An Introduction to the History of Science

by Walter Libby

The philosophical mind of Thales laid hold, no doubt, of some of the essentials of astronomical science. The particulars usually brought forward to prove his originality tend rather to show his indebtedness to the Babylonians. The number of days in the year, the length of the synodic month, the relation of the sun's apparent diameter to the ecliptic, the times of recurrence of eclipses, were matters that had long been known to the Babylonians, as well as to the Chinese. However, he aroused great interest in astronomy among the Greeks by the prediction of a solar eclipse. This was probably the eclipse of 585 B.C., which interrupted a fierce battle between the Medes and the Lydians. The advice of Thales to mariners to steer by the Lesser Bear, as nearer the pole, rather than by the Great Bear, shows also that in his astronomical studies as in his geometrical he was not indifferent to the applications of scientific knowledge.

In fact, some writers maintain that Thales was not a philosopher at all, but rather an astronomer and engineer. We know very little of his purely speculative thought. We do know, however, that he arrived at a generalization—fantastic to most minds—that all things are water. Attempts have been made to add to this statement, and to explain it away. Its great interest for the history of thought lies in the fact that it is the result of seeking the constant in the variable, the unitary principle in the multiple phenomena of nature. This abstract and general view (though perhaps suggested by the Babylonian belief that the world originated in a watery chaos, or by the teaching of Egyptian priests) was preëminently Greek, and was the first of a series of attempts to discover the basis or origin of all things. One of the followers of Thales taught that air was the fundamental principle; while Heraclitus, anticipating to some extent modern theories of the origin of the cosmos, declared in favor of a fiery vapor subject to ceaseless change. Empedocles, the great philosopher-physician, first set forth the doctrine of the four elements—earth, air, fire, and water. For Democritus indivisible particles or atoms are fundamental to all phenomena. It is evident that the theory of Thales was a starting point for Greek abstract thought, and that his inclination to seek out principles and general laws accounts for his influence on the development both of philosophy and the sciences.

Pythagoras, on the advice of Thales, visited Egypt in the pursuit of mathematics. There is reason to believe that he also visited Babylonia. For him and his followers mathematics became a philosophy—almost a religion. They had discovered (by experimenting with the monochord, the first piece of physical-laboratory apparatus, consisting of a tense harpstring with a movable bridge) the effect on the tone of the string of a musical instrument when the length is reduced by one half, and also that strings of like thickness and under equal tension yield harmonious tones when their lengths are related as 1:2, 2:3, 3:4, 4:5. The Pythagoreans drew from this the extravagant inference that the heavenly bodies would be in distance from the earth as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc. Much of their theory must seem to the modern mind merely fanciful and unsupported speculation. At the same time it is only just to this school of philosophers to recognize that their assumption that simple mathematical relationships govern the phenomena of nature has had an immense influence on the advance of the sciences. Whether their fanaticism for number was owing to the influence of Egyptian priests or had an Oriental origin, it gave to the Pythagoreans an enthusiasm for pure mathematics. They disregarded the bearing of their science on the practical needs of life. Old problems like squaring the circle, trisecting the angle, and doubling the cube, were now attempted in a new spirit and with fresh vigor. The first, second, and fourth books of Euclid are largely of Pythagorean origin. For solid geometry as a science we are also indebted to this sect of number-worshipers. One of them (Archytas, 428-347 B.C., a friend of Plato) was the first to apply geometry to mechanics. We see again here, as in the case of Thales, that the love of abstract thought, the pursuit of science as science, did not interfere with ultimate practical applications.

Plato (429-347 B.C.), like many other Greek philosophers, traveled extensively, visiting Asia Minor, Egypt, and Lower Italy, where Pythagorean influence was particularly strong. His chief interest lay in speculation. For him there were two worlds, the world of sense and the world of ideas. The senses deceive us; therefore, the philosopher should turn his back upon the world of sensible impressions, and develop the reason. In his Dialogues he outlined a course of training and study, the professed object of which was to educate a class of philosophers. (Strange to say, Plato's curriculum, planned originally for the intellectual élite, still dictates in our schools the education of millions of boys and girls whose careers do not call for a training merely of the reason.)

Over the porch of his school, the Academy at Athens, were inscribed the words, "Let no one who is unacquainted with geometry enter here." It was not because it was useful in everyday life that Plato laid such insistence on this study, but because it increased the students' powers of abstraction and trained the mind to correct and vigorous thinking. From his point of view the chief good of geometry is lost unless we can through it withdraw the mind from the particular and the material. He delighted in clearness of conception. His main scientific interest was in astronomy and mathematics. We owe to him the definition of a line as "length without breadth," and the formulation of the axiom, "Equals subtracted from equals leave equals."

