Metaphysical Foundation of Science and its Becoming independent from metaphysics
191-1911113-1095
Project Director dr. sc. Stipe Kutleša
Summary:
The proposed project rests on the premise that European science is inseparable from philosophy. Science is based on the metaphysical understanding of substance, the principle of causation, acceptance of absoluteness of space and time, and the understanding of space as presented by Euclidian geometry. In the 19th century science began to increasingly shift away from metaphysics, eventually separating from it altogether and thus becoming its most radical criticism. At the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century a crisis of classical science occurred, a crisis that lead to new scientific theories that in turn started to question the metaphysical foundations that classical science rested upon. The necessity of deeper research into new foundations of science became apparent. The scientists increasingly turned to metaphysical and epistemological discussions and drew closer to the philosophers. Philosophy of science that arises as a result of search for the new foundation of science at the same time becomes the criticism of metaphysics, but also of science itself. This is not only the case with philosophy of science inspired by physics, but also with the philosophical discussions of science that deal with the origins and development of living things. The philosophy of biology is becoming increasingly influential in the philosophical discussions of science. In Croatia, too, one can sense the influences of the European discussions of the said issues. Whilst there has been some, albeit limited, research into European context and result of these discussions, there has hitherto been none when it comes to Croatian philosophy and science. It is, therefore, the goal of this project to critically assess the circumstances and results of the interaction of science and metaphysics, as well as reasons for their separation. We will also try to demonstrate that metaphysics ans science cannot be so radically disconnected, even bearing in mind their individual particularities and mutual differences. The importance of the proposed project rests with the attempt to further investigate the metaphysical foundations of science and their criticism, and especially to investigate the reflections of these ideas in Croatian philosophy and science.
Project assistants:
Josip Balabanić
Filip Grgić
Stipe Kutleša
Davor Ljubimir
Nenad Smoljan
Tihomir Vukelja