Methodological features of substantial explanation in contemporary materialism
In the paper, the content of the concept of substance is defined; the relevance of substantial explanation in philosophical and general scientific methodology of modern materialism is considered; the methodological features of substantial explanation are analyzed. Among these features are the choice of dialectics as general methodology for deriving theoretical ideas about substance (as opposed to the inductive approach and ideas about pramatter), the relations between the universal substance and special substances, the consideration of substance as an absolute reality, the actual indicators of substance in the context of postnonclassical scientific rationality, the development of substantial explanation from the concrete to the abstract and vice versa (including the problem of the ontological and epistemological «cell»), as well as the substratum approach and the definition of substantial attribute. The concept of substantial attribute is introduced, which is the procedural basis for the self-reproduction of a form of matter or of the matter as a whole. This concept expresses a process without which this or that substance could not be the cause of itself, i.e. the substance. For an infinite material substance, self-development is a substantial attribute, but in each particular material substance it has specific features corresponding to the level of complexity of the substance. In this regard, different types of substantial attributes are identified in the structure of the main forms of matter: in the physical world - a self-sustaining thermonuclear reaction, in the chemical world - autocatalysis, in the biological world - autopoiesis, in the social world - labor. Thus, with the help of the above aspects, the paper substantiates the thesis that modern materialism, coupled with dialectics, creates a number of important methodological prerequisites for substantial explanation to be used not only as a philosophical but also as a general scientific method.