from non-essential properties, features, aspects, etc. of phenomena or objects;

2) formalization - the construction of abstract mathematical models that reveal the essence of the processes and phenomena of reality being studied;

4) mathematical modeling of processes or properties of objects based on the study of a system of equations describing the original being studied;

5) hypothetico-deductive (conceptual-deductive) method - obtaining the necessary information using known laws (hypotheses) and the deductive method (movement from the general to the specific);

6) method of testing the theory for adequacy (confirmability method) - comparison of consequences arising from the theory and results mathematical modeling for consistency with empirical facts.

2) Culture. Natural science and humanitarian culture.

Culture is a historically determined level of development of society, creative powers and abilities of a person, expressed in the types and forms of organization of people’s lives and activities, as well as in the material and spiritual values ​​they create.

It is customary to divide culture into two interrelated areas: material culture and spiritual culture.

Currently, there are two main scientific cultures: natural sciences and humanities. Charles Snow wrote that there is a huge gap between natural science and humanitarian and artistic cultures, which is growing every year.

Natural science culture is based on knowledge acquired by man in the process of studying nature and the phenomena occurring in it, and humanitarian culture is based on knowledge about people’s actions, their value and sensory assessment, and is focused on humanism, morality, human rights, art, literature, mythology , religion, etc.

Method is a set of rules, methods of cognitive and practical activity, determined by the nature and laws of the object under study.

The modern system of methods of cognition is highly complex and differentiated. Most simple classification methods of cognition presupposes their division into universal, general scientific, and specific scientific.

1. General methods characterize the techniques and methods of research at all levels of scientific knowledge. These include methods of analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, comparison, idealization, etc. These methods are so universal that they work even at the level of ordinary consciousness.

Analysis is a procedure of mental (or real) dismemberment, decomposition of an object into its component elements in order to identify their systemic properties and relationships.

Synthesis- the operation of combining the elements of the object being studied, selected in the analysis, into a single whole.

Induction- a method of reasoning or a method of obtaining knowledge in which a general conclusion is drawn based on a generalization of particular premises. Induction can be complete or incomplete. Complete induction is possible when the premises cover all phenomena of a particular class. However, such cases are rare. The impossibility of taking into account all phenomena of a given class forces us to use incomplete induction, the final conclusions of which are not strictly unambiguous.

Deduction- a way of reasoning or a method of moving knowledge from the general to the specific, i.e. the process of logical transition from general premises to conclusions about particular cases. Deductive method can provide strict, reliable knowledge, subject to the truth of the general premises and compliance with the rules of logical inference.

Analogy- a method of cognition in which the presence of similarity in the characteristics of non-identical objects allows us to assume their similarity in other characteristics. Thus, the phenomena of interference and diffraction discovered during the study of light allowed us to draw a conclusion about its wave nature, since previously the same properties were recorded in sound, the wave nature of which had already been precisely established. Analogy is an indispensable means of clarity and visualization of thinking. But Aristotle also warned that “analogy is not proof”! It can only give conjectural knowledge.

Abstraction- a method of thinking that consists in abstracting from unimportant, insignificant for the subject of cognition properties and relationships of the object under study while simultaneously highlighting those of its properties that seem important and significant in the context of the study.

Idealization- the process of mentally creating concepts about idealized objects, which in real world do not exist, but have a prototype. Examples: ideal gas, absolutely black body.

2. General scientific methods– modeling, observation, experiment.

The initial method of scientific knowledge is considered observation, i.e. deliberate and purposeful study of objects, based on human sensory abilities - sensations and perceptions. During observation, it is possible to obtain information only about the external, superficial aspects, qualities and characteristics of the objects being studied.

The result of scientific observations is always a description of the object under study, recorded in the form of texts, drawings, diagrams, graphs, diagrams, etc. With the development of science, observation becomes more complex and indirect through the use of various technical devices, instruments, and measuring instruments.

One more the most important method natural science knowledge is experiment. An experiment is a way of active, targeted research of objects under controlled and controlled conditions. An experiment includes observation and measurement procedures, but is not limited to them. After all, the experimenter has the opportunity to select the necessary observation conditions, combine and vary them, achieving the “purity” of the manifestation of the properties being studied, as well as interfere with the “natural” course of the processes under study and even artificially reproduce them.

