HISTORY OF SCIENCE

IT 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.
Ancient Greek society did not have a permanent priestly
class that imposed dogma.

Greek Gods & Goddesses were NOT omnipotent nor

omniscient.
 ARISTOTLE (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.
• 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.
PTOLEMY

• 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).
GREEK 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.
EUROPEAN 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.
• 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 God’s
kingdom.

• Likewise, the further one got from the holy land, the more
degenerate would be those societies.
THE DAY THE UNIVERSE CHANGED
THE “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.
• 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.
• 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.
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).
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.
RENE 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.
COGITO, 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.
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.
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 God’s 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.
CREATIONISM

Several compelling Christian dogmas are important to

note:

1) Genesis: GOD created earth in 6 days (don’t forget – he

took the last day off).

Creation was also centered around Earth & Man (we

are in his image).
 2) Relative Youth of the Earth

there was a lot of debate about the exact age . . . but most
theologians agreed it wasn’t so long ago.

If the earth was indeed less than 6000 years old, then
gradual change could not have occurred.
BISHOP 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.
 3) THE PERMANENCE OF THE
EARTH’S PHYSICAL STRUCTURE
According to Christian thought, the
appearance of earth is the result of two
factors:

1) Original creation by God.

2) The damage done by the great flood.

Otherwise, the earth had not changed over

time, it was in a state of stasis.
4) 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.
CRACK IN THE ARMOR #1

• Fossils – “figured stones” . . . for some time

people considered these evidence of God’s
“playful” nature . . . that he had decorated
some rocks to as replicas of living things.
 JOHN RAY

• Natural theology: the doctrine that

the wisdom and power of God could
be understood by studying His
creation.
• 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
ARGUMENT 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.

ESSENTIALISM

Due to neo-Platonism, variation in species

was disregarded.

As long as the ideal form existed (in God’s

mind), then subtle, minute variations were
insignificant and did not demonstrate change
over time.
EVIDENCE SUPPORTING EVOLUTION
PRIOR TO DARWIN
UNIFORMITARIANISM

• James Hutton : came up with the observation

• Lyell made the ideas popular.

SIR 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.
JEAN-BAPTISTE LAMARCK
(1744-1829)
Inheritance of acquired characteristics
 GEORGES CUVIER (1769-1832)
Catastrophism

Opposed Lamarck

Convinced others that

extinction was a fact

Known as the father of

Comparative anatomy
EXTINCTION

Cuvier’s 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?
SEQUENCE OF FOSSIL TYPES

• By the 1830’s 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 . . . .
EXISTENCE OF RUDIMENTARY
ORGANS
• By the late 1700s, biologists recognized that some animals
retained parts they didn’t use
• snakes with vestiges of limbs
• Flightless insects retained stunted wings.

• These observations contradicted the argument from design theory.

STRUCTURAL 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.
EMBRYOLOGICAL 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.

ARTIFICIAL SELECTION

• Animal breeders had demonstrated that species are not

immutable . . . That is, they can be changed through selective
breeding.
CHARLES DARWIN
THOMAS 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.
ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE
If not for me, Darwin would
not have published his ideas . .
Yet, no one remembers my
name!!
ALFRED 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!!
HERBERT SPENCER

• Coined the term “Survival of

the Fittest”

• Tried to apply evolution to

human populations and
demonstrate moral superiority
of Europeans
Part 2
THE SCIENTIFIC
REVOLUTION
THE PHILOSOPHICAL MEDIEVAL VIEW

• Aristotle & Ptolemy from Greece supported the

Geocentric theory:
Earth was an unmoving object
located at the center of the
universe- the sun and planets
moved around the Earth

• Religion guided views too: Christianity taught that God had

placed Earth at the center of the universe.
 THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION

And new philosophy calls all in doubt,

The element of fire is quite put out;
The sun is lost, and th’ earth, and no man’s wit
Can well direct him where to look for it
’Tis all in pieces, all coherence gone;

-John Donne,
“Anatomy of the World”
ARISTOTLE
(384BC – 322BC)

• Greek philosopher

• Developed geocentric model.

