Title: History of Science
1History of Science
2It all starts with the Greeks
- The Ancient Greeks are seen, in the west, as our
intellectual forefathers. From Greece was born
philosophy, drama, western artistic aesthetics,
geometry, etc., etc., etc. - Theology was never an important aspect of Greek
thought and Orthodoxy was practically anathema. -
3- Ancient Greek society did not have a permanent
priestly class that imposed dogma. - Greek Gods Goddesses were NOT omnipotent nor
omniscient. -
4Aristotle (384-322 BCE)
- Tutor to Alex the Great
- Scala Natura
- His philosophy later adopted by the Christian
West - Founded the Lyceum, (peripatetic school) which
emphasized natural philosophy.
5- Aristotle created a hierarchy of all living
things, from simple to more complex. Although he
did not mean to imply evolution, it nevertheless
ranked all of creation from great to small. - This later became the Great Chain of Being a
hierarchically ordered system with God angels
at the top, progressing downward from more to
lesser developed (moral/perfect) beings.
6Ptolemy
- Created a Geocentric model of the universe.
- This worked pretty well for a long time
especially for planets. But, eventually, errors
would be detected (once math technology
developed more).
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8Greek Civilization
- It is difficult to underestimate the
contributions of Greek philosophy, science, art,
literature, etc. to our Western way of thinking.
Although they were pagans (as later Christians
would think), much Greek thought was incorporated
into the Christian European tradition.
Nevertheless, the sense of curiosity that drove
Greek intellectual developments would not be
adopted in the west until the Renaissance.
9European Medieval thinking
- After the fall of the Roman Empire (478 AD),
Europe would be politically fragmented and a
period of intellectual conservatism would be the
norm. - Meanwhile, Arab civilization would be the center
of intellectual development esp. in
mathematics, optics, medicine. - In Europe, intellectual activity would be under
the purview of the church monasteries would be
the loci of study, contemplation, documentation.
10- According to the Church, all that could be known
about the world came from the bible. - Creation had been perfect
- Degeneration after people were tossed out of
Eden, it was all down hill the further history
moved away from creation, the more evil grew and
the 2nd coming would restore Gods kingdom. - Likewise, the further one got from the holy land,
the more degenerate would be those societies.
11The Day the Universe Changed
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13The New World
- The discovery of the Americas was one of the
most important events in European history
(although historians mostly focus on the impact
of Europe on the Americas). - There were several troubling aspects to the
discovery.
14- First, the Bible had absolutely nothing to say
about the Americas not its location, people,
history, etc. - Europeans came into contact with people entirely
ignorant of God, Christ, etc. - The plants and animals of the Americas were
unknown although there were some that were the
same.
15- This led to
- 1) recognition that the Bible was not the
ultimate authority on nature - 2) debate over the nature of Indigenous people
(were they animals or humans?) - 3) classification of the animals plants.
- 4) the fact that no one knew anything about the
Americas sparked curiosity the need to know.
16- Of course, there were many other ramifications to
- European domination of the Americas
- Economic commerce would eventually lead to the
industrial revolution - Power struggles over control of the colonies and
their wealth would spark intense competition
between European nations (Spain vs. Britain,
etc.) - Politics Liberalism (our current form of
government) would have its first experiment in
the Americas (USA).
17- Our concern here, however, is in science.
- The discovery of the new world began a process of
separation of church and science. - Many would try to reconcile science religion,
but ultimately, science would largely reject
theology as a way of knowing the natural world. - This would be a difficult period with many
wounded but the process was more or less
inevitable.
18Rene Descartes (1596-1650)
- Descartes is often called the 'father' of modern
philosophy. - Descartes argued that knowledge is genuinely
possible, and that a mathematically-based
scientific knowledge of the material world is
possible.
19Cogito, ergo sum
- he rejected religious authority in the quest for
scientific and philosophical knowledge (but he
was a devout Catholic) - He argued for a rational justification for a
universal, mathematical/ quantitative
understanding of nature. - We still rely largely on the Cartesian view of
the universe a mechanistic view of nature.
20- Although Descartes and other philosophers
established spaces for coexistence between
science and religion, it would still be quite
some time before Europe would be able to embrace
evolution.
21- Up until Darwin, the predominant understanding
of the world came from the Bible and Church
doctrine. In this respect, truth had been
revealed (via the Bible and Christ) . . . There
was no need to question Gods creation . . . . - This set of beliefs meant that people were
highly resistant to evidence to the contrary and
even went so far to create elaborate explanations
to fit contradictions into religious belief.
22Creationism
- Several compelling Christian dogmas are
important to note - Genesis GOD created earth in 6 days (dont
forget he took the last day off). -
- Creation was also centered around Earth Man
(we are in his image). -
23- 2) Relative Youth of the Earth
- there was a lot of debate about the exact age .
. . but most theologians agreed it wasnt so long
ago. - If the earth was indeed less than 6000 years
old, then gradual change could not have occurred.
