Abstract

The article focuses on scientific reflection. The transcendental reflection does not analyse the content of knowledge, but reveals its conditions and is a condition of scientific research. This is not only thinking about thinking, but also the operations of identifying and distinguishing sensory data, and the rules for structuring the universe. The selection of input data depends on objective cognitive operations. Reflection reveals possible ways of transforming nature. Different forms of reflection achieve different goals. Reflection as a metatheory builds a fundament for future science. The analysis of cognitive procedures reveals the privileged status of classical theory and possible ways of creating non-classical theories. The classical theory is the original theory from which the non-classical ones are derived. Correspondently, scientific knowledge is divided into initial and derived forms. Derived forms are established by second-order reflection. Thus, the objective structure of science is conditioned by the structure of the reflexive activity of the mind.