The Origins of Natural Philosophy - Lecture Notes

The Origins of Natural Philosophy History and Context Science Transformed/shaped human history History of science – different – “idea” Tension – intellectual aspects/application: Greek philosophers- modern day Research – own sake/pressure to apply Useful? Varies from...

The Origins of Natural Philosophy History and Context Science Transformed/shaped human history History of science – different – “idea” Tension – intellectual aspects/application: Greek philosophers- modern day Research – own sake/pressure to apply Useful? Varies from person/society Science and Technology Also, issue for historians Science end? Technology start? Articulation – scholar and craftsman debate Example of interconnection? Geographers – early modern – navigator skills/abstract math The Origins of Natural Philosophy Origins of Natural Philosophy Roots of modern science – heritage of natural philosophy Greek philosophers Understand success – Greek natural philosophy Conditions – philosophy of nature Observation of nature – key to human survival Early Civilizations and the Development of Knowledge Rise in agriculture, urban civilization – types of knowledge – diverse – new skills Four great cradles of civilization – river systems Nile Tigris-Euphrates Indus-Ganges Yellow Common characteristic? Early Civilizations and the Development of Knowledge Floods– renewed soil, agriculture, feed large populations People freed from farm work Rivers - agricultural and economic advantage - also, subtle effect – intellectual development How? Early Civilizations and the Development of Knowledge Large scale agricultural production: Counting and measurement (length, weight, area, volume) Accounting skills/record keeping Agriculture and religion – intertwined: timekeeping (worship/production) Astronomical observations/calendars From villages to kingdoms to empires – record keeping – more than memory Writing and accounting Early Civilizations and the Development of Knowledge Floods – loss of landmarks Surveying skills Surveying – introduced geometry –level/angle measurement devices Used for building projects Tools - closely related – navigation/astronomy Practical skills – abstract models i.e. counting cattle – arithmetic Early Civilizations and the Development of Knowledge Four ancient empires – mastered skills: Observation Record keeping Measurement Mathematics Foundation of natural philosophy The Greek World Greek society - city states – competition Bring home – intellectual/material wealth Greek life – public –discussions/debates/teaching/news Public exchange of ideas – intellectual rigor/tolerance for alternative points of view Important to note: time and leisure – use of slavery for societal functioning Thales to Parmenides: Theories of Matter, Number and Change Greek – separation of natural and supernatural Separation – central tenet for philosophers – 6 th century BCE Most famous: Thales of Miletus (624-548 BCE) Argued: Water – “…prime constituent of nature.” (Ede and Cormack, 2022) All matter – made of water – 3 forms: Water, earth, mist Thales to Parmenides: Theories of Matter, Number and Change Two Noteworthy: Nature – completely material (no supernatural elements), own accord (functioning) Student: Anaximander Added fire Earth – centre – 3 rings of fire – hidden by mist Aperture in mist – light through – image – star, sun, moon Natural system for animal life – animals – wet earth – heat of sun Four elements – prerequisite for life Further argued – simple creatures – complex ones – linked – nature to natural processes Thales to Parmenides: Theories of Matter, Number and Change Same time – not matter – number Emerged from Pythagoras Pythagoreanism – “…conception of the universe based on numbers.” All life – expressed in numbers, ratios, proportions, geometry Math – quantify nature Example – music – length of string – note produced Cosmology – divided universe – three spheres: Uranos, Olympos, Cosmos (fig. 1.2, pg. 9) Thales to Parmenides: Theories of Matter, Number and Change Famous geometric relation from the Pythagoreans (did not create): “Pythagorean Theorem” “…relates the length of the hypotenuse of a triangle to its sides.” (Ede and Cormack, 9) Known to Egyptians and Babylonians “… the world works the way it does because of the intrinsic nature of the objects in the world and not through the intervention of unknowable supernatural agents. Ideal forms, especially geometric objects such as circles and spheres, existed as the hidden superstructure of the universe, but they could be revealed, and they were not capriciously created or changed by the gods.” (Ede and Cormack, 10) Greek Mathematics Two issues: Usedletter to represent numbers (not decimals/placeholder system) No system of algebra Thales to Parmenides: Theories of Matter, Number and Change Ionians – material structure Pythagoreans – math/geometry Additional aspect of nature – change Motion, growth, decay, thought – not matter/form Two extremes: Heraclitus of Ephesus (c. 550–475 BCE) Parmenides of Elea (fl. 480 BCE) Thales to Parmenides: Theories of Matter, Number and Change Heraclitus – all was change, nature – constant state of fl ux Dynamic equilibrium – forces – against one another Fire – heart of system – destroy others (earth, water) “…you can’t step into the same river twice.” (Eck and Cormack, 12) Parmenides – change – illusion Change – impossible – need something to come from nothing/being to non-being Logically –impossible – nothing to contain something Thales to Parmenides: Theories of Matter, Number and Change Pupil – Zeno “Zeno’s Paradox” – famous proof – against possibility of motion (fig.1.5, pg. 12) Thinking about Zeno’s Paradox Go to: https://theconversation.com/the-ancient-greek-rid dle-that-helps-us-understand-modern-disease-thr eats-25612 1.) What is the “most famous” of Zeno’s riddles? Explain. 