Scientific Knowledge and Common Knowledge

The relation between scientific knowledge and common knowledge is a relatively new philosophical problem; it emerged with the rapid development of empirical science based on mathematics and experimental methods. One of by-products of that development is scientific realism claiming that the world is such as science reveals it to us. However if the world is as science presents it, then, what is the value of common knowledge and what role does common knowledge play in human cognitive activity ? Another question is whether common knowledge precedes in any significant sense scientific knowledge, or is it merely a guide to some of our daily activities with no relation to scientific cognition ? Perhaps it is a burden which, if possible, should be discarded as it makes gain knowledge of what the world is really like difficult. Is it possible that the very question about the relation between scientific knowledge and common knowledge is for some reasons ill-formulated and has no sense whatsoever? The aim of the present book is to search for answers to those questions. M.-M. V.