Logic, methodology and philosophy of science VIII proceedings of the eighth international congress of logic, methodology and philosophy of science, and philosophy of science proceedings) ( PDFDrive ) 25

6 P FEDOSEYEV latest concrete scientific data not only establish their connections to and differences from the knowledge accumulated earlier, but also lay the methodological foundations of the formation of a new system of scientific views.6 These generalisations can be made at a level of philosophical principles and categories as such, and also at a level of general scientific concepts and conclusions Being intermediate between the philosophical and concrete scientific levels, this level of general scientific knowledge has a host of unused possibilities for its elaboration by both specialists in concrete branches of science and philosophers Works by Professor Ilya Prigogine, a Nobel Prize winner, vividly demonstrate the great conceptual significance of generalisations made at the level of general scientific knowledge by a natural scientist Thus, as a result of the disclosure and scientific generalisation of a broad range of unbalanced states and unstable structures, and of the elaboration of the principle of self-organisation, our notions about the processes current in the world and the law-governed patterns have changed radically.’ Philosophers could more actively utilise the corresponding opportunities given by scientific generalisations for a productive synthesis of such philosophical conclusions which anticipate the promising development trends of concrete scientific knowledge and serve as its theoretical reference points and value standards Philosophical conclusions drawn from scientific discoveries concretise and enrich the general scientific picture of the world, thus exerting a direct influence on both the principles and categories of knowledge, and the conceptual orientations of people The philosophical synthesis of the picture of the world produced by integrating modern knowledge of nature and society makes it possible to unite the latest scientific data about the Universe and the structural organisation and developmental processes of matter; the general concept of the global historical process; the comprehension of the global problems of our epoch as a specific manifestation of the interdependence of nature and humanity, as well as the interdependence of different societies, Academician B.M.Kedrov provided an apt interpretation of the role of philosophy in scientific cognition: “Philosophy, of course, cannot offer a chemist or a biologist a concrete method for studying precisely chemical or biological phenomena It has also dealt with the ideal general method of thinking in accomplishing any scientific tasks which can bring the researcher to the correct result, so that he could reveal a previously unknown truth In other words, it shows what the general road to discovering truth must be.” KEDROV, B.M.,1972, Philosophy as a General Science in Its Relationship wirh Particular Sciences, Russian edn (Moscow), p 418 ’PRIGOGINE,I., 1980, From Being to Becoming (San Francisco)