The full course of the discipline is presented in a concise and accessible form, the most important modern concepts of the sciences of inanimate and living nature are highlighted. It is a supplemented and revised version of the textbook recommended by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation for studying the course "Concepts of Modern Natural Science". For undergraduate students, undergraduates, graduate students and teachers of the humanities profile, for teachers of secondary schools, lyceums and colleges, as well as for a wide range of readers interested in various aspects of natural science.

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The given introductory fragment of the book Concepts of modern natural science (A.P. Sadokhin) provided by our book partner - Liters company.

Chapter 3. Natural science: its subject, structure and history of formation

3.1. Subject and structure of natural science

A person's striving for knowledge of the surrounding world is expressed in various forms, methods and directions of his research activities. Each of the main parts of the objective world - nature, society and man - is studied by separate sciences. The body of scientific knowledge about nature is formed by natural science. Etymologically, the word "natural science" comes from the combination of two words: "nature" - nature and "knowledge" - knowledge about nature.

In modern usage, the term "natural science" in general terms usually denotes a set of natural sciences that have as the subject of their research various phenomena and processes of nature, the laws of their evolution. In addition, natural science is a separate independent science of nature as a single whole. In this capacity, it allows us to study any object of the world around us more deeply than any one natural science can do. Therefore, natural science, along with the sciences of society and thinking, is the most important part of human knowledge. It includes both the activity of obtaining knowledge and its results, that is, the system of scientific knowledge about natural processes and phenomena.

The concept of "natural science" appeared in modern times in Western Europe and then denoted the entire totality of the sciences about nature. The roots of this idea go even deeper, in Ancient Greece during the time of Aristotle, who was the first to systematize the knowledge about nature that was then available in his "Physics". Today there are two widespread ideas about the subject of natural science. The first asserts that natural science is the science of nature as a single whole, the second - that it is the totality of the sciences of nature, considered as a whole. At first glance, these definitions are different. In fact, the differences are not so great, since the totality of the natural sciences does not mean just the sum of disparate sciences, but a single complex of closely interrelated natural sciences that complement each other.

As an independent science, natural science has its own subject of research, which is different from the subject of special (private) natural sciences. Its specificity is that it studies the same natural phenomena from the standpoint of several sciences at once, identifying the most general patterns and trends, considering nature "from above". This is the only way to present nature as a single integral system, to reveal the foundations on which all the variety of objects and phenomena of the surrounding world is built. The result of such research is the formulation of the basic laws that connect micro-, macro- and megaworlds, Earth and Space, physical and chemical phenomena with life and mind in the Universe.

When considering the question of the structure of science, we noted that it is a complex ramified system of knowledge. Natural science is an equally complex system, all parts of which are in a hierarchical subordination relationship. This means that the system of natural sciences can be represented as a kind of ladder, each step of which is a support for the science that follows it and, in turn, is based on the data of the preceding science.

The foundation of all natural sciences, undoubtedly, is physics, the subject of which is bodies, their movements, transformations and forms of manifestation at various levels. It is impossible to do any natural science without knowing physics. Within physics, a large number of subsections are distinguished, differing in a specific subject and research methods. The most important among them is mechanics - the study of the balance and motion of bodies (or their parts) in space and time. Mechanical motion is the simplest and at the same time the most widespread form of motion of matter. Mechanics historically became the first physical science and for a long time served as a model for all natural sciences. Sections of mechanics are statics, which studies the conditions of equilibrium of bodies; kinematics dealing with the movement of bodies from a geometric point of view; dynamics considering the motion of bodies under the action of applied forces. Mechanics is the physics of the macrocosm that originated in modern times. It is based on statistical mechanics (molecular kinetic theory), which studies the motion of liquid and gas molecules. Later, atomic physics and elementary particle physics appeared.

The next step in the hierarchy is chemistry, which studies chemical elements, their properties, transformations and compounds. The fact that it is based on physics is easy to prove. Even in school chemistry lessons, it is said about the structure of chemical elements, their electronic shells; this is an example of the use of physical knowledge in chemistry. In chemistry, inorganic and organic chemistry, chemistry of materials and other sections are distinguished.

In turn, chemistry forms the basis of biology - the science of living things, which studies the cell and everything derived from it. Biological knowledge is based on knowledge about a substance, chemical elements. Among the biological sciences, botany (flora), zoology (the animal world) should be distinguished. Anatomy, physiology and embryology study the structure, functions and development of the organism, cytology - a living cell, histology - the properties of tissues, paleontology - the fossil remains of life, genetics - the problems of heredity and variability.

Earth sciences are the next step in the structure of natural science. This group includes geology, geography, ecology, etc. All of them consider the structure and development of our planet, which is a complex combination of physical, chemical and biological phenomena and processes.

The grandiose pyramid of knowledge about nature is completed by cosmology, which studies the Universe as a whole. Part of this knowledge is astronomy and cosmogony, which investigate the structure and origin of planets, stars, galaxies, etc. At this level, a new return to physics takes place, which allows us to speak of the cyclical, closed nature of natural science, reflecting, obviously, one of the most important properties of the very nature.

The structure of natural science is not limited to the above sciences. The fact is that the most complex processes of differentiation and integration of scientific knowledge are going on in science. Differentiation of science - the allocation of narrower, particular areas of research within any science, their transformation into independent sciences. Thus, solid state physics and plasma physics emerged within physics.

Integration of science is the emergence of new sciences at the junctions of old ones, the manifestation of the processes of combining scientific knowledge. An example of this kind of sciences is physical chemistry, chemical physics, biophysics, biochemistry, geochemistry, biogeochemistry, astrobiology, etc.

Thus, the pyramid of natural sciences that we have built becomes much more complicated, including a large number of additional and intermediate elements.

3.2. History of natural science

In the history of the development of human civilization, the formation of scientific knowledge under the influence of various factors and reasons has come a long way. Accordingly, natural science, being an integral part of science, has the same complex history. It cannot be understood without tracing the history of the development of science as a whole. According to historians of science, the development of natural science went through three stages and at the end of the twentieth century. entered the fourth stage. These stages are ancient Greek natural philosophy, medieval natural science, classical natural science of the New and Modern times, modern natural science of the twentieth century.

The development of natural science is subject to this periodization. At the first stage, there was an accumulation of applied information about nature and the ways of using its forces and bodies. This is the so-called natural-philosophical stage in the development of science, representing the direct contemplation of nature as an undivided whole. At this stage, the correct coverage of the general picture of nature took place, while neglecting particulars, which was characteristic of all Greek natural philosophy.

Later, a theoretical understanding of the causes, methods and features of changes in nature was added to the process of accumulating knowledge, the first concepts of a rational explanation of natural processes appeared. As a result, the so-called analytical stage in the development of science began, when nature is being analyzed, the isolation and study of individual things and phenomena, the search for individual causes and effects. This approach is typical for the initial stage of development of any science, and in the historical development of science - for the Late Middle Ages and Modern Times. At this time, methods and theories merged into natural science as an integral science of nature, a series of scientific revolutions took place that radically changed the practice of social development.

The result of the development of science is a synthetic stage, when scientists have recreated a holistic picture of the world on the basis of cognized particulars. This happened on the basis of combining analysis with synthesis and led to the emergence of modern science of the 20th century.

The beginning of science. Ancient Greek natural philosophy. Science is a complex multifaceted social phenomenon that could neither arise nor develop outside of society. Science appears only when special objective conditions are created for this that meet the previously noted criteria of science. Ancient Greek knowledge of the 6th – 4th centuries corresponds to these conditions. BC NS. At that time, fundamentally new features appeared in ancient Greek culture, which were not in the Ancient East - the recognized center of the birth of human civilization.

The emergence of the first forms of knowledge took place in Eastern civilizations. More than 2 thousand years BC NS. in Egypt, Babylon, India, China, a relationship has been established between theoretical knowledge and practical skills. This happened in all areas of human activity, but was associated mainly with agricultural culture (the first astronomical knowledge contributed to weather predictions, the rudiments of mathematics made it possible to measure land areas, etc.).

Historians of science associate the emergence of natural science with a scientific explosion in the 6th – 4th centuries. BC NS. in Ancient Greece, which marked the beginning of the first period in the history of natural science - the period of natural philosophy (from lat. natura - nature), i.e., the philosophy of nature as a system of knowledge about the natural causes of natural phenomena. From the practical knowledge that mathematics, astronomy, and quackery provided at that time, it was distinguished by a speculative interpretation of nature on the basis of the position of the unity of natural phenomena and its integrity.

The beginning of ancient Greek natural philosophy refers to attempts to search for a natural primary element that ensures the unity and diversity of the natural world. This means that natural philosophy was distinguished by the desire to single out some one natural element as the basis of everything that exists. For the first time in history, this desire was expressed by the philosopher of the Miletus school Thales, who considered water to be the primary element of the whole world, since it is impossible to find an absolutely dry body in the world.

In ancient science, Thales was the first astronomer and mathematician, he was credited with the discovery of the annual rotation of the Sun, the determination of the time of the solstices and equinoxes. Thales argued that the moon does not shine with its own light, and the celestial bodies represent an ignited earth. Thales divided the entire celestial sphere into five zones and introduced a calendar, determining the length of the year at 365 days and dividing it into 12 months of 30 days.

