NOTES ON: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF STS IN THE WORLD, AND IN THE PHILIPPINES

IN THE WORLD

ANCIENT TIMES:

STONE AGE

A broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years, during which Homo sapiens,

one of the ancestors of modern humans and several partially contemporaneous earlier

taxa, evolved. During this Age, metalworking was entirely beyond human capability.

BRONZE AGE

Bronze Age is a period in a civilization's development when the most advanced

metalworking consisted of techniques for melting copper and tin from naturally occurring

outcroppings of ore, and then alloying those metals in order to cast bronze.

IRON AGE

Iron Age is the period in any area during which cutting tools and weapons were mainly

made of iron or steel. The adoption of this material coincided with other changes in society,

including differing agricultural practices, religious beliefs and artistic styles.

MIDDLE AGES:

SCIENCE

During the Middle Ages (5th-15th century). Science was characterized by the preservation

and transmission of ancient knowledge, primarily through monasteries and Islamic centers

of learning. This period laid the foundation for future scientific developments despite being

influenced by religion and limited empirical observation.

TECHNOLOGY

The major advances in scientific and technological development took place in this period.

Including constant crease of new inventions, innovations in traditional production and the

emergence of scientific thinking and method.

SOCIETY

Christian, agricultural, and feudal societies predominated in this period. This period was

marked by a lack of social mobility, limited education, and a strong influence of the Catholic

Church on all aspects of life.

Some Science and Technology Advances in Middle Ages:

★ Heavy Plough

★Gun Powder

★Paper Money

★Mechanical Clock

★ Spinning Wheel
★ The Mariner's Magnetic Compass

MODERN AGES

SCIENCE

The modern ages have seen a revolution in science. The scientific method, which

emphasizes observation and experimentation, has led to a deeper understanding of the

natural world.

TECHNOLOGY

The modern ages have seen the development of new technologies that have had a

profound impact on society.

SOCIETY

The modern ages have also seen a shift from feudalism to capitalism, as well as the rise

of democracy and human rights.

Examples of the interconnectedness of Science, Technology, and Society in the Modern

Ages.

* The development of the printing press led to the spread of literacy and ideas, which contributed

to the Renaissance and the Reformation.

* The Industrial Revolution led to the development of new technologies, such as the steam engine

and the internal combustion engine, which transformed transportation and communication.

* The development of the computer and the internet has revolutionized the way we work, learn,

and communicate.

* Scientific advances in medicine and public health have led to a dramatic increase in life

expectancy.

IN THE PHILIPPINES

PRE-SPANISH PERIOD

Filipinos engaged themselves in weaving, shipbuilding, mining and farming that led them

in creating the first product of engineering which is the Banaue Rice Terraces. Also,

Filipinos during that period engaged themselves in herbal medicine and made themselves

an alphabet, counting methods, weights, measurement system and the calendar of the

space or the periods of the moons.

SPANISH PERIOD

Formal education has been introduced and the foundation of scientific institutions like the

University of St. Tomas has been created. Spaniards made contributions in the field of

engineering by constructing government establishments, churches, roads, bridges and

forts. Also, the galleon trade have accounted in the Philippine colonial economy due to the

prospects of having big profits.

AMERICAN AND POST-COMMONWEALTH PERIOD

Inclined towards agriculture, food processing, medicine and pharmacy. On July 1, 1901,

the Philippine Commission established the Bureau of Government Laboratories which was

placed under the Department of Interior.

THE MARCOS ERA AND THE MARTIAL LAW

1973 Philippine Constitution Article XV, Sec.1 “advancement of the science and

technology shall have priority in the national development.”

During the Marcos presidency when science was given importance. In 1968, technology

was recognized as a top reason in economic development and Marcus gave extra funds

to support projects in applied science and science education. He also allotted large

amount of war damage funds to private universities to encourage the people to courses

that focus on science and technology and research. He established the Philippine Science

High School in Mindanao and Visayas.

