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PRE-MODERN SCIENCE IN THE WEST
The classical and Medieval worlds created the west’s accepted cosmology: that the Earth was the center of the universe and that the cosmos was composed of four elements. This reality was arrived at by the Athenians’ quest for philosophical knowledge, and their observation of the world around them. It was accepted and refined by succeeding western civilizations, the Hellenistic cultures, the Romans and the Arabs. Christian theology had some difficulty with the ideas, notably that of the eternal existence of physical matter. It took centuries to achieve, but finally the work of Thomas Aquinas permitted Christian acceptance of the Aristotelian cosmology, identifying the Christian God with Aristotle’s prime mover. The resulting philosophy, Scholasticism, was supported by the Church, thus making it a sin to criticize it. It took strenuous efforts on the part of scientists like Copernicus and Newton finally to overthrow the ancient cosmology and set science on its modern footing.
Classical Athens
The Greeks were the first people to write about their quest for philosophical knowledge. Thales recorded his ideas about the nature of prime matter. Democritus offered the theory of atomism. Empedocles identified the four elements fire, air, water and earth. The Sophists concluded that definitive knowledge was elusive but that persuasive argument was the most effective tool for human intellectual activity.
Aristotle’s cosmology combined the most salient aspects of Athenian philosophy. The earth, made of heavy matter, was stationary and located at the center of the cosmos. The sun and planets revolved about it, carried on concentric crystalline spheres. The terrestrial and celestial worlds were distinguished in several ways. The celestial sphere was defined by its perfection, its immutability and circular motion. The sub-lunar world is characterized by imperfection, malleability and rectilinear motion. This world view held sway in the west for nearly 2,000 years, until the scientific revolution.
The Hellenistic societies were affluent and materialistic. Their major philosophies centered around pleasure and the acceptance of the human condition. Technological achievements were notable, the creation of great harborworks and the identification of simple machines (Archimedes) being among them. In geometry, the great name was Euclid, who pioneered the idea of the mathematical proof—influencing both geometry and logic.
Rome
The Romans borrowed most of their high culture from the Greeks. They did pioneer significant technological innovations. In architecture, the rounded arch made possible the construction of multi-story buildings and the famous aqueducts. Road-building throughout the empire was also ambitious.
Islam
The Islamic world gave high priority to both science and technology. They developed a sophisticated Mathematics that included the Hindu numerals and the concept of zero as a placeholder. Their accurate astronomical observations and instruments assisted a very ambitious program of navigation throughout the Indian Ocean. This was augmented by the development of a lateen sail that made it possible to tack against the wind. In medicine, they pioneered surgical techniques, including optical surgery, and developed procedures to assist drainage and cauterization. In the field of hydraulics, they developed sophisticated techniques of irrigation.
Medieval Europe
The Medieval Europeans were less sophisticated than most of the world’s peoples at the time, but their intellectual and scientific developments contained the seeds of the scientific revolution and modern science. First of all, occult studies such as astrology and alchemy were very popular, if controversial. These activities pre-saged the Copernican revolution and the appearance of chemistry. There was also something of a technological revolution with the introduction of mills on a large-scale basis.
More significantly, universities appeared, growing out of the small Cathedral schools run the the Church. Eventually, pioneering studies in philosophy, theology, medicine, law and rhetoric were achieved. The pinnacle of such work was the development of Scholasticism in the work of Thomas Aquinas. Aquinas was able to square the cosmology of Aristotle with Christian teachings, thus making the power and influence of the Church in Europe support the idea of an earth-centered cosmos. This brought Christian thinking in line with that of the more advanced Islamic world, but it also made the (incorrect) Aristotelian world view difficult to topple. Also at the universities as well as in the public domain, we see the beginnings of experimental science in the works of individuals like Albertus Magnus and Roger Bacon.
THE RENAISSANCE AND SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION
During the Renaissance, European thought came to be expanded by contact with the outside world and resurgent materialism. Study of mathematics and non-Christian philosophies became fashionable. Profits from commercial activities led to increased material comforts and confidence in human achievement. Art, architecture and literature sharpened intellectual skills. Mathematician Nicholas Copernicus put forward an alternative world view that suggested the earth might just move around the sun. Fighting Christian theology and common sense, subsequent scientists, primarily mathematicians, such as Kepler, Galileo and Newton determined that the earth indeed moves. This proved a triumph both for science and for secularism. The scientific method of inquiry was also developed during this time period, ushering in the modern era of experimental science. Advances in medicine also demonstrated that the heart acts as a pump. The explanation of the world around us would heretofore be essentially mechanical.
Renaissance
Mediterranean merchants and adventurers brought Europe into contact with the outside world during the Renaissance. Venetians and Genoese traded with the near East for luxury goods, and brought back philosophy, mathematics and architecture. Portuguese and Spanish mariners sailed to unknown continents and brought back unusual flora, fauna and people, and great mineral wealth. Europeans broadened their horizons geographically, culturally and intellectually.