The first scientific program of Antiquity was the mathematical program presented by Pythagoras of Samos and later developed by Plato. At its basis, as at the basis of other ancient programs, was the idea that the world (Cosmos) is an ordered expression of a number of original entities. Pythagoras found these essences in numbers and presented them as the fundamental principle of the world. Numerical ratios were considered by him the basis of the entire universe, the source of the harmony of the Cosmos. According to Pythagoras and his students, the quantitative relations of reality underlie the world. They considered the entire Universe as a harmony of numbers and their relationships, attributed special, mystical properties to certain numbers. This approach made it possible to see their quantitative unity behind the world of various qualitatively different objects. In addition, the Pythagoreans were the first to put forward the idea of ​​the spherical shape of the Earth. The most striking embodiment of the mathematical program was the geometry of Euclid, whose famous book "Beginnings" appeared around 300 BC. NS.

Ancient Greek natural philosophy received its highest development in the teachings of Aristotle, who united and systematized all contemporary knowledge about the world around him. It became the basis for the third, continual program of ancient science. The main treatises that make up Aristotle's teaching about nature are "Physics", "On the Sky", "Meteorology", "On the Origin of Animals", etc. In these treatises, the most important scientific problems were posed and considered, which later became the basis for the emergence of certain sciences ... Aristotle paid special attention to the question of the motion of physical bodies, laying the foundation for the study of mechanical motion and the formation of the concepts of mechanics (speed, force, etc.). True, Aristotle's ideas about movement are fundamentally different from modern ones. He believed that there are perfect circular motions of celestial bodies and imperfect motions of earthly objects. If heavenly movements are eternal and unchanging, have no beginning and end, then earthly movements have them and are divided into natural and violent. According to Aristotle, each body has a place assigned to it by nature, which this body seeks to occupy. The movement of bodies to their place is a natural movement, it happens by itself, without the application of force. An example is the fall of a heavy body downward, the striving of fire upward. All other movements on Earth require the application of force, are directed against the nature of bodies and are violent. Aristotle argued the eternity of motion, but did not recognize the possibility of self-motion of matter; everything moving is set in motion by other bodies. The primary source of movement in the world is the prime mover - God. Like the model of the Cosmos, these ideas, thanks to the indisputable authority of Aristotle, were so deeply rooted in the minds of European thinkers that they were refuted only in modern times, after the discovery of the idea of ​​inertia by G. Galileo.

Aristotle's cosmology was geocentric in nature, since it was based on the idea that in the center of the world is our planet Earth, which has a spherical shape and is surrounded by water, air and fire, behind which are the spheres of large celestial bodies revolving around the Earth along with other small luminaries.

The indisputable achievement of Aristotle was the creation of formal logic, set out in his treatise "Organon" and placing science on a solid foundation of logically grounded thinking using an ordered conceptual apparatus. He also owns the approval of the order of scientific research, which includes the study of the history of the issue, the formulation of the problem, the introduction of arguments "for" and "against", as well as the rationale for the decision. After Aristotelian works, scientific knowledge finally separated from metaphysics (philosophy), there was a differentiation of scientific knowledge itself. It highlighted mathematics, physics, geography, the foundations of biology and medical science.

Concluding the story about ancient science, one cannot but mention the works of other outstanding scientists of this time. Astronomy was actively developing, which needed to match the observed motion of the planets (they move along complex trajectories, making oscillatory, loop-like movements) with their supposed movement in circular orbits, as required by the geocentric model of the world. The solution to this problem was the system of epicycles and deferents of the Alexandrian astronomer K. Ptolemy (1st – 2nd centuries AD). To save the geocentric model of the world, he assumed that there is a circle around the stationary earth with a center offset from the center of the earth. Along this circle, which is called the deferent, the center of the smaller circle, called the epicycle, moves.

One cannot but mention one more ancient scientist who laid the foundations of mathematical physics. This is Archimedes, who lived in the III century. BC NS. His works on physics and mechanics were an exception to the general rules of ancient science, as he used his knowledge to build various machines and mechanisms. Nevertheless, the main thing for him, like for other ancient scientists, was science itself, and mechanics became an important means of solving mathematical problems. Although for Archimedes, technology was only a game of the mind (the attitude to technology, to machines as to toys was typical for all Hellenistic science), the scientist's work played a fundamental role in the emergence of such branches of physics as statics and hydrostatics. In statics, Archimedes introduced the concept of the center of gravity of bodies, formulated the law of a lever. In hydrostatics, he discovered the law that bears his name: a buoyant force acts on a body immersed in a liquid, equal to the weight of the liquid displaced by the body.

As can be seen from the given and far from complete list of ideas and directions of natural philosophy, at this stage the foundations of many modern theories and branches of natural science were laid. No less important is the formation of a style of scientific thinking during this period, which includes a desire for innovation, criticism, a desire for orderliness and a skeptical attitude towards generally accepted truths, the search for universals that give a rational understanding of the entire surrounding world.

The decline of ancient Greek culture practically stopped the development of natural philosophy, but its ideas continued to exist for a long time. Natural philosophy finally lost its significance only in the 19th century, when it ceased to replace the absent sciences, when natural science reached a high level of development, a large amount of factual material was accumulated and systematized, that is, when the real causes of many natural phenomena were revealed and real connections between them.

The development of science in the Middle Ages. The development of natural science in the Middle Ages was associated with the establishment of two world religions: Christianity and Islam, which claimed absolute knowledge of nature. These religions explained the origin of nature in the form of creationism, that is, the doctrine of the creation of nature by God. All other attempts to explain the world and nature from ourselves, without the admission of supernatural divine powers, were condemned and mercilessly suppressed. At the same time, many achievements of ancient science were forgotten.

Unlike Antiquity, medieval science did not offer new fundamental programs. At the same time, it was not limited to passive assimilation of the achievements of ancient science. The contribution of medieval science to the development of scientific knowledge consisted in the fact that a number of new interpretations and refinements of ancient science, a number of new concepts and research methods were proposed that destroyed ancient scientific programs, paving the way for the mechanics of modern times.

From the point of view of the Christian worldview, man was considered created in the image and likeness of God, he was the lord of the earthly world. Thus, a very important idea penetrates into the consciousness of a person, which never arose and could not have arisen in Antiquity: since a person is the master of this world, it means that he has the right to remake this world as he needs. A new, active approach to nature was also associated with a change in attitudes towards work, which becomes the responsibility of every Christian; gradually physical labor began to enjoy increasing respect in medieval society. At the same time, a desire arose to facilitate this work, which caused a new attitude towards technology. The invention of machines and mechanisms ceased to be fun, as in Antiquity, and became a useful and respected business.

Thus, it was the Christian worldview that sowed the seeds of a new attitude towards nature. This attitude made it possible to get away from the contemplative attitude towards it and come to the experimental science of the New Age, which set the goal of the practical transformation of the world for the benefit of man.

In the depths of medieval culture, such specific areas of knowledge as astrology, alchemy, iatrochemistry, and natural magic developed successfully. They were often called hermetic (secret) sciences. They represented an intermediate link between the technical craft and natural philosophy, contained in themselves the embryo of the future experimental science due to their practical orientation. For example, for a millennium, alchemists have tried to obtain a philosopher's stone through chemical reactions, which helps to convert any substance into gold, to prepare an elixir of longevity. The byproducts of these searches and studies were the technologies for obtaining paints, glass, medicines, various chemicals, etc. Thus, alchemical research, theoretically untenable, paved the way for the emergence of modern science.

New ideas about the world were very important for the formation of the classical science of modern times, which refuted some of the provisions of the ancient scientific picture of the world. They formed the basis for a mechanistic explanation of the world. Without such ideas, classical natural science simply could not have appeared. This is how the concepts of emptiness, infinite space and motion in a straight line appeared, the concepts of "average speed", "uniformly accelerated motion", the concept of acceleration was ripening. Of course, these concepts cannot yet be considered clearly formulated and realized, but without them the physics of modern times could not have appeared.

Also, a new understanding of mechanics was laid, which in Antiquity was an applied science. Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages viewed all man-made tools as artificial, alien to nature. Because of this, they had nothing to do with the knowledge of the world, since the principle “like is cognized by like” was in effect. That is why only the human mind, by virtue of the principle of human similarity to the Cosmos (the unity of micro- and macro Cosmos), could cognize the world. Later, tools began to be considered a part of nature, only processed by man, and because of their identity with it, they could be used to learn about the world. The possibility of using the experimental method of cognition opened up.

Another innovation was the rejection of the ancient idea of ​​a model of perfection - a circle. This model was replaced by the infinite line model, which contributed to the formation of ideas about the infinity of the Universe, and also underlay the calculus of infinitesimal quantities, without which differential and integral calculus is impossible. All the mathematics of modern times is based on it, and hence the whole of classical science.

Considering the issue of the achievements of medieval science, Leonardo da Vinci should be noted, who developed his method of knowing nature. He was convinced that knowledge proceeds from private experiments and concrete results to scientific generalization. In his opinion, experience is not only a source, but also a criterion of cognition. Being an adherent of the experimental method of research, he studied the fall of bodies, the trajectory of projectiles, the coefficients of friction, resistance of materials, etc. In the course of his research, da Vinci laid the foundation for experimental natural science. For example, while engaged in practical anatomy, he left sketches of the internal organs of a person, supplied with a description of their functions. As a result of many years of observations, he discovered the phenomenon of heliotropism (changes in the direction of growth of plant organs depending on the light source) and explained the reasons for the appearance of veins on the leaves. Leonardo da Vinci is considered the first researcher who identified the problem of the relationship between living things and their natural environment.

