HISTORY OF BIOLOGY
MODULE 1
This course is about the history of our knowledge about life. Why should you then study
the history of biology? We study it to learn from our mistakes so we know what we should
not do again or what we can do differently. We want to know who we ware and who our
examples are. We want to know what our problems are and what we should focus on or
what we can expect. We also want to look at what we might have forgotten, so if we lost
something valuable or if we have selective memory. We do this by looking at old skills or
taxonomic field knowledge.
The problems with textbook-history is that only the geniuses are shown and they portray
them as lone heroes who have made the discovery and they typically leave out societal
context. They are also written for present purposes (as role models) rather than in the
historic setting. And they tell the story of progress where we are on top. What these
textbooks leave out are the influences on the outside and the influences of society and
lesser gods, so all the other scientist who also had small discoveries that the ‘’heroes’’
used for their big discovery. They also leave out all the mistakes that were made and all
the sacrifices.
The hectocotylus (the reproductive organ of an octopus) was first described
by Aristotle, and it was rediscovered by Cuvier in the 19th century and he was
this as an example of Aristotle being far ahead of his time. Although Aristotle
described it first, Cuvier did claim the discovery by saying “Aristotle and I”
since he rediscovered it. The Middle Ages, Linnaeus and Cuvier all flirted with
Aristotle but praised different qualities, sometimes his theory and sometimes
his observations. Cuvier said, “Oh I’ve found this but now I discovered that
Aristotle was far ahead of his time” and so Cuvier is comparing himself to
Aristotle, to say oh him as bright as Aristotle to put himself in a good
perspective. Aristotle become a marker in European history.
There is a discussion to say if Aristotle is the first biologist. China was really advanced in
technologies and astronomy far ahead of Europe. Acupuncture is an example of this and
you can discuss if this falls under biology or not. The western culture is seen as the
standard of good science but can you really say that and what do you consider to be
biology. So Aristotle is seen in the Western Culture as the first biologist but many other
people were far more advanced in other countries. Some discoveries were made in non-
western cultures way before the Western cultures discovered them such as the Pascal
triangle in mathematics. Aristotle made many dissections but the people who made
mummies probably made way more dissections! So this really puts it into perceptions
since the modern history of biology is really seen through the Western perspective and
how Western culture brought discoveries from non-western cultures to the western
cultures and how they’re now seen as heroes.
So what exactly is the beginning of the history of biology? This really depend on what you
consider crucial to ‘biology’? Depending on what you say what the essence is of biology,
the beginning will be at a different point.
, o Detailed knowledge? (shaman, hunter, farmer)
o Systematic empirical study? (E.g. Aristotle)
o Theory? (4 th c BC philosophy)
o Biology and medicine? (Hippocrates 460-361 BC)
o Experiments, instruments? (17 th c)
o Self-conscious discipline (c1800 the label ́biology ́)
o Professional organisation of biology? (19 th c)
o Hypothetical-deductive method? (20th c)
Presentism: the use of history for stuff we need right now with the knowledge that we
have now. Presentism is a term for the introduction of present-day ideas and perspectives
into depictions or interpretations of the past. Only the characters are mentioned who are
role models for current biology. Only using the bits that are useful and only telling those
in your story that is usefull now. Presentism is when we misunderstand people from the
past. If an ancient Roman believed in the fortune-telling powers of sacred chickens, it
would be a fallacy to assume he was unusually gullible or superstitious or anti-science, if
he came from a time and place where that was what most educated people believed.
Understand that norms, values, beliefs, and behavior vary across cultures and change
over time and failure to do so is called presentism.
Ana-chronism: chronological inconsistency, misplaced in time. So saying that Aristotle is
an biologist is also an ana-chronism since the word biologist didn’t exist at the time.
Can historians then show how it really was? The sources are partially present since the
archive is saved for a different purpose and all history and knowledge is selective. History
is also more than just facts and it depends on what we want and can learn. So some
degree is presentism is unavoidable.
Hence, we get different ways to write history:
- Scientific thinking: big thinkers, big theories and discoveries
- Scientific institutions: organization of science, academies, libraries, financial
support and patronage
- Intellectual history: science in relation to culture, world views, art and religion
- Social history of science: science’s involvement in practices, trade, applications via
medicine, agriculture or war
Alexandria and the Romans
They build the great library of Alexandria, and this was the biggest library in the Western
world. They build it in the house of the Muses: Museum. And it had around 700.000 books
(scrolls) and this was a huge collection for knowledge and science. They also build the
Pharos lighthouse and here trade was supported and here they gained a lot of medical
knowledge about dissections. Here Herophilos studied the nervous system with the brain
as thought center instead of the heart. Alexandria is the middle point of Greece and later
this city is concurred by the Romans and the library was plundered and burned. The
Romans concurred the entire medetirraian and they share knowledge. Roman scholars
emphasized practical knowledge instead of theoretical systems and made inventories of
Greek (Hellenic) knowledge. They started writing encyclopedias and they gathered all the
knowledge that they known. The Roman empire collapsed under pressure of immigration
waves from central Europe and political crises. It didn’t fall completely because part of
the Roman Empire survived in the East and this continued for a longer time and here they
preserved some of that knowledge. Christianity clashed with the Roman empire and
,Christians were in trouble or killed in the Roman empire. By the 5 th century Christianity
become more accepted. Destruction of scientific culture by religious tolerance was seen
too since the philosophy schools in Greece were shut down under the pressure of the
Church. In the Islamic world the development of science continued on the basis of Greek
texts and the astronomy was under full development. In Europe we now have the Dark
Ages (middle ages) were the Roman empire collapsed and reading disappears and people
became illiterate again. The Christian armies conquer Jerusalem and the Islamic rulers
complained that the Christian crusaders stink. Almost illiterate fanactics from the West
were fighting against a rather refined culture with advanced knowledge. After the cultural
collapse the monks go into the libraries contained in the Islamic libraries create copies of
the books but translated into Latin and some of these texts are then returned into the
Western culture.
