Bauman Moscow State Technical University (professor)
Moscow, Russian Federation
Russian Federation
The concept of truth, both in science and in the philosophy of science, is not unambiguous. Currently, there is no generally accepted solution to the problem of truth criteria for various types and units of scientific knowledge. The main reason for this is the qualitative diversity of areas, levels, and types of scientific knowledge. The question of truth criteria for scientific statements is resolved differently depending on the logical structure of a given unit of scientific knowledge, as well as the functions it performs within the system of scientific knowledge of a given science or discipline. It is one case when a statement is analytical (for example, a deducible theorem in mathematics or a logical consequence of some substantive theory in the natural sciences or the social sciences), and quite another when it is a synthetic judgment (for example, an empirical fact or a substantive axiom of some theory). The truth of facts is one thing, and the solution to the problem of the truth of scientific laws, much less scientific theories, is quite another. Situations involving determining the truth of a particular scientific theory are also different, compared to the truth of fundamental and especially paradigmatic scientific theories. Equally significant differences in defining the truth criteria of scientific knowledge exist in various fields of science: logic, mathematics, the natural sciences, technical sciences, social sciences, and the humanities. The overall result of this epistemological situation is that in real science, there is neither a generally valid concept of truth nor a universal truth criterion for different areas of scientific knowledge, nor for different levels, types, and units of scientific knowledge. This paper will focus on analyzing the problem of truth criteria for each of the four main levels of scientific knowledge in any science (sensory, empirical, theoretical and metatheoretical), as well as the pluralism of truth criteria for different units of scientific knowledge at each level.
scientific knowledge, scientific truth, level of scientific knowledge, truth criterion of scientific knowledge
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