Xu J. The Problem of the Truth of Scientific Theories // Studia Humanitatis Borealis. 2026. Vol. 1. № 3. P. 3‒11.
DOI: 10.15393/j12.art.2026.4382
Issue № 3
| Xu Jin-Xin | student of the Department of Philosophy, Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Moscow, Russian Federation, saleb@rambler.ru |
| Ключевые слова: Keywords: scientific knowledge types of scientific theories scientific truth and its criteria methodological pluralism | Аннотация: The problem of truth is central not only to philosophy but also to the actual practice of scientific inquiry. The answer to the question of what constitutes true knowledge and the criteria for this truth determines the strategy of scientific research, methods for testing hypotheses, and, ultimately, the recognition of scientific achievements by society. However, as the history and methodology of science demonstrate, the search for a universal criterion of truth for the entire body of scientific knowledge is a difficult task. This is because scientific knowledge is not a homogeneous entity. It encompasses qualitatively different levels of knowledge: sensory data from observation and experiment, empirical facts and laws, scientific theories (laws), and metatheoretical knowledge (paradigmatic theories, specific scientific and general scientific worldviews, ideals and norms of scientific knowledge, and the philosophical foundations of scientific theories). Clearly, a single criterion of truth cannot exist for such diverse cognitive products. Attempts to evaluate the truth of quantum mechanics or the theory of relativity solely through the prism of immediate sensory experience (the sensory criterion) are just as untenable as attempts to evaluate the truth of empirical theories solely by their consistency and logical demonstrability (the coherence criterion). The purpose of this paper is to analyze the truth criteria of two qualitatively different types of scientific theories: phenomenological theories (the most general unit of the empirical level of scientific knowledge) and transcendental scientific theories as knowledge about the properties and laws of ideal objects of a particular science. The methodological basis of this paper includes S. A. Lebedev’s level-based conception of scientific methodology, Karl Popper’s critical rationalism, Thomas Kuhn’s historical school, and Henri Poincaré’s conventionalism. © Petrozavodsk State University |
Is received: 29 september 2026 year Is passed for the press: 29 september 2026 year | |
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