5TH REPUBLIC

CORAZON AQUINO

➢ NATIONAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY amended into DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE

AND TECHNOLOGY

➢ DOST scholarships

➢ SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY MASTER PLAN, which aims to achieve newly

industrialized country.

➢ Pushes the FREE PUBLIC SECONDARY EDUCATION

➢ Reorganizes the PHILIPPINE INVENTORS ACT, she helps the Filipino inventors by aiding

them financially.

JOSEPH ESTRADA

➢ Internet age was pushed for the advancements of school and industry.

➢ Speeds up the program “ONE SCIENCE HIGH SCHOOL IN EACH PROVINCE”

GLORIA MACAPAGAL ARROYO

➢ GOLDEN AGE

BENIGNO AQUINO

➢ Giving honor of the 4 scientist which give contributions to scientific field that geared

towards advancement of science and technology in the country.

NOTES ON GROUP 2

INTELLECTUAL REVOLUTIONS

A. COPERNICAN

Nicolaus Copernicus

- was a Renaissance polymath, active as a mathematician, astronomer, and Catholic canon.

- THE FATHER OF MODERN ASTRONOMY
- He proposed a heliocentric system, that the planets orbit around the Sun.
- Sun is the center of universe.
B. DARWINIAN

Charles Darwin

- PROPOSED THE DARWINIAN REVOLUTION/THEORY

- ENGLISH NATURALIST, GEOLOGIST AND BIOLOGIST
- NATURAL SELECTION

LAMARCK'S VS DARWIN'S EVOLUTION THEORY

LAMARCK'S THEORY

- All living individuals adopt to their environment to survive. Traits and characteristics of individuals are due to adaptation to
their environment.

DARWIN'S THEORY

- Traits and characteristics of an individual is due to the genetics factors.

C. FREUDIAN

Sigmund Freud

THE UNCONSCIOUS MIND

- HUMAN BEHAVIOUR IS DOMINATED WITH UNCONSCIOUS MIND

PSYCHOANALYSIS

- EXPLORATION OF THE UNCONSCIOUS MIND

D. INFORMATION

Information technology or Information age

- began around 1970s

- known as a computer age, digital age, or new media age,

- it made industrial country stronger

• renaissance

- creating the idea of inventions

- also change literature

• scientific revolution

- introducing important scientist, galileo, copernicus and sir isaac newton.

• industrial revolution

agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation and technology

- social economic and cultural conditions of the world

INVENTIONS AND INNOVATIONS

1. Internet

It allows people to access and share information, communicate, and perform various tasks online.

2. Tim berners-lee

-www or world wide web

3. Steve job

former CEO of Apple Inc., one of the world's most prominent technology companies

Bill Gates

-co-founder of Microsoft Corporation

NOTES ON GROUP 3 and 4

Science, Technology and Nation Building

Development of Science in Mesoamerica Mesoamerica includes the entire area of Central America from Southern Mexico up to the
bother of South America. There is no doubt that the Mesoamerican region is rich in culture and knowledge prior to the arrival of its
European colonizers.

1. Maya Civilization One of the famous civilizations that lasted for approximately 2000 years is the Maya civilization. These people are
known for their works in astronomy. The Mayans are also known for measuring time using two complicated calendar systems.

- hydraulics system

- mayan hieroglyphics

2. Inca Civilization

The Incas made advanced scientific ideas considering their limitations as an old civilization.

a. Roads paved with stones

b. Stone buildings that surmounted earthquakes and other disasters

c. Irrigation system and technique for storing water for their crops to grow in all types of land

d. Calendar with 12 months to mark their religious festivals and prepare them for planting season e. The first suspension bridge f.
Quipu, a system of knotted ropes to keep records that only experts can interpret

g. inca textiles since cloth was one of the specialty prized artistic achievements

3. Aztec Civilization The Aztec civilization has also made a substantial contributions to science and technology.

a. Mandatory Education

b. Chocolates. The Aztec in Mexico developed chocolate during their time.