The main task of an experiment, as a rule, is to predict a theory. Such experiments are called research. Another type of experiment is check- intended to confirm certain theoretical assumptions.

Modeling - a method of replacing the studied object with something similar to it in a number of properties and characteristics of interest to the researcher. The data obtained from studying the model is then, with some adjustments, transferred to the real object. Modeling is used mainly when direct study of an object is either impossible (obviously, the phenomenon of “nuclear winter” as a result of massive use nuclear weapons It is better not to test it except on a model), or is associated with exorbitant efforts and costs. It is advisable to first study the consequences of major interventions in natural processes (river turning, for example) using hydrodynamic models, and then experiment with real natural objects.

Modeling is actually a universal method. It can be used in systems of various levels. Usually there are such types of modeling as subject, mathematical, logical, physical, chemical, etc. Widespread in modern conditions received computer simulation.

3. K specific scientific methods represent systems of formulated principles of specific scientific theories. N: psychoanalytic method in psychology, method of morphophysiological indicators in biology, etc.

Method is a set of rules, methods of cognitive and practical activity, determined by the nature and laws of the object under study.

Modern system methods of cognition are highly complex and differentiated. The simplest classification of methods of cognition involves their division into general, general scientific, and specific scientific.

1. General methods characterize the techniques and methods of research at all levels of scientific knowledge. These include methods of analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, comparison, idealization, etc. These methods are so universal that they work even at the level of ordinary consciousness.

Analysis is a procedure of mental (or real) dismemberment, decomposition of an object into its component elements in order to identify their systemic properties and relationships.

Synthesis- the operation of combining the elements of the object being studied, selected in the analysis, into a single whole.

Induction- a method of reasoning or a method of obtaining knowledge in which a general conclusion is drawn based on a generalization of particular premises. Induction can be complete or incomplete. Complete induction is possible when the premises cover all phenomena of a particular class. However, such cases are rare. The impossibility of taking into account all phenomena of a given class forces us to use incomplete induction, the final conclusions of which are not strictly unambiguous.

Deduction- a way of reasoning or a method of moving knowledge from the general to the specific, i.e. the process of logical transition from general premises to conclusions about particular cases. The deductive method can provide strict, reliable knowledge, subject to the truth of the general premises and compliance with the rules of logical inference.

Analogy- a method of cognition in which the presence of similarity in the characteristics of non-identical objects allows us to assume their similarity in other characteristics. Thus, the phenomena of interference and diffraction discovered during the study of light allowed us to draw a conclusion about its wave nature, since previously the same properties were recorded in sound, the wave nature of which had already been precisely established. Analogy is an indispensable means of clarity and visualization of thinking. But Aristotle also warned that “analogy is not proof”! It can only give conjectural knowledge.

Abstraction- a method of thinking that consists in abstracting from unimportant, insignificant for the subject of cognition properties and relationships of the object under study while simultaneously highlighting those of its properties that seem important and significant in the context of the study.

Idealization- the process of mentally creating concepts about idealized objects that do not exist in the real world, but have a prototype. Examples: ideal gas, absolutely black body.

2. General scientific methods– modeling, observation, experiment.

The initial method of scientific knowledge is considered observation, i.e. deliberate and purposeful study of objects, based on human sensory abilities - sensations and perceptions. During observation, it is possible to obtain information only about the external, superficial aspects, qualities and characteristics of the objects being studied.

The result of scientific observations is always a description of the object under study, recorded in the form of texts, drawings, diagrams, graphs, diagrams, etc. With the development of science, observation becomes more and more complex and indirect through the use of various technical devices, instruments, and measuring instruments.

Another important method of natural science knowledge is experiment. An experiment is a way of active, targeted research of objects under controlled and controlled conditions. An experiment includes observation and measurement procedures, but is not limited to them. After all, the experimenter has the opportunity to select the necessary observation conditions, combine and vary them, achieving the “purity” of the manifestation of the properties being studied, as well as interfere with the “natural” course of the processes under study and even artificially reproduce them.

