STS REVIEWER • Johnson (2012) described Darwin

as a genius who came from a line

General Concepts
of intellectually gifted and
• conceptualized to develop deep wealthy family.
appreciation and critical • He developed his interest in
understanding of the role of natural history during his time as
science and technology in the a student Shrewsbury School.
development of people and • He would also spend time taking
society. long walks to observe his
• deals with the interaction surroundings while collecting
between science and technology specimens and poured over
in social, cultural and economic books in his father’s library
perspectives (Gribbin, 2005).
• It is an interdisciplinary course • Darwin went to the best schools
whereby students are engaged in but was observed to be a
learning numerous scientific mediocre student.
issues and technological • Darwin’s life soon changed when
advancement. one of his professors
recommended him to join a five-
Intellectual Revolutions that defined year voyage through the HMS
society Beagle on the Islands of
Galapagos.
• The idea of scientific revolution is
• Galapagos Islands - ‘living
claimed to have started in the 18th
museum and showcase of
century in Europe.
evolution’
• scientific revolution was the
• Darwin's study on Finches - all of
Period of Enlightenment.
them evolved from one ancestral
The Enlightenment – the great 'Age species, which colonized the
of Reason' is defined as the period islands only a few million years
of rigorous scientific, political and ago.
philosophical discourse. • Adaptive Radiation - this process,
whereby species evolve rapidly to
DARWIN, WALLACE, MENDEL exploit empty ecospace.
CHARLES DARWIN (1809 – 1882) Has Two Parts: (a) Concept of
• Darwin is famous for his theory on Evolutionary Change, (b) Concept of
evolution; he changed the Natural Selection
concept of the world’s creation
and its evolution.
(a) The Concept of Evolutionary
Change
• Darwin maintained that
organisms descended from
ancient ancestors quite unlike
themselves; that change
occurred, and, that natural
selection determined the course
of change.
• In Darwin’s time things and
events moved very slowly
• It was a belief that everything was
placed by a Divine Being on Earth
& perpetuated themselves
without change.
Evidences of Darwin to Combat the
View of a Static Universe
1.) Discovery of Fossils – by
geologists, of species no longer
living in the present time
Fossils - the naturally preserved
remains or traces of animals or
plants that lived in the geologic past
(two main types of fossils: body and
trace)
typically, something must be older
than 10,000 years to be considered a
fossil.
This is evidence that life on Earth
was marked by change.
2.) Resemblance between species -
suggested that these species
descended from a common ancestor.
3.) Darwin could point out changes in
domesticated plants and animals -
showed that their ancestors existed
but bore little resemblance to
domesticated forms.
(b) The Concept of Natural Selection
• It was easy for Darwin to see
evolutionary change; but it took him
many years to figure out WHAT
caused the Change.
• Evolutionary change must be caused
by some sort of natural selection.
• variation occurs in every population.
• Selection results from the fact that
individuals with different inherited
characteristics have unequal
chances of survival & reproduction.
• cause some inherited characteristics
to become more prominent in the
population.
• the change is in the genes.
What factors then cause natural
selection?
1. survival and;
2. reproduction
If each individual in a large
population had an equal chance of
survival and reproduction – there
would be no evolutionary change.
ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE (1823 – 1913)
• Alfred Russel Wallace was a
naturalist who independently
proposed the theory of evolution
by natural selection.
• a great admirer of Charles Darwin
• Wallace worked around the world
gathering evidence to support his
evolutionary theory.
• best known for studying warning
coloration in animals
• as well as his theory of speciation
Warning Coloration - conspicuous
markings or bright colors possessed
by an animal that serve as a warning
to potential predators that it is toxic
or distasteful.
'On the Origin of Species' - prompted
Darwin (collaboration with Wallace)
to publish in 1859, it shook mankind's
assumptions about its origins, which
were heavily influenced by religion.
Principles of Evolution by Natural
Selection
• Wallace developed some of his
most important ideas about
natural selection during an eight-
year expedition to what was then
the Dutch East Indies — modern-
day Indonesia — to observe
wildlife and collect specimens.
• by 1855, Wallace had come to the
conclusion that living things
evolve, but he didn't figure out
how.
• It came to him that animals evolve
by adapting to their environment.
Discovering 'Wallacea'
• Wallace's greatest contribution to
the theory of natural selection
was simply to ask: Why do we find
this animal in this place?
• He realized that just as animals
are shaped by where they live,
regions can also be defined by
the animals that live there.
Foretelling Future Threats
• Biodiversity provides the raw
material for natural selection to
work on
• it also allowed Wallace to
compare and contrast the
differences among many species
— differences as subtle as the
graceful curve of a butterfly's
wing.
GREGOR MENDEL (1822 – 1884)
• Gregor Mendel was an Austrian
monk who discovered the basic
principles of heredity through
experiments in his garden.
• Mendel's observations became
the foundation of modern
genetics and the study of
heredity, and he is widely
considered a pioneer in the field
of genetics.
• Around 1854, Mendel began to
research the transmission of
hereditary traits in plant hybrids.
Law of Segregation
• which established that there are
dominant and recessive traits
passed on randomly from parents
to offspring.
• provided an alternative to
blending inheritance, the
dominant theory of the time.
 • genes are located on
chromosomes and consist of
Law of Independent Assortment
DNA.
• which established that traits were • They are passed from parent to
passed on independently of other offspring through reproduction.
traits from parent to offspring. • these principles are now called
• He also proposed that this Mendel's law of segregation and
heredity followed basic statistical law of independent assortment.
laws.
Exceptions to Mendel’s Rules
• though Mendel’s experiments had
been conducted with pea plants, • The principle of independent
he put forth the theory that all assortment doesn’t apply if the
living things had such traits. genes are close together (or
linked) on a chromosome.
Experiments on Plant Hybrids (1865 -
• also, alleles do not always
Published by Natural Science
interact in a standard
Society in Brno)
dominant/recessive way,
Later Life and Legacy particularly if they are
codominant or have differences in
• Gregor Mendel died on January 6, expressivity or penetrance.
1884, at the age of 61.
• He was laid to rest in the
monastery’s burial plot and his
funeral was well attended; his work,
however, was still largely unknown.
• his research and theories are
considered fundamental to any
understanding of the field, and he is
thus, considered the "father of
modern genetics."

