Morality and Science: the Nature of Their Relationship (To the 90th Anniversary of Academician V.A. Lektorsky)

Abstract

There is a well-established point of view that science and morality are two poles of a person’s conscious (conscious) attitude to the world: the first one tells what the world is in itself, the second one tells about what to do with the world. Sci­ence objectifies the world, turns everything it touches, including man himself, into an object; morality looks at the world subjectively, in its own interests, i.e. the interest of the viewer. This difference was succinctly expressed by Kant in the questions: “What can I know?” and “What should I do?”. Science and morality are opposites, which is essentially included in the definition of each of them, they are interconnected by mutual negation. They are also aspects of hu­man activity, practice, abstract (one-sided) reflections of which they, in fact, are. The unity of science (knowledge) and morality (must) can be adequately dis­closed within the framework of a philosophical tradition that understands being as practice. This idea is developed in the article on the example of M.M. Bakhtin, namely, science (cognition) determines the content of an act, morality is respon­sible for the fact of an act in its living, personally expressed uniqueness. Science and morality in this sense complement each other. In conclusion, an example is considered that illustrates the unity of morality and scientific truth.