(Large overlap with Singer
handout on the Alexandrian School)
You should notice here:
the role of experiment in the Roman appropriation of Greek philosophy/science - as in Galen and Pliny
the development of Stoic (materialistic) physics - including the lunar theory of tides
Lucretius and the development of atomism, including a theory of evolution
the rise of "Mystery Religions,"
especially as these influence the further development of Neoplatonism
and Neopythagoreanism - and thereby the "hybrid" intellectual
systems carrying what we would recognize as elements of philosophy/natural
science - most notably, Ptolemy
Galen,
as "keen observer and experimentalist who took little on
trust and described only that which he himself investigated....not
a simple empiricist, for he recognized the necessity of scientific
reasoning mixed with observation and experiment. His method of
experiment was mainly dissection....His work was so extensive
that in the Middle Ages the word experimentum was almost
synonymous with medicine." (93)
Stoics --
Posidonius (b. ca. 135 C.E.): "regarded Rome's universal
empire as the fulfillment of God's providence and a divine Stoic
commonwealth...." (95)
Commentary on Plato's Timaeus
Stayed in Spain, observed
the tides, "noting that they were fullest at the new moon
when the moon and sun are in conjunction, and at the full moon
when they are at opposition. His predecessor, Seleucus, had also
expounded the lunar theory of the tides, but Seleucus was one
of the few ancients who accepted Aristarchus' heliocentric theory.
Posidonius adopted the lunar explanation of tidal phenomena, yet
he could not follow Seleucus in supporting the views of Aristarchus.
Nevertheless, the lunar theory demonstrated to Posidonius the
fundamental sympathy of celestial and terrestrial phenomena, fitting
well into Stoic physics." (95)
Also note: "The Roman author usually looked for moral and ethical lessons, holding these to be the goals of even the exact sciences." (95)
--> cf. constant integration
of the moral and the physical from the very beginning of the philosophical/scientific
tradition -- an integration apparent in the PreSocratics' [e.g.,
Anaximander]
use of moral categories (justice, injustice) to account
for physical change; and made explicit in Plato (whose
goal is the apprehension of the form of the Good) and Aristotle
(especially in the doctrine of the four causes -- where a final
cause [moral] is as much a part of an "explanation"
as the efficient cause [physical]).
Roman achievement: the Julien calendar, "which utilized the expertise of Hellenistic astronomy"
(Lasted until "Gregorian
Reform," under Pope Gregory XIII, 1582: still resisted when
adopted in England in 1752.)
Lucretius: Epicurean atomism, 1st ct. B.C.E.
"Lucretius did suggest
that the universe will some day pass away to be replaced by another,
either similar to or different from this one. Surprisingly, he
then presents a theory of evolution which superficially sounds
quite Darwinian. Many kinds of living creatures, he said, have
perished and have been unable to produce offspring, and those
which have survived have done so by some virtue -- ferocity, speed,
craftiness, etc. In other words, Lucretius gives us a theory of
survival which resembles a crude kind of natural selection. Yet,
his modus operandi is the chance combination of atoms in
which ill-suited organisms are doomed to extinction. There is
no descent of species, no selective variation, nor is there anything
close to the detailed investigation of minute adaptation over
immense geological periods which is the heart of the Darwinian
theory." (97)
--> recall earlier evolutionary
ideas (Anaximander [see
p. 27],Empedocles [random
combinations])
Pliny the Elder (23-79 C.E.) as an example, and the greatest, of the Roman encyclopedists.
"Pliny was not a scientist
himself, yet he had an honest respect for his sources. He did
use the word experimentum, sometimes to mean ordinary experience
and at other times a test. Nature was to him a vast collection
of separate facts to be gathered and listed; in other words, nature
was like a dictionary." (98)
Martianus Capella (5th ct.), Marriage of Philology and Mercury: establishes the seven liberal arts to become the basis of medieval education.
Quadrivium (a term first used by Boethius): the mathematical disciplines of geometry, arithmetic, astronomy, and music
Trivium:
grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric. (99)
Notes the rise of the mystery religions, "a gradual merging of Greek and Near Eastern cultures," -- with Magna Mater, Isis, the Syrian cult of the "Invincible Sun," and Persian Mithraism as examples.
"Taken as a whole, the
mystery religions offered two things the old pagan religions lacked:
mysterious methods of purification meant to bring the believer
into a mystical state of rapture, and the idea of immortality
and union with the deity as the reward for piety." (99)
--> "hybrid intellectual systems," e.g., astrology, alchemy
--> enhances the mystical
trends of Pythagoreanism, Platonism
--> such religious
background again works in the development of "science"
-- in no less a figure than Ptolemy (2nd ct. C.E.):
Using the Babylonian sources,
even serious astronomers like Ptolemy could not help but take
an interest in Chaldean astrology. Some, like Posidonius, became
convinced of astrology, but it was Ptolemy who gave it scientific
support in his famous astrological work the Tetrabiblos.
While he remained critical of excessive claims, Ptolemy believed
that the powers of the stars could be confirmed by the mathematical
results of serious astronomical science. With Ptolemy, astrology
became scientific. (100)
Further religious developments:
Neo-Pythagoreanism, Neo-Platonism, Plotinus (205-270 C.E.) (100-101)
"Growth of alchemy as
a product of the spiritual forces in late antiquity...."
(102)