Mathematics became fascinating as both a philosophical and practical language. From the inspiration of Euclid and Pythagoras came a higher language, perhaps that of the creator himself. Mathematical co-efficients of the Hebrew alphabet were thought to unlock the secrets of creation in the Kabbalah. Navigation, optics, realistic art, and architectural grandeur proceeded from the newly-popularized geometrical teachings. Mathematicians even became celebrities, giving well-attended lectures throughout Italy.
Occult studies proved even more popular than they had in the Middle Ages. Numerology mixed mathematics and philosophy in profound ways. The popularity of astrology led to a keen interest in precise astronomical calculations. Alchemy and witchcraft proved intriguing avenues toward achievements in mettalurgy, medicine and philosophy, while they remained controversial on religious grounds. But the secular humanism of the age began to make it safe and popular to challenge Christian religious orthodoxy.
New ideas in medicine also derived from alchemy, as well as from advanced university studies and the newly-permitted study of anatomy. Phenomena such as the circulation of the blood and prophyactic medicine were understood for the first time.
Gunpowder revolution
Along with the science was a significant advance in military technology. Gunpowder had been brought from China centuries earlier, but the Europeans revolutionized warfare by casting large cannons and deploying them on ships. Warfare now became a science of more than mere battlefield strategy.
Scientific Revolution
The Scientific Revolution was an achievement of the seventeenth century. Nicolas Copernicus has offered a hypothesis in 1543 that the earth travelled around the sun in a helio-centric cosmos. Strong theological opposition and common-sense observation said that such a thing could not be true, but several generations of mathematicians proceeded to prove its veracity.
Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe made precise calculations of planetary motion that could be used to test Copernicus’ hypothesis. Johannes Kepler was convinced of the truth of the heliocentric hypothesis, and used Brahe’s calculations to posit elliptical orbits for the planets, thus making Copernicus feasible. Galileo Galilei, also convinced by Copernicus, turned his telescope to the heavens and discovered the moons of Jupiter, the phases of Venus, and the craters and mountains of the moon. The great mathematician also devised the formula for the acceleration of falling bodies, combined mathematics and physics, as well conducting other work in physics. He was very controversial, however, in his vocal opposition to the Church’s support of Aristotle’s cosmos, and was put under house arrest by the Inquisition.
Later in the seventeenth century, Rene Descartes and Isaac Newton offered alternative world views. Descartes posited that thinkers return only to what was known absolutely (I think, therefore I am), and extrapolate a world view therefrom. Newton deduced numerous laws of physics, including gravity, that allowed him to explain convincingly the Copernican heliocentric universe. The appeal of Newton’s laws is that they are (were held to be) applicable at all times in all places and under all conditions. This was the strength and appeal of the new science. Newton also worked extensively in optics, and was one of the devisers of calculus.
The Scientific Revolution was completed by the appearance of the scientific method of Sir Francis Bacon. Bacon also sought an entirely new, non-Aristotelian, world view, and suggested that mankind devise it via several steps: observation, hypothesis, experimentation, theorizing. Modern thinking—secular and scientific—dates from this important revolution.
Eighteenth Century
Following upon the enthusiasm of the Scientific revolution, the eighteenth century saw a number of important developments, seeking to emulate the success of Newton.
THE ERA OF POSITIVISM
The achievment of Isaac Newton brought a new era of heightened confidence in the powers of the human intellect. What Newton did for physics (offer unassailable non-theological interpretations) could now presumably be done for other fields of inquiry—both inside and outside the sciences. Nineteenth century thinkers embraced the idea of Positivism: that human knowledge would soon be able to explain everything in the universe mechanically, and that the industrialization of society would lead to undreamed of progress. Many new fields of study appeared, and offered scientific methodology in support of their ambitious claims. Skeptics duly appeared, and events such as the sinking of the Titanic, the deplorable condition of industrial workers, and the carnage caused by new weaponry in World War I called the positivist dream into serious question.
Natural history
Geology/paleontology
Darwin
Positivism
Social Sciences
Transcendentalism
2d industrial revolution
Industrial expansion
Trains
Electricity/physics
Health
Public Health Movement
Medicine
Hubris/end of positivism
THE MODERN ERA
Modern times have witnessed both continuing amazement at scientific and technological achievement, along with doubt and revulsion at some of their effects. Revolutions in communication, travel and health care have changed the world drastically over the past 100 years. Faith in science and in progress now resides deep in the consciousness of most people, as well as governmental and business institutions. But we have come face to face with the downsides of all these wonders as well: environmental pollution, unavailability of health care, traffic deaths, plane crashes, attempts at genocide, the invasive power of government and big business. Many developments that were essentially scientific or technological at one time are now moral, political or economic dilemmas. We have in some measure returned to questioning the intrinsic value and meaning of science in human life.
Revolution in transportation
Positivism in action
Philosophical reactions to science
Revolution in Communications
Big Science
Health and Medicine
Astronomy
Geology/plate tectonics
Science & Society
Structuralism/post-structuralism
