Philosophy as a scientific discipline: subject, functions and tasks in modern context

Abstract

The article describes philosophy as a part of the modern system of scientific knowledge in Russia, reconstructs basic arguments against the recognizing philosophy as a scientific disci­pline, distinguishes between philosophers and non-philosophers criticism of philosophy sci­entificity, shows that while the former consider philosophy as an intellectual activity which is superior to science in its functionality, the latter, by contrast, regard it as unable to meet the basic criteria of scientific knowledge. Based on the reconstruction of the evolution of theoretical knowledge, it is shown that if the core and model of modern science is theoreti­cal natural science, which allows to obtain universal theoretical knowledge, providing it with empirical content through procedures of empirical interpretation and testing, then phi­losophy is a form of theoretical knowledge, that cannot be subjected to the same rigorous procedures of establishing empirical content. However, this fact only proves to be a problem if philosophy claims to study the same objects that empirical disciplines study. Such a claim was proclaimed by the program of Soviet scientific philosophy, and it was questioned in So­viet philosophy as well. It is argued that the subject of philosophy as a scientific discipline is thinking and its forms, tools, and results – not cognitive activity, but human activity, objecti­fied in language, conceptual and figurative representations, cultural and social practices, and institutions, including science. Thus, science incorporating philosophy into its structure ac­quires the possibility to make not just itself (it is also possible within, for example, the framework of science studies), but its own boundaries and foundations the object of cog­nition. This opens the prospect for science to design its own development more effectively, while understanding science as a human enterprise and ensuring its humanistic orientation.