Points to remember: Part I

Good science: Can it ever be gender free?

Atheism as a Soviet Science Atko Remmel, UT Faculty of Theology The following questions will be addressesd in the talk: To which extent were Soviet anti-religion practices scientifically grounded? To which extent can one speak about atheism as a scientific discipline? Is it justifiable to regard Soviet science as „atheist“? On the one hand, atheism was a conceptual component of the prevailing ideology, but on the other hand it was a practical device used for enforcing this ideology. The main basis for regarding it as scientific was the dogmatic position that Marxism-Leninism was a scientific theory. Soviet science was therefore automatically considered atheist and atheism scientific, regardless of the scientific methods – or lack thereof – which were used for gathering data. When speaking of the scientific character of scientific atheism, it should be approached as a synthetic discipline which drew together the results of other disciplines with the aim of criticizing religion, its main conclusion being that religion was incompatible with Marxist ideology and natural sciences. However, when science is exploited for ideological reasons, it is inevitably biased and lacks some of the main attributes of scientific quality, despite its scientific mimicry. Moreover, since the contributions of atheists to the findings of natural sciences were mainly of ideological nature, the discipline attained an apologetic role and it can be considered a quasi-scientific rather than a scientific discipline. In Estonia the community of scientific atheists consisted barely of a handful of people who were mostly occupied at different establishments for higher education. „Estonian scientific atheism“ can be distinguished from Soviet scientific atheism only so far as their writings dealt with the local situation. The main fields of study were the history of religion and sociology; on the practical side the main focus was on the new Soviet rituals.

Background and Objectives: In this research article, the researcher addresses the issue of creating public understanding in a democratic society about the progress of science, with an emphasis on pluralism from philosophers of science. The idea that there is only one truth and that there are just natural laws awaiting discovery by scientists has historically made it difficult to explain scientific progress. This belief motivates science to develop theories that explain the unity of science, and it is thought that diversity in the way different ideas presented by scientists is a problem that results in time being wasted in search of the most accurate theory. Some scientists perceive a benefit in having a range of scientific hypotheses, though. One benefit that is frequently cited is that scientific diversity as a whole contributes to the development of a democratic society that permits the expression of a range of viewpoints. The road to accountable scientific pluralism is fraught with difficulties, though. Therefore, it is crucial to take into account both pluralism's advantages and disadvantages. This research aims at: analyzing in an epistemological way the interpretation of scientific theories and the progress of science from the perspectives of scientific pluralists; analyzing the relationship between science and democracy in explaining scientific significance and progress; and synthesizing new knowledge on epistemic dependentism and to argue that it plays a significant role in evaluating research issues related to scientific pluralism. Methodology: The research methodology involves the application of documentary investigation along with philosophical discourse. The method of philosophical argumentation involves analyzing the lines of arguments found in relevant academic publications in order to assess their validity and soundness. Main Results: One key argument of the pluralists is the use of the concept of theoretical pluralism, which suggests that scientific knowledge is created from a variety of perspectives according to the social and cultural context of knowledge creation. It is found that part of Longino's argument is based on the negation of rational/social dichotomy. Moreover, her theory is a departure from philosopher of science Philip Kitcher, who advocates the creation of scientific knowledge and the evaluation of scientific progress through the means of democratic society. He explains that these procedures will lead to "well-ordered science" in democratic society. Discussions: The researcher examines the underlying ideas accepted by these two philosophers of science and finds that although their opinions differ, they have common ground in the acceptance of consensus. However, the views of both philosophers still lack weight in explaining the knowledge itself. The researcher argues that the acceptance of pluralism as a way of understanding scientific progress necessarily lends itself to dependentism, which points to interdependence in comparisons of superiority/inferiority between scientific theories. It is undeniable that the situation has emerged all the time, even though the success of the scientific theories being compared to each other comes from different social and cultural grounds of thought. Conclusions: Some popular models of scientific pluralism in the philosophy of science still lack a compelling justification, particularly on the epistemic grounds. By elucidating the epistemic significance of the interdependence of these things, scientific pluralism can be strengthened by incorporating the notion of epistemic dependentism into the analysis of scientific progress.

