The socio-anthropic idealization of objects and natural phenomena as a precondition for modern period science and medicine

The article demonstrates that the essential background for the formation of the Modern period science was the “socio-anthropic idealization” of objects and natural phenomena. Plato assumed that exact methods would enable us to study only man-made objects – a ship, a building, etc.; therefore, if we want to apply precise methods for studying natural objects or phenomena, they must be presented as something created, constructed. The author indicates that, following this idea, A. Vesalius likened a living organism to a factory, R. Descartes saw it as a mechanism, W. Harvey compared the work of the heart with the work of a mechanical pump, and I.P. Pavlov considered the work of the stomach through the work of a chemical plant. The basic method of the Modern period Natural science, the experiment, is nothing more than isolating from the chaos of natural phenomena the studied sides or processes in their pure form and presenting them in a way they would be amenable to observation and accurate measurement. E. Toricelli, for instance, discovered atmospheric pressure by artificially constructing it. In this way, as the author concludes, the exact knowledge of natural phenomena and the human organism relies on the human constructing activity.