Was There Science Before the Scientific Revolution?
OER PROJECT: WH ORIGINS / LESSON 6.10ACTIVITYWAS THERE SCIENCE BEFORE THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION?Unless otherwise noted, this work is licensed under CC BY 4.0. Credit: “Was Their Science Before the Scientific Revolution?”OER Project, https://www.oerproject.com/1PurposeIn this activity, you’ll develop a definition for science and read a series of primary sources to help you decide whether there was science before the Scientific Revolution. This will help you think about how the Scientific Revolution in Europe was connected to other areas and times and how it was unique.Note: This activity is modified and reproduced with permission from World History for Us All. Process1.Based on what you’ve learned in this lesson, create a definition of science.a.First, read the list below and check all that you think are necessary for science.Testing ideas with evidenceDeveloping a hypothesisSharing results so they can be testedHiding results from other scientistsSeeking evidence to confirm a beliefMaking careful observationsQuestioning accepted beliefsChanging explanations when new evidence appearsAccepting ideas because an authority says Conducting experiments or observations to gather they’re trueevidenceb.Using at least three of the ideas you checked above, write your own one-sentence definition of science.
OER PROJECT: WH ORIGINS / LESSON 6.10ACTIVITYWAS THERE SCIENCE BEFORE THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION?22.Reviewthe passages on pages 3 through 7. These passageswere writtenbetween the tenth and fourteenth centuriesbyauthors from both the Islamic and European worlds.Choose two passages. Read them and complete the table below, keeping your definition of science in mind.QuestionPassage #: _____________Passage #: _____________Did this passage ask any questions or make any hypotheses?Does the author provide any evidence from observation or did they conduct experiments?According to the definition you wrote, does this passage qualify as science? Explain your reasoning.3.Why do you think the authors of these passages aren’t considered part of the Scientific Revolution?
OER PROJECT: WH ORIGINS / LESSON 6.10ACTIVITYWAS THERE SCIENCE BEFORE THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION?3Passage1: “TheShapeoftheSeas”fromAl-Mas’udi’stenth-centuryworkon geographyThe philosophers differ about the shape of the seas. Most of the ancients, such as the mathematicians of the Hindus and the Greeks, believe that they are round. They provide many arguments as proofs of their statement. [For instance,] if you sail away on the sea, land and mountainsdisappeargradually,untilyoulosesightofeventhehighestmountainpeaks.Onthe other hand, as you near the coast, you first see the mountains. Only when you come nearer do you see the trees and plains.But those who strictly follow the revelation [the Qur’an], reject this hypothesis.Source:Quotedin SeyyedHossein Nasr,ScienceandCivilizationinIslam(Cambridge:HarvardUP,1968),107. Language simplified by Anne Chapman.Passage2: “AnswerstoQuestionsAboutNature”fromAdelardofBath’stwelfth-century natural historyI have learnt one thing frommy Arab masters, with reason as guide, but you another: you follow the halter of authority. As brute animals are led by a halter, but do not know where or why they are led, so the authority of written words leads not a few of you into danger, since you areheld captivebybrutishblindfaith.Thesedayslistenersdonotdemandargumentsbasedonjudgment. They do not understand that reason has been given to each single individual in order todecide between true and false with reason as the prime judge. However, I do not unconditionally state thatauthorityshouldberejected.Rather,reasonshouldbesoughtfirst,andanauthority,ifoneis at hand, be added later. Authority alone cannot win credibility for a philosopher. ... If you wish tohearanythingmorefromme,giveandreceivereason. ... Question:Why is seawater bitter and salty?Answer:The heat of the sun and the planets causesthe saltiness. ... This is confirmed by the fact that on seashores near that Ocean seawater dried on the rocks becomes salt without any artifice. To get salt from seas further away, distant from heat, the seawater must be heated again by boiling. But even somefreshwatercanbeturnedintosaltifitisboileddown....Source:CharlesBurnett,ed.andtrans.,AdelardofBath:Conversationswith HisNephew(Cambridge:Cambridge UP, 1998), 103–4,185-6, 219–22. Language simplifiedby Anne Chapman.
OER PROJECT: WH ORIGINS / LESSON 6.10ACTIVITYWAS THERE SCIENCE BEFORE THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION?4Passage3: “AccuracyofMeasurement”fromAbu’l-Fathal-Khazini’stwelfth-century book on mechanics [Themainprincipleal-Khaziniusedindeterminingspecificgravitieswasthatagivenbodywill float in a liquid to a depth proportional to the specific gravity of the liquid, sinking further in a light than a dense one. Great care was taken to ensure the maximum possible accuracy in the design, manufacture, and calibration of his measuring instrument, based on that of the Greek mathematician and scholar of mechanics, Pappus.]Substancesal-Khazini’s1121values for their specific gravityTwentieth-centuryvaluesWater1.001.00Sea water1.041.029--1.04Olive oil0.920.918—0.919Cow’smilk1.111.02—1.04Mercury13.5613.56Brass8.578.45—8.60Tin7.327.29Iron7.747.60—7.79Source:Quoted in Donald R. Hill, Islamic Science and Engineering (Edinburgh: Edinburgh UP, 1993), 66. Passage4: “TheEcstaticCamel”fromal-Mustaufial-Qazwini’sthirteenth-century encyclopediaTheEternalWisdomdesignedanimalstobeofusetoman,theperfectedofperfections.SinceHe created them as tools for man, God (may He be praised and exalted!) directed man so he got the upper hand of them. ...
