The Epistemological Frontier in the Culture of Science Communication after Paul Feyerabend

The subject of the study is the heuristic potential of the theoretical construct of the “epistemological frontier”, which describes the state of scientific knowledge in the context of methodological pluralism. The post-non-classical stage in the development of science is characterized by the coexistence of concepts about the object, formulated in various paradigms and based on different theoretical approaches. The culture of scientific communication, as an area of creation, preservation and development of scientific knowledge, which is the object of our attention, is significantly expanding, including different epistemological traditions. Therefore, there is a methodological need to include in the orbit of theoretical attention the area of scientific knowledge formed between two or more concepts that are not reducible to a common dialectical basis. The purpose of the article is to reveal the descriptive and heuristic potential of the “epistemological frontier” construct for studying the event horizon between the extreme values of the cosmological foundations of scientific creativity designated by P. Feyerabend (Aristotelian and modern, post-Copernian). To achieve this within the framework of philosophical and analytical methodology, the author solves two scientific and cognitive problems: formalizes the construct of “epistemological frontier” and examines its applicability for understanding Feyerabend's philosophy. The theoretical construct of “epistemological frontier” proposed by the author certainly requires further theoretical criticism, including clarification of the limits of its application. Its heuristic potential lies primarily in the fact that it can be used to record the simultaneous validity and truth of contradictory provisions formulated on the basis of various theoretical positions: the multidimensionality of truth, even if it is paradoxical, is thus no longer a sign of the falsity of one of the judgments. The coexistence of contradictory truths is becoming the norm, especially in the field of social and humanitarian sciences.

Paul Feyerabend, scientific creativity, epistemological anarchism, epistemological dadaism, epistemological frontier, epistemological diversity, epistemological justice, descriptive potential, heuristic potential, culture of scientific communication