HIERARCHICAL METHODOLOGY OF DMYTRO KRIVENKO: THE LIMITS OF DIALECTICS AND LEVELS OF PHYSICAL KNOWLEDGE

<p>This article reconstructs the central methodological idea of Ukrainian philosopher of science Dmytro T. Krivenko (1941–1994): dialectics is not a universal algorithm governing the development of physical knowledge, whereas a multilevel hierarchical organization can be traced both in the gradual refinement of concepts and in radical changes of models. The source base comprises Krivenko’s published works on the formation of quantitative concepts, informational levels of physical knowledge, and the coarse-graining of complex systems, together with the author’s clearly identified personal recollections. The abandonment of the substantial theory of caloric and the successive transformation of atomic models show that a new theoretical level need not form a symmetrical ‘synthesis’ of thesis and antithesis: it may reject the ontological core of the preceding model while retaining part of its empirical or mathematical content. Dialectics is interpreted as one local mechanism of transition between levels, and hierarchical methodology as a more general framework for organizing such transitions. The article also demonstrates the integrity of Krivenko’s philosophical project: the hierarchical principle extends from the methodology of physics to the ontology of the human being in Prynat i prynatyka and to the analysis of political positions, where democracy appears not as a compromise between extremes but as a higher level of freedom, dignity, and responsibility. This reconstruction is applied to contemporary physics: from experimental observables and nuclear models through hadronic and mesonic effective descriptions to QCD, and to the cautious formulation of preon hypotheses. Hierarchical philosophy does not establish the existence of a deeper level of matter; rather, it specifies requirements for a model: retention of validated content, an explicit domain of applicability, new independent consequences, and a route back to experiment.</p>