On History of Formation of Non-Classical Natural Science: Revolution in Medicine in the late 19th century

Abstract

The transition from organism conception as a simple mechanical system to the understanding of organism as a self-regulating complex being is traced in the article on the material of medicine history in the 1860’s – 70’s. In the 1870’s there was already made an attempt in medicine to bring in the conception of human organism as a processive system, self-replicating through self-regulating mechanisms in the process of its interaction with the environment. The new interpretation of an experiment as a way to receive knowledge about life processes had come about, given that, firstly, the object of experiment was considered to be a living whole (organism or cell) and, secondly, it was assumed necessary to maintain as much as possible the living whole inborn abilities to self- regulation in its basic life processes. In this connection, ontological categories of thing, process, causality, the whole and the part were rethought and, also, methodological principles of medicine received some important amendments.