Science is one of the most important areas of human activity at the present stage of development of world civilization. Today there are hundreds of different disciplines: technical, social, humanitarian, natural sciences. What are they studying? How did natural science develop in the historical aspect?

Natural science is...

What is natural science? When did it originate and what directions does it consist of?

Natural science is a discipline that studies natural phenomena and phenomena that are external to the subject of research (man). The term "natural science" in Russian comes from the word "nature", which is a synonym for the word "nature".

The foundation of natural science can be considered mathematics, as well as philosophy. By and large, all modern natural sciences came out of them. At first, naturalists tried to answer all questions concerning nature and its various manifestations. Then, as the subject of research became more complex, natural science began to break up into separate disciplines, which over time became more and more isolated.

In the context of modern times, natural science is a complex of scientific disciplines about nature, taken in their close relationship.

The history of the formation of natural sciences

The development of the natural sciences took place gradually. However, human interest in natural phenomena manifested itself in antiquity.

Naturphilosophy (in fact, science) actively developed in ancient Greece. Ancient thinkers, with the help of primitive methods of research and, at times, intuition, were able to make a number of scientific discoveries and important assumptions. Even then, natural philosophers were sure that the Earth revolves around the Sun, they could explain solar and lunar eclipses, and quite accurately measured the parameters of our planet.

In the Middle Ages, the development of natural science slowed down noticeably and was heavily dependent on the church. Many scientists at that time were persecuted for the so-called heterodoxy. All scientific research and research, in fact, came down to the interpretation and substantiation of the scriptures. Nevertheless, in the era of the Middle Ages, logic and theory developed significantly. It is also worth noting that at this time the center of natural philosophy (the direct study of natural phenomena) geographically shifted towards the Arab-Muslim region.

In Europe, the rapid development of natural science begins (resumes) only in the 17th-18th centuries. This is a time of large-scale accumulation of factual knowledge and empirical material (results of "field" observations and experiments). The natural sciences of the 18th century are also based in their research on the results of numerous geographical expeditions, voyages, and studies of newly discovered lands. In the 19th century, logic and theoretical thinking again came to the fore. At this time, scientists are actively processing all the collected facts, putting forward various theories, formulating patterns.

Thales, Eratosthenes, Pythagoras, Claudius Ptolemy, Archimedes, Galileo Galilei, Rene Descartes, Blaise Pascal, Nikola Tesla, Mikhail Lomonosov and many other famous scientists should be referred to the most outstanding naturalists in the history of world science.

The problem of classification of natural science

The basic natural sciences include: mathematics (which is also often called the "queen of sciences"), chemistry, physics, biology. The problem of classification of natural science has existed for a long time and worries the minds of more than a dozen scientists and theorists.

This dilemma was best handled by Friedrich Engels, a German philosopher and scientist who is better known as a close friend of Karl Marx and co-author of his most famous work called Capital. He was able to distinguish two main principles (approaches) of the typology of scientific disciplines: this is an objective approach, as well as the principle of development.

The most detailed was offered by the Soviet methodologist Bonifatiy Kedrov. It has not lost its relevance even today.

List of natural sciences

The whole complex of scientific disciplines is usually divided into three large groups:

• humanities (or social) sciences;
• technical;
• natural.

Nature is studied by the latter. The full list of natural sciences is presented below:

• astronomy;
• biology;
• the medicine;
• geology;
• soil science;
• physics;
• natural history;
• chemistry;
• botany;
• zoology;
• psychology.

As for mathematics, scientists do not have a common opinion as to which group of scientific disciplines it should be attributed. Some consider it a natural science, others an exact one. Some methodologists include mathematics in a separate class of so-called formal (or abstract) sciences.

Chemistry

Chemistry is a vast area of ​​natural science, the main object of study of which is matter, its properties and structure. This science also considers objects at the atomic-molecular level. It also studies chemical bonds and reactions that occur when different structural particles of a substance interact.

