How are philosophy and science related ? The similarities and differences between the two disciplines continue to be discussed by scientists and researchers. For the most part, they are in relation to the knowledge of scientists and thinkers.
Origin
It is known that even before our era in ancient Greece, philosophy and science appeared. Similarities and differences should be sought precisely in that old era. Initially, philosophy arose as a universal science that studied everything. Academies began to appear in flourishing policies. They became a platform for the discussion of various judgments by learned people. They were called philosophers - translated from Greek as "lovers of wisdom."
Over time, the amount of knowledge increased. Gradually, the first independent sciences, for example, physics, split off from philosophy. Scientists who delved into their favorite subject created special schools. Science arose at the moment when philosophers came to the conclusion that real knowledge is knowledge of something stable and unchanging. He opposed private opinions - observations and random reasoning of people who could not be proved.
Interconnection
Specific sciences study individual aspects of being. Philosophy unites everyone, and therefore it is more important than disparate disciplines. So the ancient Greeks reasoned. For example, the speakers of that time compared physics and philosophy: the first studies nature and its laws, while philosophy covers not only nature, but also man. She goes beyond the limits of narrow knowledge.
The debate about the similarities between philosophy and science has been going on for centuries. A relatively recent school of positivism and Marxist teaching also tried to answer this question. Proponents of these theories believe that only the philosophy that is based on scientific achievements has the right to exist. Could this be in practice?
The universal method, which would determine the similarities of philosophy and science, was never formulated. Husserl has done a lot of research on this subject. He became the author of the theory of "philosophy as a rigorous science." But neither he nor his supporters were able to achieve satisfactory results in this direction. Philosophy and science, the similarities and differences of which were especially closely studied in the 20th century, gave rise to existentialist doctrine. His postulates directly emphasize that these two disciplines are little connected with each other.
Boundaries of knowledge
What is common between philosophy and science? Definitely, they are ways of knowing things. However, their methods and goals differ markedly. Science is limited, it studies only those things that are within its narrow subject. Philosophy has no boundaries; it embraces all that exists around. This knowledge is vague; it is not based on clear facts.
The similarities and differences between philosophy and science can also be traced in relation to empiricism. For example, for physics and biology, acquired experience and experiments are extremely important, since without them it is impossible to prove a single theory. In philosophy, these things are treated more lightly.
Differentiation
Scientific disciplines are very different from each other. This is because the world is very complex - it has many slices. Each of them has its own science. For example, physics and mathematics are closely related, but at the same time they have little in common with humanitarian subjects. Philosophy and science, the similarities and differences of which can be visually studied by differentiation, are not similar in that the first is monumental, and the second is diverse and fragmented.
Scientists are usually busy with their narrow field. They have little interest in how their work will affect global scientific knowledge. Philosophers have always tried in their theories to cover the whole world with all its laws and contradictions. These were: Aristotle, Hegel, Kant and many other famous thinkers of mankind.
Attitude towards Nothingness
Important differences between philosophy and science are in their relation to the subject of study. Thinkers are trying to explain not only the real world, but also the conditional “nothing” - something that is beyond the limits of human consciousness. Science, however, studies only what really exists.
Nothingness is an important area for all philosophical schools, starting with the ancient world. In China and India (one of the most ancient civilizations of the world), “nothing” was the fundamental basis of any teaching. A similar attitude existed in Western European philosophy. For thinkers, “nothing” is so important, because it is one of the matters with which you can find the foundation of everything that exists. For centuries, philosophers have tried in various ways to find some kind of absolute - comprehensive knowledge. Scientists are not involved in such projects. They explore specific facts and matters. Interestingly, the similarities and differences between philosophy, science and religion can also be drawn in relation to the absolute.
Objectivism and Subjectivism
What else have a similar philosophy and science? The common thing in them is that both of them represent intellectual thought activity. Their result is expressed in certain systems. The outcome of such an activity is always different. Science seeks to be objective. It relies only on dry facts. The results of long studies and experiments form the basis of scientific theories. Their main advantage is that they consist only of impersonal knowledge.
Philosophy also tries to be objective, but since a person always stands at the center of its study, philosophers cannot exclude the opinion and attitude of a person to the subject under study from the results of their work. The worldview position of any thinker is based on arguments that are very different from scientific ones. Therefore, any philosophy is a priori subjective. Related to this is the fact that many different schools and teachings arise within it, often contradicting each other. In science, this cannot be. If a scientist using facts has proved a certain theory, then his successors will have to reckon with it in their works. Philosophers can reject and disprove each other. For example, some movements of the 20th century denied the experience of European schools of the 19th century, etc.
The role of philosophy in science
Philosophy and science do not just have similarities and differences. They are part of each other. The first scientific theories were built on philosophical principles. Even modern scholars use the methods of cognition that were first tested by the wise men of ancient Greece. And there is no contradiction.
Philosophy is a methodology of cognition, logic, worldview schemes. All this lies at the basis of global and universal scientific knowledge. No scientist can understand and realize the processes of the world without the above methods. Thus, some philosophical techniques are true tools of any scientific researcher. The ability to think theoretically, to put individual elements of systems into one picture - all these are important things for scientists.