Genetic Theory

• Gene Theory is one of the basic

principles of biology.
• the main concept of this theory is
that traits are passed from
parents to offspring through gene
transmission.
NICOLAUS COPERNICUS
• one of the Renaissance men
whose idea and model of the
universe was essentially
completed in 1510.
• knowledge about the nature of
the universe had been unchanged
since the great days of Ancient
Greece, 1,500 years before
Copernicus came to the scene.
• he circulated a summary of his
ideas to his few close friends in a
manuscript Commentariolus
(Little Commentary).
Renaissance
• The Renaissance Period is ranked
among the most influential
periods in the history of Europe.
• it took place between 1300 and
1700; it is considered as the
cultural link from the Middle Ages
to modern history.
• the Renaissance period was
marked by renewed interest in
science and the arts, and a
section of historians view it as a
cultural and intellectual
movement than as a historical
period.
• the period is mostly associated
with Italy where it originated from
in the 14th century.
• by the time Copernicus finished
his doctorate degree he was
appointed as canon at Frombork
Cathedral in Poland.
• despite his duty as canon, he had
plenty of time to sustain his
interest in astronomy and was
strongly influenced by a book
published in 1496 by a German
author Johannes Mueller, entitled
Epitome.
• the book contains Mueller’s
observation of the heavens and
some commentary on the earlier
works of Ptolemy.
• Ptolemy was an astronomer and
mathematician; he believed that
the Earth was the center of the
Universe.
• the word for earth in Greek is geo,
so we call this idea a
“Geocentric" theory.
• even starting with this incorrect
theory, he was able to combine
what he saw of the stars'
movements with mathematics,
especially geometry, to predict
the movements of the planets.
• his famous work was called the
Almagesti.
• this flawed view of the Universe
was accepted for many centuries.
• the publication of Copernicus's
book On the Revolution of the
Heavenly Spheres in 1543 is often
cited as the start of the scientific
evolution.
• in his book, he wanted a model of
the universe in which everything
moved around a single center at
unvarying rates (Gribbin, 2003).
• Copernicus placed the Sun as the
centerpiece of the Universe; the
Earth and all the planets are
surrounding or orbiting the sun
each year.
• the moon, however, would still be
seen orbiting the Earth.
Copernicus outlined two kinds of
planetary motion.
1. The orbits of Venus and Mercury
lay inside the orbit of the Earth, thus,
closer to the Sun, and;
2. the orbits of Mars, Saturn and
Jupiter lay outside the Earth’s orbit,
thus, farther from the Sun
• Although the Copernican model
makes sense now, during those
times, it was judged as heretic.
• the Catholics banned the
Copernican model and was
ignored by Rome for the rest of
the 16th century.
GALILEO GALILEI (1564 – 1642)
• built on the foundations of
Copernicus’s work; he was a firm
believer in the Heliocentric Model.
• Galileo was placed under house
arrest for much of his life for his
beliefs after standing trial in
Rome.
• He was called a Heretic for
believing that the Sun, not the
Earth, was the motionless center
of the universe.
• in recent years the Church has
acknowledged that its handling of
the Galileo affair was regrettable.
in 1610, Galileo published The Starry
Messenger, which reported his
discoveries of:
1. four of Jupiter’s moons;
2. the roughness of the Moon’s
surface;
3. stars invisible to the naked eye;
and,
4. differences between the
appearances of planets and fixed
stars
• Galileo’s theory was that tides
were caused by the sloshing back
and forth of water in the seas at a
point on Earth’s surface which
speeded up at certain times of
day due to the Earth’s rotation,
however, this is incorrect (as the
tides are caused by the moon)
• Galileo also importantly put forth
the basic principle of relativity.
• Galileo was one of the first to
observe a sunspot and not
mistakenly attribute it to a transit
of Mercury.
• Galileo also demonstrated that
falling bodies of similar material,
but different masses have similar
times of descent, in essence,
descent time is independent of
