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Lecture 1 – What is scienceWhat is science? Physics, chemistry etc. But as philosophers we want to know what
it is that makes something a science
It is the attempt to understand, explain and predict the world. But religions, astrology
and fortune-telling also attempt to understand and explain the world but this is not
science
What is it that makes something a science?
Use of experiments or if this cannot be done use observations
Construction of theories: explain the results in terms of a general theory
The origin of modern science
1. Aristotelianism: named after the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle
- Put forward detailed theories in physics, biology, astronomy and
cosmology.
- All earthly bodies were composed of 4 elements: earth, fire, air and water.
- Earth was centre of universe; other planets were revolving around it in an
orbit
2. Modern science: Origins lie in a period of rapid scientific development in
Europe between 1500 and 1750 = scientific revolution. Steps in the
development of modern scientific:
1. Copernican revolution: Copernicus published a book attacking the
geocentric model of the universe.
- The sun was the fixed centre of the universe and the planets (including the
earth) were in an orbit around it
- His theory met a lot of resistance
2. Kepler and Galileo:
a. Kepler’s:
- First law of planetary motion: planets do not move in circular orbits around
the sun but in ellipses.
- Second and third law of planetary motion: specify the speed at which the
planets orbit the sun
b. Galileo:
- Lifelong supporter of Copernicus
- One of the early pioneers of the telescope --> discover mountains on the
moon --> conflicting with Aristotelianism --> played a pivotal role in
converting the scientific community to Copernicans
- His contribution lays in mechanics not in astronomy.
- Galileo’s law of free fall: Freely falling bodies accelerate uniformly & Freely
falling bodies will fall towards the earth at the same rate instead of heavier
bodies fall faster than light ones which was true according to
Aristotelianism
- First modern physicist; language of mathematics could be used to describe
the behaviour of material objects
- He tested hypothesis experimentally
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