From: Charles Singer, A Short History of Scientific Ideas to 1900 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1959)
323 B.C.E. -- the Alexandrian Empire splits apart. Egypt: ruled by Ptolemy I, founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty. His successor founded a library and museum at Alexandria, which becomes "the center of the scientific world."
Most of the important figures were teachers here -- or, like Galen and Archimedes, at least were pupils of the school and corresponded with its teachers.
Characteristic of Alexandrian science is its development along the line of specialties -- that is, a focus on specific disciplines (medicine, mathematics, etc.), away from the earlier, more holistic philosophical overview.
Early Alexandrian Mathematics at once assumes a prominent and independent position.
Among the first to be called to the Alexandrian Academy was Euclid (ca. 330 - 260). Euclid was trained in Athens, probably by a pupil of Plato. Euclid's Elements of Geometry has determined all subsequent geometrical teaching.
Singer (?) notes that Euclid further develops irrational quantities: in the theory of proportion developed in his fifth book, the basis of a theory of irrational numbers is laid out, but not developed. The theory, for that matter, is not developed until Descartes.
Aristarchus (ca. 310 - 230)
Develops a heliocentric view -- which earned him the charge of impiety. As well,
"We owe to Aristarchus the first scientific attempt to measure the distances of the sun and moon from the earth, and their sizes relative to each other." (65)
As Singer notes (see also the attached diagram), in the effort to estimate relative distances a very small error of measurement ends with a very great error in results. The actual angle "O" (Observer -- the angle between moon and sun when moon is exactly half full) is 89d 52': A's estimate -- 87d. On A's measurement, the sun is 18 times more distant than the moon: actual distance is 390 times.
Singer further comments on the philosophy which was "the parent of science among the Greeks" as marked by interests in:
1) number and form and their relation to each other and to material objects;
2) the form and workings of the universe;
3) the nature of man.
By contrast, Greek/Alexandrian science, as divided into specialties, further results in "systematization" of each discipline -- first of all, the disciplines of mathematics and astronomy.
A similar systematization occurs in medicine. And so, "...at Alexandria we first hear of open dissection of the human body." (66) Singer points out that this runs contrary to Greek tradition. How, then, does it occur? Singer points out three possible contributing factors:
1) immigrant Greeks, the scholarly population of Alexandria [like the original philosopher/scientists in the Ionian colonies] are uprooted and removed from their original traditions.
2) "a natural curiosity" regarding the structure and working of the body is aroused by Aristotle's biological work and his still living pupil Theophrastus (died 287 B.C.E.).
3) The works of Plato (died 347 B.C.E.) include "contempt of the body as a mere shell of the soul," especially as expressed by Socrates (died 399 B.C.E.) in the Phaedo (ca. 367 B.C.E.)
In any case, the first recorded anatomist was Herophilus of Chalcedon (c. 300 B.C.E.), a contemporary of Euclid.
"In describing the anatomy of man he compared it with that of animals. He recognized the brain as the centre of the nervous system, and he regarded it as the seat of the intelligence." (67)
A younger contemporariy is Erasistratus of Chios (c. 280 B.C.E.). An atomist and follower of Democritus, "his physiology was based on the idea that every organ is a complex of a three fold system of vessels - veins, arteries, and nerves - extending by ever more minute branching beyond the reach of vision.
Comments:
1) Some discoveries in the direction of "positive knowledge" (i.e., "facts" or what we still take to be true claims about the world) are made (e.g., the distinction between posterior nerve roots, which convey sensations, and anterior nerve roots which convey motor impulses) -- and then forgotten until rediscovered in modern developments (in this case, the 19th century).
2) Incorrect assumptions are made which prevent further developments -- at least from the standpoint of a "progressive" science. For example, Erasistratus developed the view that air, the pneuma of the world is taken in by the lungs and passes to the heart. Upon entering the blood, it is changed into a different kind of pneuma, the "vital spirit" sent to the various parts of the body by the arteries. In the brain, it is further altered into a second kind of pneuma, the "animal spirit" which reaches different parts of the body through the nerves.
3). At the same time, however, an important point is illustrated: while Erasistratus takes as his starting point atomistic/materialistic philosophy -- he further contributes to later philosophical development. His physiology serves as as basis of "the philosophical conception of the spirit of man as part of the world-spirit," -- a conception found in later writings, such as the works of the Stoic school of the second ct. C.E. (especially the Emporer Marcus Aurelius) and the "Hermetic" writings of the 3rd ct. C.E.
4. Alexandria was also a Jewish center. And Greek culture is having an impact on the development of Jewish thought. For example, parts of the Hebrew Scriptures are translated into Greek (the common language of the Hellenistic world) by 250 B.C.E. And Singer attributes this Greek contact with "rationalizing" the Hebrew view of nature:
Thus, while earlier biblical literature contains many references to divine intervention in the course of nature, the Wisdom Literature of Alexandrian date equate natural law with divine ordinance....[And] the new astrological science coming in from Babylon suggested the complex mathematical order of the heavenly bodies, which signalled the seasons, as controlling the seasons and through them men's lives. (69)
This influences not only the Stoics, but also appears (in negative form) in Wisdom of Solomon 13.1-2 On the same topic,
The influence of Greek science can similarly be traced into the domain of Hebrew physiological conceptions. Thus, for instance, the seat of the understanding throughout the Wisdom Literature -- which is Alexandrian -- is usually placed in the heart. This is Aristotelian and contrary to Herophilus and Erasistratus who placed the seat of intelligence in the brain. It is also opposed to the older Hebrew view (e.g., Psalm 61.7) which placed it in the liver. In several places, too, Wisdom Literature, as well as the New Testament writings (e.g. 2 Peter 3.10, Galatians 4.8-9) set forth the Greek doctrine of the four elements. And lastly from the melting-pot of pre-Christian Alexandria emerged the homunculus of European alchemy. (69)
In short, Greek philosophy/science (i.e., the doctrine of the four elements and the more fundamental assumption of a rational order underlying the sense domain of diversity and change) and Greek/ Alexandrian science (as amplifying on earlier mathematics and astronomy, thus reinforcing the assumption of a rational order) now demonstrably influence the development of religious conceptions of the nature of God and of human beings.
This Greek influence on the writing of Jewish and Christian Scriptures will have a most significant impact on the subsequent development of the natural sciences. Following the Dark Ages - associated in part precisely with the destruction of the library of Alexandria in the early 400's C.E. - the recovery and development of Greek/Alexandrian and Roman philosophy/science will follow upon the religious justification of the pursuit of such natural/rational knowledge. Briefly, Medievals will argue that to understand nature (via philosophy/science) is to understand its Creator - and thus philosophy/science serve the religious task of knowing God.
They will argue this case, in part, precisely by quoting such texts as the Wisdom Literature which portray God as the Creator of the world - now understood, through the influence of Greek philosophy/science at Alexandria, precisely as the kosmos to be discovered and understood through reason. That is: religious people will use a religious text to justify the pursuit of science for the sake of religion - where the religious text in question was originally written under the influence of Greek philosophy/science...
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