For the first time, the theory that all natural bodies consist of smaller (not visible to humans) elements was put forward by the ancient Greek philosopher Democritus. He suggested that every substance includes smaller particles, just as words are made up of different letters.

Modern chemistry is a complex science that includes several dozen disciplines. These are inorganic and organic chemistry, biochemistry, geochemistry, even cosmochemistry.

Physics

Physics is one of the oldest sciences on Earth. The laws discovered by it are the basis, the foundation for the entire system of disciplines of natural science.

The term "physics" was first used by Aristotle. In those distant times, it was practically identical philosophy. Physics began to turn into an independent science only in the 16th century.

Today, physics is understood as a science that studies matter, its structure and movement, as well as the general laws of nature. There are several main sections in its structure. These are classical mechanics, thermodynamics, the theory of relativity and some others.

Physiography

The demarcation between the natural and human sciences ran like a thick line through the "body" of the once unified geographical science, dividing its individual disciplines. Thus, physical geography (as opposed to economic and social) found itself in the bosom of natural science.

This science studies the geographic shell of the Earth as a whole, as well as individual natural components and systems that make up its composition. Modern physical geography consists of a number of them:

• landscape science;
• geomorphology;
• climatology;
• hydrology;
• oceanology;
• soil science and others.

Natural and Human Sciences: Unity and Differences

Humanities, natural sciences - are they as far apart as it might seem?

Of course, these disciplines differ in the object of research. The natural sciences study nature, the humanities focus their attention on man and society. The humanities cannot compete with the natural disciplines in accuracy, they are not able to mathematically prove their theories and confirm hypotheses.

On the other hand, these sciences are closely related, intertwined with each other. Especially in the 21st century. So, mathematics has long been introduced into literature and music, physics and chemistry - into art, psychology - into social geography and economics, and so on. In addition, it has long become obvious that many important discoveries are made just at the junction of several scientific disciplines, which, at first glance, have absolutely nothing in common.

Finally...

Natural science is a branch of science that studies natural phenomena, processes and phenomena. There are a huge number of such disciplines: physics, mathematics and biology, geography and astronomy.

The natural sciences, despite numerous differences in the subject and methods of research, are closely related to social and humanitarian disciplines. This connection is especially strong in the 21st century, when all the sciences converge and intertwine.

A person has knowledge about the surrounding nature (the Universe), about himself and his own works. This divides all the information he has into two large sections - natural science (natural in the sense that what is being studied is what exists independently of a person, as opposed to artificial - created by a person) and humanitarian (from "homo" - a person) knowledge, knowledge about man and the spiritual products of his activity. In addition, there is technical knowledge - knowledge about the specific material products of human activity (Table 5.2.).

Typology of sciences

Table 5.2

As follows from the definition, the differences between the natural sciences and the humanities lie in the fact that the former are based on the separation of the subject (human) and the object (the nature that the human-subject cognizes), with predominant attention paid to the object, and the latter are related primarily to the subject itself.

Natural science in the full sense of the word is generally valid and gives a "generic" truth, i.e. truth suitable and accepted by all people. Therefore, it has traditionally been regarded as the standard of scientific objectivity. Another large complex of sciences - the humanities, on the contrary, has always been associated with group values ​​and interests that both the scientist himself and the subject of research have. Therefore, in the methodology of the humanities, along with objective research methods, the experience of the event under study, the subjective attitude towards it, etc., become of great importance.

So, the main differences between the natural, humanitarian and technical sciences are that natural science studies the world as it exists independently of man, the humanities study the spiritual products of human activity, and the technical sciences study the material products of human activity.

However, in principle, it is impossible to draw a clear line between the natural, humanities and technical sciences, since there are a number of disciplines that occupy an intermediate position or are complex in nature. Thus, economic geography is at the intersection of natural and human sciences, bionics is at the intersection of natural and technical sciences, and social ecology is a complex discipline that includes natural, humanitarian, and technical sections.

Separate from the three cycles of sciences, there is mathematics, which is also subdivided into separate disciplines. Of the three cycles, mathematics is closest to natural science, and this connection is manifested in the fact that mathematical methods are widely used in the natural sciences, especially in physics.