3.3. Global scientific revolution of the XVI-XVII centuries.

In the XVI-XVII centuries, natural-philosophical and scholastic knowledge of nature turned into modern natural science - systematic scientific knowledge based on experiments and mathematical presentation. During this period, a new worldview was formed in Europe and a new stage in the development of science began, associated with the first global natural-scientific revolution. Its starting point was the publication in 1543 of the famous book by N. Copernicus "On the Rotation of the Celestial Spheres", which marked the transition from geocentric ideas about the world to a heliocentric model of the Universe. In the Copernican scheme, the Universe was still a sphere, although its size increased sharply (this was the only way to explain the apparent immobility of the stars). In the center of the Cosmos was the Sun, around which all the planets known by that time revolved, including the Earth with its satellite Moon. The new model of the world made clear many previously mysterious effects, first of all - the loop-like motions of the planets, which were now explained by the movement of the Earth around its axis and around the Sun. For the first time, the change of seasons was justified.

The next step in the formation of the heliocentric picture of the world was taken by D. Bruno. He rejected the idea of ​​the Cosmos as a closed sphere bounded by fixed stars, and for the first time declared that the stars are not lamps created by God to illuminate the night sky, but the same suns around which the planets can revolve and on which people may live. ... Thus, D. Bruno proposed a sketch of a new polycentric picture of the universe, which was finally established a century later: the Universe is eternal in time, infinite in space, many planets inhabited by intelligent beings revolve around an infinite number of stars.

But, despite the grandeur of this picture, the universe continued to be a sketch, a sketch that needed fundamental justification. It was necessary to discover the laws operating in the world and proving the correctness of the assumptions of N. Copernicus and D. Bruno; this became the most important task of the first global scientific revolution, which began with the discoveries of G. Galileo. His works in the field of methodology of scientific knowledge predetermined the whole appearance of classical, and in many respects, modern science. He gave natural science an experimental and mathematical character, formulated a hypothetical-deductive model of scientific knowledge. But the works of G. Galileo in the field of astronomy and physics are of particular importance for the development of natural science.

Since the time of Aristotle, scientists have believed that there is a fundamental difference between terrestrial and celestial phenomena and bodies, since the heavens are the location of ideal bodies consisting of ether. Because of this, it was believed that, while on Earth, it was impossible to study celestial bodies, this delayed the development of science. After the telescope was invented in 1608, G. Galileo improved it and turned it into a telescope with 30x magnification. With his help, he made a number of outstanding astronomical discoveries. Among them are mountains on the moon, spots on the sun, phases of Venus, and the four largest moons of Jupiter. G. Galileo was the first to see that the Milky Way is a cluster of a huge variety of stars. All these facts proved that celestial bodies are not ethereal creatures, but completely material objects and phenomena. After all, there cannot be mountains on the "ideal" body, as on the Moon, or spots, as on the Sun.

With the help of his discoveries in mechanics, G. Galileo destroyed the dogmatic constructions of Aristotelian physics, which had dominated for almost two thousand years. He was the first to test many of Aristotle's statements empirically, thereby laying the foundations for a new branch of physics - dynamics, the science of the motion of bodies under the action of applied forces. It was G. Galileo who formulated the concepts of physical law, speed, acceleration. But the greatest discoveries of the scientist were the idea of ​​inertia and the classical principle of relativity.

According to the classical principle of relativity, no mechanical experiments carried out inside the system can establish whether the system is at rest or if it moves uniformly and rectilinearly. Also, the classical principle of relativity states that there is no difference between rest and uniform rectilinear motion, they are described by the same laws. Galileo confirmed the equality of motion and rest, that is, the equality of inertial systems (at rest or moving relative to each other uniformly and rectilinearly) by reasoning with numerous examples. For example, a traveler in a ship's cabin with good reason believes that the book lying on his table is at rest. But the person on the shore sees that the ship is sailing, and has every reason to assert that the book is moving at the same speed as the ship. Is this how the book actually moves or is it at rest? This question obviously cannot be answered "yes" or "no." An argument between a traveler and a person on the shore would be a waste of time if each of them defended their point of view and denied the point of view of their partner. To coordinate positions, they only need to admit that at the same time the book is at rest relative to the ship and moves relative to the coast along with the ship.

Thus, the word "relativity" in the name of Galileo's principle has no other meaning than that which we put into the statement: motion or rest is always motion or rest in relation to what serves as a frame of reference for us.

R. Descartes's research in physics, cosmology, biology, and mathematics played a huge role in the development of science. The doctrine of R. Descartes is a unified natural-scientific and philosophical system based on the postulates of the existence of continuous matter, filling all space, and its mechanical movement. The scientist set the task of explaining all known and unknown natural phenomena, proceeding from the principles of the structure of the world and ideas about matter established by him, using only the "eternal truths" of mathematics. He revived the ideas of ancient atomism and built a grandiose picture of the Universe, covering in it all the elements of the natural world: from heavenly bodies to the physiology of animals and humans. At the same time, R. Descartes built his model of nature only on the basis of mechanics, which at that time achieved the greatest success. The concept of nature as a complex mechanism, which R. Descartes developed in his teaching, was later formed into an independent direction in the development of physics, which was called Cartesianism. Cartesian (Cartesian) natural science laid the foundations for a mechanical understanding of nature, the processes of which were considered as the movement of bodies along geometrically described trajectories. However, the Cartesian teaching was not exhaustive. In particular, the motion of the planets had to obey the law of inertia, that is, be rectilinear and uniform. But since the orbits of the planets remain solid closed curves and there is no such movement, it becomes obvious that some force deflects the motion of the planets from a straight trajectory and makes them constantly "fall" towards the Sun. From now on, the most important problem of the new cosmology was to clarify the nature and character of this force.

The nature of this force was discovered by I. Newton, whose work completed the first global natural-scientific revolution. He proved the existence of gravitation as a universal force, formulated the law of universal gravitation.

Newtonian physics became the pinnacle of the development of views in understanding the natural world in classical science. Isaac Newton substantiated the physical and mathematical understanding of nature, which became the basis for all subsequent development of natural science and the formation of classical natural science. In the course of his research, the scientist created methods of differential and integral calculus to solve problems in mechanics. Thanks to this, he was able to formulate the basic laws of dynamics and the law of universal gravitation. The mechanics of I. Newton is based on the concepts of the amount of matter (body mass), momentum, force and three laws of motion: the law of inertia, the law of proportionality of force and acceleration, the law of equality of action and reaction.

Although I. Newton proclaimed: “I don’t invent hypotheses!”, Nevertheless, a number of hypotheses were proposed to him, and they played an important role in the further development of natural science. These hypotheses were associated with the further development of the idea of ​​universal gravitation, which remained quite mysterious and incomprehensible. In particular, it was necessary to answer the questions, what is the mechanism of action of this force, how fast it spreads and whether it has a material carrier.

Answering these questions, I. Newton proposed (which was confirmed, as it seemed then, by a countless number of facts) the principle of long-range action - instantaneous action of bodies on each other at any distance without any intermediary links, through emptiness. The principle of action at a distance is impossible without invoking the concepts of absolute space and absolute time, also proposed by I. Newton.

Absolute space was understood as a receptacle for world matter. It is comparable to a large black box in which a material body can be placed, but it can also be removed - then there will be no matter, but space will remain. There must also exist absolute time as a universal duration, a constant cosmic scale for measuring all countless specific movements, which can flow independently without the participation of material bodies. It was in such absolute space and time that the gravitational force instantly spread. It is impossible to perceive absolute space and time in sensory experience. Space, time and matter in this concept are three entities independent of each other.

The works of I. Newton completed the first global scientific revolution, forming the classical polycentric scientific picture of the world and laying the foundation for the classical science of modern times.

3.4. Classical natural science of modern times

Naturally, on the basis of the achievements noted, the further development of natural science acquired an ever larger scale and depth. Processes of differentiation of scientific knowledge took place, coupled with significant progress in the already formed and with the emergence of new independent sciences. Nevertheless, the natural science of this time developed within the framework of classical science, which had its own specific features that left an imprint on the work of scientists and its results.

The most important characteristic of classical science is mechanistic - representation of the world as a machine, a gigantic mechanism, clearly functioning on the basis of the eternal and unchanging laws of mechanics. It is no coincidence that the most common model of the universe was a huge clockwork. Therefore, mechanics was the standard of any science that they tried to build on its model. It was also considered as a universal method for studying the surrounding phenomena. This was expressed in the desire to reduce any processes in the world (not only physical and chemical, but also biological, social) to simple mechanical movements. This reduction of the highest to the lowest, the explanation of the complex through the simpler is called reductionism.

The predominance of quantitative methods for analyzing nature, the desire to decompose the process or phenomenon under study to its smallest components, reaching the final limit of the divisibility of matter, became the consequences of mechanism. From the picture of the world, randomness was completely excluded, scientists strove for a complete complete knowledge of the world - the absolute truth.

