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PREFACE AND GENERAL INTRODUCTION We remember with nostalgia, how we used to wonder as children why Mr. Gabriel Michael (our church electrician) would press buttons on the walls of our church building and the „bottles‟ hanging on the ceiling would glow with light. What made this possible, we, honestly never knew; but we would worry our parents with barrages of child-like questions; why the „bottles‟ glowed after a touch on the buttons fixed on the walls; whether the light hid under the buttons, or were in the wires. Answers given were hardly satisfactory, especially as they came from a historian on the one hand and a physical educationist on the other hand. Again while playing football on the sandy roadside in the village (where not up to five cars would pass in a week), we would halt our sweet game of football to wonder in rapt admiration and utter amazement, how a small Volkswagen car would speed past and overtake the almighty truck. We would reason aloud that, „if this small car could run faster than the bigger vehicle now that it is still young, then no other vehicle would ever catch up with its speed by the time it would grow to the size of the truck‟. Certainly, at this stage, we lacked true knowledge of growth and decay. We lacked knowledge of thermodynamics, electrodynamics, or mechanics. And even now, we lack complete knowledge of them. Newton, Maxwell, Einstein and Hawking might know all of those stuffs. We are not physicists or scientists, but philosophers; and we investigate the validity of the claims made by the investigators of nature. We are investigators of the investigators of nature. We are investigators of thought. It is noticeable that, while study of law aids understanding of the groundwork for social existence, scientific philosophy, at lease, in part, aids one‟s focus on the principles of nature. How nature works is partly described in science; and part of the scientific description of reality may not be iii
correct after all. Scientific realism, a doctrine that boasts that what science describes about reality is all that exists, is hereby rejected. Physicalism, a scientific doctrine which boasts that all of reality is physical, is also rejected theretofore. While we reject and jettison scientific realism ad physicalism, we also note, however, that science has offered us a clue, a window into the dark side of nature. Science is a pathfinder into the secrets of nature. But science is not absolute. Our childhood experiences: the pressing of buttons on the wall and the consequent lighting of „bottles‟ (bulbs) are explained in science. That we would dial a set of given numbers and we would speak to, say, Professor David Papineau or Professor Steven French (both of whom we have never met), or to our darling parents in Nigeria, is credited to science. Science, with its concomitant technology, has enveloped the world and advanced the welfare of mankind. For instance, as you read this line now, there is, at least, something about you that is a product of science: your cell phone, or your laptop computer or your wristwatch or your fax machine, or your eyeglasses, or your microwave cooker, or your car. And their usefulness are evident: your car to go places; your cooker to prepare your meals; your eyeglasses to aid your sight; your dress to cover your nakedness; your radio to get the news; your television to watch the games; your fax machine to send the files; your wristwatch to guide your time; your laptop to write your notes; and your phone to make calls. Modern life is dictated by science, and nearly everything tends to go under the sway and hegemony of science and technology: Education, religion, politics, economy, agriculture, medicine, sports, transportation, communication, etc. As we sing the glories of science and of the invincible, insatiable human spirit, we do so with a caveat, knowing very well also that science is a human device. iv
PURPOSE OF THE BOOK
COMPOSITION OF THE BOOK
As a course text in the History and Philosophy of Science, this book introduces students to the history and philosophy of the natural sciences. In the book, we examined the major topics in the history and philosophy of science, including, among others, the meaning, nature, goal and method of science; the problems of induction and causation and the inductive reasoning as the primary logic of science. In the work, we emphasized the core issue of demarcation of science from non-science as a major problem which led to different philosophies of science. In the sphere of the philosophies of science, we examined Positivism, Logical Positivism and the analytic philosophical tradition. We examined Falsificationism of Karl Popper within the context of his grand philosophy of Critical Rationalism. We examined Methodology of Scientific Research Programme of Imre Lakatos; Scientific Revolution of Thomas Kuhn; and Methodological anarchism of Paul Feyerabend. We traced the history and evolution of the Western sciences and the philosophical issues associated with them. The origin theories of the universe and, by implication of man, were also discussed and analyzed in perspective. Issues on the environment, its sustainability and renewability were sufficiently discussed. This included an essay on climate change. We also treated the theme of health, reproductive health, nutrition and diseases, including HIV/AIDS and Ebola. This volume also contains issues in contemporary philosophy of science.