The results of scientific research are theories, laws, models, hypotheses, empirical generalizations. All these concepts can be combined in one word - "concepts". Having clarified the main features of modern science, we can define natural science. This is a branch of science based on the reproducible empirical testing of hypotheses and the creation of theories or empirical generalizations that describe natural phenomena.

The subject of natural science is facts and phenomena that are perceived by our senses or devices that are their continuation. The scientist's task is to generalize these facts and create a theoretical model that includes the laws that govern natural phenomena. It is necessary to distinguish: 1) the facts of experience, 2) empirical generalizations, 3) theories that formulate the laws of science. Phenomena, such as gravitation, are directly given in experience; the laws of science, such as the law of universal gravitation, are options for explaining phenomena. The facts of science, once established, retain their permanent significance; laws can be changed in the course of the development of science, as, say, the law of universal gravitation was corrected after the creation of the theory of relativity.

The ratio of feelings and reason in the process of finding the truth is a complex philosophical issue. In science, that position is recognized as true, which is confirmed by reproducible experience. The basic principle of natural science is that knowledge of nature must be subject to empirical verification. Not in the sense that every particular statement must necessarily be empirically verified, but in the sense that experience is ultimately the decisive argument for accepting a given theory.

The first science was astronomy(from the Greek "astron" - star and "nomos" - law) - the science of the structure and development of cosmic bodies and their systems. Let us pay attention to the fact that the second root in the name of this science is nomos, and not logos - knowledge, as is usual in the name of sciences (biology, geology, etc.). This is due to historical reasons. The fact is that in this period there already existed astrology, which was not a science, but was engaged in compiling horoscopes (this continues to be fashionable today, and astrological forecasts are published in many publications). To distinguish the scientific study of the Universe from the non-scientific one, a new name was required, in which the word “law” is present, reflecting the fact that science is aimed at studying the laws of development and functioning of the world. The first truly scientific theory was the heliocentric system of the world, created by the Polish scientist N. Copernicus.

In the 17th century there appeared physics(from the Greek "fusis" - nature). The name is explained by the fact that in ancient Greece, physics was understood as a science that studies all objects of nature. As other natural sciences appeared, the subject of physics was limited. The first of the physical disciplines was mechanics - the science of the movement of natural bodies, and its first major achievements were the laws of motion of the English scientist I. Newton and the law of universal gravitation discovered by him. Also in the 17th century appeared chemistry- the science of the composition and structure of bodies, and in the XVIII century. - biology(from the Greek "bios" - life) as the science of living bodies.

Humanities, of which they are social and humanitarian (public) - sciences that study society, began to develop later. The first of them - sociology, whose name was proposed by O. Comte by analogy with the name of the science of living nature - biology. The fact that it was Comte who proposed the new science is not accidental. He was the founder of a new philosophical direction - positivism and believed that human thinking went through three stages in its development - theological, metaphysical and positive (scientific), the latter more fruitful, since it is based on empirical (experimental) testing of hypotheses and theories, discovering the laws of nature. According to Comte, scientific thinking was first established in the study of nature. Natural sciences arose - astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology. Then the scientific approach was to triumph in the study of society, and the science of the laws of social development can be called sociology.

However, if we now define sociology as the science of society, then this will not be accurate. The fact is that in the XIX-XX centuries. other sciences that study individual social phenomena appeared. In the first half of the XIX century. appeared political science, and in the second half of the 19th century. - ethnography, later, in the middle of the 20th century, cultural studies and other humanities. This is a natural process of development of science. Once upon a time, physics arose as a science of nature, but if we now call it a science of nature, then we will be wrong. Now it is one of the sciences of nature, since others have appeared - astronomy, chemistry, biology. In order to distinguish physics from other natural sciences, a more precise definition must be given. The same must be done with respect to sociology.

