(September 21, 2018 at 11:48 am)Minimalist Wrote:(September 20, 2018 at 11:57 am)vulcanlogician Wrote: Lol.
Geez, Min. Ya ever heard of the Greeks? The Romans? Not every ancient was a stupified Christian.
No, but they weren't much smarter. After all Galen was one one of their top "physicians" and he came up with the theory of the 4 "Humours."
Sure. And Thales postulated that everything is made of water. Spoiler alert: he was incorrect. But he got people thinking that the way the physical world behaves might have something to do with the fundamental nature of substances. ie. It doesn't rain "just because Zeus made it rain." Thales also predicted a solar eclipse. So while most of his countrymen were freaking out, thinking that they'd angered the gods, Thales was like, "No. The moon passed in front of the sun, you dumbasses."
A clear set of instructions for how to conduct investigations into reality don't come pre-loaded into the human brain. The merits of the scientific method needed to be discovered piecemeal over the centuries to arrive at modern physics and chemistry. I'll spare you the obligatory praise of Socrates, Min. But his contribution was indispensable. And his Greco-Roman successors knew enough to prize his method.
But if the case can't be made to you logically, Min, then I might just have to resort to appeal to emotion: Paul hated the Greeks for "not being foolish enough"--or something like that. Doesn't that mean that the Greeks must have been doing something right?