The main task of an experiment, as a rule, is to predict a theory. Such experiments are called research. Another type of experiment is check- intended to confirm certain theoretical assumptions.

Modeling- a method of replacing the studied object with something similar to it in a number of properties and characteristics of interest to the researcher. The data obtained from studying the model is then, with some adjustments, transferred to the real object. Modeling is used mainly when direct study of an object is either impossible (obviously, the phenomenon of “nuclear winter” as a result of the massive use of nuclear weapons is better not to be tested except on a model), or is associated with exorbitant efforts and costs. It is advisable to first study the consequences of major interventions in natural processes (river turning, for example) using hydrodynamic models, and then experiment with real natural objects.

Modeling is actually a universal method. It can be used in systems of various levels. Usually there are such types of modeling as subject, mathematical, logical, physical, chemical, etc. Computer modeling has become widespread in modern conditions.

3. K specific scientific methods represent systems of formulated principles of specific scientific theories. N: psychoanalytic method in psychology, method of morphophysiological indicators in biology, etc.

Methods of natural science and their classification.

With the advent of the need to obtain knowledge, there was a need to analyze and evaluate various methods - e.g. in methodology.

Specific scientific methods reflect research tactics, and general scientific methods reflect strategy.

The method of cognition is a way of organizing means and techniques of theoretical and practical activity.

The method is the main theoretical tool for obtaining and organizing scientific knowledge.

Types of natural science methods:

– general (applies to any science) – the unity of the logical and historical, the ascent from the abstract to the concrete;

– special (concerning only one side of the object being studied) – analysis, synthesis, comparison, induction, deduction, etc.;

– private ones, which operate only in a certain area of ​​knowledge.

Natural Science Methods:

observation is the initial source of information, goal-oriented process perception of objects or phenomena, used where it is impossible to carry out a direct experiment, for example in cosmology (special cases of observation - comparison and measurement);

analysis - based on the mental or real division of an object into parts, when one moves from a complete description of the object to its structure, composition, characteristics and properties;

synthesis - based on combining various elements of an object into a single whole and generalizing the identified and studied features of the object;

induction – consists of formulating a logical conclusion based on generalizations of experimental and observational data; logical reasoning goes from the particular to the general, providing better understanding and transition to more general level addressing the problem;

deduction is a method of cognition consisting in the transition from certain general provisions to particular results;

a hypothesis is an assumption put forward to resolve an uncertain situation; it is intended to explain or systematize some facts related to a given field of knowledge or located beyond its boundaries, but not to contradict existing ones. The hypothesis must be confirmed or refuted;

comparison method - used for quantitative comparison of the properties, parameters of objects or phenomena being studied;

experiment - experimental determination of the parameters of the objects or objects under study;

modeling - creating a model of a subject or object of interest to a researcher and conducting an experiment on it, making observations and further applying the results obtained to the object being studied.

General methods of cognition relate to any discipline and make it possible to connect all stages of the cognition process. These methods are used in any field of research and make it possible to identify connections and characteristics of the objects under study. In the history of science, researchers include metaphysical and dialectical methods among such methods. Private methods of scientific knowledge are methods used only in a particular branch of science. Various methods of natural science (physics, chemistry, biology, ecology, etc.) are particular in relation to the general dialectical method of cognition. Sometimes private methods can be used outside the branches of natural science in which they originated. For example, physical and chemical methods are used in astronomy, biology, and ecology. Often researchers apply a set of interrelated private methods to the study of one subject. For example, ecology simultaneously uses the methods of physics, mathematics, chemistry, and biology. Particular methods of cognition are associated with special methods. Special methods examine certain characteristics of the object being studied. They can manifest themselves at the empirical and theoretical levels of knowledge and be universal.

Observation is a purposeful process of perceiving objects of reality, a sensory reflection of objects and phenomena, during which a person receives primary information about the world around him. Therefore, research most often begins with observation, and only then do researchers move on to other methods. Observations are not associated with any theory, but the purpose of observation is always related to some problem situation. Observation presupposes the existence of a specific research plan, an assumption that is subject to analysis and verification. Observations are used where direct experiments cannot be performed (in volcanology, cosmology). The results of the observation are recorded in a description, noting those signs and properties of the object being studied that are the subject of study. The description must be as complete, accurate and objective as possible. It is the descriptions of observation results that constitute the empirical basis of science; on their basis, empirical generalizations, systematization and classification are created.

