"SCIENTIFIC WARS" AND CANON-STRAGGLE IN AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES
A. V. Khlebalin
Institute of Philosophy and Law of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russia
Keywords: óíèâåðñèòåòñêèé êàíîí, "êóëüòóðíûå âîéíû", "íàó÷íûå âîéíû", íàó÷íàÿ ðàöèîíàëüíîñòü, àêñèîëîãèÿ îáðàçîâàíèÿ, university canon, "cultural wars", "scientific wars", scientific rationality, axiology of education
Abstract
Introduction. The flared up «scientific wars» in the field of the philosophy of science were one of the most striking phenomena in the history of the humanitarian and social disciplines of recent decades. The issues discussed in their course concerned various aspects of scientific rationality, research methodology, and the practice of teaching the relevant disciplines. In fact, since its inception, «scientific wars» began to include issues of politics and practice of organizing higher education, its axiological characteristics. The content of this debate allows us to consider «scientific wars» as the continuation and development of «cultural wars» for preserving the canon as the axiological and ideological basis of university education in the United States. Methodology and methods of the research. The subject of the study involves the use of a cultural and philosophical approach that allows, on the basis of the analysis of the discourse of «cultural» and «scientific» wars, to present the cultural and ideological struggle for the axiological content of university education in the USA. The results of the research. The analysis of the content of the discourse of «cultural» and «scientific» wars, as well as their dynamics, allowed us to conclude that the debate on the standards and values of scientific rationality raised during the «scientific wars» should be considered as a new stage in the development of «cultural wars», related to the opposition of conservative and liberal ideologies of university education organization regarding the axiological, cultural and political functions of university education in the USA. Conclusion. The deep integration of university education in the political and cultural life of the United States determines the «political commitment» of the academic debate about the culturally identifying and axiological role of the content of university disciplines. A particular manifestation of this feature is the «cultural» and «scientific» wars.
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