NORMS IN COGNITION AND COGNITION OF NORMS

Abstract

Epistemic nature of norms is discussed on the example of the dispute between M. White and W. Quine about normative and descriptive elements of scientific knowledge and moral consciousness. Thesis on the special epistemological status of science, its empirical basis and methods lies in the basis of naturalistic revision of epistemology by Quine. White, on the contrary, considers scientific observations and moral experiences equal means to justify objective and normative content in science as well as in morality and art. With regard to the contemporary expansion of the subject matter of epistemology White is more advantageous, although both sides ultimately do not extend beyond reduction of all cultural phenomena to the facts of individual consciousness. The resolution of the dispute under consideration can be provided by the turn of epistemological reflection to the study of the cognitive content of cultural objectivizations of human activity and communication, to the analysis of specific forms of representation and functions of whatever cognitive phenomena in the social artifacts. On the one hand, it extends the subject-matter of traditional epistemology by involving all the diversity of consciousness and prepares methodological insights for cultural studies, ethics, aesthetics, religious studies and political science.