| Victor A. Kanke | |
| Birth Date: | 29 April 1944 |
| Birth Place: | Soviet Union |
| Main Interests: | Philosophy Metascience |
| Notable Ideas: | Metascience, philosophy of science, ethics, phi-losophy of physics, mathematics, chemistry, biology, technology, economics, management, history, pedagogy, law |
| Institutions: | Obninsk Institute for Nuclear Power Engineering |
| Website: | www.kanke.ru |
Victor Andreyevich Kanke (Russian: Виктор Андре́евич Ка́нке) (29 April 1944) is a Russian philosopher born in the village of Nekrasovo, Slavgorod District, Altai Territory to a German family. He taught physics at school (1966-1974) and philosophy at the Biysk State Teacher Training Institute (1976-1987) and the Obninsk Institute for Nuclear Power Engineering (since 1987).
In his doctoral dissertation (1985), Kanke developed the concept of time forms, according to which the nature of time is always determined by the specifics of the processes in which it is inherent. Time is a measure of the process from its inception to its new state. It is a common mistake to give physical time universal features. But it is an adequate quantitative measure of solely physical processes.
In 1996–2011, Kanke developed the theory of conceptual transitions. According to this theory, philosophy in its modern form is divided into two parts, namely, substantial and metascientific philosophy. Substantial philosophy, unable to keep pace with science, inevitably takes on a metaphysical form, which is characteristic of post structuralism, critical hermeneutics and analytic philosophy. In its metascientific form, philosophy has to do with subsciences, examining and criticizing their contents. The metascientific approach is opposed to metaphysics in philosophy and substantialism in Science, according to which science does not need to study metascience. The metascientific approach gives priority to the conceptual structure of modern theories that implement some form of transition from one concept to another. Kanke believes that the metascientific approach is an antidote to SPAM (syndrome of acquired antimetascientificity in sciences) and SPAN (syndrome of acquired antiscientificity in philosophy).
Ethics takes a prominent place in Kanke's theoretical constructions. He believes that modern ethics is built in a substantial manner, so it is dominated by the unscientific syndrome. Genuine ethics is the apex of the philosophy of axiological sciences, it aims at achieving the full potential of the transdisciplinary matrix of modern science, including scientific philosophy.
The theory of scientific transduction involves a comprehensive development of the philosophy of individual scientific disciplines. In this regard, Kanke is known for his monographs in the philosophy of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, computer science, economics, history, management, law, pedagogy.
In accordance with the theory of conceptual transitions, Kanke constructs relevant courses in philosophy. He believes that the general arguments about philosophy and the philosophy of science must necessarily be supplemented by a detailed excursion into the conceptual features of various sciences.