Re: OI MYTHOI THS PARADOSHS MAS

Sigge wrote:
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.

Merely reading a book or quoting from a chapter is not an argument. See? I can be of some help, too. ;)


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.

Very well, now will you get over it?

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?

Ara, h arxaioplhxia sou. Auto pou exei shmasia kai einai to spoudaiotero, einai ti kanoume kai pws sunexixoume thn paradosh *shmara*, ws Ellhnes.
Ena pragma einai sigouro: Oxi otan papagalizeis keimena pou den katalabaineis kai den exeis thn pneumatilkh pei8arxia na grafeis entos 8ematos.
Esena o nous sou einai skorpismenos stous tesserous anemous. Den s'exw diabasei na kaneis oute kan apopeira na xrhshmopoihseis dika sou logia.




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.

Persecution complex, perhaps?


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!

Where are your skills in this sphere? All I've seen from you so far are declarations of how you've read this and assumptions with no base in reality.



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.

They definitely not mutually exclusive.

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.

Kai loipon;

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

Oh dear, there you go again with how important your opinion is because you've read a few books.

Argumentum ad verecundiam or, ipse dixit.


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

You're embarrassing yourself. There is no dignity in blowing ones own horn.



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.

Erm, didn't Aristotle and subsequently Ptolemaeus formulate geocentricism? So much for the infallibility of the ancient Greeks.

You Sigge, like so many other neo-Ellhnes, eisaste arxaioplhktoi. Egw zw sto shmera kai to twra. Kai twra, den blepw megala pragmata apo thn Ellada, dustuxws. Ta mona pragmata pou blepw einai kati xazo nearoi pou nomizoun oti epeidh oi arxaioi hmwn progonoi htan autoi pou htan, oti exei kapoia amesh shmasia ston shmerino kosmo.

Xupna!



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

That because you've got blinders and can only see what happened in the past. I assure you that there is no dearth of new ideas or scientific discoveries.

But how would you and your ilk know about this? You've got your head so far up in your behinds, that you can't see anything beyond 300 BC.



Cheers
Sigge

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

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