The Beginnings of Science

Second lecture for a course on science.

Transcript

1. The Beginnings of Science Contributions of the Ancient Greeks George Matthews CC 2017
2. Thales of Miletus
3. ancient Greece
4. Stonehenge: England, 3000–2000 BCE
5. The path of the sun through the constellations of the zodiac
6. Ancient Sumer
7. Ancient Babylon – mid-1st milennium BCE
8. ancient Greece
9. Ancient Greece: the Pre-Socratics Thales 7th Cent BCE
10. Ancient Greece: the Pre-Socratics Thales ! “Water is ultimate constituent of things.” 7th Cent BCE
11. Ancient Greece: the Pre-Socratics Thales ! “Water is ultimate constituent of things.” ! Thales was first person on record to offer a naturalistic account of all things. 7th Cent BCE
12. Ancient Greece: the Pre-Socratics Thales ! “Water is ultimate constituent of things.” ! Thales was first person on record to offer a naturalistic account of all things. ! Relied on experience and observation to come up with general claims. 7th Cent BCE
13. Ancient Greece: the Pre-Socratics Pythagoras 560-500 BCE
14. Ancient Greece: the Pre-Socratics Pythagoras ! “All things are number.” 560-500 BCE
15. Ancient Greece: the Pre-Socratics Pythagoras ! “All things are number.” ! Emphasized beauty, symmetry and proportion as inherent in the nature of things. 560-500 BCE
16. Ancient Greece: the Pre-Socratics Pythagoras ! “All things are number.” ! Emphasized beauty, symmetry and proportion as inherent in the nature of things. ! Leader of vegetarian, mystical cult in Sicily. 560-500 BCE
17. Ancient Greece: the Pre-Socratics Pythagoras ! “All things are number.” ! Emphasized beauty, symmetry and proportion as inherent in the nature of things. ! Leader of vegetarian, mystical cult in Sicily. ! Disturbed by the discovery of irrational numbers. 560-500 BCE
18. Ancient Greece: the Pre-Socratics Zeno Achilles and the tortoise
19. Ancient Greece: the Pre-Socratics Zeno ! “Motion and change are impossible.” Achilles and the tortoise
20. Ancient Greece: the Pre-Socratics Zeno ! “Motion and change are impossible.” ! Follower of Parmenides who developed a series of paradoxes to show that motion and change are illusions. Achilles and the tortoise
21. Ancient Greece: the Pre-Socratics Zeno ! “Motion and change are impossible.” ! Follower of Parmenides who developed a series of paradoxes to show that motion and change are illusions. ! Opposed to Heraclitus and his followers who claimed that all things change. Achilles and the tortoise
22. Classical Greece Socrates 469-399 BCE
23. Classical Greece Socrates ! “Knowledge is recollection.” 469-399 BCE
24. Classical Greece Socrates ! “Knowledge is recollection.” ! Socratic method: question and answer method for arriving at truth through dialogue. 469-399 BCE
25. Classical Greece Socrates ! “Knowledge is recollection.” ! Socratic method: question and answer method for arriving at truth through dialogue. ! Executed in Athens 399 BCE for “corrupting the youth” and annoying people with his questions. 469-399 BCE
26. Classical Greece Plato 427-347 BCE
27. Classical Greece Plato ! “Objects of experience are imperfect copies of eternal Forms.” 427-347 BCE
28. Classical Greece Plato ! “Objects of experience are imperfect copies of eternal Forms.” ! Chief source of knowledge about Socrates, his teacher and friend. 427-347 BCE
29. Classical Greece Plato ! “Objects of experience are imperfect copies of eternal Forms.” ! Chief source of knowledge about Socrates, his teacher and friend. ! Heavily influenced Christian theology and philosophy. 427-347 BCE
30. Classical Greece Aristotle 384-322 BCE
31. Classical Greece Aristotle ! “To understand and explain something we must understand its four causes.” 384-322 BCE
32. Classical Greece Aristotle ! “To understand and explain something we must understand its four causes.” material cause 384-322 BCE
33. Classical Greece Aristotle ! “To understand and explain something we must understand its four causes.” material cause formal cause 384-322 BCE
34. Classical Greece Aristotle ! “To understand and explain something we must understand its four causes.” material cause formal cause efficient cause 384-322 BCE
35. Classical Greece Aristotle ! “To understand and explain something we must understand its four causes.” material cause formal cause efficient cause final cause 384-322 BCE
36. Classical Greece Aristotle ! “To understand and explain something we must understand its four causes.” material cause formal cause efficient cause final cause ! Natural change is spontaneous, goal-oriented movement from potentiality to actuality. 384-322 BCE
37. Ancient Atomists Leucippus, Democritus, Epicurus, Lucretius
38. Ancient Atomists Leucippus, Democritus, Epicurus, Lucretius ! Greek and Roman philosophers.
39. Ancient Atomists Leucippus, Democritus, Epicurus, Lucretius ! Greek and Roman philosophers. ! The only things that exist are material atoms and the void.
40. Ancient Atomists Leucippus, Democritus, Epicurus, Lucretius ! Greek and Roman philosophers. ! The only things that exist are material atoms and the void. ! There is no free will, only mechanical forces which explain everything that happens.
41. Ancient Atomists Leucippus, Democritus, Epicurus, Lucretius ! Greek and Roman philosophers. ! The only things that exist are material atoms and the void. ! There is no free will, only mechanical forces which explain everything that happens. ! Ancient atomism was purely speculative, non-empirical and unpopular theory.
42. Hellenistic Age Archimedes 287-212 BCE
43. Hellenistic Age Archimedes ! Important mathematician, scientist, engineer. 287-212 BCE
44. Hellenistic Age Archimedes ! Important mathematician, scientist, engineer. ! Famous for his “eureka” moment in a bathtub. 287-212 BCE
45. Hellenistic Age Archimedes ! Important mathematician, scientist, engineer. ! Famous for his “eureka” moment in a bathtub. ! Used simple machines for solving engineering problems. 287-212 BCE
46. Hellenistic Age Ptolemy: 100-160 CE
47. Hellenistic Age Ptolemy: 100-160 CE ! “The universe is a set of nested crystal spheres moving in perfect, circular motion, with the earth at the center.”
48. Hellenistic Age Ptolemy: 100-160 CE ! “The universe is a set of nested crystal spheres moving in perfect, circular motion, with the earth at the center.” ! This “geocentric model” would be consensus view for 1400 years.
49. Hellenistic Age Ptolemy: 100-160 CE ! “The universe is a set of nested crystal spheres moving in perfect, circular motion, with the earth at the center.” ! This “geocentric model” would be consensus view for 1400 years. ! Synthesized the best observational and theoretical astronomy of the day and “preserved the phenomena.”