STS200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Soul Food, Natural Philosophy, Techne
23 Feb 2016
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Document Summary
Greek associations of slavery with techne (art) reinforced their exclusive interest in theory . Roman preoccupation with maintaining political power reinforced their neglect of theory . Aristotle will serve as example of pre-modern scientist: the classical west: Natural philosophy as divinely abstract world-picture- love(philo) of wisdom(sophia) about nature. The greeks agreed with us modern westerners that a philosophy degree is pointless. If you love wisdom(ie are a scientist) you are inherently a philosopher. A natural philosopher(ie scientist) sees the world as a series of chaotic appearances(nature), but he/she must think past this to see the ordered reality(logos). This thought pattern is synonymous with truth, and antonymous with myth: thales: the universe is made out of water. He is the first natural philosopher to give a non-mythical explanation of the universe. He is regarded as the first scientist: pythagoras: the hidden order of reality is not water, but math.