mass.
ARISTOTLE (385 – 323 BC)
Eudaimonia, literally “good spirited”,
is a term coined by the Greek
philosopher, Aristotle to describe the
pinnacle of happiness that is
attainable by humans.
Aristotle’s human flourishing arises
as a result of different components
such as: phronesis, friendship,
wealth, power.
• in the ancient Greek society, they
believe that acquiring these
qualities will surely bring one
happiness, which allows one to
partake in the greater notion of
what we call the Good.
Phronesis - also written as Fronesis
or Phronēsis is a Greek word for a
type of wisdom or intelligence, which
is a common topic of discussion in
philosophy.
• the concept of human flourishing
today proved to be what Aristotle
originally perceived then.
• competition as a means of
survival has become passe;
coordination is the new trend.
It was Aristotle who gave a definite
distinction between the theoretical
and practical sciences.
• Among the theoretical disciplines,
Aristotle included logic, biology,
physics and metaphysics, among
others.
• Among the practical ones,
Aristotle counted ethics and
politics.
• whereas, “truth” is the aim of
theoretical sciences, the “good”
is the end goal of the practical
ones.
Aristotle and the Good Life
• Compared to his teacher and
predecessor, Plato, Aristotle
embarked on a different approach
in figuring out reality.
• Aristotle puts everything back to
the ground in claiming that this
world is all there is to it and that
this world is the only reality we all
can access.
• Aristotle extends his analysis
from the external world into the
province of the human person
and declares that even human
beings are potentialities who
aspire for their actuality.
• every action that emanates from a
human person is a function of the
purpose (telos) that the person
has.
• every human person, according
to Aristotle, aspires for an end -
happiness or human flourishing.
WESTERN AND EASTERN VIEWS
There exists a discrepancy between
eastern and western conceptions
regarding society and human
flourishing.
• Western civilization tends to be
more focused on the individual,
while those from the East are
more community-centric.
• Human flourishing as an end then
is primarily more of a concern for
 western civilizations over eastern
ones.
• The view of those from the east,
perhaps, is that the community
takes the highest regard - that the
individual should sacrifice
himself for the sake of society.
Verification Theory
• The earliest criterion that
distinguishes philosophy and
science is verification theory.
• The idea proposes that a
discipline is science if it can be
confirmed or interpreted in the
event of an alternative hypothesis
being accepted.
• gives premium to empiricism and
only takes into account those
results which are measurable and
experiments which are
repeatable.
• This was espoused by a
movement in the early 20th
century called Vienna Circle.
Falsification Theory
• Asserts that as long as an
ideology is not proven to be false
and can best explain a
phenomenon over alternative
theories, we should accept such
ideology.
• Due to its hospitable character,
the shift to this theory allowed
emergence of theories otherwise
rejected by verification theory.
Maya Civilization
• the Maya civilization is one of the
famous civilizations that lasted
approximately 2,000 years –
known for their works in
astronomy.
• they incorporated their advanced
understanding of astronomy into
their temples and other religious
structures.
Mayan knowledge and
understanding about celestial
(heavenly) bodies was advanced:
• predicting eclipse
• using astrological cycles in
planting & harvesting
• measuring time using
complicated calendar systems –
in planning their activities &
observing religious rituals &
cultural celebrations
• Mayans developed technology in
growing different crops and
building elaborate cities using
ordinary machineries and tools.
• they used various tools and
innovations especially in the field
of arts.
• Mayans built looms for weaving
cloth and designed a rainbow of
glittery paints from a mineral
called mica.
• they are believed to be the first
people to produce rubber
products 3,000 years before
Goodyear received its patent in
1844.

