Theoretical and empirical knowledge: unity and interrelationship

By scientific knowledge is understood the process of identifying the objective laws of the surrounding reality through scientific methods. It is accepted to distinguish between the empirical and theoretical levels of scientific knowledge.

Empirical cognition is a direct, "living" study of reality through observation, comparison, experiment and measurement of objects and phenomena of the surrounding world.

There is an opinion that the classification of facts is empirical knowledge, but working with materials obtained empirically, belongs to the sphere of theoretical knowledge. This level of cognition is indirect, differs in methodology and the terminology used. Abstract categories and logical constructions are used here.

Empirical and theoretical levels of cognition are inseparable. Scientific knowledge can not be only theoretical or only empirical, just as it is impossible to roll a wheel using only its hemisphere.

Thus, it is empirically possible to study the physical and chemical properties of specific objects that exist in the real world: for example, several fragments of rock. In the course of comparison, observation, experiments and in the process of applying other methods of empirical cognition, it can become clear that the properties of these fragments are identical. In this case, at the theoretical level, it is possible to put forward a hypothesis that any rock that possesses the whole complex of prescribed features will have similar physical and chemical properties. To confirm this hypothesis, it is necessary to turn again to empirical methods and to select for experiment other fragments of rocks possessing specified characteristics. If they have the same properties, the hypothesis is confirmed and is entitled to be called a law, which will be formulated theoretically.

Special specificity has theoretical and empirical knowledge of social phenomena. The difficulty lies in revealing the characteristics and properties of the object under study, because public phenomena have a nature that is fundamentally different from the nature of objects of exact sciences. In order to reveal the regularities of social phenomena, it is necessary to study the history of the events and reactions of the group under study that are significant for the phenomenon under study. For example, members of a society dissatisfied with the activities of the authorities, in which there is no private property, can start a revolutionary movement. It would seem that the violent method of changing power is a natural reaction to state arbitrariness, but having the property of even the minimum necessary for the survival of goods, the same citizens will be afraid of losing them during a coup, so they will be much less inclined to revolution. Thus, the theoretical and empirical knowledge of social phenomena is often much more complicated than the study of phenomena relating to exact sciences.

Scientific knowledge is necessary for the exploration of the surrounding world. Using the methodology that makes up these levels allows you to deduce patterns and predict events, and makes a person's life more safe and happy.