The difference between the natural sciences and the humanities is deeply rooted in the difference in their methodology. In methodology - the doctrine of methods, approaches, methods of scientific research - it is argued that each science has its own special methodology. The difference between explanation (as the methodology of the natural sciences) and understanding (as the methodology of the humanities) will become clearer if we consider the situation of the formation of methodology in sociology. Sociology, according to Comte, recognizes the priority of the whole over the part and synthesis over analysis. In this, its methodology differs from the methodology of the sciences of inanimate nature, in which, on the contrary, the priority of the part over the whole and of analysis over synthesis takes place.

After the task of creating sociology was formulated, the next step was to introduce into sociological research the scientific method that had been formulated in the natural sciences. What F. Bacon demanded for the development of science in modern times, E. Durkheim repeated for sociology, setting the task of identifying the “foundations of the experimental order”, which should be part of the humanities. It was about the status of the empirical level of research in sociology. In The Method of Sociology, Durkheim for the first time formulated a clear idea of ​​the methodology of sociology, which was contained in general terms in the teachings of Comte, but was not developed with such exhaustive completeness. Durkheim can be considered the founder of the methodology of sociology, since he was the first to determine the conditions under which research becomes scientific.

In his methodological writings, Durkheim emphasized that sociologists should study their subject just as openly as natural scientists. “Thus, our rule ... requires only one thing: that the sociologist plunge into the state of mind in which physicists, chemists, physiologists find themselves when they enter a new, as yet unexplored field of their science.” Durkheim identifies two formulas designed to justify the existence of the subject of sociology and its accessibility to empirical research. First: social facts should be considered as things, i.e. observe social facts from the outside - objectively as existing independently of the consciousness of the researcher. This view is called positivism in sociology.

Durkheim himself preferred the word "rationalism". Social facts, he believed, have properties that are not contained in the human mind, since society is not reduced to the totality of its members. Durkheim argued that society is not just a sum of individuals, but a system created by their union, a special reality with its own characteristics. Therefore, social life must be explained by sociological, and not by psychological or any other reasons. Between psychology and sociology, according to Durkheim, there is the same gap as between biology and the physical and chemical sciences. Thus, Durkheim justified his approach by the presence of special emergent properties of social systems formed due to sociocultural interaction studied by sociology.

Durkheim also formulated the ratio of theoretical research and practical recommendations. “However, we will be able to rise to this ideal only after we observe reality and single out this ideal from it.” In Durkheim's methodology, the classifications that he had after formulating the hypothesis were of great importance.

The positivist approach in sociology was opposed by the approach of M. Weber, who took into account fundamental differences between the subject of the humanities and the natural sciences: 1) the great complexity of social systems; 2) social reality depends on both objective and subjective factors; 3) social research includes personal, group and ideological interests; 4) the possibilities of experiment in the social sciences are limited both in terms of obtaining results and in terms of testing them, and one often has to be content with observation.

These differences in the subject determine the specifics of the humanities. It is characterized by the following features: 1) historicity - when a person becomes an object of knowledge, it is quite natural to show interest in the special features of an individual, community, era; 2) connection with culture - the need to understand the values ​​that guide people who create culture (value judgment is subjective, but consideration of values ​​is necessary in humanitarian research for their organization and selection of facts); 3) in the humanities, we are not talking about a hypothetical-deductive system, as in natural sciences, but about a set of interpretations, each of which is based on a selection of facts and is inextricably linked with a system of values; 4) if in the natural sciences it is possible to explain the observed phenomena by means of premises that are mathematical in form and nature, and understanding is thus of an indirect nature, then in the humanities, understanding turns out to be direct, since human behavior is an outwardly manifested meaningfulness of individuals endowed with reason.

The specificity of sociology as a science led M. Weber to the conclusion that while the natural sciences are aimed at explanations, the social sciences at understanding.“All social, meaningful human behavior is an expression of motivated mental states, that consequently the social scientist cannot be satisfied with observing social processes simply as a sequence of 'outwardly related' events, and that the establishment of correlations or even universal connections in this sequence of events cannot be on the contrary, he must construct "ideal types" or "models of motivation", terms in which he seeks to "understand" overt social behavior. According to Weber, the search for truth in sociology is impossible without a sensual attitude to the object of study, experience and "getting used" to it. M. Weber called sociology an "understanding" science, i.e. searching for the meaning of social actions of people. An "understanding sociology" looks at phenomena from within, not in terms of their physical or psychological properties, but in terms of their meaning.

