Re: OI MYTHOI THS PARADOSHS MAS

On May 2, 12:58 pm, Nashton <n...@xxxxx> wrote:

A minor addition here! The Greeks were not only the first to discover
the sphericity of the Earth. They were the ONLY ones to do it!

How exactly did they do it [sic], arxaioplhkte?

Read Aristotle's On heavens. The second part.
classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/heavens.2.ii.html
Since it seems you are lazy I will help you.
Among other arguments....
The eclipse of the Moon is due to the shadow of the Earth. The shadow
as seen on the moon is always circular . To start with a little arc
then greater. The only body whose shadow is always circular is a
sphere.
And the fact that the the Celestial Sphere changes as you move from
North to South. Stars not seen from Athens (e.g. Canopus) can be seen
from places south of Athens e.g. Egypt. The last observation can be
used to measure Latitudes. How?


This is

extremely important, because it proves that the scientific thinking is
ONLY the Greek way of thinking as it was formed in the 6th century
BC.

Nobody can deny the tremendous contributions of Greece to the scientific
method.

They (we can start a discussion what I think is "they") both deny and
if they cannot they try to diminish their importance. They often
lie.

To declare that it's the only way of thinking, is silly.

THere is only one type of Science! Employ Reason, Critical Thinking,
Argumentation, Experiments, Thought Experiments. The Greeks created
this way of Thinking!

Collecting Data is done in all Cultures. For example the Egyptians had
observed thousands of Eclipses.
The priest said "The Gods send a snake that swallows the moon/sun and
later spits it out."
To the best of our knowledge, an "explanation" never questioned by
any Egyptian for thousands of years.

Nowhere else! Not even in China! The Babylonians were good
astronomical observers thousands of years before the Greeks. But they
never discover the sphericity of the Earth.

Are you saying that the Greeks were the only ancients to contribute to
science?

Some people confuse Science with Technology. I hope you do not.

All people observe that stones sink to the bottom of the sea and that
wood floats. And all peoples sooner or later construct sea-worthy
boats. This is Technology.
But to explain why a stone sinks and wood does not is science. And to
construct a superferry is Modern Technology that uses Science.

You can read two books about what Science really is.
1) "The Unatural Nature of Science" by Lewis Wolpert
2) "Uncommon Sense" by Alan Cromer

Indians, Arabs, Europeans and even the Chinese did not contribute to
Science before they came in contact with Greek Thought.

A little more technical book is
"The Forgotten Revolution" by Lucio Russo The subtitle is telling
"How Science Was Born in 300 BC and Why It Had to Be Reborn.

We use to separate Science from Mathematics. There the Ancient Greeks
are superb! All modern mathematics is footnotes to Archimedes! If you
can afford buy the book about the Archimedes Palimpsest.
"The Archimedes Codex: How a Medieval Prayer Book Is Revealing the
True Genius of Antiquity's Greatest Scientist: Reviel Netz,William
Noell

Adding numbers and computing square roots is not Mathematics. They are
elementary rules of thumb. Egyptians were very good thousands of years
before the Greeks.
BUT...Mathematics is: Axioms, Definitions, Theorems, Proofs! The
emphasis on the last!
An Egyptian "mathematician" would not understand the concept of the
proof. He would not understand why it matters that square root of 2 is
irrational.



Seems Sigge, that merely having great ancestors doesn't make a person
any smarter.

I hope it does! But you must get not only genes. Even good Education
and Enviroment. Both nature and nurture. I hope that the genes of the
Ancients are still in abundance in Greece. It remains to be seen.

I heard a guy in CNN saying "Internet is the best thing that happened
to humanity after Classical Athens."

I feel that the WORLD has stagnated. Waiting for the NEW IDEAS.
Where are they going to come from? I

Cheers
Sigge

PS! Is signature stef a female? You used her instead of his.
.

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