c. Antispamodic medication. medication that could prevent muscle spasms and relax muscles which could help during surgery

d. Chinampa. A form of Aztec technology for agricultural farming in which the land was divided into rectangular areas and surrounded by
canals

e. Aztec Calendar. This enabled them to plan their activities, rituals and planting season

f. Invention of the canoe. A light narrow boat used for traveling in water systems

Development of Science in Asia

1. India is a huge peninsula surrounded by a vast body of water and fortified by huge mountains in itsnorthern boarders.
a. Manufacturing Iron and Metallurgical Works. The iron steel made in India is the best and held with high regard in the whole
of Roman Empire
b. Medicine. the Ayurveda ,is still practice as a form of alternative medicine.
c. Astronomy. Theories on the configuration of the Universe
d. Mathematics. introduced a number of trigonometric functions, tables and techniques, as well asalgorithm of algebra.

2. China . One of the ancient civilization with significant contributions in many areas of life. a. Traditional
Medicine. the practice of acupuncture
b. Tools. compass, papermaking, gunpowder, and printing tools ,first seismological detector, and developed a dry dock
facility.
c. Astronomy. They recorded significant events of supernova, lunar and solar eclipses and cometswhich are used to better
understand the heavenly bodies and their effect to our world.
d. The Chinese list of discoveries and inventions were made along with mathematics.
3. Middle East These countries are dominantly occupied by Muslims. The Islam spread in the 7th and 8th centuries, aperiod of
Muslim scholarships, or what is called the Golden Age of Islam lasted until the 13th century.
a. Scientific Method. They use experiments to distinguish between computing scientific theories setwithin a generally
empirical orientation.
Ibn al-Haytham – The Father of Optics, especially for his empirical proof of intromission theoryof light
b. Mathematics. Muslim mathematician makes refinement to the number system
Musa al-Khwarizmi – a mathematician that gave his name to the concept of the algorithm.
c. Modern Chemistry Jābir ibn Hayyān – some scholars considered him as the Father of Chemistry
d. Medicine Ibn Sina – the first Physician to conduct clinical trials.

Top 10 filipino inventions:

Fluorescent, incubator, karaoke, lunar rove, video phone, erythromycin, feminine hygiene, single chip, ink, alco diesel and gas.

NOTES ON GROUP 5

MIDDLE EAST
INVENTIONS: COFFEE, CAFES, TOOTHBRUSH, CHEQUE, FLYING MACHINE, PENS, 3 CORSE MEAL, CLOCK.

Development of Science in Africa

Blessed with natural and mineral resources, science also emerged in Africa long before the colonization of
Europe. The history of science and mathematics shows the early civilization in Africa are knowledge
producers too.
a. Geometry
The development of geometry is the product if necessity to preserve the layout and ownership of
farmlands of the Egyptians living along the Nile river. To build rectilinear structures, the rules of
geometry was developed which post the linter architecture of Egypt and improved the quality of life
of the Egyptians in building their homes and cities. Some proofs of their advanced civilization were
the great structures of the Egyptian pyramids and the early dams used to divert water from the Nile
River.

b. Alchemy
Alchemy is the medieval forerunner of chemistry. Egyptians tried to study human anatomy and
pharmacology. They applied important components such as examination, diagnosis, treatment, and
prognosis for the treatment of disease which lead to the basic empirical method of studying science.

c. Astronomy
Based on documents, Africans used three types of calendars: the lunar, solar and stellar, of a
combination of the three
d. Metallurgy
North Africa and the Nile Valley imported iron technology from the Near East region. It benefited
them from the developments in the Bronze Age to the Iron Age. Metals tools were also invented to be
used in their homes, in agriculture and in building their magnificent structures.

e. Mathematics .
The Islamic region in Africa was considered advanced during the medieval period in algebra,
geometry and trigonometry.

