EPISTEMOLOGY

The position of science in the consumer society

Introduction. Science in modern reality is closely intertwined with the cultural attitudes of the consumer society, and this connection is becoming stronger every year. The market economy, which underlies the culture of modern society, is a fairly flexible system, balancing like a tightrope walker between dynamically changing demand and consumption. Theoretical analysis. In order not to end up on the periphery of the economic system, scientific knowledge needs to show the same properties that a market economy does and, above all, flexibility.

Models of Philosophical Reflexion of Mental Illness

The article considers models of philosophical reflexion of the mental illness, offered within the interdisciplinary movements and theories in XXth century. Ideas of L. Binswanger, R. Laing, M. Foucault are analyzed, existential-phenomenological, social and epistemological models of philosophical reflexion of the mental illness are allocated. The author concludes that in all models the mental illness becomes an original phenomenon by means of which are analyzed the existential base of life, society, history, i.e. it becomes the methodological tool, strategy of research.

The Scientific Rationality and the Concept of Cognitive Relativism

Actual problems of modern philosophy and methodology of scientific cognition are examined − the problem of cognitive relativism. Research of this problem supposes the specification of theoretical basis of the phenomenon of relativism in area of scientific knowledge.