Sociohumanistic Knowledge and the Future of Science

The author’s understanding of the role of the social sciences and humanities in preserving and developing science as a sociocultural phenomenon is substantiated. This justification is built as an explication and critical analysis of the program of philosophical research in science and technology, the main content and results of which are presented in the monograph by I.T. Kasavin Science As a Humanistic Project (2020). This article describes how the search for new strategies for the study of science is carried out within the framework of Russian philosophy. The historicity of science is analyzed, and the complex topology of its genesis is shown, which does not fit into the linear scheme of historical continuity, reflecting the synchronous coexistence of different variations of science as a cultural phenomenon. The historicity of science makes us turn to the question of its cultural and historical agency; it is substantiated that this agency acquires a political character in the current activity. How can the political agency of science be perceived and consistently combined with the ethos of the expert community? According to the author, political agency and the range of interests that scientists defend in public are determined by understanding the essence of science as a cultural phenomenon. The existential and cultural-creative functions of science are emphasized; on this basis the author’s interpretation of the humanistic project suggested by Kasavin is proposed as a program for the humanization of technoscience.