THE The Research Into the Social Function of Science: From Internal and External Conditions of Institutional Existence to the Communication System

Abstract

The article highlights the complexity and comprehensiveness of the concept of science in late modernity, emphasizing the need to broaden the scope of scientific research — not only in terms of subject matter and temporal aspects but also in terms of the social dimension of scientific communication. The authors trace the key stages of social research on science and scientific knowledge, which contributed to the development of core issues and methodological frameworks within system and communication theory as applied to the analysis of the science subsystem. For the initial framing of the problem of scientific communication — particularly the conditions under which scientific statements operate, oriented toward truth yet constrained by temporal horizons — the authors draw upon Max Weber’s ideas. The principle of value neutrality is further explored in Robert Merton’s concept of the ethos of science within the weak program of the sociology of knowledge. The critique proposed by the strong program (David Bloor) is also discussed. Next, the authors examine Niklas Luhmann’s perspective on the science subsystem and the concept of truth as the defining communicative code of science. According to the authors, the structure of the system and communication theory and its methodological tools enable a scalable analysis of science as part of the broader system of social communication. This approach allows for comparisons between science and other social systems (e.g., politics, economics), revealing not only differences but also similarities in the organization of communicative practices. In conclusion, the authors explore the evolutionary nature of inclusion mechanisms in scientific communication, illustrating this through the transformation of publication practices.

Acknowledgments. The article was prepared with the support of the Russian Science Foundation, project № 24-18-00440 “Analysis of social causality and invariants of social development as a method of overcoming the fragmentation of socio-philosophical cognition”.