What is the object and subject matter of the philosophy of science?

This question is rather interesting and deserves careful consideration. First of all, one should not confuse the concepts of "philosophy" and "philosophy of science" with each other, since these are different things. Philosophy of science is a more specific area of philosophy, it can relate to any existing science: mathematics, physics, chemistry, etc.

Philosophy is studied by fundamental principles and general characteristics, it is a kind of system of values and worldviews. The subject matter of the philosophy of science in this case is the field of knowledge of a concrete science, it is here that one can classify arguments about the possibilities of science, about the field of its application.

Historical development

  Philosophy is of great importance for modern science, for the whole history of development it has had a serious impact on science. Any science, when it was just emerging, was originally based on philosophy, on its achievements. It can be said that almost any science came from philosophy.

The formation of science took place in several stages. At the very beginning, scientists and thinkers did not have any data, and all their arguments were based only on their own observations and reflections. Thus, before forming, each science was "palpated" on a philosophical level. After that, it was already beginning to evolve, concrete material appeared in it, the first experiments and calculations began, which already helped to obtain accurate data.

Philosophical meditation helped to determine the possibilities and prospects of science, as well as the possible limits of its application. At the same stage, the methodology and basic concepts of the philosophy of science were formed.

Proceeding from the foregoing, we can say that the subject of the philosophy of science is directly science itself, its capabilities and prospects for development.

For the first time the term "philosophy of science" appeared in 1878. He was used in his work "Logic and Philosophy of Science" by the German scientist Dühring. She planned by her works to try to expand the boundaries and areas of application of logic. Since then, this terminology has been actively used by other scientists. Even Plato and Aristotle studied the philosophy of science, calling it the structure and development of scientific knowledge. Even then it was said that the philosophy of science is inseparable from the theory of knowledge, later these ideas were traced in the writings of other outstanding scientists.

Philosophy of Science in the Modern World

  It is often possible to encounter such an opinion that philosophy is useless for modern science. However, this is not so, the object and subject matter of the philosophy of science have remained the same.

Science requires sacrifice, the victim of any scientist is that he must be ready, that his achievements can be criticized in the course of time, or they will be changed. Of course, the names of great scientists remain in history, but each of them worked for the common good. The achievements of one scientist will always be used in other studies that help to make new discoveries.

In the modern world, the subject of the philosophy of science is the world outlook of society, the place of this science in the modern world, its implications for development. Now it is very often heard that science brings not only good, in the form of development of society, new achievements, etc., but it can also lead to the most negative and terrible consequences.

Science and its achievements are accused of many man-made disasters, wars and accidents. She is credited with many changes in society, both negative and positive. This includes the Chernobyl disaster, a significant deterioration of the environment, modern wars, human problems in the social sphere, such as isolation from nature, a rapid pace of life and so on.

At the same time, there are constant disputes, different points of view are expressed, arguments "for" and "against" are offered. All this is included in the concept of "the subject of the philosophy of science." Everyone often meets something similar in modern society.

Indeed, modern science is a worthy and interesting subject of study. Especially now, when it affects all spheres of life, and many areas of knowledge echo each other.