Teadusfilosoofia humaniora ja realia vahel. Mõtisklus Tartu Ülikooli juhtiva teadusfilosoofi elutöö kuuluvusega seonduvast

Abstract

Philosophy of science
between humaniora and realia

Rein Vihalemm (1938–2015) was the most influential philosopher of
science in Estonia and perhaps in the entire Baltic States’ region.
However, the applications of his alma mater, the University of Tartu,
on awarding Professor Vihalemm with a lifetime achievement award
were rejected twice on the grounds that Vihalemm was a humanist
philosopher and should have been more well-known in society to qualify
for such an award.
This paper discusses the position of the philosophy of science and
the role of philosophers of science in the academic landscape. The
main argument is that both the field and philosopher are stuck in a
no man’s land between the natural sciences and humanities. They
cannot be considered as a part of the former or latter.
The paper touches briefly on some of the main ideas of Rein Vihalemm,
e.g., his solution to the problem of demarcation by means of
making a distinction between constructive hypothetic-deductive and
classifying historical-descriptive types of cognition. The former is the
basis of Vihalemm’s theoretical model of science proper that he called
ᵠ-science.
Fortunately, the colleagues and disciples of Rein Vihalemm have
access to his texts and can develop his thoughts further.