Another feature of classical science was metaphysicality - consideration of nature as a non-developing whole, from century to century unchanging, always identical with itself. Each object or phenomenon was studied separately from others, their connections with other objects were ignored, and the changes that occurred with these objects and phenomena were only quantitative. This is how the strong anti-evolutionist attitude of classical science arose.

The mechanistic and metaphysical nature of classical science clearly manifested itself not only in physics, but also in chemistry and biology. This led to the rejection of the recognition of the qualitative specifics of life and living. They have become the same elements in the "mechanism" world as objects and phenomena of inanimate nature.

These features of classical science were most clearly manifested in the natural science of the 18th century, creating many theories that are almost forgotten by modern science. The reductionist tendency was clearly manifested, the desire to reduce all branches of physics, chemistry and biology to the methods and approaches of mechanics. In an effort to reach the ultimate limit of the divisibility of matter, scientists of the XVIII century. created "teachings about weightless" - electric and magnetic fluids, caloric, phlogiston as special substances that provide bodies with electrical, magnetic, thermal properties, as well as the ability to burn. Among the most significant achievements of natural science in the 18th century. it should be noted the development of atomic-molecular concepts of the structure of matter, the formation of the foundations of the experimental science of electricity.

The revolutionary discoveries of natural science were the principles of non-Euclidean geometry by K. Gauss, the concept of entropy and the second law of thermodynamics by R. Clausius, the periodic law of chemical elements by D.I. Mendeleev, the theory of natural selection by Ch. Darwin and A.R. Wallace, G. Mendel's theory of genetic inheritance, D. Maxwell's electromagnetic theory.

These and many other discoveries of the nineteenth century. raised natural science to a qualitatively new level, turned it into a disciplinaryly organized science. From a science that collected facts and studied complete, complete, individual objects, it turned into a systematizing science of objects and processes, their origin and development. This happened during the complex scientific revolution of the mid-19th century. But all these discoveries remained within the framework of the methodological guidelines of classical science. The idea of ​​the "machine" world was not a thing of the past, but the idea of ​​the "machine" world was corrected, all the provisions on the cognizability of the world and the possibility of obtaining absolute truth remained unchanged. The mechanistic and metaphysical features of classical science were only shaken, but not discarded. Because of this, the science of the nineteenth century. carried the seeds of a future crisis, which was supposed to be resolved by the second global scientific revolution of the late 19th - early 20th centuries.

3.5. The global scientific revolution of the late 19th - early 20th centuries

A number of remarkable discoveries have destroyed the entire classical scientific picture of the world. In 1888, the German scientist G. Hertz discovered electromagnetic waves, brilliantly confirming D. Maxwell's prediction. In 1895, W. Roentgen discovered rays, later called X-rays, which were shortwave electromagnetic radiation. The study of the nature of these mysterious rays, capable of penetrating through opaque bodies, led D. Thompson to the discovery of the first elementary particle - the electron.

To the great discoveries of the late 19th century. also include the works of A.G. Stoletov on the study of the photoelectric effect, P.N. Lebedev on the pressure of light. In 1901, M. Planck, trying to solve the problems of the classical theory of radiation of heated bodies, suggested that energy is emitted in small portions - quanta, and the energy of each quantum is proportional to the frequency of the emitted radiation. The proportionality coefficient connecting these quantities is now called Planck's constant ( h). It is one of the few universal physical constants of our world and is included in all equations of the physics of the microworld. It was also found that the mass of an electron depends on its speed.

All these discoveries literally overturned the slender edifice of classical science in just a few years. seemed almost finished. All previous ideas about matter and its structure, motion and its properties and types, about the form of physical laws, about space and time were refuted. This led to a crisis in physics and the whole of natural science and became a symptom of a deeper crisis in the whole of classical science.

For the better, the situation began to change only in the 1920s. with the onset of the second stage of the scientific revolution. It is associated with the creation of quantum mechanics and its combination with the theory of relativity, created in 1906-1916. Then a new quantum-relativistic picture of the world began to take shape, in which the discoveries that led to the crisis in physics were explained.

The beginning of the third stage of the scientific revolution was the mastery of atomic energy in the 1940s. and subsequent research, which is associated with the emergence of electronic computers and cybernetics. Also during this period, physics passes the baton to chemistry, biology and the cycle of earth sciences, beginning to create their own scientific pictures of the world. Since the middle of the 20th century, science has finally merged with technology, leading to the modern scientific and technological revolution.

The main conceptual change in natural science in the twentieth century. was the rejection of the Newtonian model of obtaining scientific knowledge through experiment to explanation. Einstein proposed a different model for explaining natural phenomena, in which the hypothesis and the rejection of common sense as a way of verifying the statement became primary, and the experiment became secondary.

The development of Einstein's approach led to the rejection of Newtonian cosmology and formed a new picture of the world in which logic and common sense ceased to operate. It turns out that the solid atoms of I. Newton are almost completely filled with emptiness, that matter and energy pass into each other. Three-dimensional space and one-dimensional time have become a four-dimensional space-time continuum. According to this picture of the world, the planets move in their orbits not because they are attracted to the Sun by some force, but because the very space in which they move is curved. Subatomic phenomena simultaneously manifest themselves as both particles and waves. You cannot simultaneously calculate the location of a particle and measure its acceleration. The uncertainty principle undermined Newtonian determinism at its root. The concepts of causality have been violated; substances, solid discrete bodies gave way to formal relations and dynamic processes.

These are the main provisions of the modern quantum-relativistic scientific picture of the world, which is becoming the main result of the second global scientific revolution. It is associated with the creation of modern (non-classical) science, which in all its parameters differs from classical science.

3.6. The main features of modern natural science and science

The mechanistic and metaphysical nature of classical science was replaced by new dialectical attitudes of universal connection and development. Mechanics is no longer the leading science and universal method for studying environmental phenomena. The classical model of the world - the "clock" mechanism was replaced by the model of the world - "thought", for the study of which the systems approach and the method of global evolutionism are best suited. The metaphysical foundations of classical science, which viewed each subject in isolation as something special and complete, are a thing of the past.

Now the world is recognized as a set of multilevel systems in a state of hierarchical subordination. At the same time, at each level of organization of matter, its own laws operate. Analytical activity, which was the main one in classical science, gives way to synthetic tendencies, systemic and holistic consideration of objects and phenomena of the objective world. Confidence in the existence of a finite limit of the divisibility of matter, the desire to find the ultimate material fundamental principle of the world were replaced by the conviction that it is fundamentally impossible to do this (the inexhaustibility of matter deep down). Obtaining absolute truth is considered impossible; truth is considered relative, existing in many theories, each of which studies its own slice of reality.

These features of modern science have found their embodiment in new theories and concepts that have appeared in all areas of natural science. Among the important scientific achievements of the XX century. - theory of relativity, quantum mechanics, nuclear physics, theory of physical interaction; new cosmology based on the Big Bang theory; evolutionary chemistry, seeking to master the experience of living nature; the discovery of many secrets of life in biology, etc. But the true triumph of non-classical science, undoubtedly, was cybernetics, which embodied the ideas of the systems approach, as well as synergetics and nonequilibrium thermodynamics based on the method of global evolutionism.

Since the second half of the twentieth century. Researchers record the entry of natural science into a new stage of development - post-non-classical, which is characterized by a number of fundamental principles and forms of organization. Evolutionism, cosmism, ecology, anthropic principle, holism and humanism are most often singled out as such principles. These principles orient modern natural science not so much towards the search for abstract truth as towards its usefulness for society and each person. In this case, the main indicator is not economic feasibility, but an improvement in the living environment of people, an increase in their material and spiritual well-being. Thus, natural science really turns its face to the person, overcoming the eternal nihilism in relation to the urgent needs of people.

Modern natural science has a predominantly problematic, interdisciplinary orientation instead of the previously dominant narrowly disciplinary orientation of natural scientific research. Today, it is fundamentally important when solving complex complex problems to use a combination of different natural sciences in relation to each specific case of research. Hence, such a feature of post-nonclassical science as the growing integration of natural, technical and humanitarian sciences becomes understandable. Historically, they differentiated, spun off from a certain unified basis, developing autonomously for a long time. Characteristically, the humanities are becoming the leading element of this growing integration.

In the analysis of the features of modern natural science, one should note such a fundamental feature as the impossibility of free experimentation with objects (fundamental research). A real natural science experiment turns out to be dangerous for human life and health. Awakened by modern science and technology, powerful natural forces are capable of inadvertently handling them to lead to severe local, regional and even global crises and disasters.

Researchers of science note that modern natural science organically grows more and more with the production, technology and everyday life of people, turning into the most important factor in the progress of civilization. It is no longer limited to the research of individual "armchair" scientists, but includes in its orbit complex teams of researchers from different scientific fields. In the process of research activities, representatives of various natural disciplines are becoming more and more clearly aware of the fact that the Universe is a systemic integrity with still insufficiently understood laws of development, with global paradoxes, in which the life of every person is associated with cosmic laws and rhythms. The universal connection of processes and phenomena in the Universe requires a comprehensive study adequate to their nature, and in particular global modeling based on the method of systems analysis. In accordance with these tasks in modern natural science, methods of system dynamics, synergetics, game theory, program-targeted control are increasingly being used, on the basis of which forecasts of the development of complex natural processes are made.

