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1.2

THE QUANTUM FEATURE OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE: THE HEURISTIC PERSPECTIVE

B.A. MALITSKY
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5312-6828
Dobrov Institute for Scientific and Technological Potential and Science History Studies of the NAS of Ukraine

Nauka naukozn. 2024, 1(123): 03—20
https://doi.org/10.15407/sofs2024.01.003  

Section: Vital Problems of Modern Science
Language: Ukrainian
Abstract: The author draws attention to the existence of an analogy between the processes determining generation, essential meaning and communication of scientific knowledge as a result of scientific research, on the one hand, and the physical quantum process, on the other. A piece of scientific knowledge produced by a researcher, being different from a material product of labor, is getting closer to the physical quantum phenomenon of emission of energy portions, i.e. quants, by an atom. A researcher produces a piece of new knowledge in form of a scientific idea, an elementary inseparable particle of knowledge, i.e. a quantum of knowledge. From the science study perspective, the author explores a possibility of identifying the quantum nature of scientific knowledge as a product of the researcher’s cognitive effort rather than the process of brain activity as perceived by the quantum psychology, but he does not go into analogy. Demonstrating a similarity between the processes determining generation of scientific knowledge and emission of energy by an atom is greatly important for deeper understanding of the complexity of science phenomenon, its specifics and significance for the development of humanity and the progress of civilization. Due to the complexity and specificity of scientific knowledge as a product of intellectual effort, exhibiting certain features found in physical phenomena, the assessment of scientific knowledge cannot be confined to elementary scientometric indicators, like numbers of papers or citations. Because these indicators are capable to measure only the researcher’s publication activity and the intensity of scientific communication, they are not able to disclose the essence of produced new knowledge, its radical distinction from a material product of labor or its scientific and social value. The author is convinced that the introduction in the scientific circulation of qualitative parameters of scientific knowledge as a result of research eff ort, which would be based on the idea of its quantumness, is critically important for the sound assessment of the researcher’s performance, allowing to take effective decisions on organizational improvements of the research process, for creating labor conditions promoting expansion of the communicational capabilities of a researcher in the research and social space, and for formulating the science centric public policy.

Keywords: scientific knowledge, scientific results, quants of knowledge, material product of labor, ethos of science, science centric public policy

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