Plato had an immediate influence in stimulating mathematical studies, and has been called a maker of mathematicians. Euclid, who was active at Alexandria toward the end of the fourth century B.C., was not one of Plato's immediate disciples but shared the great philosopher's point of view. The story is told that one of his pupils, arrived perhaps at the pons asinorum, asked, "What do I get by learning these things?" Euclid, calling his servant, said, "Give him sixpence, since he must make gain out of what he learns." Adults were also found, even among the nimble-witted Greeks, to whom abstract reasoning was not altogether congenial. This is attested by the familiar story of Ptolemy, King of Egypt, who once asked Euclid whether geometry could not be learned in some easier way than by studying the geometer's book, The Elements. To this the schoolmaster replied, "There is no royal road to geometry." For the academic intelligence abstract and abstruse mathematics are tonic and an end in themselves. As already stated, their ultimate practical value is also immense. One of Plato's associates, working under his direction, investigated the curves produced by cutting cones of different kinds in a certain plane. These curves—the ellipse, the parabola, hyperbola—play a large part in the subsequent history of astronomy and mechanics. Another Platonist made the first measurement of the earth's circumference.

Aristotle, the greatest pupil of Plato, was born at Stagira in 384 B.C. He came of a family of physicians, was trained for the medical profession, and had his attention early directed to natural phenomena. He entered the Academy at Athens about 367 B.C., and studied there till the death of Plato twenty years later. He was a diligent but, as was natural, considering the character of his early education, by no means a passive student. Plato said that Aristotle reacted against his instructor as a vigorous colt kicks the mother that nourishes it. The physician's son did not accept without modification the view that the philosopher should turn his back upon the things of sense. He had been trained in the physical science of the time, and believed in the reality of concrete things. At the same time he absorbed what he found of value in his master's teachings. He thought that science did not consist in a mere study of individual things, but that we must pass on to a formulation of general principles and then return to a study of the concrete. His was a great systematizing intellect, which has left its imprint on nearly every department of knowledge. Physical astronomy, physical geography, meteorology, physics, chemistry, geology, botany, anatomy, physiology, embryology, and zoölogy were enriched by his teaching. It was through him that logic, ethics, psychology, rhetoric, æsthetics, political science, zoölogy (especially ichthyology), first received systematic treatment. As a great modern philosopher has said, Aristotle pressed his way through the mass of things knowable, and subjected its diversity to the power of his thought. No wonder that for ages he was known as "The Philosopher," master of those who know. His purpose was to comprehend, to define, to classify the phenomena of organic and inorganic nature, to systematize the knowledge of his own time.

Twenty years' apprenticeship in the school of Plato had sharpened his logical powers and added to his stock of general ideas, but had not taught him to distrust his senses. When we say that our eyes deceive us, we really confess that we have misinterpreted the data that our sight has furnished. Properly to know involves the right use of the senses as well as the right use of reason. The advance of science depends on the development both of speculation and observation. Aristotle advised investigators to make sure of the facts before seeking the explanation of the facts. Where preconceived theory was at variance with observed facts, the former must of course give way. Though it has been said that while Plato was a dreamer, Aristotle was a thinker, yet it must be acknowledged in qualification that Plato often showed genuine knowledge of natural phenomena in anatomy and other departments of study, and that Aristotle was carried away at times by his own presuppositions, or failed to bring his theories to the test of observation. The Stagirite held that the velocity of falling bodies is proportional to their weight, that the function of the diaphragm is to divide the region of the nobler from that of the animal passions, and that the brain is intended to act in opposition to the heart, the brain being formed of earthy and watery material, which brings about a cooling effect. The theory of the four elements—the hot, the cold, the moist, the dry—led to dogmatic statements with little attempt at verification. From the standpoint of modern studies it is easy to point out the mistakes of Aristotle even. Science is progressive, not infallible.

In his own time he was rather reproached for what was considered an undignified and sordid familiarity with observed facts. His critics said that having squandered his patrimony, he had served in the army, and, failing there, had become a seller of drugs. His observations on the effects of heat seem to have been drawn from the common processes of the home and the workshop. Even in the ripening of fruits heat appears to him to have a cooking effect. Heat distorts articles made of potters' clay after they have been hardened by cold. Again we find him describing the manufacture of potash and of steel. He is not disdainful of the study of the lower animals, but invites us to investigate all forms in the expectancy of discovering something natural and beautiful. In a similar spirit of scientific curiosity the Aristotelian work The Problems studies the principle of the lever, the rudder, the wheel and axle, the forceps, the balance, the beam, the wedge, as well as other mechanical principles.

In Aristotle, in fact, we find a mind exceptionally able to form clear ideas, and at the same time to observe the rich variety of nature. He paid homage both to the multiplicity and the uniformity of nature, the wealth of the phenomena and the simplicity of the law explaining the phenomena. Many general and abstract ideas (category, energy, entomology, essence, mean between extremes, metaphysics, meteorology, motive, natural history, principle, syllogism) have through the influence of Aristotle become the common property of educated people the world over.