U raznykh nauk svyaz' s real'nost'yu skladyvaetsya neodnoznachno. U estestvennykh i tekhnicheskikh nauk etu svyaz' mozhno opredelit' kak pryamuyu, potomu chto oni issleduyut ob"ekt neposredstvenno. V matematike slozhnee, formuly otryvayutsya ot real'nosti i napolnenie ikh deystvitel'nym soderzhaniem obuslovleno ryadom usloviy. V filosofii eshche slozhnee, poskol'ku eto myshlenie v oblasti formy i svyaz' s real'nost'yu tol'ko predpolagaetsya i dlya cheloveka oni yavlyayutsya gipoteticheskim orientirom, gde mozhno v otnoshenii nauki vydelit' metodologicheskuyu funktsiyu. Filosofiya stroitsya kak nadstroyka nad nauchnymi polozheniyami, takzhe nad obshchestvennymi teoriyami, vklyuchaya eticheskie. Chto kasaetsya estestvennykh nauk filosofskoe myshlenie mozhet opredelyat' napravlenie dal'neyshego issledovaniya, skazhem, v glubinu materii. tema eta mnogogranna i neischerpaema. V knige my zatragivaem tol'ko ryad aspektov, kak kogda-to Platon udivilsya nepostizhimosti abstraktsiy i pytalsya opredelit' ryad ee funktsiy. Kniga rasschitana na nauchnykh rabotnikov vsekh professiy, aspirantov i sobstvenno filosofov.