Collision in two types of science narratives

Abstract

The article describes the problem of collision in different types of science narratives. As a ba­sis for the classification of narratives in scientific texts we selected the type of described ob­jects: in one case the narrative describes what is being researched, in another case the “plot” of the narrative is the process of investigation itself. In methodological terms, this article is based on the concept of collision (conflict in narratology), and the related concepts of the nar­rative structure and its temporality. Every scientific problem is correlated with the conflict in fiction. The development of this epistemic collision constitutes a “plot” in the narrative of scientific research. The specificity of this collision lies in the fact that scientific knowledge in general, and hence its collision, is fundamentally incomplete, as finding the answer to one question raises new questions. The article defends the thesis that the course of reasoning in the scientific text, even if not reflected in the narrative form, has a narrative nature, like the text of a drama: the events are directly revealed to the audience without the mediation of the narrator. Mental performances help to trace the main stages of the development of cog­nitive collision. The article examines the problem of correlation between “collision” of scien­tific research and “collision” in the narrative of the research object, including such aspects as the presence of anthropomorphic characters, as well as the role of singular and iterative narra­tives. The paper defends the thesis that there is no sharp distinction between narratives about individual and collective levels of scientific research in terms of their collision.