The goal of the humanities, according to Weber, is twofold: to provide an explanation of causal relationships, as well as an understanding interpretation of the behavior of human communities. At the beginning of humanitarian research, one should build an ideal-typical construction of an individual historical event. M. Weber introduced a methodologically important concept in sociology "ideal type". The ideal type is associated with the category of understanding, since any ideal type is the establishment of meaningful connections inherent in any historical integrity or sequence of events. In the ideal type, not features common to all historical individuals and not average characteristics are singled out, but typical features of the phenomenon as such. An ideal type should not be confused with an ideal. The ideal type relates to reality, while the ideal leads to a value judgment. There can be an ideal type of any phenomenon, including a negative one.

To make it easier to understand what the ideal type is, it is useful to compare it with the types depicted in works of art: the type of a superfluous person, a landowner, a Turgenev girl, etc. It is only necessary to keep in mind that the creation of types in works of art is the ultimate goal, while in sociological research it is only a means of constructing a theory. Weber especially emphasized, in contrast to positivism, that "ideal types" are not derived from empirical reality, but are constructed theoretically. They are a special kind of empirical generalizations. Thus, the humanities are both understanding and causal at the same time. Thus, the two goals of humanitarian research are combined - to explain and understand. If Comte substantiated the need for sociology as a science, Durkheim - its irreducibility to other sciences, its independent status, then Weber substantiated the specifics of sociology.

It can be considered that in modern sociology both approaches complement each other. It is recognized that sociology “is both understanding and explanatory. Understanding because it brings out the logic or implied rationality of individual or collective actions. Explanatory - because it builds patterns and includes private, individual actions in integrity, which give them meaning. Thus, in a full-fledged humanitarian research, the positive (rational) position of the scientist does not necessarily have to resist the inclusion of his feelings. A holistic study can only be carried out by a holistic person. Therefore, both methodological approaches can be used together.

• Durkheim E. Sociology. Its subject, method, purpose. S. 13.
• Durkheim E. On the division of social labor. S. 41.
• American sociological thought. M., 1996. S. 528.
• Aron R. Stages of development of sociological thought. M.: Progress, 1993. S. 595.

Modern scientists clearly see huge prospects for the further development of sciences and a radical change in human ideas about the world with their help. The natural laws of nature, as well as the ways of its transformation and development, while studying man and the laws of his evolutionary development. The natural sciences study the structure of the objectively existing world and the nature of all its elements, appealing to experience as a criterion for the truth of knowledge.

Researchers consider science to be a rather young analytical phenomenon that has not yet comprehended all the secrets and universes.

The humanities, unlike the natural sciences, study the world that is created by man, from the side of its cultural values ​​and spiritual content, while relying on the meaning and significance of things. In addition, the humanities work with sign systems and the relationship of these systems to human reality.

Functions

Humanitarian and also differ in their functions. So, the natural sciences tend to describe, explain and predict the phenomena/properties of the material world, while the humanities tend to reveal and interpret this or that meaning of things. There are several interpretations of understanding - one of them, purely psychological, claims that initially the process of understanding is an act of getting used to the motives and goals of the author's intention.

For example, historical events are understood through the disclosure of political, social, economic and cultural conditions, as well as specific actions.

Another interpretation is based on the idea of ​​an event or work, the object of understanding of which is the meaning, usually interpreted as an invariant textual content in relation to the variants of its retelling or its presentation using various sign systems. Otherwise, the boundaries between the humanities and the natural sciences are rather arbitrary. At the present stage of development of scientific knowledge, they are characterized by mutual enrichment with scientific methodologies and criteria for evaluating various scientific results.

