Despite the fact that the concept of "styles of scientific thinking" has become quite widespread in recent decades, this concept is still controversial, according to a number of epistemologists and historians of science. The nature of originality of the concept of "style" in contrast to other concepts, whose task is to differentiate historical forms of scientific knowledge, is rooted in the non-scientific origin of the concept. On the one hand, it provides the reason for continuous discussions on the relevance of the concept of "style" to scientific problems, and on the other hand, it allows one to consider events and phenomena from the sphere of history and methodology of science in a broader cultural context. The use of the concept "styles of scientific thinking" in the study of historical and social issues of scientific knowledge serves well the challenges of contemporary historical epistemology.