• Philosophies had long-lasting

effects on philosophical
theories.
CLAUDIUS PTOLEMY
(85AD – 165AD)

• Greek astronomer,
mathematician & geographer

• Expanded Aristotle’s
geocentric theory.

• Introduced trigonometry
methods.
 BEFORE THE SCIENTIFIC
REVOLUTION
• Science was called “natural
philosophy”

• Science mixed with moral philosophy,

theology, numerology, alchemy &
magic

• Ancient Greek sources highly trusted

• Few experiments were performed

WHAT WAS THE SCIENTIFIC
REVOLUTION?

• From 1542 to 1700

• Development of new ways to study universe

• Old authorities no longer blindly accepted

• Application of mathematics to natural world

• Creation and spread of new ideas and discoveries

 CAUSES OF THE SCIENTIFIC
REVOLUTION
• The voyages of discovery and
colonization

• Ancient & Medieval works translated

into Latin, then vernacular languages

• New inventions & institutions that

promoted sharing of knowledge
 HELIOCENTRIC MODEL

• Earth is not center of

the universe

• Earth is just another

planet

• Earth revolves around

the Sun

• Night and day caused by

Earth’s rotation
HELIOCENTRIC
THEORY
NICOLAUS COPERNICUS
(1473-1543)

• Sun-centered universe –
heliocentric theory

• Earth is no different than any other

planet

• On the Revolutions of the Heavenly

Spheres (1543)
• http://www.npr.org/2011/11/08/141931239/for-copernicus-a-perfect-heaven-put-sun-
at-center
JOHANNES KEPLER (1571-1630)
• Uses experiments &
observations

• Planetary movement is a
mathematical formula

• Planets move around the

Sun in elliptical orbits
NOT circles

• Confirms Copernicus ideas

GALILEO GALILEI (1564-1642)
• GALILEO – designs 1st telescope w/lens & sees
movement of stars & moons (similar to the
movement of the planets)

• Church believes heavens are fixed; unmoving &

earth is central → they are furious w/Galileo!

• Galileo accused of heresy (crimes against

Church) → 1633 brought to trial before Catholic
Inquisition & he recants his statements

Brainpop
GALILEO GALILEI (1564 — 1642)

• Gathered observational data that supported

the Heliocentric Model

• Wrote Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief

World Systems (1632)
 WHY DID THE CATHOLIC
CHURCH CARE?
• Galileo was CATHOLIC!

• The Protestant Reformation

• Events had disturbed the faith of many Christians

• Movements in the heavens which contradicted

Church doctrine
ISAAC NEWTON (1642-1727)

• Universal law of motion → every

object in universe attracts every other
object

• Mathematical Principles of Natural

Philosophy (1687) - Explained gravity
(what goes up must come down)

• Universe is a giant clock- all parts

work together but God set clock in
motion.
ANDREAS VESALIUS
(1514-1564)

• First to dissect human

bodies (even though a
disapproved practice)

• Wrote On the Fabric of the

Human Body (1543)

• His published observations

included detailed drawings
of human organs, bones &
muscle.
WILLIAM HARVEY (1578-1657)

• Published On the Motion of the

Heart and Blood in Animals
(1628)

• Showed heart acted as a pump

to circulate blood throughout
body
FRANCIS BACON
(1561-1626)

• English politician & writer with an interest

in science.

• Criticized ancient philosophers on how

they arrived at conclusions.

• Urged scientists to experiment in order to

arrive at conclusions

• Developed Scientific Method

THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD

• Observation
• Research
• Hypothesis
• Experiment
• Analysis
• Conclusion
RENE DESCARTES (1596-1650)

• French scientist & mathematician.

• Developed analytical geometry

(links both algebra & geometry)

• Developments provided new tools

for scientific research.
THE ENLIGHTENMENT
---
AGE OF REASON
WHAT WAS IT?
• Emerged out of Scientific
Revolution & ended in
French Revolution

• Spokesmen = Rising
Middle Class

• Paris = Center of
Enlightenment

• Search for new laws/ways

to govern humans
KEY IDEAS

• Distrust of Tradition and

Religion

• Scientific method could

be applied to society as
well

• Man is naturally good

THOMAS KUHN,
THE STRUCTURE OF SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTIONS

What are scientific revolutions all about?