At the theoretical level, individual sciences have a general theoretical and philosophical explanation of the open laws and principles used to form the methodological and ideological aspects of scientific knowledge. An essential component of general scientific knowledge is the philosophical interpretation of scientific data, which constitutes the methodological and ideological foundations of the natural sciences and the humanities.

The expected result of any purposeful activity is a product. Science today is a kind of intellectual activity of people, the purpose of which is to obtain knowledge about the real world. Science gives people the opportunity to create their own culture, to adapt to life in the world around them. Therefore, people study the laws of both the surrounding space and the Man himself.

At present, science includes about 15,000 disciplines that are interconnected and interact.

Just as since ancient times it has been customary to divide the world into physical and spiritual components, scientific disciplines are divided into natural and humanitarian. This division has been known since ancient times.

Differences

The sciences, which are usually called humanitarian, are engaged in the study of the environment created by Man and study Man himself in the aspect of his mental, spiritual, social and cultural activities. Thus, it can be concluded that the humanities study everything that makes a person a person, personality. Everything related to the semantic aspects of the relationship between Man and Society, Man and Nature.

The natural sciences are engaged in the study of the phenomena surrounding Man. The subject of study of the natural sciences is the essence, nature, that is actual reality which has always existed, which is and which will exist independently of man.

The very existence of mankind presupposes a continuous struggle for survival. Man is haunted by disease, hunger, unacceptable natural conditions. The natural sciences help people gain knowledge that can later be used to create the latest technologies, fixing humanity in an aggressive environment.

It is the natural sciences that create material base of society. Without a minimum set of natural science knowledge, humanity simply would not have survived. It is believed that this particular type of knowledge appeared in a person earlier, even before a person mastered the ways of transferring this knowledge.

From the moment when the first tool of labor was made (most likely by accident), man began experiments aimed at repeating successful experience, studying the patterns of the material world. People were driven to this by a banal desire to continue life. Therefore, it is generally accepted that being determines consciousness, the material component allows a person to develop spiritually as well.

The development of knowledge about the world around us allowed a person to learn how to make a fire, shoot a bow, tame wild animals and, finally, sow cereals. Moreover, in different parts of the Earth, this knowledge was obtained by people almost simultaneously. Mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, computer science, cybernetics and many other pillars of progress are an integral part of the culture of mankind - the culture of the natural sciences.

Functions

From the definitions of the natural and human sciences, their functions become clear. The natural sciences are characterized by description, explanation and forecasting of the phenomena of objective reality, knowledge of the actual state of things.

At the same time, scientists use the entire amount of knowledge accumulated by mankind about nature, about specific planes of being. Scientists explore connections and relationships in the objective world. This enables a person not only to become "their own" in the surrounding reality, but also to purposefully adjust reality to suit their needs.

The natural sciences are first and foremost accuracy proven by numerous experiments. The humanities, on the other hand, give a person answers to questions about the meaning of this or that phenomenon, reveal the essence of a person’s destiny, the meaning of being, and moral guidelines. The humanities, which received a powerful development in the Renaissance, are based on philosophy.

Humanitarian culture is body of knowledge in the field of religion, law, art, history, psychology. The boundaries and generally accepted differences between the humanities and the natural sciences are rather arbitrary. At the current stage in the development of scientific knowledge, they are characterized by mutual enrichment with subject methodologies and criteria for evaluating various scientific results. For example, the laws of dialectics are used both in the humanities and in the natural sciences.

Conclusion

The main difference between the humanities and natural sciences can be defined as follows: the purpose of the existence of the natural sciences is the knowledge of facts, including mainly through measurement, and the studies of the humanities are aimed at understanding the essence of phenomena and the place of man in the surrounding reality.

