Societal Conditions for the Development of Theory in the Individual Sciences

A summary is presented of the themes & presentations offered during a working session on 'The Function & Impact of Social & Ideological Determinants on the Development of Individual Scientific Theories in the Natural & Humanistic Sciences,' held on 28 & 29 Oct 1976 in Leipzig & sponsored by the Marxism-Leninism Section of the Karl-Marx University, in connection with the department of Philosophical Problems in the Sciences. The substance & structure of scientific knowledge were examined in the light of the influence of societal conditions on the development of theories in individual disciplines. The distinction between a Marxist-Leninist understanding of knowledge versus a bourgeois theory of knowledge, the history of contemporary positivism, the socioeconomic underpinnings of mathematics, ideological aspects of the development of knowledge, philosophy as a methodology, & the role played by social conditions in the growth of the humanistic sciences were among the themes discussed. The session helped to develop research conceptualizations & clarified some philosophical & science-theoretical aspects of a theory of knowledge. S. Whittle.