The Category “Synthetic” in Modern Natural Science

The article is devoted to rethinking the content of the category ‘synthetic’ in the conditions of modern natural science (fi rst of all, synthetic biology) and its epistemological value. In this paper the category ‘synthetic’ is explored as a product of the epistemological method. The authors carried out an exposition of ‘the synthetic’ category based on the most modern materials of scientifi c and philosophical research. The article attempts to determine the content of the category ‘synthetic’, its place and scope in modern science, by taking into account options for defi ning ‘synthetic’, its advantages and disadvantages. The works of J. Schummer, in which he develops an ontology of biochemical interactions and the epistemic possibilities arising in this connection, were taken as a basis for the classifi cation and epistemological evaluation of specifi c manifestations of ‘the synthetic’ in the scientifi c fi eld. The concept of F. Bianchini defi nes any ‘synthetic’ as ‘artifi cial’. The article shows that the category ‘synthetic’ is considered as a theoretical construct that allows for the comprehension of phenomena which epistemological status cannot be unambiguously defi ned as ‘natural’. In the process of convergence of technosciences, there is a tendency towards the emergence of the ‘synthetic’ phenomenon as the main resource through which scientifi c knowledge is obtained. Due to the achievements of synthetic biology in modern science, the problem of the relationship between ‘natural’ and ‘artifi cial’ is reshaped. This happens due to the qualitative and quantitative expansion of the phenomenon of ‘artifi cial’ / ‘synthetic’ and rethinking the differences between them. Recent advances in the synthesis of organisms and their structural parts, such as the extended genome, allows for ontologists and epistemologists signifi cantly expand the possibilities of categorizing ‘the synthetic’ and build an ontology of ‘the synthetic’

Archaeology · Epistemology · Geography · Natural science · Environmental and Biological Research in Conflict Zones · Medical and Biological Sciences · Philosophy · Scientific Research and Philosophical Inquiry