ON THE SEARCH OF MECHANISMS OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE EVOLUTION

The multiple discussions on the mechanisms of interaction between scientific knowledge and socio-cultural context have brought no results. The question - "what type of interaction between culture and science is being realized - socio-cultural determination or (more feeble) socio-cultural conditionality" - remains open. The author suggests an alternative solution: speaking of the interaction between science and culture one should consider the idea of synchronicity introduced by C.G. Jung. Jung defined synchronicity as a third type of interrelation between various phenomena: it is neither causal nor purely accidental, but rather a meaningful interconnection of events. As a case-study, the paper considers the role of synchronicity in the transition from Aristotle's understanding of space to its galileo-newtonian interpretation that played a key role in the emergence of new physics. The special attention is given to the role of synchronicity in evolution of contemporary physics.