Философско-методологический анализ научного знания Фрэнсиса Бэкона (к 400-летию издательства работы «Новый Органон»)

Abstract

Среди философов Нового времени Ф. Бэкон (1561-1626) занимает особое место, потому что он первый и единственный в самом начале научной революции XVII в. проделал исключительно сложную и важную работу – провел философско-методологическое исследование состояния научного знания, его структуры и обозначил перспективы его дальнейшего развития. Такого глубокого и всестороннего анализа существовавших на тот момент наук не найдешь в трудах ни Р. Декарта (1596-1650), ни П. Гассенди (1592-1655), ни Т. Гоббса (1588-1679), ни Дж. Локка (1632-1704), ни Г. Лейбница (1646-17016). Трудность поставленной английским философом задачи выражалась в том, что в начале XVII в. науки представляли собой большей частью аморфные, несформировавшиеся дисциплины, преимущественно загруженные накопленными опытными сведениями. В это время в западноевропейской науке происходил сложный перестроечный процесс перехода от эмпирической стадии развития к теоретической. Все самое важное и интересное в ней только начиналось.

F. Bacon can be considered the founder of the philosophy of science, because at the beginning of the XVII century, when the revolutionary transformations in science were increasingly developed, he conducted a deep and comprehensive analysis of existing scientific knowledge and defined the prospects for further development of both natural and historical sciences. He paid special attention to the study of the uniqueness of astronomy, physics, mathematics, and others. An important feature of Bacon’s philosophical and scientific thinking was historical perspective of the study of philosophical and scientific problems. Unlike philosophers and scientists who believed that it was necessary to reject previous philosophical and scientific research experience of the Greeks and others, he tried to take everything positively useful and applicable from the previous years of development of philosophy and science in every way. Considering the diverse scientific knowledge, Bacon tried to organize it, to systematize the information. In this sense the natural sciences («natural history») and technical sciences, especially mechanics were especially important for him because he considered this union as the most productive and practically useful one. At the beginning of the XVII century. sciences were overloaded with empirical knowledge so Bacon tried to develop an optimal model for its construction. To achieve a unified system of theoretical knowledge he proposed to create a general scientific science («first philosophy»), which would contain all the «axioms» (universal principles, judgments), borrowed from various sciences. Bacon recommended that scientists primarily investigate the causes of the processes that took place, and thus contributed to the development of deterministic discourse in science. He insisted on the further development of experimental research. An important feature of Bacon’s scientific thinking was his focus on the practical use of scientific knowledge for the further development of the society. F. Bacon’s philosophical and methodological views were highly respected among European scientists. Thus his views greatly contributed to the development of scientific discourse to productive scientific research. Given this, the publication of his book «New Organon» is dedicated to the 400th anniversary and is a vivid evidence of respect and acknowledgement.