Modern concepts of global evolutionism and synergetics make it possible to describe the development of nature as a sequential change of structures emerging from chaos, temporarily gaining stability, but then again tending to chaotic states. In addition, many natural systems appear as complex, multifunctional, open, non-equilibrium, the development of which is unpredictable. Under these conditions, the analysis of the possibilities of further evolution of complex natural objects appears as fundamentally unpredictable, coupled with many random factors that can become the basis for new forms of evolution.

All these changes are taking place within the framework of the current global scientific revolution, which is likely to be completed by the middle of the 21st century. Of course, now it is difficult to imagine the shape of the future science. Obviously, it will differ from both classical and modern (non-classical) science. But the above some of its features are already visible.

Table 3.1. The most significant scientists of natural sciences: from the VI century. BC from the XX century.

Continuation

Continuation

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Publishing and Trade Corporation "Dashkov and K °"

M. K. Guseikhanov, O. R. Radjabov

Concepts of modern natural science

Sixth edition, revised and enlarged

Ministry of Education and Science

Russian Federation as a textbook

For university students

Moscow, 2007

UDC 001 BBK 20 G96

Reviewers:

A. D. Gladun- Chairman of the Expert Council for General Natural Science Disciplines of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Physics and Mathematics, Professor of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology;

L. V. Koroleva- Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Professor of Moscow State Pedagogical University;

O. P. Melekhova- Member of the Expert Council of the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, Candidate of Biological Sciences, Senior Researcher;

G. K. Safaraliev- Deputy Chairman of the Committee for Science and Education of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Professor of DGU.

Guseikhanov M.K., Radjabov O.R. Concepts of modern natural science: Textbook. - 6th ed., Rev. and add. - M .: Publishing and trade corporation "Dashkov and K °", 2007. - 540 p.

ISBN 978-5-91131-306-7

The textbook examines the most important concepts of modern natural science: stages of development of the natural-scientific picture of the world, modern ideas about the structure and development of nature in micro-, macro- and megaworlds; evolution of ideas about space, time and matter; the principles of relativity and complementarity; ratio of uncertainties; conservation laws in the micro- and macrocosm; the nature of elementary particles, energy and matter; the concept of the origin of the evolution of living nature and man; biosphere and ecology; the specifics of modern natural science; synergetics; self-organization in various systems, problems of modern natural science; worldview and scientific and technological revolution.

The textbook has been prepared in accordance with the State Standard of Higher Professional Education and is intended for university students studying the concepts of modern natural science, teachers, graduate students and students who are interested in the worldview and theoretical and cognitive problems of natural science and philosophy.

UDC 001 BBK 20

ISBN 978-5-91131-306-7

© M. K. Guseikhanov, O. R. Radjabov, 2006

OCR: Ikhtik (Ufa)

Ihtik.Lib.Ru

Introduction 9

Chapter 1. NATURAL KNOWLEDGE AS A UNIFORM SCIENCE

ABOUT NATURE 13

Natural science and humanitarian culture. 13

The place of science in the cultural system and its structure 14

Characteristics of Science 18

Natural science - basic science 21

Chapter 2. CHARACTERISTIC OF NATURALLY SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE 26

The structure of scientific knowledge 26

Basic research methods 29

Dynamics of the development of science. Compliance principle 36

Chapter 3. THE MOST IMPORTANT STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT

NATURAL 41

The system of the world of ancient philosophers 41

Geocentric and heliocentric systems of the structure of the world 49

Mechanistic and electromagnetic picture of the world 55

The modern natural-scientific picture of the world 60

Chapter 4. CONCEPT OF RELATIVITY

SPACE AND TIME 69

The concept of space and time 69

Measuring Time 73

Space and time in the special theory of relativity 76

General theory of relativity about space

and time 86

Chapter 5. STRUCTURE OF THE MATERIAL WORLD 94

The structural structure of the material world 94

Brief characteristics of the microworld 95

Brief characteristics of the macrocosm 100

Brief characteristics of megaworld 106

Chapter 6. INTERACTIONS AND MOTION

STRUCTURES OF THE WORLD 113

Four types of interactions and their characteristics 113

Concepts of short-range and long-range action 116

Substance, field, vacuum. Superposition Principle 117

Fundamental Constants of the Universe 119

Anthropic cosmological principle 123

The nature of the movement of the structures of the world 126

Chapter 7. BASIC REGULATIONS

MICROMIR 133

Elementary particles 133

The wave-corpuscular nature of micro-objects 142

Complementarity concept 148

The probabilistic nature of the laws of the microworld. Uncertainty and Causality Concepts 150

7.5. Electronic shell of atom 153

Chapter 8. CONCEPTS OF SUBSTANCE AND ENERGY .162

8.1. Variety of forms of matter 162

Substance and its states 164

Energy and its manifestations in nature 167

Conservation laws in nature 182

Conservation laws and symmetry principles 189

Chapter 9. COMPOSITION, STRUCTURE

AND INTERCONVERSION OF SUBSTANCES 197

Conceptual Levels in Cognition of Substances 197

Composition of matter and chemical systems 201

The structure of matter and its properties 209

Chemical processes 213

The evolution of chemical systems and the prospects for chemistry 217

Chapter 10. NATURE OF THE MEGAMIR 222

Distances and dimensions in the megaworld 222

Earth as a planet and a natural body 230

The composition and structure of the solar system 243

The sun, stars and the interstellar medium 253

Galaxies 259

Chapter 11. THE NATURE OF THE NATURAL SCIENTIFIC

REGULARITIES OF NATURE 269

Determinism of the processes of nature 269

Thermodynamics and the concept of irreversibility 273

The problem of the "thermal death of the Universe" 279

Chapter 12. ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION

UNIVERSE 286

The Big Bang and the Expanding Universe 286

The initial stage of the Universe 292

Cosmological models of the Universe 297

Chapter 13. ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION

HEAVENLY BODIES, EARTH 301

Origin and evolution of galaxies and stars 301

The origin of the planets of the solar system 307

The origin and evolution of the Earth 317

Space and Earth 330

Chapter 14. CONCEPTS OF THE ORIGIN OF LIFE.. .343

Concepts of the Origin of Life on Earth 343

Classification of levels of biological structures

and organization of living systems 357

Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology 363

Problems of the origin of life in the Universe 367

Chapter 15. EVOLUTION OF LIVING NATURE 374

Evidence for the Evolution of the Living 374

Ways and causes of the evolution of the living 378

Darwin's evolutionary theory 381

The modern theory of organic evolution 384

Synthetic theory of evolution 387

Other concepts of the evolution of the living. 389

Chapter 16. CONCEPT OF ORIGIN

AND HUMAN EVOLUTION 397

Man as a subject of natural scientific knowledge ... 397

Similarities and differences between humans and animals 399

The concept of the appearance of man on Earth. Anthropology 402

Evolution of human culture. Sociobiology 410

Problems of the search for extraterrestrial civilizations 415

Communication problem with extraterrestrial civilizations 420

Chapter 17. MAN 425

Human Physiology 425

Emotions and creativity 432

Health and performance 435

Biomedical Ethics Issues 440

Chapter 18. THE TEACHING ABOUT THE BIOSPHERE AND ECOLOGY 448

Biosphere 448

Ecology 453

Modern problems of ecology 456

Noosphere, 460

Demographic problem 467

Chapter 19. METHODS OF THE CONTEMPORARY

NATURAL 474

Systemic research method 474

Cybernetics is the science of complex systems 479

Methods of mathematical modeling 481

Mathematical modeling in ecology 484

Chapter 20. SELF-ORGANIZATION IN NATURE 491

Self-organization paradigm 491

Synergetics 493

Features of the evolution of nonequilibrium systems 495

Self-organization - the source and basis of evolution 498

Self-organization in various types of evolution 503

Chapter 21. MODERN NATURAL KNOWLEDGE

AND THE FUTURE OF SCIENCE 508

Features of the current stage of development of science 508

Science and worldview 511

Natural science and philosophy 514

Natural science and scientific and technological revolution 516

General laws of modern natural science 524

Modern natural science picture of the world

and Man 526

21.7. Features in the development of modern science 529

Literature 535

We dedicate this book to the blessed memory of our parents and teachers.

Introduction

Is the Mortal capable of comprehending the harmony of the world, Whose coming and going is incomprehensible to him?

Ibn Sina (Avicenna)

The state educational standards of higher professional education of the Russian Federation require the mastering by students of humanitarian and socio-economic specialties of the curriculum in the discipline "Concepts of modern natural science". The inclusion of this discipline in the program of humanitarian faculties of universities is due to the need to familiarize students with an integral element of a single culture - natural science - and the formation of a holistic view of the world around them. This course is designed to facilitate the acquisition of a broad basic higher education, to contribute to the all-round development of the individual. The training course reflects the main complex of concepts of modern natural science, gives a panorama of the most famous methods and laws of modern science, demonstrates the specifics of the rational method of cognizing the world around. This is all the more necessary, since now the rational natural-scientific method is increasingly penetrating the humanitarian environment, forming an integral scientific knowledge of society. Science is acquiring an increasingly universal language, adequate to philosophy, psychology, social sciences and even art. The current trend towards a harmonious synthesis of two traditionally different cultures, humanitarian and natural sciences, is consonant with the needs of society in a holistic worldview and emphasizes the relevance of this discipline.

