Założenia filozoficzne w nauce. Szkic historyczno-kulturoznawczy

The paper presents a short survey of standpoints in the philosophy of science related to the problem of the philosophical assumptions of science. These assumptions refer to the special kind of philosophical beliefs that scientists might not be aware of and that create a peculiar foundation of their work. The paper represents the point of view of culture studies. In this framework, science is described as one of the spheres of culture. The metaphysical assumptions of scientific theories as reconstructed by some philosophers are briefly presented. Scientific studies, as seen from the culture studies perspective, treat both philosophy and science as the spheres of culture. In respect to this view, the paper scrutinizes the historically changing philosophical concepts of science (from those, which perceive science as an autonomous system to those that stress its relations to other socio-cultural phenomena) as well as some controversial issues related to the problem of the philosophical assumptions of science