Measurement is the determination of quantitative values ​​(characteristics) of the studied aspects or properties of an object using special technical devices. The units of measurement with which the data obtained are compared play an important role in the study.

Experiment - a more complex method empirical knowledge compared to observation. It represents a purposeful and strictly controlled influence of the researcher on an object or phenomenon of interest to study its various aspects, connections and relationships. During experimental research, the scientist interferes with the natural course of processes and transforms the object of research. The specificity of the experiment is also that it allows you to see the object or process in its pure form. This occurs due to the maximum exclusion of exposure to extraneous factors.

Abstraction is a mental distraction from all the properties, connections and relationships of the object being studied, which are considered unimportant. These are the models of a point, a straight line, a circle, a plane. The result of the abstraction process is called abstraction. Real objects in some problems can be replaced by these abstractions (the Earth can be considered a material point when moving around the Sun, but not when moving along its surface).

Idealization represents the operation of mentally highlighting one property or relationship that is important for a given theory, and mentally constructing an object endowed with this property (relationship). As a result, the ideal object has only this property (relation). Science highlights in reality general patterns, which are significant and repeated in various subjects, so we have to resort to distractions from real objects. This is how such concepts as “atom”, “set”, “absolute black body”, “ideal gas”, “continuous medium” are formed. The ideal objects obtained in this way do not actually exist, since in nature there cannot be objects and phenomena that have only one property or quality. When applying the theory, it is necessary to again compare the obtained and used ideal and abstract models with reality. Therefore, it is important to select abstractions in accordance with their adequacy to a given theory and then exclude them.

Among the special universal research methods are analysis, synthesis, comparison, classification, analogy, and modeling.

Analysis is one of the initial stages of research, when one moves from a complete description of an object to its structure, composition, characteristics and properties. Analysis is a method of scientific knowledge, which is based on the procedure of mental or real division of an object into its constituent parts and their separate study. It is impossible to know the essence of an object only by highlighting the elements of which it consists. When the particulars of the object under study are studied through analysis, it is supplemented by synthesis.

Synthesis is a method of scientific knowledge, which is based on the combination of elements identified by analysis. Synthesis does not act as a method of constructing the whole, but as a method of representing the whole in the form of the only knowledge obtained through analysis. It shows the place and role of each element in the system, their connection with others components. Analysis mainly captures that specific thing that distinguishes parts from each other, synthesis – generalizes the analytically identified and studied features of an object. Analysis and synthesis originate in the practical activities of man. Man has learned to mentally analyze and synthesize only on the basis of practical separation, gradually comprehending what happens to an object when performing practical actions with it. Analysis and synthesis are components of the analytical-synthetic method of cognition.

Comparison is a method of scientific knowledge that allows us to establish the similarities and differences of the objects being studied. Comparison underlies many natural science measurements that form an integral part of any experiment. By comparing objects with each other, a person gets the opportunity to correctly cognize them and thereby correctly navigate the world around him and purposefully influence it. Comparison matters when objects that are truly homogeneous and similar in essence are compared. The comparison method highlights the differences between the objects under study and forms the basis of any measurements, that is, the basis of experimental research.

Classification is a method of scientific knowledge that combines into one class objects that are as similar as possible to each other in essential characteristics. Classification makes it possible to reduce the accumulated diverse material to a relatively small number of classes, types and forms and identify the initial units of analysis, discover stable characteristics and relationships. Typically, classifications are expressed in the form of natural language texts, diagrams and tables.

Analogy is a method of cognition in which knowledge obtained by examining an object is transferred to another, less studied, but similar to the first in some essential properties. The analogy method is based on the similarity of objects according to a number of characteristics, and the similarity is established as a result of comparing objects with each other. Thus, the basis of the analogy method is the comparison method.