OER PROJECT: WH ORIGINS / LESSON 6.10ACTIVITYWAS THERE SCIENCE BEFORE THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION?5Ofdomestic animals, Ishall list tenkinds in alphabeticalorder. ...Thecamelisalarge-bodied,strangelymadeanimalthateatslittle,bearsburdens,andisobedient to commands. It is liable to ecstasy and gladness. Shaikh Sa’di [Persian poet and traveler] says: “The camel becomes ecstatic and dances at the Arab’s song; if you are not joyful, you are a cross-grained beast.”All the sects are allowed to eat its flesh, which is warm and dry. The camel is intelligent, so whenitissickiteatsoak-leavesandgetsbetter,andwhenapoisonoussnakebitesit,iteatsa crab and the poison is neutralized.Itslivergivesclearsightandpreventscataracts.Snakesfleefromwhereveritsfatisputdown. Tying its hair around the left thigh halts diabetes.Source:Quoted in Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Science and Civilization inIslam(Cambridge:Harvard UP, 1968),119–20. Language simplified by Anne Chapman.Passage5: “DescriptionoftheMagnet”fromBartholomewtheEnglishman’s thirteenth-century accountThe magnet is an Indian stone that attracts iron, as Isidore [Spanish bishop and encyclopedist] says. It is also believed to attract clear glass. As Augustine [African bishop, theologian, and philosopher]says,itsforceissogreatthatironwillfollowitsmovementeventhroughashieldof gold or bronze. Due to this power of a magnet, a statue made of iron was seen to hang in the air in a temple.There is another species of magnet in Ethiopia which repels iron and flees fromitself. Also, the magnetsometimesattractsironfromoneangle,andrepelsitfromanother.Isidoreaddsthatthis kind of stone restores husbands to wives and increases elegance and charm in speech.Therearemountainsmadeofsuchstonesthatattractanddissolveshipsmadeofiron.Itsdustis especially valuable for wounds and against dropsy, spleen, and fox mange, as Avicenna [ibn Sina, Muslim physician, scientist and philosopher] says.Source:AngliciBartholomaei,DegenuinisrerumcoelestiumterrestriumetinferarumproprietatibuslibriXVIII Edward,Grant, trans. (Frankfurt:Minerva, 1964). Quoted in Edward Grant, ed. A Source Book In MedievalScience (Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1974), 367–8. Language adapted by Anne Chapman.
OER PROJECT: WH ORIGINS / LESSON 6.10ACTIVITYWAS THERE SCIENCE BEFORE THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION?6Passage 6: “The Nature of Comets” from Albertus Magnus’ thirteenth-century treatise Wewillgivethecorrectviewaboutcomets,andconfirmitbytheauthorityofmanyphysicists.I say, then, that a comet is nothing else than a coarse earthly vapor or fumes; coarse, because if it werethinitwouldquicklyevaporateanddissolve.Itgraduallyrisesfromthebottomofthelayer of air to the top, where it touches the curved inner surface of the sphere of fire. There it is thinned out by the heat of the fire and inflamed. Its middle always stays dense, but what is thinned out at the sides often seems long, has a thin flame, and is called the “tail.”Thefamousphilosophers... give evidence that this is so. Ptolemy [Greek astronomer and geographer] and Albumasar [Abu Ma’shar, Persian astronomer and mathematician] also imply this.Reason,too,supportsthisopinion.Sinceitisevidentthatflameisnothingbutkindledfumes; and a comet is a sort of flame, as is apparent to the sight, therefore, a comet is kindled fumes.Furthermore,ifacometisalwaysproducedbyoneofthefiveplanetsassomehaveargued,then it should never be seen outside the path of the planets. Yet this is false, since Aristotle [Greek philosopher and scientist] says we see comets in every part of the sky. Moreover, I with many others in Saxony in the year 1240 saw a comet close to theNorth Pole. It projected its rays between east and south, and it is evident that there was not the path of any planet.Source:Lynn Thorndike, ed. Latin Treatises On Comets Between 1238 and 1368 AD (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1950), 499–508. Quoted in Edward Grant, ed. A Source Book In MedievalScience. Cambridge:Harvard UP, 1974), 543–4.Passage 7: “ANewTheoryofMotion”fromJeanBuridan’sfourteenth-century “Questions On Aristotle”Thequestioniswhatmovesathingthathasbeenthrownafterithasleftthehandofthethrower. Is it moved by air, or if not, by what is it moved?Aristotle has not solved this problem well. He suggests that the thing thrown leaves the place where it was quickly, and would leave emptiness behind. But nature, which does not allow a vacuum,quicklysendsairinbehindtofillupemptiness.Theairthathasmovedinfastthisway, comes up against the end of the thing thrown, and pushes it along further. This is repeated continually. But it seems to me this explanation is without value because of many experiences
OER PROJECT: WH ORIGINS / LESSON 6.10ACTIVITYWAS THERE SCIENCE BEFORE THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION?7that contradict it.... For instance, a lance having a pointed back end as sharp as the front would be moved, after havingbeenthrown,justasfastasitwouldbewithabluntbackend.Butsurelytheairfollowing would push a pointed end less well, because the air would be easily divided by the sharpness. ...Instead, we can and should say that the mover in moving anything impresses in that thing a certainimpetusormotiveforce,whichactsinthedirectionthatthemoverwasmovingthething. The faster the mover moves the thing, the stronger the impetus he impresses in it. This theory explains why the motion of a heavy body downwards is continually accelerated. Source:Quotedin MarshallClagett,TheScienceofMechanicsIntheMiddleAges(Madison:UniversityofWisconsin Press, 1957), 532–6. Language adapted by Anne Chapman.