Differentiation of sciences

The development of science involves the interaction of opposing processes - integration and differentiation. Integration is the union of knowledge. Differentiation of sciences is the allocation of new disciplines.

At each stage of development, this or that process prevails. The differentiation of sciences was more characteristic for the stage of formation, the birth of knowledge. Today, the process of integration prevails.

The differentiation of sciences, being the transformation of some "rudiments" of knowledge into independent, separate disciplines, began already at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. In that era, philosophy, which was a single knowledge before, began to divide into two directions. Thus, philosophy and science were formed. At the same time, the latter represented an integral system of knowledge, a social institution, and a spiritual education. At the same time, the differentiation of sciences took place in philosophy. Thus, dialectics, ethics, ontology and other directions were formed. Scientific knowledge was divided into separate sciences, which, in turn, were divided into disciplines. Inside this system, the priority was the "Newtonian" classical mechanics, closely interrelated with mathematics from the very beginning of its existence.

In the subsequent period, the differentiation of sciences continued to grow. This process was caused by the needs of production and the internal needs of the formation of public knowledge. As a result, border science began to develop actively.

After biologists, deepened in the study of the living, realized that in the cellular transformation of great importance are the chemical processes, began in-depth study of these processes. So there was a biochemistry. The necessity of studying physical processes in organisms provoked the development of biophysics. Similarly, chemical physics, physical chemistry, geochemistry, and other directions were formed. Disciplines arose at the border of three sciences. So, for example, biogeochemistry was formed.

The allocation of new disciplines is a natural consequence of the intensive complication and increase in the volume of knowledge. At the same time, the division and specialization of labor, the differentiation of training , inevitably arise. It should be noted that the division of scientific work has both positive and negative features. A positive aspect is the possibility of a deeper investigation of phenomena. In addition, the productivity of scientists' work also increases. A negative feature is the narrowing of the horizons of scientific figures.

Together with the process of allocating new disciplines, there was also mutual penetration, the union of directions. As a result of integration, some boundaries of knowledge have been erased, and many methods have been combined. As already noted above, the process of unification is more characteristic of modern science, within which various various general scientific branches are actively developing. They include, in particular, synergetics, cybernetics and others.

The development of science, therefore, is a dialectical process. In it the isolation of some disciplines is accompanied by the integration of others, there is an interpenetration of various directions, the interaction of various ideas and methods of cognition of the world.

Today, the unification of sciences is becoming more widespread. This is mainly due to the need to solve various global problems, provoked by practical needs. For example, the rather complex task of exploring outer space caused the need to unite the efforts of scientists of various specialties. To solve urgent environmental problems, close interaction between the humanities and natural sciences is essential, and the synthesis of methods and ideas developed by them is also important.