The analogy method is closely related to the modeling method, which is the study of any objects using models with further transfer of the obtained data to the original. This method is based on the significant similarity of the original object and its model. IN modern research use different kinds modeling: subject, mental, symbolic, computer.

Methods and techniques of natural scientific research

Concept of methodology and method

In the modern understanding, methodology is the study of structure, logical organization, methods and means of activity. In particular, the methodology of natural science is the doctrine of the principles of construction, forms and methods of natural scientific knowledge.

A method is a set of techniques, or operations, practical or theoretical activities.

Method is inextricably linked with theory: any system of objective knowledge can become a method. The inextricable connection between method and theory is expressed in the methodological role of natural scientific laws. For example, the laws of conservation in natural science constitute a methodological principle that requires strict adherence to corresponding theoretical operations; reflex theory of higher nervous activity serves as one of the methods for studying the behavior of animals and humans.

Describing the role of the correct method in scientific knowledge, F. Bacon compared it to a lamp illuminating the way for a traveler in the dark. You cannot expect success in studying any issue by following the wrong path.

The method itself does not completely determine success in the natural scientific study of reality: not only a good method is important, but also the skill of its application.

Various methods of branches of natural science: physics, chemistry, biology, etc. are particular in relation to the general dialectical method of cognition. Each branch of natural science, having its own subject of study and its own theoretical principles, applies its own special methods resulting from one or another understanding of the essence of its object. The special methods used, for example, in archeology or geography, usually do not go beyond these sciences. At the same time, physical and chemical methods are used not only in physics and chemistry, but also in astronomy, biology, and archaeology. The application of the method of any branch of science in its other branches is carried out due to the fact that their objects obey the laws of this science. For example, physical and chemical methods are used in biology on the basis that objects of biological research include, in one form or another, physical and chemical forms of the movement of matter.

Comparison, analysis and synthesis

Even ancient thinkers argued: comparison is the mother of knowledge. The people aptly expressed this in the proverb: “If you don’t know grief, you won’t know joy.” You cannot know what is good without knowing what is bad, you cannot understand the small without the big, etc. Everything is learned by comparison.

To find out what an object is, you must first find out in what ways it is similar to other objects and how it differs from them. For example, to determine the mass of a body, it is necessary to compare it with the mass of another body taken as a standard, i.e., as a sample measure. This comparison process is carried out by weighing on a scale.

Comparison is the establishment of similarities and differences between objects. Comparison underlies many natural scientific measurements that form an integral part of any experiment.

By comparing objects with each other, a person gets the opportunity to correctly cognize them and thereby correctly navigate the world around him and purposefully influence it. Being a necessary method of cognition, comparison plays an important role in human practical activity and in natural scientific research, when objects that are truly homogeneous and similar in essence are compared. There is no point in comparing, as they say, pounds with arshins.

Comparison, as a very general method of cognition, often appears in various branches of natural science as a comparative method.

The process of natural scientific knowledge is carried out in such a way that we first observe the general picture of the object being studied, in which the particulars remain in the shadows. With such observation, it is impossible to know the internal structure of the object. To study it, we must dismember the objects being studied. Analysis is the mental or real decomposition of an object into its constituent parts. Being a necessary method of cognition, analysis is also one of the elements of the cognition process.

It is impossible to know the essence of an object only by breaking it down into the elements of which it is composed: the chemist, according to Hegel, puts meat in his retort, subjects it to various operations and then says: I have found that it consists of oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, etc. . d. But these things are no longer meat. Each branch of natural science has, as it were, its own limit of division of an object, beyond which another world of properties and patterns is observed.

When the particulars have been sufficiently studied through analysis, the next stage of cognition begins - synthesis - the unification into a single whole of elements dissected by analysis.

Analysis mainly captures what is specific that distinguishes parts from each other. Synthesis reveals that commonality that connects the parts into a single whole.

A person decomposes an object into its component parts in order to first discover the parts themselves, find out what the whole consists of, and then consider it as consisting of parts, each of which has already been examined separately. Analysis and synthesis are in dialectical unity with each other: in every movement our thinking is as analytical as it is synthetic.

