> Your point is mostly valid, but I think even you > give the Greeks a bit too > much credit. Physica has horrid methodology, for > example. I think it has > to do with the concept that a gentleman doesn't > dirty his hands by doing; a > gentleman thinks. Doing is for slaves.
Dan, I don't know if you recall the conversation we had on this some time ago (2 years? Maybe more?), but I have always been an opponent of Greek learning wrt science. During that thread, I commented that the destruction of the Library of Alexandria was probably a better thing to happen than to allow the whacky methodologies of the Greeks to influence scientific methodology more than it did. I'm not a big Classics supporter (even though I'm a self-admitted neo-stoic) and am critical of the idea of the Rennaisance being neccessarily better than the Middle Ages (technically it wasy, if you follow the line of continual progress; but the popular perception is that it was light years ahead of the MA, which I don't think is supportable). However, I also see that in order to get to the point we're at now, history *needed* to unfold the way it did; claiming that Catholicism, or Classical learning hindered scientific progress, for me, is a non-argument. You cannot possibly know how history would unfold by changing one element, especially when you're looking at a period of over 500 years. I think classical learning was important for influencing later scholars (such as during the MA) into developing the scientific methodologies we have today, and furthermore the Catholic church has always been a big supporter of classical learning, at least in the MA. So to say that these elements or organizations hindered scientific development ignores the tremendous intellectual contributions they ALSO made. I think this development is far more complex that it would seem on the surface. Damon. ===== ------------------------------------------------------------ Damon Agretto [EMAIL PROTECTED] "Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum." http://www.geocities.com/garrand.geo/index.html Now Building: ------------------------------------------------------------ __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Small Business $15K Web Design Giveaway http://promotions.yahoo.com/design_giveaway/ _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
