THE TRUTH OF SENSORY AND EMPIRICAL SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE

Abstract

Purpose. The aim of the article is to analyze the problem of truth of two qualitatively different levels of scientific knowledge: sensory (data of observation and experiment) and empirical (protocol proposals, facts, empirical laws, phenomenological theories). Methodology and Approach. A comparison of subjects of these levels and methods of obtaining different units of knowledge at each of these levels is made. In understanding their truth, the author proceeds from the classical, Aristotelian concept of truth as the correspondence of the content of the judgment to the subject of the judgment. Results. The results of the study: substantiation of the need to fix and distinguish in the structure of scientific knowledge of any discipline its two basic, but qualitatively different levels: sensory and empirical, differences in subjects, methods and criteria for the truth of these levels of knowledge. The multicomponent structure of the criterion of truth of each unit of scientific knowledge is shown. The qualitative difference in their content causes a difference in the criteria of their truth. Theoretical and / or Practical Implications. The practical significance of the study is as follows: a new, more specific scale for assessing the truth of various elements of sensory and empirical knowledge in science is proposed, the most important common element of which is the expert opinion of the scientific community (scientific consensus).