Competitive advantages are an important economic category that is receiving close attention from researchers. Any organization needs to have distinctive characteristics in order to distinguish it from other market participants. This rule is also relevant for educational organizations that operate in the educational services market, which is characterized by a stable increase in the level of competition. Thus, the relevance of this study is due to the necessity to find optimal methods for solving the problem of competition between educational organizations in the higher education system. The purpose of the study is to reveal the essence of the competitive advantages of an educational organization, as well as to study the factors contributing to their formation and development. In accordance with the goal, the following tasks are set: to reveal the content of the competitive advantages of an educational organization; to formulate the factors characterizing the competitiveness of an educational organization; put forward recommendations related to the formation and development of competitive advantages of an educational organization. The theoretical and methodological basis of the research is the scientific achievements of domestic and foreign scientists on the issues of managing the competitiveness of an economic entity, including an educational organization. The author’s scientific conclusions are based on the theory of strategy and the methodology of strategizing by the outstanding scientist V. L. Kvint. To substantiate the achieved results, a set of scientific methods and approaches were used: analysis and synthesis, generalization, analogy, scientific theory. As a result of the research, based on the theory of strategy and the methodology of strategizing by V. L. Kvint, the essence of the competitive advantages of an educational organization as an element of its strategy is revealed. It is concluded that competitive advantages are an essential element of the strategic architecture, which, firstly, ensures the effectiveness of the strategy, and secondly, is a kind of filter in the goal-setting system of an educational organization. A number of recommendations related to the management of the competitive advantages of an educational organization are put forward.

Sciences include important subjects in secondary education, such as Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Geology – Geography. Understanding the Nature of Science has been established as one of the desirable features of scientific literacy for teachers and students, who generally need to understand the concepts, principles, theories and processes of science and to be aware of the complex relationships between science, technology and society. The current study attempts to explore the perceptions of 58 Greek teachers regarding scientific theories and laws, science as cumulative knowledge, theory-laden observation, the scientific method, the work of scientists and the form of a scientific enterprise, based on science, using a modified Questionnaire "Myths in Natural Sciences" ". The results are particularly encouraging and show a very good spirit potential in the teaching of Sciences.

This paper reviews applications in computer science that decision theorists have addressed for years, discusses the requirements posed by these applications that place great strain on decision theory/social science methods, and explores applications in the social and decision sciences of newer decision-theoretic methods developed with computer science applications in mind. The paper deals with the relation between computer science and decision-theoretic methods of consensus, with the relation between computer science and game theory and decisions, and with “algorithmic decision theory.”

This article analyses the role of science and scientific research in the modern world, highlighting the importance of scientific research methodology in the development of modern science. Science, along with education, is considered to be two of the most crucial spheres in society's future. Throughout history, mankind has employed knowledge to study and organize the world. The Renaissance period is recognized as a pivotal phase in the development of science, laying the groundwork for classical natural science and serving as the basis for the emergence of social sciences, known as "humanities." In the XVIII and XIX centuries, the philosophy of science emerged, focusing on the analysis of scientific activity and the scientific process itself. Theoretical and methodological principles of science were developed, scientific theory was examined, and distinctions were made between gnoseology, logic, and the methodology of science. Within the field of science studies, it is emphasized that professional scientists adhere to specific methodological principles in their research, particularly the dialectic interaction between empirical and theoretical knowledge. Fundamental and applied research represent different levels of the scientific pursuit of truth, employing diverse methodologies consisting of rules, principles, and research methods. Modern science encompasses a multilevel concept of scientific knowledge methodology, encompassing philosophical, general scientific, and partial research methods. These methods possess unique characteristics across different disciplines and hold varying significance for their respective development. Philosophical methods are universal and abstract in nature, while general scientific methods aid in the analysis of existing practices and the current state of theory development. Commonly recognized general research methods and techniques include analysis, synthesis, induction and deduction, abstraction and generalization, modelling, statistical methods, and analogy. Moreover, the interconnectedness of various scientific disciplines in contemporary times has led to the increased utilization of approaches and methods from one field in another, giving rise to intra- and interdisciplinary methods.

The science education literature suggests that the public and students often hold narrow stereotypical views of scientists and science. Here we argue that it is important that students and the public understand the basis on which scientists make scientific claims. The inquiry sought to develop an understanding of the scientific mind, explored through Gauld’s (2005) notion of ‘habits of mind’. The vehicle used to explore these ideas consisted of an inquiry into how scientists rationalise conflicts between scientific theories and religious beliefs which are not in agreement with consensually‐accepted scientific theories. Twenty scientists from different scientific disciplines and levels of seniority were interviewed using as a basis an instrument containing a series of religious‐based item statements that a panel of scientific and religious experts considered were in agreement with a variety of religious doctrines yet in disagreement with current scientific thinking, or for which there is at present no supporting evidence from a variety of scientific disciplines. These statements acted as an interview protocol and formed the basis for interactive discourse, which was audio‐taped, transcribed verbatim and participant‐validated. These data provide a window into scientific thinking as practiced by modern scientists, and helps develop a picture of these scientists’ ‘habits of mind’. The findings suggest that these scientists, unlike their stereotype, hold idiosyncratic views of what constitutes good scientific evidence and sound, credible testimony.

Feminist philosophy of science is committed to the view that science neither is, nor ought to be, neutral among social and political values. Scientific theories, recognized as legitimate contributions by the scientific community, often embody androcentric or sexist values, and hence are subject to criticism by feminists. Feminists also seek to advance feminist scientific research programs that are explicitly informed by feminist values.

