Term
|
Definition
ca. 600-400 B.C.
1. Thales, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Empedocles, Leucippus, others
a) Understood objects based on their nature
b) Questioned the origin of all things
c) Identified four elements of all material things – fire, air, earth, water
d) First mechanistic worldview (the atomists)
2. Beginning of fundamental shift in thought
a) Asked new kinds of questions (and sought new answers)
b) Excluded gods from explanations of natural phenomena
c) Defended their theories (critical assessment)
d) Began addressing the problem of knowledge (epistemology) |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
427-348 B.C.
1. Student of Socrates
2. Plato's forms
a) Divine craftsman (Demiurge) created the cosmos
b) Two realms
(1) Forms – perfect idea of everything
(2) Material realm – imperfect replicas
3. Favored reason over observation for establishing knowledge
4. Formulated "geometrical atomism" – mathematics in nature
5. Reintroduced divinity to explain order in the universe |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
384-322 B.C.
(for details on sections look at notes)
A. Student and teacher
B. Metaphysics and epistemology
C. Nature and change
D. Cosmology
E. Motion
F. Biology
G. Summary of Aristotle's achievements |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
ca. 87-150 A.D. – lived in Alexandria
1. Almagest
a) Amazing compilation of mathematic models in astronomy
b) retrograde motion (irregular circular planetary movement)
2. Geographia
a) Compiled information on geography
b) Developed latitude, longitude system |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
ca. 129-210 A.D
1. Huge advances in medicine
a) First profession in mending Roman gladiators
b) Exposed him to human anatomy (when human dissection was forbidden)
2. Enjoyed patronage from elite Roman society
a) Allowed him to write hundreds of treatises
b) Practical approach to medicine "acceptable" to Islamic and Christian religions in the coming centuries
c) Retained philosophical foundations of Plato and Aristotle, which were preserved via Galen's medical writing |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
ca. 24-79 A.D.
1. Natural History
a) Encyclopedia of everything known of the natural world
b) Compiled from 2000 sources
c) Immense breadth in coverage
d) Written for the general public
2. Another example of information gathering into a single book |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
354-430 A.D.
1. Science should work in service to Christian theology
2. Anti-astrology because it denied free will and human responsibility
3. His views set the stage for interplay between natural philosophy and Christianity during the Middle Ages |
|
|
Term
| Abu Ali al-Husayn ibn Abdallah ibn Sina |
|
Definition
980-1037
a) Known as “Avicenna” in Latin West
b) Child prodigy (at age 13 began training as a physician)
c) Medical encyclopedist
d) Wrote > 250 works, emphasis on medicine, but very broad interests |
|
|
Term
| Abu Arrayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni |
|
Definition
973-1048
a) Greatest Islamic natural philosopher
b) Studied vast range of topics, from astronomy to law
c) Calculated radius of Earth (fairly accurately) |
|
|
Term
| Abul-Waleed Muhammad ibn Rushd |
|
Definition
1126-1198a)
a) Known as “Averroes” in Latin West
b) Last great thinker of Islamic Renaissance
c) Known as the Great Commentator
d) Lived in Córdoba, Spain
e) Synthesist, staunch supporter of Aristotelian logic and philosophy
f) Two kinds of truth
(1) Religion (faith-based) – appropriate for commoner
(2) Philosophy (reason-based) – for intellectual elite
(3) Religion and philosophy not at odds; same truth revealed by both
(4) This thinking would greatly influence that of Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
ca. 742-814
a) Carolingian empire eventually included most of continental western Europe
b) First centralized government since Roman rule |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
1033-1109
a) "Ontological proof"
b) Proof of God's existence |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
died ca. 1154
a) Tried to explain natural phenomena via natural causes (first), then (if needed) divine causes
b) He and fellow "naturalists" blasted by conservative theological thinkers
c) Conservatives viewed philosophical method as challenge to theological method in establishing truth
d) "Naturalists" revitalize interest in astrology, but to explore natural forces linking heaven and Earth |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
ca. 1285-1349
a) Argued the impossibility of determining an object's final cause
b) "Ockham's Razor"
(1) Adding arguments doesn't improve reasoning
(2) When faced with two explanations, the simpler explanation is probably correct
c) Challenged papal authority and was excommunicated |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
1473-1543
1. Royal Prussian (now called Poland)
2. Heliocentric planetary model
a) Sun at center of planets
b) Conflicted with Aristotelian model
c) This, in turn, conflicted with Christian theology
d) Published heliocentric model begrudgingly on his death bed
e) Changed European thought regarding planetary models |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
1546-1601
1. Danish nobleman, self-taught astronomer
2. Built huge observatory, gathered extensive data
3. Retained Earth as center of planetary system
4. Spotted new star
a) Corroborated by academic community
b) One of first times where community agreement affirms knowledge claim |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
1564-1642
1. Developed the experimental method (repeated measurements)
2. Combined data gathering and mathematical modeling
3. Promoted data sharing, leading to knowledge development as part of an academic community
4. Made several astronomical discoveries
5. Attacked by the Roman Catholic Church
a) Galileo ordered not to teach Copernican system
b) Judged guilty at Roman Inquisition of 1632
c) Silenced by house arrest for remainder of his life |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
