There are many attempts of Polish logicians to provide a satisfactory classification of scientific disciplines. Because of their formal and pragmatic drawbacks none of them found a wide-spread acceptance. The authors do not propose a new ranking or classification of sciences, but note existing taxonomies and provide theoretical comments regarding their correctness and terminology. In their critical remarks they refer to the Polish tradition of methodology, especially those regarding the conceptions introduced by Stanislaw Kaminski (1919-1986), author of the important monograph on the classification of sciences, namely 'Nauka i metoda. Pojecie nauki i klasyfikacja nauk' (Science and Method. The Concept of Science and the Classification of Sciences), Lublin: TN KUL 1992. Kaminski sees the reason for constantly newer classifications of sciences in the immense development of the sciences itself, in the changing social milieu and in the expectations in relation to their pragmatic usefulness in an institutional environment. The authors discuss some forms of cognitional arrangement of elements in the area of nature and culture in general: conceptualization, categorization, division, distinction, sorting, grading, ranking, taxonomy, classification, typology. They recognize two general trends in the growth of science: specialization and generalization on one hand, and differentiation and unification of sciences on the other, thus giving rise to thousands of different scientific disciplines requiring a elear separation (grouping) e.g. for administrative purposes.
