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 ) 29

10 P FEDOSEYEV scientific research, the democratisation of life and of the activities of scientific institutions, societies and associations also proceed in the same direction Of course, the culture of creative thinking can develop successfully on the basis of definite theoretical requisites We consider the concept of the unity of the world and, accordingly, the unity of scientific knowledge, which has substantiated the objective law of the integration of the methods and achievements of various sciences, an essential gain of dialectico-materialist philosophy The universal principle of development, including the emergence of new qualitative states and the principle of the interconnection of phenomena and processes, is the determining factor of this concept This trend toward the unity of knowledge was noted by Karl Mam; he voiced the idea about the formation in the future of a uniform science embracing both nature and society and oriented towards man.’* Soviet philosophers are actively elaborating this range of questions The unity of science is now openly recognised by the Western science of science, although it sees its source not so much in the objective world as in the human requirement for the creation of a single paradigm of explanation for the whole reality The integration of knowledge, according to the dialectical conception, is objectively predetermined by the material unity of the world, which is manifested in the infinite multiformity of natural and social processes, their interrelationships and contradictions The substantiation of the unity of the world has been a theoretical prerequisite of the recognition and analysis of the general laws of the development of nature, society and human thinking The principal cognitive significance of the discovery of the unity of certain basic features of developmental processes both in the objective world and in human thinking lies in that it explains the possibility of an adequate reflection in human consciousness of objects and phenomena in the surrounding world, that is, the possibility to comprehend the objective scientific truth The connection between human thinking and natural processes was thoroughly analysed by Engels and Lenin.” Our comprehension of science as a developing objective knowledge about the world is based on ’* MARX,K and ENGELS,F., Works,vol 2, p 166; vol 3, p 16; vol 12, pp 4, 727-728; vol 42, p 142; vol 26, part I, pp 355, 399 ” MARX,K and ENGELS,F., Works, vol 20, pp 10-14, 22-25, 35-36, 87-94, 366-372, 516-519, 526-527 528-583; LENIN,V.I., Complete Works, vol 18, pp 5-6.34-63,97-146, 244-251; VOI 29, pp 98-99, 160-165, 169-171, 176-178