Very often, a comprehensive study of science is referred to as “science of science”. However, this term is highly controversial. Professor Kopnin in particular believes that science cannot be considered an independent science, because he does not have, as such, a general theory, a unified methodology, and a well-defined methodology. And although the disciplines that relate to science of science, which very often include such as logic, history and methodology of science, history and philosophy of science, have a common object, nevertheless they study it from completely different angles, which leads to the practical absence of points the contact of these disciplines with each other. As a result, there is a virtual absence in science of a unified theory, or at least a set of theories, which could be comprehensively rationally combined and generalized.
Science of science, or rather, scientometry originates in the works of Price and the followers of his school. At that time, the essence of nukuometry was reduced to the use of statistics and content analysis of the scientific publications existing at that time, the sources used, the staff of scientists and the material resources invested in science. In essence, it was the sociology of science, which studied the dynamics of the development of scientific institutionalization, the emergence and activity of scientific associations, both formal and informal, their fruitfulness and interaction among themselves. However, such a question as the history and philosophy of science was not considered in principle. Gradually, in scientometrics, a separate direction emerged, which was called the psychology of science. In this direction, the key subject was scientific creativity, its internal intuitive mechanisms and motives, causes and factors of the scientific insight of scientists, etc. At the same time, such a direction as the economics of science began to develop, which considered the material specifics of the development of science, developed optimal financing schemes for the scientific sphere of activity, as well as the influence of economic factors on the sectoral bias of development in science, in particular the use of scientific achievements in production and their effectiveness. The emergence of all these areas and their integration in scientometrics was due to the special influence of science and its achievements on society and its development.
Later, such disciplines arose as the logic and ethics of science, and many others. The knowledge gained in these areas made it possible to generalize everything known about scientific disciplines and form a single object and general theories, which ultimately provoked the emergence of such a science as the philosophy of science. Philosophy in science is one of the branches of philosophy and includes such areas as history and methodology in science, the study of its boundaries, the etymology of science and others. With the development of the philosophy of the scientific field , special subdivisions were singled out in it, in particular the history of science, which, in turn, was divided into narrowly focused components (the history of the natural, social, and the history of technical sciences , etc.)
The philosophy of science is widely represented in the works of both foreign and domestic scientists. This leads to a huge number of original concepts that offer a wide variety of models for the formation and development of sciences and epistemology. However, the key task in each of these concepts is to determine the role and importance of scientific knowledge, characterization of practical and theoretical activity, its impact on the development of society. Over time, the history and philosophy of science began to be considered as a single, interconnected concept.
Thus, today the history and philosophy of science is a whole complex of scientific directions and schools that answer many questions relating to modern science and the history of its formation and development.