The philosophy of science and technology is an analysis of the methodological and theoretical-cognitive foundations of modern scientific and technical knowledge. Modern science today appears in completely different forms - both as a knowledge of the laws of the real world, and as a form of creativity, and as a special social program. The philosophical analysis of scientific knowledge today has a rather rich history, and the modern philosophy of science is formed into a special independent section in the general system of philosophical knowledge.
In modern philosophy, there are two rational approaches to the analysis of scientific knowledge: sociocultural and logical-epistemological. Particular attention is paid to the specifics of the philosophy of technology and its relationship with the philosophy of science, the main purpose of such a program is that after its implementation the applicant becomes a real scientist who can completely independently conduct research and teaching activities in the field of philosophy of technology and science .
The modern world offers a wide variety of knowledge in the most specific fields, the philosophy of science and technology is becoming no less significant today, since the number of narrowly specialized technical disciplines is becoming more and more every year. Now, for philosophy, not only the technical branches themselves become interesting, but also their most diverse aspects become a very interesting subject for research. The philosophy of science and technology is becoming very popular due to the penetration of technology into almost all spheres of human existence.
In addition, the conduct of many natural science experiments becomes almost impossible without technical devices. Thus, the philosophy of science and technology studies the phenomenon of technology as a whole with the expectation of its long-term perspective. What is technology and how does it affect the life of a modern person? Today, this term is understood as a system of created tools and means of production. Although technology appeared already in the ancient times, it always came to the attention of scientists as an autonomous discipline, the postmodern philosophy of science very clearly proves this.
However, the beginning of the last century was marked by a rather critical attitude towards increasing technological progress, with the main emphasis on its negative sides. One way or another, but over time, the technique has become the subject of special research and careful analysis. In addition, a whole base of fundamental research (technical theory) is being formed in the field of technical sciences , which leads to narrow specialization within individual technical areas and to the development of engineering activities. There is an interaction between scientific and engineering activities, similar to how the philosophy of science and technology interacts.
Modern literature identifies several areas for solving the issue of the relationship between science and technology:
- In this context, technology is treated as applied science.
- The main processes of development of technology and science are considered as independent coordinated processes.
- Science is developing with a focus on technological progress.
- The technology of science is always and in all things ahead of the technology of everyday life.
- Until the end of the nineteenth century, there was no application of scientific knowledge in technical practice, but it is characteristic of modern scientific and technological research.
Often, technical sciences are confused with applied natural science, but in modern conditions this is not entirely correct. Technical sciences are a special series of scientific and technical disciplines, they are significantly different from the natural sciences, but there is some invisible connection between them. The philosophy of science and technology allows us to understand that it makes no sense to find out which of the sciences are more important and significant, especially since it is completely unclear what should be taken as a reference point.