2.) What illness does the article discuss within the context Zeno’s work? The Ideal and the Real Ideas of previous – came together in the work of famous/infl uential thinkers – Athens 5 th century BC Socrates – study of nature – not worthy of philosophers thought Real world – “…realm of the ideal.” (Ede and Cormack, 13) “Since nothing in the material world could be perfect, it followed that the material world must be secondary to the ideal.” (Ede and Cormack, 13-14) People – knowledge to comprehend how things worked Through questioning, innate skills reveal themselves “…a form of teaching based not on the instructor giving information to the student but asking a series of questions that guides the student’s thoughts to the correct understanding of a topic. (Ede and Cormack, 14) The Ideal and the Real Pupil – Plato Interests – ethical and political The Republic Ideal society/problems social organization “Allegory of the Cave” Perception through senses – illusion – logic/philosophy expose truth Timaeus Four elements – earth, water, air, fire The Ideal and the Real Famous student – Aristotle More interested in material world Agreement with Plato – senses impure/fallible Argued – all we had Created complete system of natural philosophy Two central ideas: System to provide complete description of natural objects System to verify knowledge – satisfy demand for proof The Ideal and the Real Importance of identification and classification Four elements – not enough to account for organization/behaviour of matter Matter- Four irreducible qualities: Hot/cool and wet/dry Always in pairs/separate from material How things came to be: 4 Causes – formal, material, effi cient, final The Ideal and the Real Plato and Aristotle – elements – continuous substance View challenged – Epicureans “…the world as constructed of an innumerable (but not infinite) number of atoms that were indestructible” (Ede and Cormack, 17) Epicurean natural philosophy – challenged – material foundation of nature, and path to knowledge Argued – knowledge only from our senses Precursor to modern chemistry Aristotelian Theories of Change and Motion Three fundamental aspects of matter – elements, qualities, causes Change and motion – brings together Types of motion – natural Other forms – motion introduced Locomotion Amount of element in object – rate of motion Aristotelian Logic Structure of matter/motion – not enough to understand world Senses fooled/inaccurate, observation – exterior world, no underlying rules Required – logic Posterior Analytics Prior Analytics Syllogism – basis of logic system Powerful – logical continuity Not reveal truth – can construct false (though logical) Aristotle’s System Power in breadth, completeness Integrated ideas –developed/tested –hundreds of years Own observation/logic Belief – can understand nature Did not include experimentation Rejected/distrusted knowledge by testing nature Testing – unnatural condition Euclid and the Alexandrians Following death of Aristotle, Greek scholarship – shift to Alexandria Ruler of Egypt – Ptolemy invited Demetrius Phaleron to Alexandria Advised Ptolemy – est. collection of texts, temple to the Muses (Museum) Library – part of museum Associated with Museum – Euclid Authored – Elements – 13 volumes – mathematical knowledge Euclid and the Alexandrians What made Elements so significant? 1. Systematic presentation of proofs “…each statement was based on a logical demonstration of what came before.” (Ede and Cormack, 23) Gave proofs reliability Infl uence – how math and philosophy ideas presented today 2. Scope of work Brought together all math known to the Greeks Important text – scholars/education Euclid and the Alexandrians Eratosthenes of Cyrene Worked in field of mathematics Chief Librarian in Museum of Alexandria Applied math to geography: Method – measure circumference of the Earth The Image of the Philosopher Archimedes – image of philosophers Accomplishments: Number for pi Est. study of hydrostatics Laws of levers Also – mechanical devices – various war machines Various legends Activity: What Would Plato Think About ChatGPT? See PDF of the article: “What would Plato think of ChatGPT” posted under the current slide deck, and answer the following questions: 1.) What was Plato concerned about with the use of text, and what did he claim? 2.) What would Plato think about ChatGPT? 3.) According to the article, what is the value of assigning essays? 4.) How does Plato’s quote: “Not truth but only the semblance of truth,” relate to the article? Activity: Citizen Science Go to: https://theconversation.com/aristotle-aelian-and-the-giant-octopus-the-earlie st-citizen-science-goes-back-more-than-2-000-years-236709 Answer the following questions: 1.) What is citizen science? 2.) Explain Aristotle’s work pertaining to science and animals. 3.) What was Aristotle’s greatest work pertaining to animals? 4.) How does Aristotle’s work relate to the concept of “citizen science”? 5.) What was Theophrastus’ main research area? How did he utilize citizen science?