The perspective on history leads to different questions than who discovered that? It gives
insight to how science declined and how some knowledge got lost. It gives insight oh why
did science bloom in a certain place or time and what we need for scientific development.
And it also gives insights on how scientific, biological thinking fits in with the rest of the
culture.
The renaissance started in Europe ca 1350 and primarly in Florence and other Italian
cities. It was the rebirth of the classical Greek sources in both the arts and the philosophy
in science. It was a glorification of the classical Greek sources. There was tension
between the revered tradition and doubt; reading the classics but also beginning of new
investigations, so seeing it with your own eyes. In the renaissance they started to look at
stuff again to check if information was still right. In the renaissance there were the
first elements of experiments.
The scientific revolution: In the 17th century there were large breakthroughs in astronomy
(by Galileo), physics (by Huygens, Newton, also experimental with Hooke and Boyle),
Maths (by Newton and Descartes). Crucial characteristics of the scientific revolution were,
sceptism: all books were open for discussion and they were only based on observations.
The experiment were a new way to gather new evidence and math was also used to
describe nature. This lead to an acceleration of discoveries so it was really a new age of
breakthroughs. It was primarly influencial in maths and physics.
There is a bit of a problem for the term scientific revolution since that’s how we present it
now but there are a couple of reasons to question this term. The term itself was written
down for the first time in 1937 so about 200 years after it happens so even though we
call it a scientific revolution now, the people who lived at that time were not noticing a
revolution at all. From their perspective this period was 150 years and revolutions
typically take 1 year or a bit more but not 150 years. To defend science people were
glorifying the past to glorify the idea to leave science alone and if you leave it alone a lot
of things will happen. This was to defend it against the nazis for examples.
Robert Knox was a Scottish surgeon and anatomist. He worked in Edinburgh and that was
to place to be to study medicine and he was one of their prime doctors and the reason for
that was that there was always a dissection is his lectures. He was a member of the Royal
Society of Edinburgh and head of the College of Surgeons. He bought the bodies from
Burke and Hare, and they stole the bodies from the morgue and eventually they started
killing bodies. Hare got off by telling on Burke and Burke was then hanged and the judge
ordered that he would be publicly dissected.
Four conclusions. 1: ask different questions and history will give different answers. 2.
Support for science has never been evident but societal support is crucial for the
, development of science. The growth of knowledge was often followed by decline. 3.
Science is profoundly socials and the way we make knowledge is human.
Important names to remember
1. Aristotle (384-322 v Chr.)
He is a philosopher and interested in natural life. He performed a lot
of dissections, and he looked at eggs to see how embryos were
developed. This is the reason why people say that he is the first
biologist who looked at nature and tried to understand some of the
principles. He made a bit of theoretical contributions and one of his
was that every organism strives towards its essence as an
explanation of its function. So, a dog strives towards dogness since
its essence is to be a dog. He classified more then 500 animal
species, and he got stories from fishers, farmers and hunters.
Who was he?
Aristotle was a philosopher, biologist and naturalist and he was the
prime example of empirical biology (based on observations or
experience) and he was the prime example of Greek reason since he
was the first to think about new things.
Aristotle was a source and authority until the 17th century and a constant reference in
philosophy in the Western culture. Viewed from our culture he is seen as important.
2. Alexander the Great (356-323 v. Chri)
He was a student of Aristotle and he conquered a lot of land and
strengthened his kingdom in Macedonia. When he died his realm was
divided between three generals and one of these generals ruled over
Egypte from Alexandria. They build the great library of Alexandria and
this was the biggest library in the Western world. They build it in the
house of the Muses: Museum. And it had around 700.000 books (scrolls)
and this was a huge collection for knowledge and science. They also
build the Pharos lighthouse and here trade was supported and here
they gained a lot of medical knowledge about dissections. Here
Herophilos studied the nervous system with the brain as thought center
instead of the heart.
3. Hypatia circa (360-415 n chr.)
Hypatia was a female philosopher, mathematician, astronomer
working in Alexandria and one of the first woman in science. In 415 a
