Predictions in Kvasz’s Formal Epistemology in the Perspective of the Historical Method of Michel Foucault

Abstract

The aim of the article is to provide a critical analysis of pre- dictions that concern the future of social sciences suggested by Ladislav Kvasz as a part of his project "formal epistemology". In relation to the issue of paradigm change Kvasz's model of dynamics in the scientific field offers an alternative to Kuhn's theory of scientific revolutions. The article inquires the nature of the mechanism of changes in the field and what can therefore be predicted from such model - especially concerning social sciences. This is achieved with the help of Michel Foucault's historical method, which emphasizes the need to avoid false continuities in explaining the development of a scientific discipline, which is going through deep discontinuities on its epistemic level. Special attention is given to the connection between predictions and the possibility of distinguishing epistemologically and sociologically graspable features of science. The adequacy of working with social sciences using tools Kvasz had developed focusing on formal disciplines is therefore identified as a decisive point.