NOTES ON: HUMAN FLOURISHING, GOOD LIFE, AND TECHNOLOGY AS A WAY OF REVEALING

Eudaimonia, literally “good spirited,” a term coined by Aristotle to describe the pinnacle
of happiness that is attainable by humans; has often been translated into “human
flourishing”
▪ Western civilization tends to be more focused on the individual; based on an individual’s
values rather than his belief that the state is greater than him.
▪ the east are more community-centric; community takes the highest regard that the
individual should sacrifice himself for the sake of the society.
▪ Every discovery, innovation, and success contributes to our pool of human knowledge;
human’s perpetual need to locate himself in the world by finding proofs to trace
evolution;
▪ the end goals of both science and technology and human flourishing are related; in that
the good is inherently related to the truth, are two concepts about science which
ventures its claim on truth.

Science as Method and Results

▪ The Scientific Method:
1. Observe
2. Determine the problem
3. formulate hypothesis; reject the null hypothesis
4. Conduct experiment
5. Gather and analyze results
6. Formulate conclusion and provide recommendation

Verification Theory
▪ The earliest criterion that distinguishes philosophy and science
▪ The idea proposes that a discipline is science if it can be confirmed or interpreted in the
event of an alternative hypothesis being accepted.
▪ Several budding theories that lack empirical results might be shot down prematurely,
causing slower innovation and punishing ingenuity of newer, novel thoughts.
▪ This theory completely fails to weed out bogus arguments that explain things
coincidentally.
Falsification Theory
▪ Karl Popper is the known proponent of this view.
▪ Asserts that as long as an ideology is not proven to be false and can best explain a
phenomenon over alternative theories
▪ Allowed emergence of theories otherwise rejected by verification theory
▪ Encourages research in order to determine which among the theories can stand the test
of falsification
Science as a Social Endeavor
▪ A new school of thought on the proper demarcation criterion of science emerged.
▪ Explores the social dimension of science and effectively, technology
▪ The new view perpetuates a dimension which generally benefits the society. Sciences
cease to belong solely to gown wearing, bespectacled scientists at laboratories.

Science and Results

People who do not understand science are won over when the discipline is able to produce
results.
TECHNOLOGY AS A WAY OF REVEALING
The Human Condition Before Common Era
▪ Homo erectus have been using fire to cook, all the while without realizing the laws of
friction and heat.
▪ Tools from stone and flints marked the era of the Stone Age, during the advent of our
very own Homo sapiens.
▪ People discovered minerals and began forging metalwork.
▪ Fur clothing and animal skin are primarily used for comfort against harsh winds. They
begin to cover themselves up out of necessity.
▪ People of the time had also painstakingly wrought and hewed said figures in honor of
some deity; initial roster of primitive gods includes objects they encounter through their
day-to-day lives.

The Human Condition in the Common Era

▪ Driven by their primal need to survive, humans were quick to find ways to drive off other
megafaunas threatening a prospective hunting spot.
▪ The ongoing extinction of several species—both flora and fauna—due to human activity
▪ They began to hunt, farm, and produce things with prospect of profit.
▪ When they could not sell products, they used their skills and got compensated for it—
bringing forth a specialized group of artisans.
▪ Physical strength was valued at most, although there appeared to be as many
intellectually gifted figures just the same.

The Essence of Technology

▪ Modern humans are reliant on technology in their search for the good life. Humans are
reduced into the amount of productivity they are able to render during their lifetime.
▪ By too much reliance on technology, humans lose track of things that matter, reducing
their surroundings to their economic value.

HAPPINESS AS THE GOAL OF A GOOD LIFE

• In the 18th century, John Stuart Mill declared the Greatest Happiness Principle by saying
that an action is right as far as it maximizes the attainment of happiness for the greatest
number of people.
MATERIALISM
• Democritus and Leucipus led a school whose primary belief is that the world is made up
of and is controlled by the tiny indivisible units in the world called atomos or seeds.
HEDONISM
PLEASURE
STOICISM
HAPPINESS
THEISM
GOD-CENTERED
HUMANISM
FREEDOM