Greek Science

1. Greek Science Summary and Conclusions

2. Characteristic Features • The kosmos perceived to be a natural whole; gods not denied, but not considered to be active in nature. Probably the most important and enduring contribution. • Nature tends to act in the same orderly way, and does nothing without a purpose. That is, there are laws of nature. ‘always’ or ‘for the most part’?? • Humans can recognize those laws; do not need divine revelation or religious authorities. • Anomalies need to be explained by bringing them into to this orderly system = kosmos.

3. Why in Ancient Greece?And why not elsewhere? • Wide spread urban prosperity though not necessarily political stability aka: leisure time; • Mobility/trade/exploration as venue for exchanging ideas: • commercial prosperity, etc. generated a new class of citizens (whose wealth was commercial, not landed); the former were more open to risk-taking. • allowed for movement of scholars; but the scholars were not a caste of priests who had a monopoly on interpreting the will of the gods. • The significance of the city-state: self governing; citizens not subjects, tradition of public discussion of difficult issues…tolerance of alternative perspectives. Sustained reflection in a public context. We will find the same conditions again during the high renaissance / reformation.

4. most significantly… • Scholars and scientists came from all over the Greek world; that is the interest in the study of nature was a common element in Greek urban culture (and not just at Athens). • At risk of redundancy: In ancient Greece we find a civic tradition of public discussion of issues; citizens decide, not autocrats and kings.

5. The Decline of Science in the Ancient World ‘good’ science or ‘pseudo’ sciencewhat do you think Ptolemy on the efficacy of astrology. It would be wrong to dismiss this type of astrological prediction completely only because it sometimes can be wrong. After all we do not discard the art of navigation as such simply because it is often imperfect...Often there is a problem about the foremost and principal fact, the fraction of the hour of birth. In general, only observations by a "horoscopic" astrolabe at the very moment of birth can, for a trained observer, give the exact time. Almost all other instruments ... are in many ways capable of errors; sundials because of their incorrect position or the incorrect angle of the gnomon; water clocks because of the stoppage and irregular flow of the water.

6. Materia medica • From the Roman scholar, Pliny the Elder: But we have shown that the most effective protection against snakes is the spittle of a fasting person; and actual daily experience confirms other effective uses of it. We spit against illnesses like epilepsy; that is we repel contagion and the danger of meeting a person lame in the right leg. ... From a Roman inscriptions: The god Asclepius gave a response to the blind soldier Valerius that he should go and take take blood from a white cock and mix a white salve with honey, and smear it on his eyes for three days, and he recovered his sight and gave thanks publicly to the god.

7. On the decline of ancient science[after AD 250 and coinciding with the rise of Christianity] • the end of the city-state and of free, public discussion • decline in prosperity; of commerce and trade; of stability; security; • alternatively, the formation of barbarian kingdoms under an essentially uneducated warrior class It is not that science disappears, but what there is, is practiced (note the pseudo scientific texts) at a very low level.

8. The rise of Christianity • the role of the church: "(natural) philosophy [science] is the handmaiden [servant] of theology" St. Augustine. • By default, the Church became the sole source of education and literacy, and the clergy the sole interpreter of the ‘truth’. • It is not the case that the Church was hostile to ‘science’ [knowledge of the natural world], rather it saw the natural order as a reflection of God's order.

9. The Major Problems: • The negative aspect of the church's role in scientific discovery in this period is the formation of a priesthood that controlled learning and whose high social status was closely tied to its monopoly of knowledge and education. • The role of dogma: there is a correct interpretation; dogma does not tolerate discussion easily, esp if it threatens the privileged class.

10. The monolithic / dogmatic nature of Christian Theology would prove to be a major cultural constraint on scientific thinking. • Only when cities again became prosperous, commerce revived and the unitary structure of Christianity had been split by the Reformation could science (as among the Greeks) emerge with anything like the vitality we have seen. • Essentially this suggests that political pluralism is a necessary condition for good science.

11. Summary Table