We explain what ancient science is, what are its main characteristics and differences with modern science.
What is ancient science?
It is known as ancient science (as opposed to modern science) to the forms of observation and understanding of the nature characteristic of ancient civilizations, and which were generally influenced by the religion, mysticism, mythology or magic.
In practical terms, modern science is considered to be born together with the scientific method during the Scientific revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries in Europe, so that all scientific history prior to that time can be considered as ancient.
All ancient cultures had this impulse to some extent, from the Egyptians and Babylonians to Hellenic Greece and the later Roman Empire. But the first attempts to establish a systematic knowledge of the world came from the philosophers of classical antiquity, who made the first attempt to replace mythical knowledge with rational knowledge.
However, there was no such scientific field, and early philosophers were able to deal with both math, medicine, biology, the physical wave astronomy of their time, always hand in hand with their understanding (they were deeply religious cultures) and the observations they made and recorded of the world around them.
Among these ancient philosophers, the Greek Aristotle of Estagira (384 BC-322 BC) stands out, a disciple of Plato, whose logical and rational postulates regarding very diverse aspects of the abstract, cultural and natural world remained in force for centuries, practically until the arrival of modern science.
The method proposed by Aristotle consisted in observing the nature and seek the answer to three fundamental questions:
- What is it (its essence or formal and material cause)
- What is it for (final cause)
- Why is it (efficient cause)
Aristotle's proofs were of the deductive type, and in them the logic formal of the arguments and the propositions that the philosopher made were the way to guarantee the truth of the result. This order of reasoning will prevail for many centuries to come.
Characteristics of ancient science
Ancient science can be classified into two historical periods: the ancient and the medieval.
The first includes the philosophical and mystical studies of antiquity and the classical era, ranging from the ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt and Greece and Rome. It's about a thought heavily influenced by mythology, but not as coercive as the Christian. Greco-Roman antiquity is considered the basis of all Western culture (including scientific).
The second, however, has to do with the long period of medieval Europe, in which Christian religious thought predominated as the matrix of all human formulations and discoveries. Scholasticism is due to her, that is, the doctrine of authority of ancient writings, such as the Bible, which was read as a source of objective truths.
To the latter must be added the alchemy, from Islamic culture, much more advanced than Christian in scientific and philosophical matters. From this culture come the current numbers (Arabic) and numerous advances in chemistry and physics that would later be rediscovered in Europe or taken as inspiration for new advances.
Ancient science and modern science
The fundamental differences between ancient science and modern science are:
- Ancient science lacked a method of replication and verification of theories, since in its formulation it was only important that they were valid logically, that is, in formal thought. Modern science, on the other hand, is governed by the Scientific Method as an objective and verifiable way of approaching the truth.
- Ancient science showed great reverence for the texts previous, especially in medieval times, in which contravening biblical designs was the reason for accusations of heresy. Modern science also relies on previous texts and experiments, but allows the constant updating and questioning of what has been considered true up to now.
- Ancient science proposed a finalism, that is, an ulterior end in all things, a reason for existing that had to be discovered. Modern science, on the other hand, inherits mechanism from Aristotle, the consideration that the world operates as a machine or a system, without a pre-established purpose.
- While ancient science started from metaphysical presuppositions, modern science rejects them outright. In other words, ancient science started from assumptions that were accepted in advance as true because they were self-explanatory, such as religious or theological ideas. Modern science, on the other hand, opposes the forms of metaphysics, because it considers that everything must be able to be explained.
- Finally, while ancient science sought to find the causes of phenomena, modern science pursues the formulation of laws that serve to describe how science operates. nature in general.