Wendee Holtcamp a écrit:
> Anyone know whether Christians were involved in the development of the
> scientific method? I seem to recall it was officially coined sometime
> after Galileo's time but I can't remember exactly who first started it
> or if any one person did. Any one know, or have references or ??
>
> Thanks,
> Wendee
Your question was whether Christians were involved in the establishment of
the ‘scientific method’.
What I heard says that Christian scientists’ influence was felt both in
science as a tool and in its method of application i.e. scientific
methodology. In short, I was told that, Christian scientists (or natural
philosophers) broke with the Greek polytheistic concepts that viewed the
universe as capricious and irregular, and therefore not capable of
systematic study. They reasoned that the universe must be orderly and
worthy of investigation because it was the work of an intelligent, orderly
and never changing Creator. It is not unknown that the scientists of that
time, Issac Newton being an example, were not shy of talking publicly
about God. Although the notion of God was not used in the establishment
of theories, it became an impetus: the pursuit of scientific research
appeared doable, and, Christian scientists were convinced that in doing
science, they were thinking God's thoughts after Him.
This brings up the question as to why it took so long for Christian
scientists to get into gear. Sixteen centuries is a long time. I guess
part of the answer to this is that, up until that time, science lacked a
mature language to properly express itself. This language of course is
mathematics. Although mathematics came into being long before Jesus
Christ’s first visit to Earth, it never really became a powerful tool
since, interestingly, about the sixteenth century, in Christian Europe.
Therefore we have before us two historical facts: the science of physics
and its partner, mathematics, were both boosted to a high level of
performance in the sixteenth century in a largely Christian Europe. Thus
the sixteenth century saw Christian Europe loaded for bear in terms of a
modern scientific research tool. To go along with the tool a procedure
was needed. Here I ask myself if a proper scientific method existed
before the sixteenth century. Usually the creation of a tool precedes the
establishment of its method of use. Therefore, I would answer ‘yes’ to
your question.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Jul 18 2000 - 21:05:02 EDT