Psychological Concept of the Scientific Rationality Types Part 1. Ideal Objects and the Types of Rationality

Abstract

The article presents a psychological concept of the scientific rationality types, which is based on the constructivist version of the Self-Determination Theory. In part 1, the author shows that the scientific rationality type of a particular
theory is determined by the content features of used ideal objects. Depending on the contribution of two components – elements of sensory experience and “free fiction” of the researcher – it is proposed to distinguish eight types of ratio­nality. The conditionally objective type assumes that scientific knowledge is mathematized and is constructed using ideal objects that do not have a scientific sense. Within the framework of three externalized types of rationality, ideal ob­jects created in three different ways have both a scientific sense and perceptual counterparts. The three internalized types of scientific rationality are associated with ideal objects also constructed in different ways that have a scientific sense, but do not have perceptual counterparts. All of these variants assume that ideal objects describe the reality being studied. In contrast to them, the eighth, con­structivist type of scientific rationality involves the use of ideal objects that are fundamentally unrelated to external reality.