For study, those directions and problems are proposed that determine the appearance of modern natural science and the scientific approach to culture. One of the objectives of the course is the formation of ideas about the picture of the world as the basis of the integrity and diversity of nature. Therefore, the program includes the most important concepts of modern natural science: ideas about space, time and matter; conservation laws in the world; the concept of the origin and evolution of the Universe, life and man; biosphere and ecology; the specifics of self-organization, systemic research methods, etc.

The desire of people to find common ground in the variety of things and natural phenomena around them is well known. This desire was embodied in the idea of ​​the unity of the world. A holistic reflection of the unity of the world is the result of the synthesis of data from natural sciences: physics, astronomy, chemistry, biology, etc.

Historically, the worldview has developed from a complex of primitive empirical knowledge, mythological, religious ideas to a philosophical and theoretical worldview, and, often in the teachings of thinkers, religious and rational components of knowledge were intertwined. The introduction of rational ideas raised the worldview to a qualitatively new level, but did not in itself remove the question of an unscientific reflection of reality, of the presence of an irrational element in this worldview.

The striving for the unity of the diverse received one of its incarnations in the scientific guesses of the thinkers of the Ancient East, ancient Greece and Rome. It should be emphasized that these guesses, and then hypotheses, represented the unity of the natural-scientific and philosophical approaches to the analysis of reality.

The idea of ​​the Universe as a single whole, the laws of which are accessible to human cognition and understanding, have played and continue to play a constructive role in the formation of the scientific picture of the world. Indeed, it is precisely this idea that is the cornerstone of the ideological and methodological foundations of modern science. "The basis

of all our scientific work "," the strongest and noblest of the springs of scientific research, "Einstein called the conviction in the rational (law-like) structure of the Universe." Without faith in the inner harmony of our world, "he stressed," there could be no science. "

The formation of a modern natural-scientific picture of the world is a historical, revolutionary or evolutionary replacement of some scientific views by others.

The history of human cognition is the history of the emergence, development and replacement of some scientific pictures of the world by others, which arise in the depths of the previous ones and in the process of evolution approach the objective scientific picture of the world. The main forms of generalization of facts in the system of the world, which ensure its evolutionary development, are: 1) explanation of facts within the framework of the existing system of the world; 2) explanation of facts by introducing additional concepts, new ways of formalization, or by introducing restrictions on the principles of the theory. Thus, the scientific revolution appears as an extended in time, integral, regular and periodically repeating stage in the development of scientific knowledge, which is characterized by an abrupt formation of a new fundamental scientific theory or scientific system of the world.

The modern scientific picture of the world is a picture of the evolving Universe. The evolution of the Universe includes the evolution of matter, its structure, as well as the evolution of living and social society. The evolution of matter was accompanied by a decrease in its temperature, density, and the formation of chemical elements. The evolution of the structure is associated with the emergence of superclusters of galaxies, the separation and formation of stars and galaxies, the formation of planets and their satellites.

Thus, the Universe appears before us as the process of evolution of matter infinitely unfolding in time and space. In this process, the most diverse objects and phenomena of the microworld and megaworld are interconnected. It turned out that in all eras, scientific thought is characteristic

Terized with complementarity of macroscopic and microscopic aspects.

For a humanities student, it is especially important to understand the problems of social life in their connection with the basic concepts and laws of natural science. At the same time, the key stages in the development of natural science show how the dialogue between science and society proceeded in different historical periods, demonstrating continuity and continuity in the study of nature.

This discipline is not a mechanical combination of traditional courses in physics, chemistry, biology, ecology and others, but is a product of an interdisciplinary synthesis based on a comprehensive historical-philosophical, cultural and evolutionary-synergetic approaches to modern natural science, therefore, its effective development is possible through the use of a new a paradigm capable of combining the natural-scientific and humanitarian components of culture, and an awareness of the universal role of a metalanguage synthesizing the fundamental laws of natural science, philosophy and synergetics.

The student who has studied it must clearly imagine the true unity and integrity of nature, that single foundation on which the countless variety of objects and phenomena of the world around us is built and from which the basic laws that connect the micro-, macro- and megaworlds, the Earth and the Cosmos, physical and chemical phenomena between themselves and with life, with reason.

Introduction ……………………………………………………………… .. ………… .3

1. Classification of sciences

Conclusion …………………………………………………… ..… .. ……………… 14

List of sources used ………………………………. …………… .15

Introduction

It is well known that natural science is the totality of the sciences about nature. The task of natural science is to understand the objective laws of nature and to promote their practical use in the interests of man. Natural science arises as a result of generalization of observations obtained and accumulated in the process of practical activities of people, and is itself the theoretical basis of this practical activity.

In the 19th century, it was customary to divide the natural sciences (or experimental knowledge of nature) into 2 large groups. The first group traditionally covers the sciences of natural phenomena(physics, chemistry, physiology), and the second is about objects of nature. Although this division is rather arbitrary, it is obvious that objects of nature are not only the entire surrounding material world with celestial bodies and the earth, but also the inorganic components of the earth, and organic beings on it, and, finally, man.

Consideration of celestial bodies is the subject of astronomical sciences, the earth is the subject of a number of sciences, of which geology, geography and physics of the earth are most developed. Cognition of the objects that make up the earth's crust and are on it is the subject of natural history with its three main divisions: mineralogy, botany and zoology. Man, on the other hand, is the subject of anthropology, the most important components of which are anatomy and physiology. In turn, medicine and experimental psychology are based on anatomy and physiology.

In our time, such a generally accepted classification of the natural sciences no longer exists. According to the objects of research, the widest division is the division into the sciences of living and the so-called inanimate nature. The most important large areas of natural science (physics, chemistry, biology) can be distinguished by the forms of motion of matter that they study. However, this principle, on the one hand, does not allow covering all natural sciences (for example, mathematics and many related sciences), on the other hand, it is inapplicable to substantiating further classification divisions, the complex differentiation and interconnection of sciences that are so characteristic of modern natural science.

In modern natural science, two opposite processes are organically intertwined: continuous differentiation natural science and increasingly narrow fields of science and integration these separate sciences.

1. Classification of sciences

The classification procedure derives from a simple observation that took shape in a specific cognitive device. However, the classification allows you to get a real meaningful increment of knowledge in the way of identifying new groups of phenomena.

The classification procedure, directed at science itself, cannot ignore the classification proposed by F. Bacon (1561-1626) as a generalization of the circle of knowledge known in his time. In his epoch-making work "On the Dignity and Development of Sciences", he creates a wide panorama of scientific knowledge, including in a friendly family of sciences and poetry. Bacon's classification of sciences is based on the basic abilities of the human soul: memory, imagination, reason. Therefore, the classification takes the following form: history corresponds to memory; imagination - poetry; to reason - philosophy.

In the natural sciences of the Goethe period (end of the 18th century) it was believed that all objects of nature are connected with each other by a grandiose single chain leading from the simplest substances, from elements and minerals through plants and animals to man. The world was pictured by Goethe as a continuous "metamorphosis" of forms. The concept of qualitatively different "stages of organization" of nature was developed by the objective idealists Schelling and Hegel. Schelling set himself the task of consistently revealing all stages of the development of nature towards the highest goal, i.e. to consider nature as an expedient whole, the purpose of which is in the generation of consciousness. The stages of nature highlighted by Hegel were associated with various stages of evolution, interpreted as the development and embodiment of the creative activity of the "world spirit", which Hegel calls the absolute idea. Hegel spoke about the transition of mechanical phenomena to chemical (so-called chemistry) and then to organic life (organism) and practice.

The teaching of Henri de Saint-Simon (1760-1825) was a serious milestone on the path of the formation of the classification of sciences. Summing up the development of science of his time, Saint-Simon argued that the mind seeks to base its judgments on the observed and discussed facts. He (the mind) has already transformed astronomy and physics on the positive foundation of the empirically given. Private sciences are elements of a general science - philosophy. The latter became semi-positive when the particular sciences became positive, and will become completely positive when all the particular sciences become positive. This will come true when physiology and psychology are based on observed and discussed facts, for there are no phenomena that would not be either astronomical, or chemical, or physiological, or psychological. Within the framework of his natural philosophy, Saint-Simon tried to find universal laws governing all phenomena of nature and society, to transfer the methods of natural-scientific disciplines to the field of social phenomena. He equated the organic world with fluid matter and presented man as an organized fluid body. He interpreted the development of nature and society as a constant struggle between solid and fluid matter, emphasizing the diverse connection between the general and the whole.

Personal secretary of Saint-Simon Auguste Comte proposes to take into account the law of the three stages of the intellectual evolution of mankind as the basis for the development of a classification of sciences. In his opinion, the classification must meet two basic conditions - dogmatic and historical. The first is to arrange the sciences according to their successive dependence, so that each builds on the previous one and prepares the next. The second condition prescribes to arrange sciences in accordance with the course of their actual development, from more ancient to newer.

Different sciences are distributed depending on the nature of the studied phenomena, either according to their decreasing generality and independence, or according to increasing complexity. From such an arrangement, more and more complex speculations flow, as well as more and more lofty and complete speculations. In the hierarchy of sciences, the degree to which abstractness decreases and complexity increases is of great importance. The ultimate goal of any theoretical system is humanity. The hierarchy of sciences is as follows: mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology and sociology. The first of them constitutes the starting point of the latter, which, as has already been said, is the only main goal of any positive philosophy.