1. The community's rejection of a time-honored scientific theory in favor of
another incompatible (or incommensurable) with it.
2. A shift in the problems available for scientific scrutiny and the standards of
legitimate problem solving.
3. Each involved a transformation of the scientific imagination and worldview.
4. Each involved heated controversy.
5. Each was followed by a period of “normal science”
6. Examples: Copernicus, Newton, Lavosier, Einstein.
THE WORLD OF THE OLD REGIME

• Built on tradition

• World of hierarchy,
privilege and inequality

• Allied with the Church

• Challenged by supporters
of the Enlightenment
CONFLICT WITH THE
CAPITALISTIC MIDDLE CLASS
• Size and increasing power of
the Middle Class

• New notion of wealth

w/mercantilism

• Tension and discord created

by the Middle Class
THE PHILOSOPHES (PHILOSOPHERS)

• 18th century French intellectuals

• Truth through reason

• Natural laws – natural is good and reasonable
• Happiness – belief in natural laws leads to happiness
• Progress – for society (can be perfected)
• Liberties – people should be free
THE PROBLEM OF CENSORSHIP

• The attempt of the Old

Regime to control new
thinking
• Publishers and writers
hounded by censors
• Over 1000 booksellers
and authors imprisoned in
the Bastille in the early
1700’s
FAMOUS ENLIGHTENMENT THINKERS
THOMAS HOBBES (1588 –1679)

• Wrote Leviathan (1651)

• Convinced that all humans are wicked
and evil
• Humans exist in a primitive state and
give consent to the government for
self-protection
• Absolute monarchies
JOHN LOCKE (1632-1704)
• People learn from experience

• Favored self-gov’t, people rule

• Natural rights: life, liberty, property

• gov’t protects these rights and if not,

people overthrow gov’t

• Wrote Two Treaties on Government (1690)

• Inspired American Revolution

FRANCOIS AROUET
VOLTAIRE (1694-1778)

• Admired English gov’t

• Mocked laws of France and
religion
• There should be separation
of church and state
• “Ecrasez l’infame” – “Crush
the evil thing”
BARON DE MONTESQUIEU (1689-
1755)
• The Spirit of the Laws
(1748)

• “Power should be a
check to power” – this is
beginnings of separation
of powers

• Influence in the US –
legislative, executive,
judicial
JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU
(1712-1778)
• Individual freedom

• “Man is born free, and

everywhere he is in chains.”

• Direct democracy

• 1762- Wrote “The Social

Contract” in which he stated
that Gov’t is a contract b/w
people and rulers
THE ROLE OF THE SALON – SPREADING
IDEAS

• Wealthy women of Paris

hosted social gatherings
known as salons
• Philosophers, writers,
artists, scientists gathered
to share ideas
• Madame Geoffrin – most
influential salon hostess
DIDEROT’S ENCYCLOPEDIA

• Encyclopedia (28 volumes)

• Collected articles regarding all
topics: science, politics, economics,
slavery, human rights, religion, etc.
• Critics were outraged & Pope
threatened to excommunicate
Catholics who read it!
• Translations helped spread
enlightenment ideas across Europe
ART AND LITERATURE

• Enlightenment is reflected in the arts – music, literature, painting,

and architecture
• Baroque – grand and ornate TO
• Neoclassical – simple and elegant, Classical music – Haydn, Mozart,
Beethoven
• Development of novels
ENLIGHTENED DESPOTISM

• The manner of political

reform – monarchs who
embraced new ideas&
reforms
• Frederick the Great of
Prussia
• Catherine the Great of
Russia
• Joseph II of Austria
 IMPACT OF ENLIGHTENMENT

• Ideas led to people challenging long held ideas about society

• Political philosophies of the Enlightenment inspired American and

French revolutions in the 1800s