And not forgetting the Laws, some of which make patterns!Originally Posted by Pneumismatic
Mods, move to the the Science and Spirit section if deemed more at home there.
Interesting view but there were also early scientists who also had a secular approach to seeking understanding of the physical world. One consideration maybe, if considering the current era religions then comparatively science, its tools and elements of methodology as a discipline somewhat predate them. Aristotle, Ptolemy, Euclid circa 300ad and later Alhazen circa 900ad amongst others were major contributors to such as Roger Bacon, an early Christian scientist. A while back I had occasion to review the likes of early scientists and noted the work of Roger Bacon and the influences and inputs to his work. Added here in case of interest.
Some scholars present viewpoints that science and its associated philosophies pre-dating those religions played a role in the shaping of articles of the modern religions. As these extracts from Wiki presents, Islam and Christianity were heavily influenced by the science of Greece and also indicates the scale and extent of their knowledge and the grounding that it gave us. In the early days of Islam, science played a major role in the establishment of its articles of faith and its view of the physical universe which was way in advance of Europe. The middle east played an important role in preserving and growing the science of the time whilst Europe developed with great vigour the dark ages. This science of the then middle east then became the springboard for the science of the European Medieval period. Roger Bacon is given a prominence in this role and the wiki entry for him lists the Islamic scholars on whose shoulders he stood. He was a monk which is something he found he needed to work around sometimes and needed to dodge the heresy bullets but not always successfully some suggest. A feature of such institutions plus the secret societies of the time is that they were some of the few places where one could be educated in the western world, particularly in languages which gave access to the scientific works and were also repositories of knowledge but over time the signs are that these institutions tended towards restriction as per the examples claimed for the experiences of Galileo as religion and science sometimes struggled, notwithstanding, the learning grew, unshackled itself and produced the European Enlightenment (which again drew from classical history for philosophical purposes) and one or two constitutions (Ah, Tom Paine comes to mind).
I also think that the Hindu synergies with modern religions is of interest but another tale. Also the science inputs of China and other countries in the region contributed to the Greek Knowledge base helped by the roaming of Alexander who also spent time in areas of Hindu dominance.
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Aristotle. Extracts from Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle
Virtually all Western philosophy that came after his works; Alexander the Great, Avicenna, Averroes, Maimonides, Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, Ptolemy, Copernicus, Galileo, and most of Islamic philosophy, Jewish philosophy, Christian philosophy, science and more....
Aristotle (Ancient Greek: Aristotéle-s) (384 BC – 322 BC)[1] was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology. Together with Plato and Socrates (Plato's teacher), Aristotle is one of the most important founding figures in Western philosophy. Aristotle's writings were the first to create a comprehensive system of Western philosophy, encompassing morality, aesthetics, logic, science, politics, and metaphysics.
Aristotle's views on the physical sciences profoundly shaped medieval scholarship, and their influence extended well into the Renaissance, although they were ultimately replaced by Newtonian physics. In the zoological sciences, some of his observations were confirmed to be accurate only in the 19th century. His works contain the earliest known formal study of logic, which was incorporated in the late 19th century into modern formal logic. In metaphysics, Aristotelianism had a profound influence on philosophical and theological thinking in the Islamic and Jewish traditions in the Middle Ages, and it continues to influence Christian theology, especially the scholastic tradition of the Catholic Church. His ethics, though always influential, gained renewed interest with the modern advent of virtue ethics. All aspects of Aristotle's philosophy continue to be the object of active academic study today. Though Aristotle wrote many elegant treatises and dialogues (Cicero described his literary style as "a river of gold"),[2] it is thought that the majority of his writings are now lost and only about one-third of the original works have survived.[3]"
Aristotle not only studied almost every subject possible at the time, but made significant contributions to most of them. In physical science, Aristotle studied anatomy, astronomy, embryology, geography, geology, meteorology, physics and zoology. In philosophy, he wrote on aesthetics, ethics, government, metaphysics, politics, economics, psychology, rhetoric and theology. He also studied education, foreign customs, literature and poetry. His combined works constitute a virtual encyclopedia of Greek knowledge. It has been suggested that Aristotle was probably the last person to know everything there was to be known in his own time.[10]
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Abn Al-Haytham Extracts from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alhazen
"Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥasan ibn al-Haytham ) (965 in Basra – c. 1040 in Cairo) was a Muslim[5] scientist and polymath described in various sources as either Arab or Persian.[6][7][8][9][7][10] Alhazen made significant contributions to the principles of optics, as well as to physics, astronomy, mathematics, ophthalmology, philosophy, visual perception, and to the scientific method. He also wrote insightful commentaries on works by Aristotle, Ptolemy, and the Greek mathematician Euclid.[11]
Optical treatises