To facilitate the usual use of the hierarchical formula, it is convenient to group the terms in two, presenting them in the form of three pairs: initial - mathematical-astronomical, final - biological-sociological, and intermediate - physicochemical. In addition, each pair shows a natural similarity of the mated sciences, and their artificial separation, in turn, leads to a number of difficulties. This is especially evident in the separation of biology from sociology.

The classification is based on O. Comte's principles of movement from simple to complex, from abstract to concrete, from ancient to new. And although more complex sciences are based on less complex ones, this does not mean a reduction of the higher to the lower. In the Comte classification, there are no such sciences as logic, because, in his opinion, it is part of mathematics, and psychology, which is partly a fragment of biology, partly - sociology.

Further steps in the development of the problem of the classification of sciences, taken, in particular, by Wilhelm Dilthey (1833-1911), led to the separation of the sciences of the spirit and the sciences of nature. In his work "Introduction to the Sciences of the Spirit," the philosopher distinguishes them primarily by subject. The subject matter of the natural sciences is phenomena external to man. Spiritual sciences are immersed in the analysis of human relationships. In the first, scientists are interested in observing external objects as data of natural sciences; secondly, internal experiences. Here we color our ideas about the world with our emotions, while nature is silent, like a stranger. Dil-tei is convinced that the appeal to "experience" is the only foundation of the sciences of the spirit. The autonomy of the sciences of the spirit establishes a connection between the concepts of "life", "expression", "understanding". There are no such concepts either in nature or in the natural sciences. Life and experience are objectified in the institutions of the state, church, jurisprudence, etc. It is also important that understanding is turned into the past and serves as a source of the sciences of the spirit.

Wilhelm Windelband (1848-1915) proposes to distinguish sciences not by subject, but by method. He divides scientific disciplines into nomothetic and ideographic. In the department of the first - the establishment of general laws, the regularity of objects and phenomena. The latter are aimed at studying individual phenomena and events.

However, the external opposition of nature and spirit is not able to provide an exhaustive basis for the entire variety of sciences. Heinrich Rickert (1863-1936), developing Windelband's idea of ​​the separation of nomothetic and ideographic sciences, comes to the conclusion that the difference arises from different principles of selection and ordering of empirical data. The division of sciences into natural sciences and cultural sciences in his famous work of the same name best of all expresses the opposition of interests that divide scientists into two camps.

For Rickert, the central idea is that the reality given in cognition is immanent to consciousness. Impersonal consciousness constitutes nature (natural science) and culture (cultural sciences). Natural science is aimed at identifying general laws, which Rickert interprets as a priori rules of reason. History deals with unique single phenomena. Natural science is value-free, culture and an individualizing understanding of history is the realm of values. An indication of the ^ value is especially important. "Those parts of reality that are indifferent to values ​​and which we consider in the indicated sense only as nature, have for us ... only natural scientific interest ... On the contrary, in the phenomena of culture and in those processes that we put to them as preliminary stages in some relation ... our interest is directed to the particular and individual, to their unique and non-recurring course, that is, we want study them also historically, by an individualizing method. " Rickert identifies three Kingdoms: reality, value, meaning; they correspond to three methods of comprehension: explanation, understanding, interpretation.

Undoubtedly, the separation of nomothetic and ideographic methods was an important step in the classification of sciences. In a general sense, the nomo-thetic method (from the Greek nomothetike, which means "legislative art") is aimed at generalizing and establishing laws and is manifested in natural science. According to the distinction between nature and culture, general laws are disproportionate and incompatible with a unique and singular existence, in which there is always something inexpressible with the help of general concepts. Hence, it follows that the nomothetic method is not a universal method of cognition and that the ideographic method should be used to cognize the "singular".

The name of the ideographic method (from Greek, idios - "special", grapho - "I write") orients that this is a method of historical cultural sciences. Its essence lies in the description of individual events with their value-based coloring. Significant events can be singled out among individual events, but their unified regularity is never seen. Thus, the historical process appears as a multitude of unique and unrepeatable events, in contrast to the approach to natural science declared by the nomothetic method, where nature is encompassed by regularity.

The sciences of culture, according to Rickert, are widespread in such spheres as religion, church, law, state and even economy. And although the economy can be called into question, Rickert defines it as follows: "Technical inventions (and, consequently, economic activities that are derived from them) are usually accomplished with the help of the natural sciences, but they themselves do not belong to the objects of natural scientific research."

Can it be considered that the coexistence of these two types of science and the methods corresponding to them reflects the responses of those distant disputes between nominalists and realists that excited medieval scholastic disputes? Apparently yes. After all, those statements that are heard from the ideographic sciences (in particular, that the singular is the basis of the general and the latter does not exist outside of it, they cannot be separated from each other and assume a separate existence) are at the same time the arguments of nominalists, for whom it is the singular, as a really existing fact can be taken as the basis of true knowledge.

With regard to the current situation, it should be noted that both in the exact, pomological sciences, oriented towards regularity and repetition, and in the individualizing, ideographic sciences, oriented towards the singular and unique, the singular cannot and should not be ignored. Does natural science have the right to refuse to analyze individual facts, and will the chronicle be fair in which the general connection of events will not be traced?

For the methodology and philosophy of science, Rickert's reflections are of interest, in which the general and the individual are not simply opposed, which would be naive, but differentiation appears, i.e. in distinguishing between the types of the general and the individual. In the natural sciences, the relation of the general to the singular is the relation of the genus and the individual (specimen). In the social historical sciences, singularity, as it were, represents, represents universality, acting as a clearly manifested pattern. Individual causal series - this is the purpose and meaning of the historical sciences.

Principles of classification of sciences by F. Engels. When, in 1873, Engels began to develop a classification of the forms of motion of matter, the Comte view of the classification of sciences was widespread in scholarly circles. The founder of positivism, O. Comte, was sure that each science has as its subject a separate form of motion of matter, and the objects of various sciences themselves are sharply separated from each other: mathematics | physics | chemistry | biology | sociology. This correspondence was called the principle of coordination of sciences. Engels drew attention to how objects studied by various sciences are interconnected and transform into one another. The idea arose to reflect the process of progressive development of moving matter, going along an ascending line from the lowest to the highest, from the simple to the complex. The approach where mechanics was connected and passed into physics, the latter into chemistry, that into biology and social sciences (mechanics ... physics ... chemistry ... biology ... social sciences), became known as the principle of subordination. And indeed, wherever we glance, we will not find anywhere any form of movement completely separate from other forms of movement, everywhere and everywhere there are only processes of transformation of some forms of movement into others. The forms of motion of matter exist in a continuous-discontinuous process of transformation into each other. "The classification of sciences," F. Engels noted, "of which each analyzes a separate form of motion or a series of interconnected and transformed forms of motion of matter, is at the same time a classification, an arrangement, according to the inherent sequence of these forms of motion themselves, and this is precisely its meaning. "

When Engels began work on the Dialectics of Nature, the concept of energy was already established in science, extended to the field of inorganics - inanimate nature. However, it became more and more clear that there can be no absolute boundary between living and inanimate nature. A convincing example of this is the virus - a transitional form and a living contradiction. Once in an organic environment, he behaved like a living body, while in an inorganic environment he did not manifest himself like that. We can say that Engels foresaw the transition of one form of motion of matter into another, since by the time of the emergence of his concept, science had studied only the transitions between mechanical and thermal forms. Interest was also aroused by the assumption that outstanding discoveries would soon arise at the intersection of sciences, in border areas. Undertaking the development of one of these border areas connecting nature and society, Engels proposed a labor theory of anthroposociogenesis, the origin of man and human society. At one time, Charles Darwin (1809-1882), conducting comparative anatomical studies of humans and apes, came to the conclusion about a purely animal origin of man. He identified two forms of competition: intraspecific and interspecific. Intraspecific competition led to the extinction of the unadapted forms and ensured the survival of the adapted ones. This provision formed the basis of natural selection. Engels, however, assessed the role of social factors, and in particular the special role of labor, in the process of anthroposociogenesis. In the XX century. it was at the juncture of sciences that the most promising areas of new sciences appeared: biochemistry, psycholinguistics, computer science.

Thus, if in the first classifications of sciences the natural abilities of the human soul (memory, imagination, etc.) acted as the basis, then, in the opinion of our contemporary Russian researcher B. Kedrov, the fundamental difference between Engels's classification was precisely that "She lays the principle of objectivity as the basis for the division of sciences: the differences between the sciences are due to the differences in the objects they study." Thus, the classification of sciences has a solid ontological foundation - the qualitative diversity of nature itself, various forms of motion of matter.

In connection with the new data of natural science, the five-term classification of the forms of motion of matter developed by Engels was subjected to significant refinements. The most famous is the modern classification proposed by B. Kedrov, in which he distinguished six basic forms of motion: subatomic-physical, chemical, molecular-physical, geological, biological and social. Note that the classification of the forms of motion of matter was thought of as the basis for the classification of sciences.

There is another approach, according to which all the diversity of the world can be reduced to three forms of motion of matter: basic, particular and complex. The main ones include the broadest forms of motion of matter: physical, chemical, biological, social. A number of authors question the existence of a single physical form of motion of matter. However, one can hardly agree with this. All objects, united by the concept of the physical, have two most common physical properties - mass and energy. The entire physical world is characterized by a general all-encompassing law of conservation of energy.

