The Problem of Truth in Biology: Levels of Reflexive Analysis

Abstract

The problem of objectivity or truth of scientific knowledge is understood in science as a complex of questions of a theoretical, philosophical-scientific, and philosophical nature. The basis of the analysis is the allocation of hierarchical levels of reflexive awareness of the problem of truth, different in degree of abstraction, each of which uses specific methodological tools of analysis that have developed in science. In biology, there are several levels of reflexive awareness of the truth of knowledge. Theoretical – a method of evaluating the truth of a particular theory, which is formed in different ways in classical and non-classical science. In classical science, the theory has an individual character – the initial empirical material for each researcher is different, so the true, from the point of view of each researcher, is the model he built, which, as he believes, fixes the object in reality "by itself". In non-classical science, the theory is universal and the question of truth is asked to theoretical constructions that have not yet been empirically confirmed. For example, a "gene" was a hypothetical construct until empirical evidence for its existence was found. Philosophical-scientific-reflection on the corresponding theory of truth, accepted by scientists at the theoretical level of reflection. The question of the direct comparison of elements of knowledge and objects of reality is a big problem that is discussed in the philosophy of science. The possibility of identifying the correspondence of knowledge and object is questioned, since it turns out that we cannot go beyond our knowledge of the object and oppose the object to knowledge. Metatheoretical – a choice between two or more theoretical concepts for truth. As an example, the confrontation between classical biology and non-classical (genetics) in the 1900s – 1960s can be considered a situation of philosophical choice.