Page 362 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol IV

science—overview 1663

One never notices what has been done;
one can only see what remains to be
done. • Marie Curie (1867–1934)

Zaehner, R. C. (1956). The teachings of the magi. New York: MacMillan. Though it is generally accepted that the roots of modern
Zaehner, R. C. (1961). Dawn and twilight of Zoroastrianism. New York: science can be traced to classical Greece and Mesopo-
G. P. Putnam’s Sons.
tamia (although anticipations of modern scientific
thought can be found in many different societies, from
China to Mesoamerica, and even in some aspects of Pale-
olithic thought), it is widely assumed that modern science
Science—Overview appeared during the scientific revolution of the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, and its appearance marked a
he English word science derives from the Latin scire, fundamental intellectual shift.As one survey puts it,“The
T“to know.” In many languages, the word science or its Scientific Revolution represents a turning point in world
equivalents can be used broadly to mean “a systematic history. By 1700 European scientists had overthrown the
body of knowledge that guides our relations with the science and worldviews of Aristotle and Ptolemy. Euro-
world.” This is the sense that is present in phrases such as peans in 1700—and everyone else not long afterwards—
“the social sciences.” There have existed many different lived in a vastly different intellectual world than that
knowledge systems of this type. All animals with brains experienced by their predecessors in, say, 1500” (McClel-
have, and make use of, structured knowledge of the lan and Dorn 1999, 203). Over the next few centuries
external world, so in principle we could claim that even that revolution transformed human attitudes and human
animals depend on some form of science. relations with the material world.
Used in a narrower sense, the word science refers to However, the notion of science as a revolutionary
the distinctive body of systematic knowledge about the new form of knowledge raises some complex problems.
material world that emerged in Europe within the last five Was modern science really that different from earlier sys-
hundred years and that underpinned the technological tems of knowledge? Why has it given modern societies
achievements of modern societies. Many societies have such astonishing leverage over the material world? And
had complex technologies, and many have had rich and is it really true, as some have claimed, that modern sci-
rigorous systems of religious and philosophical thought, ence offers a fundamentally superior way of describing
but what is distinctive about modern science is that its reality?
theories have been used to generate extraordinarily pow-
erful and effective technologies. As a recent study puts it, What Is Different about
“Modern science is not just a thought-construction Modern Science?
among others—it entails both an intellectual and an Answering these questions is not easy. It has proved par-
operative mastery of nature. Whereas empirical technol- ticularly difficult to show that science offers a more ac-
ogy is a feature of every major civilization, the systematic curate description of the world than earlier systems of
application of scientific insights to change our natural knowledge.
environment (‘to conquer Nature by obeying her’, as Some of the earliest attempts to explain the efficacy of
Francis Bacon phrased it) is a creation of Europe alone” modern science claimed that its defining feature was care-
(Cohen 1994, 4). Conceived in this sense, science is a dis- ful, objective observation of the material world.Whereas
tinctively modern way of understanding the world. So, most earlier systems of thought relied heavily on religious
to understand the modern world, we have to understand revelation or on the traditional authority of earlier writ-
science. ers and thinkers, so these claims go, scientists tried to put
The idea of a “scientific revolution”—a fundamental aside all preconceived notions and observe the world
transformation in ways of thinking about the world—is directly and without bias. To ensure the objectivity and
central to this view of the role of science in world history. precision of their observations, they devised rigorous and