Truth and Science in the Mirror of the Debate between Scientism and Antiscientism. Historical, Philosophical, and General Theoretical Aspects

One of the central issues in the debate between scientism and antiscientism is the definition of the role and significance of science as a specific form of spiritual culture in the life of individuals and society. This article attempts to identify the ideological positions and preferences associated with these alternative sociocultural orientations. One of the author’s conclusions is that scientism, by glorifying science and placing a «decisive bet» on it, inadvertently does it a disservice, since, in attempting to overcome its inevitably instrumental nature, it places expectations on it that it can never fulfill and assigns it a role in the life of individuals and society that, by its very nature, it can never play. As a result, antiscientism, while in no way negating or diminishing the role and significance of science in human and social life, is more coherent with the very nature of scientific knowledge and the scientific method, which is called upon to remain within the semantic coordinates of the immanent world and not to enter the metaphysical, and therefore, ideological, realm.