Attempts to classify the sciences have been made since antiquity. The Athenian philosopher of the 4th century was most successful in this. BC. Aristotle. He divided all areas of knowledge into physics (Greek Φυσι, κά, - nature) and metaphysics (literally - what follows physics). Aristotle attributed all the sciences of nature to physics, to metaphysics - philosophy, which at that time included, in addition to ontology, i.e. the sciences of being, and all that we now call humanitarian knowledge. Currently, according to the object of science, as already mentioned, they are divided into natural and humanitarian. It should be clear that this division is largely not strict and mutually exclusive. In fact, a person is a part of nature, and from the point of view of biology, for example, is exactly the same living object as all other organisms. Therefore, such sciences as, say, the physiology of the higher nervous activity of man, will be classified as natural, despite their "orientation towards man."

Nevertheless, the objects of the natural sciences and the humanities have unique, inimitable features and characteristics that allow us to speak not only of two types of sciences, but even of the natural sciences and the humanities cultures.

The word "culture" comes from the Latin cultura, which originally meant cultivation, cultivation of the land. Later, the broadest meaning was invested in the concept of culture, and culture began to be understood as everything that distinguishes a person from an animal, first of all - spoken language and the ability to create tools. Culture is opposed to nature, and this opposition has one pronounced feature. All natural processes are subject to cause-and-effect relationships, i.e. any phenomenon can be considered from the point of view of the causes that cause it. Any cultural phenomenon is the result of human activity, which is subject to somewhat different laws - the laws of goal setting.

The difference in the objects and subjects of science is also determined by the difference in methods. Methodology is one of the most essential characteristics of science. In each group of sciences, general scientific and specific methods can be distinguished. General scientific methods of natural sciences include observation, measurement, experiment, modeling.

Observation is a method of qualitative assessment of the phenomenon under study. With the help of observation, one can first of all draw a conclusion about the very existence of such a phenomenon, its beginning and end. For example, when studying a solar eclipse, using the method of observation, one can say that it has begun or ended.

Measurement - a method for quantifying the phenomenon under study. The measurement is carried out by comparing this phenomenon with some standard . In the above example, the measurement will help to set the start and end times of the eclipse, its duration, and so on. Very often observation and measurement are combined into one method. This is easily explained - in modern science, the requirements for the information received are very high and it is necessary to provide as much data as possible regarding the process or phenomenon under study. Separately, the method of observation can give only the most general ideas, so it needs an addition, which provides a measurement.

Experiment (from lat. experimentum - test, experience) - a method of scientific knowledge, with the help of which, under controlled and controlled conditions, the phenomena of the surrounding reality are studied. As a scientific method, the experiment arose in the era of the New Age, G. Galileo is considered its author. The English philosopher F. Bacon gave the first philosophical interpretation of the experiment, showing its significance as a criterion of scientific knowledge. An experiment is usually used to confirm or refute a hypothesis or theory. One of the types of experiment is a thought experiment, which operates not with real objects of the surrounding world, but with their ideal counterparts. A thought experiment is thus a theoretical model of a real situation.

Modeling (from lat. modulus - measure, sample, norm) - method of scientific knowledge, which consists in creating conditions for identifying certain aspects of the object under study. When modeling, it is possible to ignore certain qualities of the original if they are not of interest for a particular study. For example, the aerodynamic properties of a new aircraft do not have to be immediately studied under real conditions - it is enough to place it in a wind tunnel, thus simulating the real situation. The model is an analogue of a certain fragment of the surrounding world, which serves to receive, store, process information about the original. The model can never fully match the original, since such a match is not included in the research objectives. In some cases, a model may represent an ideal object that is related to a real object. For example, such objects are mathematical models of physical phenomena (typhoon, nuclear explosion, etc.).

The field of the humanities is distinguished primarily by the fact that it studies the purposeful actions of people, therefore the methods of the humanities are not aimed at strict fixation of cause-and-effect relationships, but rather at "teleological". These include understanding, description, explanation, interpretation.

Understanding - process of inner experience of knowledge. Understanding is “knowledge-for-itself”, knowledge that can be non-verbalized, i.e. not expressed in the conceptual apparatus. Of course, understanding is also present in natural science research - no theory is possible without it. However, in the natural sciences it is impossible to dwell on inner experience; it is necessary to translate information into a verbal form. In the humanities, however, this is permissible, for example, some currents of psychology - intuitive psychology, understanding psychology, and some others - deliberately abandon a strictly scientific approach in favor of understanding.

