The problem of the classification of sciences lies in the complexity of approaches to the division of scientific disciplines into separate classes. The task of creating a complete system requires the coverage of all sciences, including practical, applied. For this we need a common single principle , on the basis of which a classification could be built.
Human knowledge has three main aspects: knowledge that answers the question: what is being studied? How is it being studied? and why is it being studied? In this regard, three aspects of the system are distinguished: object-objective, methodological-research and practical-target. The relationship between them is determined by the increase in the share of the subjective component.
As a rule, the first large class in all classifications is the natural sciences. They are adjoined by abstract-mathematized and mathematical, which are among the sciences that differ among themselves in the subject (object).
The classification of the natural sciences has been known since ancient times. Aristotle also divided all knowledge into theoretical, practical and poetic. But his understanding was far from modern. Mark Varron distinguished grammar, rhetoric, dialectics, arithmetic, geometry, music, astrology, medicine and architecture. Arab scholars divided knowledge into Arabic (oratory, poetics) and foreign (medicine, mathematics, astronomy). In the Middle Ages, Hugo Saint-Victorsky divided the sciences into practical, theoretical, mechanical and logical. Roger Bacon singled out logic, grammar, mathematics, metaphysics, ethics, and natural philosophy.
Science studies the objects and phenomena of the world around him. The current classification of sciences is still in fact approximate and does not fully reflect the real essence of things. Scientific disciplines are conditionally divided into two large groups . The first group includes natural science disciplines (they are engaged in the study of objects and natural phenomena, that is, that part of the world that is not a product of human activities. The second group includes the humanities , which study the phenomena that arise as a result of intelligent human activity.
Objects of nature have an internal structure, that is, they themselves are composed of smaller objects. According to this criterion, there are various levels of matter organization : cosmic, geological, biological, planetary, physical, chemical. In this regard, the classification of the natural sciences divides them into separate disciplines that correspond to the listed materials. According to this criterion, knowledge is divided into astronomy, geology, biology, ecology, physics and chemistry . All disciplines of this series intersect with each other, go to the levels of related knowledge. During its development, physics has discovered even more elementary sublevels on which matter is organized (molecules, atoms, other elementary particles).
For natural disciplines, a characteristic feature is their non-isolation from each other. In research, there is always a need for information on elements that can only be provided by knowledge of a different level.
The hierarchical classification of the natural sciences shows that those disciplines that are at the lower steps of the ladder are simpler than the higher ones. However, due to the simplicity of the material (matter) being studied, these disciplines were able to accumulate much more facts and create harmonious scientific theories.
Such a classification of the natural sciences does not include mathematics . And without it, no modern exact science is unthinkable . The fact is that mathematics itself is not in the full sense an exact discipline, because it does not study matter and objects of the real world, nature. It is based on laws computed by man.