This article considers the relationship between the concepts of philosophy of science, philosophyof economics, theory and methodology of economic science, learning and thinking. Also proven thenecessity of strengthening of methodological training of postgraduate students to prepare the professionalsable to fill up with new knowledge area of his scientific interests. The main idea of this articleis based on the premise that the human world consists of areas of reality, mentality (thinking) and theresults of thinking about the facts of reality in the form of theoretical statements of different levels. Nowintroduction of modern methodology is one of the most important components of educational services.The methodology of science must give an explanation of the interrelation of these three levels and, ultimately,to ensure that the validity of theoretical statements to the facts of reality, preferably in the formof one or more laws, which would offer a full explanation of functioning and development of reality. Inaddition, the article gives specific recommendations on the development of post-graduate education,contributing to the economic growth of the country. It concludes that most schools and directions inmodern economic science is not conducive to solving current economic problems.

According to R. G. Collingwood, “every statement that anybody ever makes is made in answer to a question”.2 Collingwood takes this to be an important characteristic of scientific thinking: In proportion as a man is thinking scientifically when he makes a statement, he knows that his statement is the answer to a question and knows what that question is. In proportion as he is thinking unscientifically he does not know these things.3 Philosophers have studied science both as a product and as a process. The investigation of “the language of science”, the structure of theories, and the conditions of their justification has been mainly concerned with science as a product; this line of investigation dominated the philosophy of science of the 1930’s and 1940’s. When philosophers became interested in questions of discovery, theory change and scientific progress, scientific rationality, and the interplay of theory and observation (or experiment) in science, they began to look at science as activity, viz. as a process of inquiry. In this context questions about the values and aims of science are unavoidable, and it is natural to adopt Collingwood’s general standpoint: the purpose of inquiry is to find satisfactory answers to the questions in which scientists are interested.

The civil engineering requires that teachers grasp the profound theoretical knowledge and strong practical engineering skills. Only there are good training modes in the university, we can improve the ability of teachers. In this paper, we explored the training mode of civil engineering professional teacher in the construction university. Based on the Hebei University of Architecture, we analyzed the basic requirements for engineers, discussed the ability request of civil engineering professional teacher. Finally, we put forward the training model in the process of training talents for realizing the civil engineering professional training objectives. KEYWORD: Training mode; Civil engineering; Professional teacher International Conference on Social Science, Education Management and Sports Education (SSEMSE 2015) © 2015. The authors Published by Atlantis Press 1893 2.2 Scientific research Scientific research is another important responsibility of the university teachers. University teachers should explore, discover the new phenomena, new research theory, and try to apply to our production and our life. Teachers must have a certain amount of scientific research interest and ability, so they must read a large number of documents and papers, they must learn many scientific research theory and know the reality project. Through research activities, they will know about the development about the subject and master the subject forefront information. After indepth and meticulous research, some achievements in scientific research will be made, which will promote the progress of human society gradually[2]. Because civil engineering is a very strong practical, scientific research cannot be divorced from reality. Scientific research should be derived from the project and serve for the project from the angle of combining the theory with practice. There is no national boundaries in the scientific research, so researchers should also have international vision and understand their discipline in the world situation. 2.3 Serve the society Civil engineering professional teachers should make some training for the people with their professional knowledge and skill. Some technical suggestions for the government should be provided by these experts. After government accepted the professional construction, research can directly service for our society. Civil engineering professional teachers should use professional advantage to carry on the analysis and try to settle down many real complex engineering problem and summarize lots of experience and theory. Civil engineering field is extremely wide, including geotechnical engineering, structural engineering, water supply and drainage engineering, etc. Only we go into the practice closely, the new problem can be found and the theory can be tested. For teachers, we should provide more opportunities, so that our students will fully contact with reality and get more exercise. Students also increased knowledge, while we were serving the society. Practice is about more than book learning, it also teaches you learn how to think.