• Mayans are the most scientifically
advanced societies in
Mesoamerica.
• they are the world’s first
civilizations to use a writing
system as the Mayan
hieroglyphics.
• they are skilled in mathematics &
created a number system based
on the numeral 20 & developed
the concept of zero before the
Romans did.
Inca Civilization
• they made advance scientific
ideas considering their limitation
as an old civilization.
• flourished in ancient Peru
between 1400 and 1533 CE.
• their empire eventually extended
across western South America
from Quito in the north to
Santiago in the south, making it
the largest empire ever seen in
the Americas and the largest in
the world at that time.
• undaunted by the often harsh
Andean environment, the Incas
conquered people and exploited
landscapes in such diverse
settings as plains, mountains,
deserts, and tropical jungle.
• famed for their unique art and
architecture they constructed
finely-built and imposing buildings
wherever they conquered.
Scientific Ideas and Tools
• roads paved with stones
• stone buildings that surmounted
earthquakes & disasters
• irrigation system & techniques for
storing water
• calendar with 12 months to mark
religious festivals and planting
season
• the first suspension bridge
• quipu, a system of knotted ropes
to keep records only experts can
interpret
• Inca textiles since cloth was one
of the specially artistic
achievements
Aztec Civilization
Aztec, self-name Culhua-Mexica,
Nahuatl-speaking people who in the
15th and early 16th centuries ruled a
large empire in what is now central
and southern Mexico.
the Aztecs are so called from Aztlán
(“White Land”), an allusion to their
origins, probably in northern Mexico.
Nahuatl language, Spanish náhuatl,
Nahuatl
also spelled Nawatl, also called
Aztec, American Indian Language of
the Uto-Aztecan family, spoken in
central and western Mexico
Contributions to Science and
Technology
Mandatory education - children are
mandated to get education
regardless of social class, gender or these islands are placed
age. alongside each other, with a small
space between them—creating a
Chocolates - in the Mayan culture, it complex series of canals.
is used as currency, Aztecs value the
• creating also the illusion that the
cacao beans & made it part as
islands are floating.
tribute to their gods.
• the lake’s moisture irrigates the
Antispasmodic medication
- to soil through the canals and
prevent muscle spasms and relax organic waste fertilizes it.
muscles during surgery. • the result is a fruitful, intensive,
sustainable, and highly
Chinampa - a form of Aztec productive form of agriculture
technology for agricultural farming in that can readily support large
which the land is divided into populations.
rectangular areas and surrounded
by canals. Aztec calendar - enabled them to
plan their activities, rituals and
Chinampas or floating gardens, were planting season.
the primary agricultural method in
the Aztec empire—and they helped Invention of the canoe - a light
them sustain their ever-expanding narrow boat used for travelling in
population more than any other water systems, a small, light, narrow
cultivation system imaginable at the boat, pointed at both ends and
time. moved by a person using a paddle or
stick, usually built of wood and
Chinampas were artificial canvas.
agricultural islands built on
freshwater lakes throughout
Mesoamerica, particularly in the
region of Xochimilco, in the Valley of
Mexico.

• these “floating” islands are, in

fact, stationary.
• they consist of a small
rectangular area, about 10 to 20
meters wide (20 to 35 feet) and
100 to 200 meters long.
• many layers of vegetation, dirt,
and mud are piled up to create
these small rectangles, and then,