TEST 1 STUDY GUIDE Spring 2014 Class Notes HIS3464 History of Science Reading Notes at Bottom PAGE 13 January 9 2014 What is Science Defining it Is it just observation Mythopoeic on the natural world Thales of Miletus Why Ancient Greece Frontier Trade wealth Natural Philosophy word science did not exist in time period discussed o Depending on your definition when did it start o What were its origins the foundations of the beliefs of these cultures was not based o Looked to the supernatural for explanations o Science is a luxury Time to wander around aimlessly and observe surroundings wonder ponder o Exposed to many different cultures cultural variety Three Basic Questions 1 What makes up reality 2 How do we account for change 3 How do we know what we know Epistemology Key point No personification or deification the answer is not supernatural but natural What makes up reality Milesian elementalism Thales focus on element water Anaximander focus on fifth element similar to personification but still an early attempt to focus on the natural world Quintessence focus on element air Anaximenes on particles similar to atoms Pythagoreans and numbers Matrix world is not made of stuff but of numbers focus on math Leucippus of Miletus Democritus of Abdera focus Atomistic Materialists What is the nature of change Herclitus vs Parmenides o Parmenides states that what exists just exists and nothing ever really changes Herclitus states that you can never step into the same river twice once you step in it once it fundamentally changes Zeno and paradoxes The Atomists and the swerve o Epicurus and Lucretius o The Swerve states that whatever happens just happens How do we know what we know Epistemology Plato The Doctrine of Forms o The real world does not match up with ideals there does exist in ones mind an ideal of things but in the real world it does not exist the real world is imperfect observation not via experimentation but via your mind reason true knowledge comes not via o The Allegory of the Cave o The senses are tricky put your finger up and from your perception it can look bigger than a far away person s head Plato s student the only thing that can be trusted is substance Aristotle your senses o Our minds differ but reality does not o Observation not experimentation o Form properties is different than matter subjects experience with reason Aristotle would become the basis for scientific investigation for the next 1800 years or so first to interact with nature not just on a philosophical level Scientific Community and the Spread of Knowledge Plato s Academy actual place a centralized repository of knowledge rival school to Plato s later on Aristotle s Lyceum he made a school of natural philosophy that met in an o Two different fundamental ways of looking at reality The Stoa taught that everything happens for a reason and the Garden of Epicurus taught of an in deterministic world whatever happens happens two other schools Aristotle and Alexander the Great look up library that was burned Hellenization The rise of Rome Ptolemy and the Library at Alexandria Medicine and patronage Hippocrates and learned medicine not mystical o The Four Humors Galen 210AD Blood yellow vile black vile phlegm All things that can go out of balance and cause illnesses human dissection Hellenism and Roman patronage paid to do science 129AD o Studied medicine in Pergamum Smyrna Corin and Alexandria o Imperial physician intelligent design Foremost medical authority in Europe for almost 1500 years The Fall of the Roman Empire Science as a luxury Conditions were perfect why did not much happen in Rome in terms of science Especially compared to Greece Compilations and Encyclopedia s Pliny the Elder Popularization of Science made a lot of the ideas more accessible except didn t translate writings into Latin only Greek which at one point was forgotten Scientific craft vs Scientific theory Instability and the demise of European learning Recap Questions Possible Test Questions Three classes Ancient Middle Renaissance Were the Dark Ages Dark Dark Ages preservation of knowledge rather than pushing boundaries What was the importance of Islam Created algebra big empire similar to Greece Islam spread very quickly had patronage individual patrons Lacking construct institutionalization in science How did the Greek tradition make its way to Europe Greek tradition went from Rome to the East to Europe 12th Century Renaissance look up What were some differences between European reception of Greek learning and Islamic reception Preconditions of the Scientific Revolution Did Science start in the Middle Ages January 16 2014 Renaissance literal meaning rebirth Politics and Culture Trading routs mostly positive but also lead to the Black Plague o Recovery of European population following the plagues of 1347 was only two hundred years an insignificant moment in the evolutionary time scale Only took 4 years for the Bubonic Plague to spread to all of Europe and partially the east o Plague often argued as a reset button Renaissance occurred around 50 years after Military Revolution power fire arms raise taxes to pay professional army bring more first nation states arise introduction of gun The Printing Press Mass production of knowledge spread of people in to tax and more people in to collect the taxes led to the modern state language communication The Fall of Constantinople the Renaissance 1492 due to cannons where go after the war Christopher Columbus world is not round but pear shaped not flat Lasted possibly up to 600 800 years Fall of Granada 1453 last of the Roman Empire kick starts Discovery of the New World Reconquista The Importance of Print Johannes Gutenberg and the Printing Press 1450 3 pages per day by hand vs 3600 pages per day by press Influx and spread of information also note the fall of Constantinople The Reformation and a plurality of ideas people start to question more Arguably the single most important event in Western history New World Also arguably the single most important event in Western history Everyone was wrong no one guessed the existence of another continent with another population opened the door for knowledge suggests that everything we know should be reevaluated Quest for gold influx of money provides a lot of funding for science The Columbian Exchange exchange of food for people see more below Old World to New livestock carrots sugar cane rice diseases lots technology New World to Old syphilis rubber tobacco