Besides the Book of Optics, Alhazen wrote several other treatises on optics. His Risala fi l-Daw’ (Treatise on Light) is a supplement to his Kitab al-Manazir (Book of Optics). The text contained further investigations on the properties of luminance and its radiant dispersion through various transparent and translucent media. He also carried out further examinations into anatomy of the eye and illusions in visual perception. He built the first camera obscura and pinhole camera,[44] and investigated the meteorology of the rainbow and the density of the atmosphere. Various celestial phenomena (including the eclipse, twilight, and moonlight) were also examined by him. He also made investigations into refraction, catoptrics, dioptrics, spherical mirrors, and magnifying lenses.[69]
In his treatise, Mizan al-Hikmah (Balance of Wisdom), Alhazen discussed the density of the atmosphere and related it to altitude. He also studied atmospheric refraction. He discovered that the twilight only ceases or begins when the Sun is 19° below the horizon and attempted to measure the height of the atmosphere on that basis.[24]
Astrophysics
In astrophysics and the celestial mechanics field of physics, Alhazen, in his Epitome of Astronomy, discovered that the heavenly bodies "were accountable to the laws of physics".[70] Alhazen's Mizan al-Hikmah (Balance of Wisdom) covered statics, astrophysics, and celestial mechanics. He discussed the theory of attraction between masses, and it seems that he was also aware of the magnitude of acceleration due to gravity at a distance.[69] His Maqala fi'l-qarastun is a treatise on centres of gravity. Little is known about the work, except for what is known through the later works of al-Khazini in the 12th century. In this treatise, Alhazen formulated the theory that the heaviness of bodies varies with their distance from the centre of the Earth.[71]
Legacy
Alhazen made significant improvements in optics, physical science, and the scientific method. Alhazen's work on optics is credited with contributing a new emphasis on experiment. His influence on physical sciences in general, and on optics in particular, has been held in high esteem and, in fact, ushered in a new era in optical research, both in theory and practice.[24]
The Latin translation of his main work, Kitab al-Manazir (Book of Optics),[25] exerted a great influence on Western science: for example, on the work of Roger Bacon, who cites him by name,[26] and on Johannes Kepler. His research in catoptrics (the study of optical systems using mirrors) centred on spherical and parabolic mirrors and spherical aberration. He made the observation that the ratio between the angle of incidence and refraction does not remain constant, and investigated the magnifying power of a lens..[32] In honour of Alhazen, the Aga Khan University (Pakistan) named its Ophthalmology endowed chair as "The Ibn-e-Haitham Associate Professor and Chief of Ophthalmology".[33]
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Roger Bacon. Extracts rom Wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Bacon
Roger Bacon, O.F.M. (c. 1214–1294), (scholastic accolade Doctor Mirabilis, meaning "wonderful teacher"), was an English philosopher and Franciscan friar who placed considerable emphasis on the study of nature through empirical methods. He is sometimes credited, mainly starting in the 19th century, as one of the earliest European advocates of the modern scientific method inspired by the works of Aristotle and later pseudo-Aristotelian works, like the works of Muslim scientist Alhazen.[1] However, more recent reevaluations emphasize that he was essentially a medieval thinker, with much of his "experimental" knowledge obtained from books, in the scholastic tradition.[2] A survey of the reception of Bacon's work over centuries found that it often reflects the concerns and controversies central to the receivers.[3]
Bacon studied at Oxford and may have been a disciple of Grosseteste. He became a master at Oxford, lecturing on Aristotle. There is no evidence he was ever awarded a doctorate — the title Doctor Mirabilis was posthumous and figurative. Sometime between 1237 and 1245, he began to lecture at the university of Paris, then the centre of intellectual life in Europe. His whereabouts between 1247 and 1256 are uncertain, but about 1256 he became a friar in the Franciscan Order. As a Franciscan friar, Bacon no longer held a teaching post, and after 1260 his activities were further restricted by a Franciscan statute forbidding friars from publishing books or pamphlets without specific approval.[6]
Bacon circumvented this restriction through his acquaintance with Cardinal Guy le Gros de Foulques, who became Pope Clement IV in 1265. The new Pope issued a mandate ordering Bacon to write to him concerning the place of philosophy within theology. As a result Bacon sent the Pope his Opus Majus, which presented his views on how the philosophy of Aristotle and the new science could be incorporated into a new Theology. Besides the Opus maius Bacon also sent his Opus minus, De multiplicatione specierum, and, perhaps, other works on alchemy and astrology.[7]
Pope Clement died in 1268. Sometime between 1277 and 1279, Bacon was probably imprisoned or placed under house arrest. The circumstances for this are still mysterious. Sometime after 1278 Bacon returned to the Franciscan House at Oxford, where he continued his studies.[8] He is believed to have died in 1294
Optics
The study of optics in part five of Opus Majus draws heavily on the works of both Claudius Ptolemy (his Optics in Arabic translation) and the Islamic scientists Alkindus (al-Kindi) and Alhazen (Ibn al-Haytham).[38][1] He includes a discussion of the physiology of eyesight, the anatomy of the eye and the brain, and considers light, distance, position, and size, direct vision, reflected vision, and refraction, mirrors and lenses. His research in optics was primarily oriented by the legacy of Alhazen through a Latin translation of the latter's monumental Kitab al-manazir (De aspectibus; Perspectivae; The Optics), while the impact of the tradition of al-Kindi (Alkindus) was principally mediated through the influence that this Muslim scholar had on the optics of Robert Grosseteste. Moreover, Bacon's investigations of the properties of the magnifying glass partly rested on the handed-down legacy of Islamic opticians, mainly Alhazen, who was in his turn influenced by Ibn Sahl's 10th century legacy in dioptrics.[39]
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