24Bishop Ussher (1581-1656)
- By working backwards from the Bible (so-and-so
begat so-and-so), he calculated the first day of
creation to have been Sunday, October 23rd, 4004
BC! - Although many have ridiculed this attempt to date
the age of the earth, Ussher diligently
correlated Middle Eastern and Mediterranean
history and scripture to arrive at what was a
reasonable calculation.
25 3) The Permanence of the Earths
Physical Structure
- According to Christian thought, the appearance
of earth is the result of two factors - Original creation by God.
- The damage done by the great flood.
- Otherwise, the earth had not changed over
- time, it was in a state of stasis.
264) The Fixity of Species
- Likewise, after God created plants animals,
these retained their true, original form,
generation after generation. - - no species had been lost
- - no species had changed
- Nevertheless, people did understand the process
of selective (or artificial) breeding.
27Crack in the armor 1
- Fossils figured stones . . . for some time
people considered these evidence of Gods
playful nature . . . that he had decorated some
rocks to as replicas of living things.
28John Ray
- Natural theology the doctrine that the wisdom
and power of God could be understood by studying
His creation.
29- Ray spent a great deal of time pondering the
relationships of organismal form to function. - Living things showed adaptations to their
environments, which for Ray were signs of God's
design and hence worthy of study. - Unlike Linnaeus, who focused almost exclusively
on classification for its own sake, Ray began to
use classification to address questions in
physiology, function, and behavior
30Argument from Design
- Rev. William Paley Natural Theology
- The marks of design are too strong to be got
over. Design must have had a designer. That
designer must have been a person. That person is
GOD - Nature is a watch GOD is the watchmaker.
31Essentialism
- Due to neo-Platonism, variation in species was
disregarded. - As long as the ideal form existed (in Gods
mind), then subtle, minute variations were
insignificant and did not demonstrate change over
time.
32Evidence supporting evolution prior to Darwin
33Uniformitarianism
- James Hutton came up with the observation
- Lyell made the ideas popular.
34Sir Charles Lyell (1797 1875)
- Wrote Geological Evidence of the Antiquity of
Man in 1863 and Principles of Geology - Lyell argued that presently observable
- Geological processes were adequate
- to explain geological history the action
- of the rain, sea, volcanoes, earthquakes,
- etc., explained the geological history of
- more ancient times.
35Jean-Baptiste Lamarck (1744-1829)
- Inheritance of acquired characteristics
36Georges Cuvier (1769-1832)
- Catastrophism
- Opposed Lamarck
- Convinced others that
- extinction was a fact
- Known as the father of
- Comparative anatomy
37Extinction
- Cuviers work demonstrated that some
- species had become extinct ? this raised two
issues - 1) Why would God allow some of his creations
to disappear. - 2. Young earth theory how could so many
strange species go extinct, be covered by
sediments, if the earth was young?
38Sequence of Fossil types
- By the 1830s there was general recognition that
fossils had been organisms. - Further, it was apparent that older strata
contained very simple animals. As one moved
through time, the organisms became more and more
complex. - There was no reason to believe that catastrophes
had occurred . . . .
39Existence of Rudimentary Organs
- By the late 1700s, biologists recognized that
some animals retained parts they didnt use - snakes with vestiges of limbs
- Flightless insects retained stunted wings.
- These observations contradicted the argument from
design theory.
40Structural similarities
- A human hand, fin of seal, wing of bat, etc. all
show similar structure. - While Creationists argued that this was evidence
of the uniform plan of God, evolutionists would
argue that this was due to a common evolutionary
past.
41Embryological development
- 18th century comparative anatomists noted that as
animals went through embryonic development, it
was difficult in the early stages to tell what
type of animal it was. Chicken, lizard and human
embryos look very similar and have similar
structures (gill slits, etc.). - Darwin would use this to argue common descent.
42Artificial Selection
- Animal breeders had demonstrated that species are
not immutable . . . That is, they can be changed
through selective breeding.
43Charles Darwin
44Thomas Malthus (1766-1834)
- Essay on the Principle of Population (1798)
- In nature, organisms produce far more offspring
than can survive. - Man too is capable of overproducing if left
unchecked (advocated limiting family size) -
- Famine would become globally epidemic and
eventually consume Man.
45Alfred Russel Wallace
If not for me, Darwin would not have published
his ideas . . Yet, no one remembers my name!!
46Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913)
- Travels to Amazon Malay Archipelago (1848-62)
- Independently developed theory of natural
selection (drew same conclusion from Malthus as
had Darwin) - Wrote an essay On the Tendency of Varieties to
Depart Indefinitely From the Original Type - Send ms off to Darwin for review Darwin
submitted his own, beating Wallace to the punch!!
47Herbert Spencer
- Coined the term Survival of the Fittest
- Tried to apply evolution to human populations and
demonstrate moral superiority of Europeans
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