THE MULTIPLICITY OF UNITY: A REVIEW OF THE VARIOUS APPROACHES TO THE UNITY OF SCIENCE

Abstract

This paper represents an analysis of several attempts to sustain the idea of unity in science and in knowledge. The authors of the text argue that through the preservation of unity, the link between science and philosophy is strengthened – which is, in modernity, significantly weakened. Philosophical research was undertaken with the aim of further strengthening pluralism, both in science and in methodology, which is reflected in the philosophies of science by Kuhn and Feyerabend. It is also noted that the concept of unity is rather relevant, for it is via unity that modern science maintains its link with the traditional metaphysics, in addition to the many reasons which are listed in the paper.

The weakening of the unity in knowledge and the sciences is, in fact, the weakening of the rest of philosophy in sciences. The crisis of the scientific unity reflects the crisis in philosophy. This research firstly contemplates the forms of the reduction of pluralism in the very knowledge, whereas the second chapter deals with the similar attempts related to the unity in science. The final part of the research represents the author’s perspective, as an answer to the question of why unity is that relevant, as well as the manner in which the lack of it would affect science.