Like Socrates, I was always interested in analytic philosophy, which we call "philosophy," not in natural philosophy, which we call "science." Socrates wanted to reason about abstract principles like being, goodness and justice, not to find out how many material substances underlie phenomena. But it was the natural philosophers who got it right. They discovered natural selection, the periodic table, the equivalence of mass with energy etc and have changed the world. Even if we ignore science, it does not ignore us.
We can enhance our appreciation of Anderson's sf by learning something about his science.
4 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Natural philosophy, allied with the Christian belief in the lawfulness of the universe God created, plus post-Roman European pragmatism, etc., led to the rise of a true science.
Mathematics, astronomy, and engineering were among the first sciences to really "take off" in the West. The other developments you listed came later.
"Delenda Est" and "The House of Sorrows" shows us scenarios where a true science failed to arise on Earth because Judaism disappeared (and hence Christianity failed to exist).
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
But those later developments are a culmination, showing us the nature of being: matter, energy, life and the processes that led to consciousness and intelligence.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Of course, with the proviso that I believe God intervened in a special way in the remote past to create the first human soul.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Not necessary. By cooperatively acting on their environment, proto-human beings began to exchange signals which became symbols and the basis of thought.
Paul.
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