The Problem of Typology of Scientific Cognition in the Context of Cultural-Historical Epistemology

Abstract

The existing variants of the classification of sciences differentiate and correlate the types of cognitive practices on various grounds. At the same time, the attention of epistemologists is usually concentrated on the instrumental logical and methodological functions of the proposed classifications, which guide scientists in the holistic cognitive space of rational cognition (by subject, by epistemological preferences, by methods, etc.). As for the sociocultural dimensions of scientific and cognitive activity, they (as long as they are taken into account) mostly correlate with the typological features of research practices only slightly. Meanwhile, science as a whole is undergoing significant changes today, affecting, among other things, the status and methodological functions of its socio-cultural parameters, which significantly change the configuration of the cognitive space of scientific and cognitive activity. The article attempts to demonstrate the features of the problematization of contemporary science’s philosophical and methodological foundations. When discussing these issues, it is fundamentally important to consider how a scientist realizes his methodological tools and the socio-cultural status of scientific and cognitive activity. According to the author, these problematics are stepping into the center of today’s philosophical and methodological reflection on science, forcing us to take a fresh look at the meaning (target bases) of science as a holistic cognitive phenomenon, accordingly, the typological features of its cognitive practices.