Private forms are part of the main ones. So, physical matter includes vacuum, fields, elementary particles, nuclei, atoms, molecules, macro-bodies, stars, galaxies, Metagalaxy. The complex forms of matter and motion should include astronomical (Metagalaxy - galaxy - stars - planets); geological (consisting of physical and chemical forms of motion of matter in the conditions of a planetary body); geographical (including physical, chemical, biological and social forms of movement of matter within the litho-, hydro- and atmosphere). One of the essential features of the complex forms of motion of matter is that the dominant role in them is ultimately played by the lowest form of matter - physical. For example, geological processes are determined by physical forces: gravity, pressure, heat; geographic laws are determined by the physical and chemical conditions and relationships of the upper shells of the Earth.

Conclusion

The philosophy of science according to the logic of things should clearly understand what type of science it prefers to deal with. According to the already established, although quite young tradition, all sciences were divided into three clans: natural, social, technical. However, no matter how these groups of sciences compete with each other, in their totality they have a common goal associated with the most complete comprehension of the universe.

The issues of classification and the relationship of natural sciences are discussed to this day. However, there are different points of view. One of them is that all chemical phenomena, the structure of matter and its transformation can be explained on the basis of physical knowledge; there is nothing specific in chemistry. Another point of view is that each type of matter and each form of material organization (physical, chemical, biological) are so isolated that there are no direct connections between them. Of course, such different points of view are far from the true solution of the most complex issue of classification and hierarchy of natural sciences. One thing is quite obvious - despite the fact that physics is a fundamental branch of natural science, each of the natural sciences (with the same general task of studying nature) is characterized by its own subject of research, its own research methodology and is based on its own laws that are not reducible to the laws of other branches science. And serious achievements in modern natural science are most likely with a successful combination of comprehensive knowledge accumulated over a long time in physics, and in chemistry, and in biology, and in many other natural sciences.

List of sources used

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2. Likhin A. F. Concepts of modern natural science: textbook. - MTK Welby, Prospect Publishing House, 2006 .-- 264 p.
3. Turchin V.F. Phenomenon of Science: A Cybernetic Approach to Evolution. Ed. 2nd - M .: ETS, 2000 .-- 368 p.
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At the beginning of the twentieth century. the previous scientific ideas, on which the mechanistic picture of the world was built, were challenged literally from all sides. Solid and indivisible atoms turned out to be divisible and almost completely filled with emptiness. Space and time have become relative manifestations of a single four-dimensional continuum. Time now flowed differently for those who moved at different speeds. Near massive objects, it slowed down, and under certain circumstances it could stop altogether. The laws of Euclidean geometry were no longer required to describe the structure of the universe. The planets moved in their orbits not because they were attracted to the Sun by the force of universal gravity, but because the space in which they moved was curved. Elementary particles showed a dual nature, appearing both as particles and as waves. It became impossible to simultaneously calculate the location of the particle and measure its velocity. Determinism has given way probabilistic worldview... The results of scientific research became dependent on the interaction of the studied subject with devices and instruments and on the presence of an observer. Instead of real natural phenomena, their mathematical models are increasingly being considered. This has led to an increase in the mathematization of modern science, an increase in the level of its abstractness, and a loss of clarity.

Natural science in the twentieth century. developed at a very fast pace. This was largely facilitated by the confrontation between the two military-political blocs (the USSR and the USA), as well as the industry's need for new technologies based primarily on natural science and technical knowledge closely related to them. A wide network of educational and research institutions, funded by the state and private companies, has been formed. Since the end of the nineteenth century. the funds invested in research and development began to make a profit, science became payback. During the twentieth century, more than 90% of scientific discoveries and inventions of their total number in the entire history of human development were made. To the most significant achievements and concepts of natural science in the twentieth century. relate:

The theory of relativity, quantum mechanics, the development of the theory of the structure of matter, the discovery and study of nuclear reactions and elementary particles, the invention of particle accelerators and the synthesis of transuranic elements, the hypothesis of quarks, the invention of the laser, transmission of electromagnetic signals over a distance (radio, television, radar, fiber optical and mobile telephony), the discovery of semiconductors and the invention of computers, the creation of theories of physical interactions and quantum field theory, the discovery of superconductivity, thermonuclear fusion, the development of atomic energy and electronics;

· The concept of the expanding Universe, the development of space technology and space flights, the discovery and study of stars and galaxies, pulsars, quasars, neutron stars, "black holes" and other space objects;

· Study of the internal structure of the Earth, the creation of theories of continental drift and tectonics of lithospheric plates;

· Development of quantum chemistry and the doctrine of chemical processes, the invention of new synthetic materials - polymers, synthetic fibers, artificial diamonds, fullerenes, cermets and other organoelement compounds; development of nanotechnology;

Creation of the chromosomal theory of heredity and the doctrine of mutations, the discovery of the structure of DNA, the decoding of the genetic code, the development of genetic engineering, the isolation and synthesis of proteins, enzymes and other biomaterials, the creation of genetically homogeneous copies of living organisms (cloning), the development of ecology and the creation of the doctrine of the biosphere, noosphere concept; development of sustainable development models;

Development of synergetics (study of complex developing systems and processes of self-organization in them), etc.

The modern natural science worldview is based on the following concepts: theory of relativity, quantum mechanics and quantum field theory; new cosmology based on expanding universe models; evolutionary chemistry striving to master the experience of living nature; genetics and molecular biology; cybernetics, who embodied the ideas of a systematic approach; synergetics, which studies the processes of self-organization in complex open systems.

An important achievement of modern natural science was the development biosphere cycle of sciences, a new attitude to the phenomenon of life. Life ceased to be a random phenomenon in the Universe, but began to be considered as a natural result of the self-development of matter. The sciences of the biosphere cycle, which include soil science, biogeochemistry, biogeography, ecology, study natural systems where there is an interpenetration of animate and inanimate nature, i.e. there is an interconnection of different quality natural phenomena. Life and living things are understood as an essential element of the world, really shaping this world and creating it in its present form. The embodiment of these ideas was anthropic principle modern science, according to which our Universe is what it is, only because there is a person in it.

The characteristic features and methodological foundations of modern natural science are:

· systems approach to the study of the surrounding world, according to which the world is recognized as a set of multilevel systems in a state of hierarchical subordination;

· dialectical way of thinking based on the idea of ​​universal communication and development;

· principle of global evolutionism(all phenomena are considered as a process of self-development and self-organization of matter in the Universe);

Analysis, which was the main method of classical science, gave way to synthesis and integration different types of knowledge;

Determinism (recognition of the existence of rigid causal relationships) has changed probabilistic representations;

• it is considered impossible to obtain the absolute truth; truth is considered relative, existing in many theories, each of which studies its own slice of reality;

· The process of cognition is no longer considered a simple mirror image of nature; it is recognized that a person leaves his mark on the image of the world and the results of research.

From the middle of the twentieth century. science finally merged with technology, which led to modern scientific and technological revolution, which had, along with positive and a number of negative consequences. The use of scientific discoveries to create new types of weapons, the consumer attitude to nature led to a state of crisis. Modern science began to receive numerous criticisms from philosophers, culturologists, etc. In their opinion, technology dehumanizes a person, surrounding him entirely with artificial objects and devices, taking him away from nature and turning him into an appendage of a machine. This humanistic criticism of science was soon joined by more alarming facts about the consequences of the uncontrolled use of the achievements of science and technology - pollution of water, air, soil, harmful effects on living organisms, extinction of species and other disturbances in the planet's ecosystem. Therefore, modern science is again experiencing a state of crisis and will have to change significantly. These changes, obviously, will be associated with further integration natural science and humanitarian components of culture, greening and humanization natural science.

Chapter 3. Concepts of physics

Natural science includes many sciences, but the order of their consideration is rarely arbitrary. Usually, the study of natural science begins with physics, which investigates the simplest and at the same time the most general properties of bodies and phenomena. The history of science testifies that it was physics for a very long time that was the leader of natural science, the most developed and systematized natural science, which made the greatest contribution to the formation of the scientific picture of the world. Most of the scientific revolutions and upheavals in natural science were associated with the emergence of new physical discoveries and theories.

· Physics – a science that studies the structure of matter and the laws of its motion.

The very word "physics" comes from the Greek phsis- nature. This science arose in antiquity and initially covered the entire body of knowledge about natural phenomena. The formation of physics as an independent science is associated with the works of Galileo and Newton (17th century), thanks to which the laws of physics began to be based on the facts established experimentally and their mathematical interpretation. Classical Newtonian mechanics was the basis for the development of natural science before the appearance of quantum mechanics and the theory of relativity at the beginning of the 20th century.

Modern physics is based on precise experiments and a well-developed mathematical apparatus. In accordance with the variety of objects and forms of motion under study, it is subdivided into a number of disciplines: mechanics, optics, thermodynamics, electrodynamics, quantum mechanics, nuclear physics, elementary particle physics, solid state physics, etc. As a result of the interaction of physics with other natural sciences, such interdisciplinary scientific areas such as astrophysics, biophysics, geophysics, chemical physics.

The range of phenomena and processes considered within the framework of physics is very wide. To describe them, such fundamental concepts as matter, motion, interaction, space, time, energy are used. The most important of these is the concept of matter. Revolutions in physics have always been associated with a change in the concept of matter.