Available at History and Civilization Faghrie Mitchell BCB 703: Scientific Methodology

What is History? What is Science? What is Philosophy?

What is History?

What is Science?

What is Philosophy?

What is Curiosity?  Almost in the beginning was curiosity. Asimov’s New Guide to Science (Asimov 1987)

Early Man: Curiosity  Science CURIOSITY EXPLORATION DISCOVERY SCIENCE HISTORYHISTORY Early Man: Curiosity to Science

Ancient Egypt: Curiosity  Science Osprey Ancient Egypt: Curiosity to Science

Ancient Egypt: Evolution of the Pyramids Djoser BC Step Pyramid Saqqara, Egypt Djoser BC Snefru BC Cheops/Khufu BC Ancient Egypt: Evolution of the Pyramids

Snefru BC Intermediate Pyramid Maidum, Egypt Djoser BC Snefru BC Cheops/Khufu BC Ancient Egypt: Evolution of the Pyramids

Cheops/Khufu BC Smooth Pyramids Giza, Egypt Djoser BC Snefru BC Cheops/Khufu BC Ancient Egypt: Evolution of the Pyramids

Why show the Evolution of the Pyramids? Ref: Shaw (2003) Djoser Step BC Snefru Intermediate BC Cheops/Khufu Smooth BC  Did the ancient Egyptians have science  To build a pyramid you need to have knowledge and skills about stone and rock  E.g. how much stone, how many men to cut and move the stone, etc (quantity surveying)  E.g. how do I find good quality stone, how do I move the stone (geology and engineering (mathematics))  Evolution of pyramids is an example of the evolution of ancient Egyptian science Why show the Evolution of the Pyramids?

Images: Djoser Step BC Snefru Intermediate BC Cheops/Khufu Smooth BC  Did the ancient Egyptians have evolving science  Ancient Egyptians had to improve their building techniques going from Step to Intermediate to Smooth pyramid (increasing difficulty and challenge of building a smooth pyramid)  The Intermediate pyramid at Maidum could be seen as a prototype pyramid  The Maidum pyramid is speculated to have been either abandoned, or to have collapsed because of the slope of the pyramid  The lessons learnt from this pyramid and previous pyramids were: (1) to build on rock instead of sand and (2) to tilt the stone blocks inward to stabilise the pyramid (see next slide) Why show the Evolution of the Pyramids?

Snefru Intermediate BC Cheops/Khufu Smooth BC Why show the Evolution of the Pyramids?

Ref:  Did the ancient Egyptians have science  Did the ancient Egyptians have evolving science  Did the ancient Egyptians have philosophy of science ???  So you do not need to have PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE to have SCIENCE? YES and NO Why show the Evolution of the Pyramids?

Ref:  So you do not need to have PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE to have SCIENCE? YES and NO SCIENCE PHILOSOPHY can MYTHOLOGY RELIGION DOGMA can SCIENCE PHILOSOPHY can MYTHOLOGY RELIGION DOGMA SCIENCE can Why show the Evolution of the Pyramids?

Ref:  Conversely, you also have three similar paths, leading to NONSCIENCE, instead of SCIENCE NONSCIENCE PHILOSOPHY can MYTHOLOGY RELIGION DOGMA can NONSCIENCE PHILOSOPHY can MYTHOLOGY RELIGION DOGMA NONSCIENCE can Why show the Evolution of the Pyramids?

Ancient Egyptian Medicine Ref:  The Evolution of pyramids serve to show that the ancient Egyptians had SCIENCE. I will now show a clearer example, to show ancient Egyptian SCIENCE and NONSCIENCE MYTHOLOGY RELIGION DOGMA SCIENCE can NONSCIENCE can Example: Ancient Egyptian Medicine Ancient Egyptian Medicine

Ref: Wikipedia, Crystalinkswww.nyu.edu  Example: Ancient Egyptian Medicine  Some of the oldest scientific artifacts  Edwin Smith papyrus (c 1600BC), 22 pages which deals mainly with the treatment of wounds  Ebers papyrus (c1550BC), 110 pages which contains 700 magical formulas and remedies Wikipedia Ancient Egyptian Medicine

Ref:Wikipedia  Out of the Edwin Smith and the Ebers Papyruses, one can draw examples of SCIENCE and NONSCIENCE (of which I will list only a few) SCIENCE NONSCIENCE  Use of ox liver, to treat night blindness ( (  Use of honey as antibiotic on open wounds ( ) ( )  Half an onion and the froth of beer as a remedy against death  Use of lettuce or castor oil for alopecia Ancient Egyptian Medicine

Impression of Ancient Egyptians Ref:Robinson  So, they got some right, some wrong. Pretty impressive though to have a structure (Giza pyramid) still standing after more than 4,000 years (c2500BC-2000AD)  Coming back to the earlier point: There is no evidence available to say that the ancient Egyptians had a philosophy of science.  So how could they establish themselves one of the great ancient civilisations?  A civilisation, like the ancient Egytians, endures and maintains itself because it: (1) solves practical problems (feeding and defending its people) and (2) puts in place a form of government able to preserve it.  So, science and governance, not philosophy, are needed to have a developed culture or civilisation. Impression of Ancient Egyptians

Ref:epnet  A more important point relates to: “So, they got some right, some wrong.”  How do we maximize right and minimize wrong?  Or rather, How do we maximize SCIENCE and minimize NONSCIENCE? Impression of Ancient Egyptians

Summary of section on ancient Egyptians Ref:  The two points made in the preceding slides, effectively summarise this section  I have covered the first path so far (striked out). I will combine the second and third paths, and discuss them as if they are one SCIENCE PHILOSOPHY can MYTHOLOGY RELIGION DOGMA can SCIENCE PHILOSOPHY can MYTHOLOGY RELIGION DOGMA SCIENCE can Summary: Ancient Egyptians

Chapter 1 Chapter 1 Review of Human Evolution Chapter 2 History and Civilization Chapter 3 Chapter 3 Philosophy of Science Chapter 4 To be announced Chapter 6 To be announced Chapter 5 To be announced Chapter 7 To be announced Chapter 8 To be announced Chapter 9 To be announced I hope that you found chapter 2 informative, and that you enjoy chapter 3. Next Chapter Conclusion

Chapter 1 Review of Human Evolution Chapter 2Chapter 2 History and Civilization Chapter 3 Philosophy of Science Chapter 4 To be announced Chapter 6 To be announced Chapter 5 To be announced Chapter 7 To be announced Chapter 8 To be announced Chapter 9 To be announced I hope that you found chapter 1 informative, and that you enjoy chapter 2. Next