1571-1630
1. First true Copernican (heliocentric planetary model)
2. Applied mathematical models to understand planetary motion
3. Poor vision, so became Tycho Brahe's apprentice to gain observations and improve his model of planetary motion
4. After Brahe's death, became Imperial Mathematician of Holy Roman Emperor
5. Posited “magnetic” force of sun, not God, responsible for planetary motion |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
1561-1626
1. English lawyer by training
2. Concerned with heresy and treason, so distrusted free-thinking
3. Ideas should be controlled by leaders responsible for security
4. Bacon's inductive method
a) Study small parts of
b) nature in controlled settings
c) Data gathered by many observers, then interpreted by intellectual elite
5. Knowledge is power, so understanding nature valuable for practical applications that result from natural philosophy |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
1596-1650
1. French mathematician and philosopher
2. Skeptic
3. Deductive method (in opposition to Bacon's inductive method)
a) An alternative to Aristotelian philosophical method of deduction
b) Doubt everything, then carefully build universal truths
4. "I think, therefore I am." |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
1642-1727
1. English astronomer and mathematician
2. The Principia – grand synthesis of physics
a) Combined and extended works of Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler
b) Universal laws of explaining nature |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
1627-1691
1."Boyles law" relating pressure and volume of a gas
2. Instruments as objective, unbiased means of measuring natural objects
3. Importance of repeatability adopted by natural philosophers |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
1713-1784
(1) Encyclopédie (1751) – very ambitious, sought to spread knowledge of everything to educated people
(2) Generated an enormous backlash from the French government and the pope |
|
|
Term
| Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier |
|
Definition
1743-1794
b) Developed concepts of oxygen, water being comprised of oxygen and “inflammable air” (hydrogen)
c) Lavoisier and others reformed chemistry through language via new book (1787) that established the systematic naming of chemicals
d) In Lavoisier’s Elements of Chemistry (1789), he added his methods, standards of measurement, and all elements and compounds named to date |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
1769-1832
Catastrophism
in Paris
(1) Extinction due to seven “progressive” floods
(2) Catastrophes local, not tied to biblical flood
(3) History of life progressive
(4) Ideologically fit French view of revolution bringing progress |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Uniformitarianism (gradual)
1797-1875 in England
(1) Extinction due to gradual geological changes
(2) Present and past forces similar (Newtonian)
(3) History of life is not progressive; no evolution (inconsistent with fossil evidence)
(4) Ideologically fit British view of societal classes, which did not change and subjugated lower classes |
|
|
Term
| Jean Baptiste de Monet de Lamarck |
|
Definition
1744-1829 in Paris
a) No extinction
b) Species transform into new species
(1) Organisms change during lifetime
(2) Those traits passed on to offspring
c) Not influential |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
1809-1882 in England
a) Wealthy “gentlemanly” amateur scientist
b) Voyage of the Beagle (1831-1835) influential to his thinking
c) Evolution by natural selection
(1) Organisms with more advantageous traits in an environment survive and pass on those traits to their
(2) offspring; those traits become more common in next generation
(3) Competitive struggle between organisms consistent with contemporary struggles of capitalism and imperialism
(4) Eventually became cornerstone of modern biology
d) Social Darwinism
(1) Applied Darwinian evolution to human races
(2) Reinforced moral authority to segregate and subjugate the “lower” human races |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Heredity
1822-1884 in Austria
1. Bred > 28,000 pea plants, gathered much data on heredity
2. Applied mathematics
3. in tracing patterns of pea traits from one generation to the next
4. Read paper at society meeting (1865); it had very little impact
5. Importance of research not rediscovered until 1900 |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
1843-1910
a) Germ theory of disease (1890)
b) Four postulates still used in studying disease today |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
1822-1895 in France
a) Experimentally debunked spontaneous generation (living organisms arising from non-living matter)
b) Fermentation due to microorganisms, not chemical reactions
c) Pasteurization: use heat to kill microorganisms |
|
|
Term
| Dmitri Ivanovitch Mendeleev |
|
Definition
1834-1907in Russia
a) Ordered the known elements that scientists were studying
b) Left openings for future elements that were as yet unknown |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
1879-1955
e=mc2 (1905)
a) Linked major ideas in physics (time, energy, mass, gravity, motion)
b) Overturned Newtonian physics as more generalized model of the universe |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Radioactivity
1867-1934
(1) First female Nobel winner (won award twice)
(2) First female professor at the Sorbonne (France |
|
|
Term
| James Watson & Francis Crick |
|
Definition
1928 & 1916
(1) “Discovered” the double helix model of DNA
(2) Awarded the Nobel Prize |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
1920-1958 in London
(1) X-ray crystallographer who studied DNA
(2) Her data were shared with Watson and Crick without her permission
(3) Her contributions were not acknowledged by Watson and Crick
(4) She was never awarded a portion of the Nobel Prize because it is not granted posthumously
(5) Watson and Crick’s behavior now viewed as classic case of unethical practice of science |
|
|
