Eureka! (Icon Science)
The Birth of Science
Published on 2. February 2017
192 pages
978-1-78578-192-6 (ISBN)
Description
Medicine, anatomy, astronomy, mathematics and cosmology, science began with the Greeks, and Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras, Archimedes and Hippocrates were amongst its stars. That man ever managed to develop a 'scientific' attitude to the natural world at all is one of the true wonders of human thought.
Eureka! shows how, free from intellectual and religious dogma, these early thinkers rejected myths and capricious gods and, in distinguishing between the natural and supernatural, effectively discovered nature.
Andrew Gregory, Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at University College London, unravels the genesis of science in this fascinating exploration of the origins of Western civilisation, and our desire for a rational, legitimating system of the world.
Eureka! shows how, free from intellectual and religious dogma, these early thinkers rejected myths and capricious gods and, in distinguishing between the natural and supernatural, effectively discovered nature.
Andrew Gregory, Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at University College London, unravels the genesis of science in this fascinating exploration of the origins of Western civilisation, and our desire for a rational, legitimating system of the world.
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02/2017
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Person
Andrew Gregory is Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at University College London. His specialisms are in ancient and early modern science, ancient philosophy, and the relation of magic and science. He is also the author of Harvey's Heart: The Discovery of Blood Circulation (Icon, 2001) and Plato's Philosophy of Science (Bloomsbury, 2001).
Content
- Intro
- Copyright Page
- Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Dedication
- Preface to the 2017 edition
- The Creation of Science
- 1. The Early Greeks and their Predecessors
- Science Must Begin with Myths
- Two Cultures
- Cosmos: an Elegant Universe
- Myths and Theories
- Natural Phenomena
- 2. The First Scientific Theories
- The Fathers of Medicine
- Eleatics and Atomists: Achilles and the Tortoise
- The Pythagoreans: the Secret Magic of Numbers
- Come the Time of Proof
- Euclid
- Science and Technology
- Great Achievement Assured
- 3. Men of the World
- Plato
- Teleology: the Best of all Possible Worlds
- Atomism: Let us Trace the Pattern
- No Slight or Trivial Influence
- Aristotle: The Master of Those who Know
- The Terrestrial Realm
- The Heavens
- Speculations Upon Matter
- Aristotle and Qualities
- Explanations
- Direction of Explanation: Clockwork Lives
- 4. Heavenly Thoughts
- Eudoxus: Thinking Regressively
- Ptolemaic Astronomy
- The Four Seasons
- Revolutionary Thinking
- Modelling the Heavens
- 5. The Origins of the Cosmos and of Life: Consider your Origins
- 6. Medicine and the Life Sciences
- Galen
- Ancient Thought on Blood
- Aristotle and Biology: Biology's Beginnings
- Embryology and Species
- Taxonomy
- 7. Later Greek Science: After Aristotle
- Epicurus and Epicureanism: on the Nature of Things
- Stoics: the Active and the Passive
- Archimedes
- Eratosthenes
- Hero and his Engine
- The Origins of Alchemy and Astrology
- The Decline of Greek Science? All Good Things Must Come to an End
- The Creation of Science
- Appendices
- Map of Ancient Greece
- Glossary of Terms
- Timeline of Ancient Greek Philosopher-scientists
- Further Reading
