a) The Essence of Science

p Science is a major form of social consiousness, representing the aggregate or system QJ ppnftle’s. Tmowledqe ot nature, society and thinking. Us main objective and social function lies in cocmisina realitvand in discovering the laws governing Us func- tioning and development.

p Science reflects the world and records phenomena cognised in the form of notions, judgements, 476 opinions, theories and so forth. Besides notions, judgements and theories that have been proved in practice and have acquired the meaning of the objective truth constituting the main content of science, it also includes certain factual data and scientific information as well as scientific hypotheses.

p Science reflects nature and the life of society. In this connection all the concrete sciences are grouped into natural and social sciences. Natural sciences deal with the law-governed properties and connections (laws) of animate and inanimate nature. Social sciences study various aspects of the life of society, as well as the laws governing the functioning and development of the social organism.

p The social sciences that study society and social relations are closely connected with classes and the class struggle. For this reason, they merge with the ideology that reflects the social being o? people through the prism ot the interests of a specific class.

natufaT sciences are not directly connected with relations among social groups or with the class ^struggle. j.hey are linked with classes through production, which they serve and on whose basis they develop.

b) The Connection Between Science and Production

p By discovering the laws governing the interrelationship and development of the objects and 477 phenomena of the external world, science provides production with the data it requires to purposefully change some aspects of nature and create the material wealth needed by man. This proves that science exerts a strong influence on the development of production, but the inverse influence, that of production on science, is much stronger.

p This influence is effected along the following lines:

p (1) Production sets science the task of investigating certain phenomena that are required for its development. It is production’s need for certain information on the external world, in order for it to function and develop normally, that gave rise to the sciences and helped them to progress.

p For example, arithmetic and geometry appeared in the remote past in response to people’s need to measure areas of land more or less accurately. Mechanics emerged in order to create devices for hoisting heavy objects and for pumping water out of pits. Electrical engineering began to develop rapidly when people discovered the possibility of using electricity in production. Physiology, biology and other sciences dealing with the laws governing the functioning and development of animals and plants came into being in response to the requirements of farming, and so on.

p (2) Production provides science with the instruments, tools and technical equipment required for scientific research and experiments. Nowadays, the interrelationship between science and technology, and the former’s dependence on the latter are especially pronounced. Today science cannot develop 478 successfully without, for example, a charged particle accelerator designed for studying the structure of nuclei, without electronic ultramicroscopes, computers, etc.

p (3) Another way in which production exerts influence upon science is that it provides considerable factual data which science studies theoretically, generalises and on whose basis (plus, of course, the findings received by scientists in the course of their research) it creates scientific theories and discovers new laws.

p The dependence of science on production is not absolute. Science, like any other form of social consciousness, possesses a certain independence which, in particular, manifests itself in science’s reposing not only on the state of production, but also on previous achievements in some field of knowledge, i.e. on the stage that science has reached in its development, and on the concrete resolution of its intrinsic problems. For instance, the nuclear theory emerged not while production problems were being solved, but rather as a solution so specific problems of physics. Radar and television originated in the same way.

p For this reason, the level of development of science does not always correspond to that of production. Science may develop faster than the requirement of some industry or may lag behind them.

This proves that, besides the law that the development of science depends on production, science has its own laws of development, in particular that of succession, which stipulates that scientific 479 progress always directly depends on the mass of knowledge inherited from the previous generations.

c) The Interrelationships Between Science,
the Basis and the Superstructure

p Being one of the major forms of social consciousness, science occupies a position of its own jmd differs radically from other forms of social consciousness. This difference is mainly manifested in its relations with the superstructure. All otner forms of social consciousness, such as political ideology, juridical, moral, aesthetic and religious views, constitute a part of superstructural phenomena. The situation is different as far as the relations between science and the superstructure are concerned. This, admittedly, is still a controversial Issue. Some scholars consider science part of the superstructure, while many others do not. There are also some who refer only social sciences and the fundamental conclusions of natural sciences to tfie_superstructure   

p In our opinion, the theory that science does not relate to the superstructure seems more convincing^The point is that all sorts of objective truths, manifested in relevant theories, laws and notions, constitute the basic content of science. And the objective truth is a state of human knowledge that depends on neither man nor mankind but rather reflects the objective situation. This being so, science cannot be part of the superstructure, since its dependence on the economic basis and on the classes that arise from it is its major feature.

p It may appear at first glance that the sgcjal sciences depend on the basis, reflect and safeguard the interests of one class or another. This is why TomeschoJars refer them to the superstructure, indeed, the content of the social sciences may form part of the superstructure if they conform to the Interests of the ruling class. When scientific precepts or theories contradict the interests of the ruling class, however, the latter discards them, proves them false and relies on precepts and theories that, no matter how erroneous they may be, do conform to its interests. True propositions and theories, however, neither disappear nor lose their scientific force simply because the ruling class disregards them, but continue to exist and develop in accordance with their intrinsic scientific laws which differ from those of the superstructure.

p Economic, social, historical and other social views are, as a rule, related to the superstructure. They express the interests of definite classes. Since the social sciences reflect the objective truth, which depends neither on man nor on mankind, they do not possess the traits typical of the superstructure. Social views related to the ideological superstruc^ ture may coincide with the social sciences andrely

p jjn them, thus providing a scientific background for the ideology. This is the case in socialist societyT where the Marxist-LeninisJ doctrine on society is both a science and an ideological superj structure at the same time. Social views, how^

p ’ever, may not coincide^wlth the genuine social science. It will exist alongside or despite such 481 views. This is how matters stand, in particular, in capitalist society, where bourgeois views on society are not scientific and the social sciences that exist alongside them hew their way forward in constant conflict with these views.

p The fact that science in itself is not a superstructure on the economic basis does not mean jhat the basis exerts no influence on science. The basis does affect science. It is the basis that determines the directions in which science will develop, as well as the problems and issues it studies and the rate of scientific progress.

p Thus, in capitalist society the economic basis determines the fact that scientific research and the way its findings are utilised are devoted to the objectives of producing surplus value. The fact that, in capitalist society, the main scientific efforts nowadays are concentrated on research, which in one way or another is related to military production, is merely further proof that the economic basis determines the direction of scientific progress.

Science develops in a quite different fashion in socialist society. Here the achievements of science are directed to developing the productive forces and raising the material well-being of the working people. In the socialist countries, science is the bearer of progress, creative activity and the instrument for subordinating the forces of nature and society to the needs of building socialism and communism. It underlies not only the organisation of production and its management, but also that of society’s life, the regulation of social processes 482 and the transformation of social relations, i.e. all the practical activities of the people. By extending the sphere in which science is applied, socialist production relations create all the requisite conditions for it to progress rapidly.