Also, the ancient Greeks were credited with many developments that have led to modern day sciences. The deductive reasoning formula they developed proved particularly useful in the later development of the scientific method. The Socratic Method and the idea of Forms led to great advances in Geometry, logic, and natural sciences. Modern day scientific vocabulary and style are directly derived from translations of past scientific writings. Tia 2 During the development of Western Civilization religion was basically polytheistic, the worship of more than one god.
Early Greek philosophy, in turn, was influenced by the older wisdom literature and myths of the Near East. As M.L. West points out: "contact with oriental cosmology and theology helped to liberate the early Greek philosophers' imagination; it certainly gave them many suggestive ideas. But they taught themselves to reason. Philosophy as we understand it is a Greek creation," (Griffin, 2001).
Francesca Ogilvie Mr. Morningstar M&C History August 29, 2012 In what ways did the Renaissance move Europe away from the medieval and toward the modern? Did the Renaissance help Europe develop and flourish as it is today? The Renaissance was a great era that opened up a chance of progress, and therefore modernization, for Europe. Although it begun in Italy, over a short period of time it had made it’s way to the north and then, eventually, influenced the world in many ways. The Renaissance came after the devastating Dark Ages; where Europe lost 25 million people to the Black Death, and many lost the ability to read and write (“The Black Death”).
It was not until the sciences of astronomy, optics, and mechanics — the exact sciences, known as the “middle sciences” to Aristotle and his followers in the late Middle Ages — became fully integrated with natural philosophy in the seventeenth century that early modern science emerged. Although the process of integration began in the Middle Ages, it accelerated rapidly in the seventeenth century. The importance of the union between the exact sciences and natural philosophy was truly significant. Other societies that at one time had well-developed mathematics and astronomy, but failed to generate, and maintain, a well-developed natural philosophy, eventually saw their mathematical sciences fade away. A prime example is the civilization of Islam.2 In what follows, I shall focus on two basic issues that are most relevant to natural philosophy and should be of great interest to historians of science.
Islamic mathematics corresponds to the mathematics that had been developed in the Islamic world between 622 and 1600, when the religion of Islam was dominant in the empire. Islamic mathematics flourished under the Islamic Empire that was established across the Middle East in the 8th century, although the center of advances was located in Persia. During the 1st century of the Islamic Empire, there was scarce mathematical achievements and knowledge, but by the 8th century research in mathematics increased. The “mathematics of practitioners” played an important role in mathematics brought about in chivalric Islam, which included the applied mathematics of builders, artisans, merchants, tax and treasury officials, and was universal in the Islamic world. For the people of ancient Islam, mathematics was necessary in order to observe the holy days on the Islamic calendar, whose times were determined by the phases of the moon.
Many important events came from this era, including a surge in human awareness appropriately called “Humanism”, the re-visiting classic art styles from Ancient Roman and Greek times, and a boom in scientific discoveries. The Renaissance was a marvelous time, indeed, the influence of which can still be seen today. The Renaissance: Defining an Era The word “Renaissance” literally translates to mean “rebirth”, this appropriately describes what takes place during this exciting time in history. The Renaissance Era is identified as the time period following the Middles Ages. “The term Middle Ages was coined by scholars in the 15th century as the time between the downfall of Classical Greece and Rome and its rediscovery at the start of their own century.” (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2014) Renaissance is also said to have ended the Dark Ages, metaphorically being the point of man’s enlightenment.
It is the engine of scientific progress and thus of the progress of society. A particularly fruitful way to look at the history of science is to study how science itself has changed over time, with an eye to what that trajectory might suggest about the future. Kelly chronicled a sequence of new recursive devices in science... 2000 BC — First text indexes 200 BC — Cataloged library (at Alexandria) 1000 AD — Collaborative encyclopedia 1590 — Controlled experiment (Roger Bacon) 1600 — Laboratory 1609 — Telescopes and microscopes 1650 — Society of experts 1665 — Repeatability (Robert Boyle) 1665 — Scholarly journals 1675 — Peer review 1687 — Hypothesis/prediction (Isaac Newton) 1920 — Falsifiability (Karl Popper) 1926 — Randomized design (Ronald Fisher) 1937 — Controlled placebo 1946 — Computer simulation 1950 — Double blind experiment 1962 — Study of scientific method (Thomas Kuhn) Projecting forward, Kelly had five things to
The holy book of Islam is the Qur’an (‘Koran’), and the centre for Muslim worship is the ‘House of Prayer’ in Mecca. During the 6th century, Arabia had two powerful neighbours: the Byzantine empire and the Sassanian empire. The Byzantine empire was Christian and its capital was Constantinople which is now the city of Istanbul in Turkey. The people of the Sassanian empire worshipped the sun-god, Ahura Mazda, and followed the teachings of an ancient philosopher, Zoroaster. Islam grew and spread rapidly east and west from Arabia to become a powerful rival to Christendon.
Critically assess Descartes view of the soul. René Descartes, who was born in 1596 in France was very much a product of the French renaissance, was greatly influenced by Aristotle, a Greek philosopher and scientist born in the city of Stagirus, in 384 BCE, enjoying a 17 year stint at Plato’s Academy. Descartes was also greatly influenced by the Christian world view, which is the framework of ideas and beliefs through which a Christian can use to interpret the world around them and ways in which to interact with it. He sought to lay a new foundation for philosophy with the mathematical method. Most famous for his quote, “I think therefore I am”, Descartes was a respected philosopher, mathematician and writer in the 17th century.
THE GOLDEN AGE OF ISLAM The golden age of Islam was 711 to 1492 in Spain. During that period philosophers, scientists and engineers of the Islamic world are credited with a period of contribution to scientific knowledge, cultural arts, civilization and architecture, both by developing earlier traditions and by a period of relatively rapid and marked innovation. A substantial degree of historic Islamic intellectual innovation occurred in the so-called Golden age Islamic civilization experienced a golden age under the Abbasid Dynasty, which ruled from the mid-8th century until the mid-13th century. Under the Abbasids, Islamic culture became a blending of Arab, Persian, Egyptian, and European traditions. The result was an era of stunning intellectual and cultural achievements.