Читать книгу 2,637 Years of Physics from Thales of Miletos to the Modern Era - Sheldon Cohen - Страница 17

was a French philosopher who read Lucretius 1500 years later, and espoused his views on atomos. Since the printing press was now well established, his books on the subject had a wide audience. For the first time the question could be posed to thousands. Prior to this point the subject of atomism could not be settled due to the inability to experimentally confirm or deny the theory. It served only as an interesting intellectual discussion that could not be resolved one way or the other. There needed to be some method of experimentation that could bring some rationale to the discussion.

What we have been dealing with to this point reflects an effort to acquire knowledge through the power of reasoning alone. The name for those who were responsible for this effort of comprehension was “philosophers” (Greek meaning lovers of wisdom).

Even in those days, philosophy took on two directions: first a turning within to attempt an understanding of human behavior, morality and ethics; second a turning out to seek explanations of other than the mind; nature to be exact. Such study, the phenomenon of nature throughout the universe, was termed natural philosophy. The word science would not make its appearance until the nineteenth century.