Science

B. M. Kedrov

A. Spirkin

pp. 122-146

in: Thomas J. Blakeley (ed), Themes in Soviet Marxist philosophy, Berlin, Springer, 1975

Abstract

Science is an important element in spiritual culture. It is the highest form of human knowledge. It is the system of developing knowledge, where knowledge is advanced through appropriate methods, where it is expressed in exact concepts, and verified through social practice. Science is a system of concepts about the phenomena and laws of the external world or the spiritual activity of people, which makes possible the prediction and transformation of reality in the interests of society. It is a historically cumulative form of human activity; it is a 'spiritual production", with its own content; and it is the result of a careful gathering of facts, the elaboration of hypotheses and theories with their necessary laws, and the application of methods of investigation.