The social aspect (the restructuring of thinking, way of life and activity, quality of life, education) is determined by the deficiency of fundamental scientific information on trends, issues, necessary conditions and possibilities of using foreign experience in managing the social consequences of scientific and technological development (progress) at the present stage of Russian modernization. In this context, the changes, introduced by the scientific and technical progress (STP), which invade all aspects of human life, changing labor incentives, education and representation of human happiness, become an important object of study. Purpose of the study. The study of foreign experience of social consequences of scientific and technological development (progress) at the present stage to assess the possibility of fragmented or integrated use of the new knowledge in the formation of long-term strategies for the development of science and technology, taking into account the social needs of society. R & D tasks. To effectively address the problems of modernization and restructuring of Russia it is necessary to explore and identify patterns and trends in the development of scientific and technological progress and social aspects of thinking changes, lifestyle and human activities for their subsequent use in the measurement and control of the social aspects of human life. To this should be investigated: 1. Peculiarities of scientific and technological development in the next stage of the «long wave» of progress, which leads to the need for programming the development of the social aspect of the measure and the regulation of the quality of human life. 2. Positive and negative social consequences of the development of scientific and technical progress. 3. The impact of new challenges, factors and conditions, caused by the development of science and technology. 4. Proposals for the analysis of the linkages and the risks of introduction of science and technology in everyday life. 5. The role of education in preventing the consequences of scientific and technological progress Materials and Methods: The methodological and theoretical basis of the research were the works of foreign researchers, who have studied the problems of the infl uence of NTP on the development of human society. In order to ensure the comprehensiveness and reliability of research results publications on research topic in the press and the Internet were used in the work. When conducting research and presenting the material philosophical and scientific methods and approaches, specific institutional methods of analysis: system-structural, functional, comparative, evolutionary, interdisciplinary, comparative analysis method were applied. Results: The study data were obtained, indicating the complex nature of the impact and far ambiguous and contradictory infl uence of NTP on the life of human, taking place «lag» awareness of the consequences of scientific and technical progress. Conclusion: Formation of the scientific and technical policy of the state must be carried in the conditions of state control systems for development of the of NTP in a risk society. Key importance in this system belongs to education as one of the major factors directly affecting the understanding of the effect of NTP on all aspects of human life, the formation of advanced consciousness, and, as a consequence, enhance the security of human society life.

The main purpose of this study is to explore the epistemological problems underlying pre-service chemistry teachers’ aims in using practical work,i.e., individual or small group object manipulation or observation, in school science. Twenty-two pre-service chemistry teachers participated in this study. Qualitative data collection tools included participants’ reflections about some practical work cases; participants’ practical work plans; responses given to open-ended questions about practical work, scientific inquiry, the epistemology of science, and science teaching approaches such as discovery and inquiry based learning; and follow-up interviews. Through the qualitative analysis of the data, participants’ aims were grouped under three main themes, which included six categories: providing learning by discovery to students, serving to verify scientific theory, making scientific theories concrete, developing students’ scientific process skills, providing learning about the nature of science, and creating curiosity and motivation towards science. Arguments related to any epistemological problems underlying some of these aims are presented in the Results and discussion section. Based on the results, conclusions were made about the sources of these epistemological problems, why the epistemology of science should be considered explicitly when teaching the science teaching approaches and using the practical work, and why “teaching nature of science implicitly” failed.

As Drumond Rennie put it, ‘Science does not come alive until it is shared publicly’ (1998), emphasising that the rapid advancement of scientific research requires its efficient and rigorous dissemination both to encourage the development of new strategies and to avoid duplication of effort and resources. The current model of scientific and technological research is facing a significant challenge: the cost associated with publishing its results. It is now increasingly common for publishers to impose fees on the scientific community to publish their results, generating debate about the impact of this practice on the fairness of scientific dissemination. Requiring researchers to pay publication costs would limit or exclude research from countries with limited resources, creating significant barriers to the dissemination of knowledge. It has been estimated that costs in some cases are up to ten times higher than what is considered adequate to cover the actual costs of publication (Grossmann & Brembs, 2021). This mismatch raises questions about the justification for such fees and the benefits to funders, given that the funds are often public, or even come from researchers' own pockets. Moreover, this current model supports a highly lucrative publishing industry, valued at approximately $10 billion (Global $10B Scientific & Technical Publishing Industry Report, 2019-2023), and is possibly one of the main causes of the emergence of so-called Predatory Journals. These journals, sometimes described as fraudulent, appear to be legitimate journals, but in reality distort certain publication practices, with a purely profit-driven ultimate purpose (Elmore & Weston, 2020), representing an ethical violation by exploiting the need of researchers for financial gain without providing true scientific value. Given the current landscape, it is crucial to reflect on how these practices affect equity in the dissemination of scientific knowledge?, and how publishing power can limit the dissemination of research on specific pathologies in emerging countries, restricting the right of communities to access crucial information and develop effective public health policies?. Undoubtedly, equity of access to and distribution of scientific knowledge is a fundamental principle that must be strongly defended. Paying high costs for scientific and technological publication not only jeopardises equal opportunities for researchers from regions with fewer resources, but also affects fairness in the distribution of knowledge. This economic barrier can result in a systematic exclusion of relevant perspectives and data from emerging countries, deepening inequalities and limiting global progress in critical areas such as public health. Consequently, there is a need to re-examine the current publication model to ensure that science continues to advance in a way that is fair and accessible to all, and to ensure that information vital to public health and scientific progress is not restricted by economic barriers, but is based on principles of fairness and transparency. Indeed, the scientific community must work together to promote the dissemination of knowledge in a manner that is accessible, equitable and free from harmful practices.