ULANOV D. THE PROBLEM OF RELATION BETWEEN EMPIRICAL AND THEORETICAL KNOWLEDGE IN SCIENCE // Studia Humanitatis Borealis. 2026. Vol. 1. № 1. P. 14‒25.
DOI: 10.15393/j12.art.2026.4322
Issue № 1
PHILOSOPHY
THE PROBLEM OF RELATION BETWEEN EMPIRICAL AND THEORETICAL KNOWLEDGE IN SCIENCE
| ULANOV Danila | postgraduate student of the Department of Philosophy, Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Department of Philosophy, Moscow, Russian Federation, ulanovdan_2015@yandex.ru |
| Ключевые слова: structure of scientific knowledge empirical knowledge theoretical knowledge interconnectedness between levels of scientific knowledge | Аннотация: The purpose of this article is to reveal the specificity and interconnectedness of the empirical and theoretical levels of scientific knowledge, to demonstrate the fundamental differences between them, and to highlight the peculiarities of transition from empirical to theoretical level in the process of scientific cognition. According to S. A. Lebedev’s theory, the distinction between the empirical and theoretical levels of knowledge is both ontological and methodological. Empirical knowledge is based on the content of sensory perception as a model of objective reality, whereas theoretical knowledge describes the properties and relationships of an ideal reality created by thought. Therefore, transition from the empirical level of scientific knowledge to its theoretical level is not a logical generalization of facts, but rather a constructive product of thought, describing theoretical objects, their properties, and laws not directly observable in sensory experience. The article demonstrates that a direct logical bridge “from experience to theory” and vice versa does not exist: inductive generalization of finite empirical data is hypothetical in nature, and theoretical constructs are not derived purely from observations. At the same time, theory without empirical contact loses its criteria of applicability, while empiricism without theoretical processing loses its meaning and coherence. Therefore, scientific knowledge develops as a dialectic: reason, constructing ideal objects and theoretical frameworks, creates tools for understanding, whereas reason and empirical practice, verifying and testing the consequences of these frameworks, return empirical guidelines and applicability frameworks to theory. An important component of this process are interpretative (reductive) propositions – rules of correspondence between theoretical terms and empirical data – which are partially conventional in nature and require conscious methodological justification. © Petrozavodsk State University |
Is received: 28 march 2026 year Is passed for the press: 30 march 2026 year | |
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