Analysis and synthesis originate in the practical activities of man, in his work. Man has learned to mentally analyze and synthesize only on the basis of practical dismemberment, cutting, grinding, joining, composing objects in the manufacture of tools, clothing, housing, etc. Only by gradually comprehending what happens to an object when performing practical actions with it, man learned to mentally analyze and synthesize. Analysis and synthesis are the basic methods of thinking: processes of separation and connection, destruction and creation, decomposition and connection: bodies repel and attract; chemical elements come into contact and disconnect; in a living organism the processes of assimilation and dissimilation are continuously carried out; in production, something is dismembered to create a product of labor needed by society.

Abstraction, idealization and generalization

Each studied object is characterized by many properties and is connected by many threads with other objects. In the process of natural scientific knowledge, the need arises to concentrate attention on one aspect or property of the object being studied and to distract from a number of its other qualities or properties.

Abstraction is the mental isolation of an object in abstraction from its connections with other objects, some property of an object in abstraction from its other properties, any relationship between objects in abstraction from the objects themselves. Initially, abstraction was expressed in the selection of some objects with hands, eyes, and tools and abstraction from others. This is evidenced by the origin of the word “abstract” itself - from the Latin verb “tagere” (to drag) and the prefix “ab” (to the side). Yes and Russian word“distracted” comes from the verb “voloch” (to drag).

Abstraction amounts to necessary condition the emergence and development of any science and human knowledge in general. The question of what in objective reality is highlighted by the abstracting work of thinking and what thinking is distracted from is solved in each specific case in direct dependence on the nature of the object being studied and the tasks that are posed to the researcher. For example, in mathematics, many problems are solved using equations without considering the specific things behind them. Numbers don’t care what lies behind them: people or animals, plants or minerals. This is the great power of mathematics, and at the same time its limitations.

For mechanics, which studies the movement of bodies in space, the physical and kinetic properties of bodies, except for mass, are indifferent. I. Kepler did not care about the reddish color of Mars or the temperature of the Sun to establish the laws of planetary rotation. When Louis de Broglie sought the connection between the properties of the electron as a particle and as a wave, he had the right not to be interested in any other characteristics of this particle.

Abstraction is the movement of thought deep into the subject, highlighting its essential elements. For example, in order for a given property of an object to be considered as chemical, distraction, abstraction is necessary. In fact, to chemical properties a substance does not involve changing its shape, so the chemist examines copper, distracting from what exactly is made of it.

In living tissue logical thinking abstractions make it possible to reproduce a deeper and more accurate picture of the world than can be done with the help of perceptions.

An important method of natural scientific knowledge of the world is idealization as a specific type of abstraction. Idealization is the mental formation of abstract objects that do not exist and are not realizable in reality, but for which there are prototypes in the real world. Idealization is the process of concept formation, real prototypes which can only be indicated with varying degrees of approximation. Examples of idealized concepts: “point”, i.e. an object that has neither length, nor height, nor width; "straight line", "circle", "spot" electric charge", "ideal gas", "absolute black body", etc.

Introduction to the natural scientific process of studying idealized objects allows for the construction of abstract diagrams of real processes necessary for a deeper penetration into the patterns of their occurrence.

An important task of natural scientific knowledge is generalization - the process of mental transition from the individual to the general, from the less general to the more general.

For example, a mental transition from the concept of “triangle” to the concept of “polygon”, from the concept of “mechanical form of motion of matter” to the concept of “form of motion of matter”, from the judgment “this metal is electrically conductive” to the judgment “all metals are electrically conductive”, from the judgment “mechanical form of energy turns into heat” to the judgment “every form of energy turns into another form of energy”, etc.

The mental transition from the more general to the less general is a process of limitation. The processes of generalization and limitation are inextricably linked. Without generalization there is no theory. Theory is created to be applied in practice to solve specific problems. For example, to measure objects and create technical structures, a transition from the more general to the less general and individual is always necessary, i.e., a process of limitation is always necessary.