Description- the stage of scientific research, which consists in fixing the data of an experiment or observation using a certain system of notation accepted in science. The description is made both by ordinary language and special. means that make up the language of science (symbols, matrices, graphs, etc.). Unlike understanding, description is already verbalized, i.e. it needs a certain system of concepts that make up the scientific language. However, again, in contrast to the natural science interpretation, in the humanities it is possible to describe using ordinary spoken language, moreover, some humanities, for example, history, can operate only with such descriptions. In fact, the descriptions of numerous historical events produced by contemporaries are descriptions made in the same "ordinary language". Description may not correlate with understanding, because (continuing the historical example), contemporaries often fail to understand and appreciate the significance of the events they describe.

Explanation - method of scientific knowledge, disclosure of the essence of the object under study; It is carried out by comprehending the law to which a given object is subject, or by establishing those connections and relationships that determine its essential features. Explanation involves the description of the object (to be explained) and the analysis of the latter in the context of its connections, relationships and dependencies. In the structure of explanation as a cognitive procedure, the following elements are distinguished: initial knowledge about the object; knowledge used as a condition and means of explanation (grounds for explanation); cognitive actions associated with the application of knowledge, the foundations of explanation, to the object being explained. The most developed form of scientific explanation. - explanation based on theoretical laws, associated with the understanding of the object being explained in the system of theoretical knowledge. In science, a form of explanation is widely used, which consists in establishing causal, genetic, functional, and other relationships between the object being explained and a number of conditions, factors, and circumstances (for example, explaining the sharp increase in the population in the Neolithic era by the transition to agriculture). Such explanations are based on general categorical schemes that reflect various connections and dependencies, and the explanations themselves often serve as a starting point for the development of the concept of an object in a theoretical concept.

By revealing the essence of the object, the explanation also contributes to the clarification and development of knowledge, which are used as the basis for explanation. The processes of explanation in the spider are not reduced to a simple summing up of an object under one or another law (scheme), but involve the introduction of intermediate components of knowledge and the clarification of conditions and prerequisites. Thus, the solution of explanatory problems is the most important stimulus for the development of scientific knowledge and its conceptual apparatus. Explanation serves as the basis for the development of criteria and assessments of the adequacy of knowledge to its object.

Interpretation (from Latin interpretatio - clarification, interpretation) - a set of meanings (meanings) attached in some way to the elements of a certain theory (expressions, formulas and individual symbols); each such value is also called an interpretation of the given expression, formula, or symbol.

The concept of interpretation plays an important role in the theory of knowledge, characterizing the relationship between scientific theories and areas of the objective world.

In meaningful natural science and mathematical theories, some interpretation is always implied: such theories use only meaningful expressions, that is, the meaning of each expression is assumed to be known from the very beginning. However, the interpretive (explanatory) function of such theories is inevitably limited. In the general case, the concepts and proposals of natural science theories are interpreted through images of consciousness, the totality of which must be adequate, isomorphic to the interpreted theory with respect to the described properties of objects and relations between them. The relationship between real objects and their images, always approximate and incomplete, can only claim to be a homomorphism. The relationship between an interpreted theory and its interpretation is not one-to-one: in addition to the “natural” interpretation (for the formalized description of which this theory was built), the theory can have others, and vice versa, the same field of physical phenomena can be described by different theories, that is serve as their interpretation.

The interpretation of theoretical constructions of developed areas of scientific knowledge is, as a rule, indirect in nature and includes multi-stage, hierarchical systems of intermediate interpretations. The connection between the initial and final links of such hierarchies is ensured by the fact that the interpretation of the interpretations of any theory also gives its direct interpretation.

The difference in the methods of the humanities and natural sciences is determined by the difference between their object and subject, although, as already mentioned, this division is very arbitrary and is rather a tribute to historical tradition. Indeed, no human discipline can do without methods such as observation or modeling, while the natural sciences use understanding, explanation and interpretation.