HIS 276 Reflection 1

The history of science focuses much on the evolution of the methods of how scientific conclusions are reached. Empiricism was prevalent in Mesopotamian science, particularly in the field of astrology; the Venus Table and astronomical diaries of the time were filled with observations recorded over lengthy periods of time. Rather than developing a rational method of reason, they focused on divination to interpret these observations, connecting them to supernatural existence. The Babylonians were able to highlight the observational part of our modern concept of the scientific method but lacked proper experimentation and analysis of their findings to expand on what they knew. Chinese and Indian medicine started to incorporate the hypothesis and reasoning parts of the scientific method. A significant advancement of traditional Chinese medicine in the diagnosis of diseases in patients displayed great reasoning; their procedure shows thinking we find logical today: inspection, auscultation and olfaction, palpation, and inquiry. Ayurvedic medicine hypothesized that the 5 elements and 3 humors must be kept in balance to maintain homeostasis of the human body. The Greeks, most notably Aristotle, are renowned for their philosophy that emphasizes logic and reasoning rather than empiricism. This is illustrated in Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, where the belief was that solely relying on the senses was insufficient to come to scientific conclusions, and that reasoning was needed to support any observations. The Muslims would go on to make discoveries in optics and the first universities would be established in the Middle Ages, allowing for the demonstration of the experimental aspect of the modern-day scientific method.

One of the concepts that still exists today is zodiac signs. A misconception that I had before learning in class was that this astrological idea originated from the Greeks. However, the common names of the zodiac signs that we refer to are of Latin origin, and the overall idea stemmed from the Babylonian’s observations and divine understanding. They were the first to divide the sky into 12 equal areas, which yielded the creation of the 12 zodiac signs that we know of and assign people to today. Learning about how scientific thinking and achievements arose throughout history also emphasizes the importance of the scientific method. The content of the course provided insight into how the progression of methods over time correlates to the advancement of scientific knowledge, eventually to what we know today. In addition, almost all scientific advancements are made by building off of or improving on previous knowledge. A prime example of this occurred in the Islamic world, as the improvement in tools allowed for more precise measures and revised calculations, leading to further commentary on previous ideas.