Abstract and concrete

The process of natural scientific knowledge is carried out in two interconnected ways: by ascending from the concrete, given in perception and representation, to abstractions, and by ascending from the abstract to the concrete. On the first path, the visual representation “evaporates” to the level of abstraction; on the second path, thought moves again to concrete knowledge, but to a rich set of numerous definitions. Abstract is understood as a one-sided, incomplete reflection of an object in consciousness. Concrete knowledge is a reflection of the real relationship between the elements of an object in the system of the whole, consideration of it from all sides, in development, with all its inherent contradictions.

The concrete is the result of scientific research, a reflection of objective reality in a system of concepts and categories, a theoretically meaningful unity of the diverse in the object of research. The method of theoretical knowledge of an object as a whole is the ascent from the abstract to the concrete.

Analogy

In the very nature of the understanding of facts lies an analogy, connecting the threads of the unknown with the known. The new is easier to comprehend and understand through the images and concepts of the old, known. An analogy is a probable, plausible conclusion about the similarity of two objects in some characteristic based on their established similarity in other characteristics. The conclusion is the more plausible, the more similar features the compared objects have and the more significant these features are. Despite the fact that analogies provide only probable conclusions, they play a huge role in cognition, as they lead to the formation of hypotheses - scientific guesses and assumptions, which during the subsequent stage of research and evidence can turn into scientific theories. An analogy with what we know helps us understand what is unknown. An analogy with the simple helps to understand the more complex. Thus, by analogy with the artificial selection of the best breeds of domestic animals, Charles Darwin discovered the law natural selection in the animal and flora. The analogy with the flow of liquid in a tube played an important role in the emergence of the theory electric current. Analogies with the mechanism of action of the muscles, brain, and sensory organs of animals and humans prompted the invention of many technical structures: excavators, robots, logical machines, etc.

Analogy as a method is most often used in the theory of similarity, on which modeling is based.

Modeling

IN modern science and technology, the modeling method is becoming increasingly widespread, the essence of which is to reproduce the properties of an object of knowledge on a specially designed analogue of it - a model. If the model has the same physical nature as the original, then we are dealing with physical modeling. A model can be built according to the principle of mathematical modeling if it has a different nature, but its functioning is described by a system of equations identical to the one that describes the original being studied.

Modeling is widely used because it allows one to study processes characteristic of the original in the absence of the original itself and in conditions that do not require its presence. This is often necessary due to the inconvenience of studying the object itself and for other reasons: high cost, inaccessibility, difficulty of delivery, vastness, etc.

The value of the model lies in the fact that it is much easier to make, it is easier to carry out experiments with it than with the original, etc.

IN Lately Electronic simulating devices are being actively developed, in which, using electronic processes, a real process is reproduced according to a given program. The principle of modeling forms the basis of cybernetics. Modeling is used in calculating the trajectories of ballistic missiles, in studying the operating modes of machines and entire enterprises, in the distribution of material resources, etc.

Induction and deduction

As a method of natural scientific research, induction can be defined as the process of removing general position from the observation of a number of particular isolated facts.

There are usually two main types of induction: complete and incomplete. Complete induction is the conclusion of any general judgment about all objects of a certain set based on consideration of each object of a given set. The scope of application of such induction is limited to objects, the number of which is finite. In practice, a form of induction is more often used, which involves making a conclusion about all objects of a set based on knowledge of only a part of the objects. Such conclusions of incomplete induction are often probabilistic in nature. Incomplete induction, based on experimental studies and including theoretical justification, is capable of producing a reliable conclusion. It is called scientific induction. According to the famous French physicist Louis de Broglie, induction, since it seeks to push the already existing boundaries of thought, is the true source of truly scientific progress. Great discoveries and leaps forward in scientific thought are ultimately created by induction - a risky but important creative method.

Deduction is the process of analytical reasoning from the general to the particular or less general. The beginning (premises) of deduction are axioms, postulates or simply hypotheses that have the nature of general statements, and the end is the consequences of the premises, theorems. If the premises of a deduction are true, then its consequences are true. Deduction is the main means of proof. The use of deduction makes it possible to derive from obvious truths knowledge that can no longer be comprehended with immediate clarity by our mind, but which, due to the very method of obtaining it, appears to be completely justified and thereby reliable. Deduction carried out according to strict rules cannot lead to errors.