This volume is a composition of some contents of our earlier works, Elements of History and Philosophy of Science (2013) and Philosophy of Science and Space-time Cosmology (2015). We acknowledge all authors whose works are cited in this book, and we take responsibility for inadequacies this work contains.
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Ephraim-Stephen Essien, Ph.D Senior Lecturer, Department of Philosophy & Deputy Dean of Students Affairs Akwa Ibom State University Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria
Uti Ojah Egbai, Ph.D Senior Lecturer, Department of Philosophy University of Calabar, Calabar 2 January, 2016 E-mail:
[email protected] [email protected]
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CONTRIBUTORS Ephraim-Stephen Essien, Ph.D. (Calabar), Editor, is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy and the Deputy Dean of Students Affairs, Akwa Ibom State University. Uti Egbai Ph.D. (Calabar), Editor, is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy and Director Center for General studies. Joseph A. Okon. Ph.D., was the pioneer Head of Department of Philosophy and a Senior Lecturer in the Department if Philosophy, Akwa Ibom State University. Iniobong Daniel Umotong, Ph.D. (Calabar), is the incumbent Head of Department of Philosophy and a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, Akwa Ibom State University. Moses A. Udoh, Ph.D. (Calabar), is a Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy, Akwa Ibom State University. Simeon Tayo Arinde, Ph.D. (Ilorin), Lectures at the University of Ilorin, Ilorin. Inameti Lawrence Udo, Ph.D.-in-view (Calabar), is a Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy, Akwa Ibom state University.
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CONTENTS PART A: HISTORY OF SCIENCE CHAPTER ONE Basic Concepts in History and Philosophy of Science Introduction … … … … … … … History … … … … … … … Philosophy … … … … … … … What is Science? … … … … … … Broad & Narrow Meanings of Science … … … Technology … … … … … … … Features of Science … … … … … … The Basic Goals of Science … … … … Scientific Method & Scientific Technique … … … Scientific Facts, Hypothesis, Law & Theories … … Scientific Laws … … … … … … Scientific Theories … … … … … … Scientific Axioms … … … … … … Protoscience … … … … … … … Pseudoscience … … … … … … Technoscience … … … … … … What is Philosophy of Science? … … … … Conclusion … … … … … … … References … … … … … … …
2 3 4 9 10 11 12 14 16 19 21 21 21 22 23 23 23 25 26
CHAPTER TWO Origin of Man and the Universe … The Big Bang Theory … … The Steady-State Theory … … The Inflation Theory … … … The Free Lunch Theory of Creation
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The Theory of Everything or Superstring Theory The Twistor Theory … … … … … Quantum Cosmology … … … … Egyptian Cosmology & Education … … … Yoruba Cosmology … … … … … Annang Cosmology … … … … … Myths of Origin of Annang … … … … Annang Cosmology (Story of Creation) … … Conclusion … … … … … … References … … … … … …
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CHAPTER THREE History of the Sciences … … … Science in Ancient Africa … … … Science in the Ancient Mesopotamian Region Science in Ancient Greece … … … Science in Ancient India … … … Science in China … … … … Science in the Middle/Mediaeval Ages … Science in the Islamic World … … Science in Post Medieval Europe … … History of Biological Sciences … … History of Chemistry … … … History of Physics … … … … History of Mathematics … … … History of Medicine … … … … Conclusion … … … … …
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CHAPTER FOUR History of Mathematics: Egypt Babylon, India, Greece … … … … Introduction … … … … … ix
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Early Mathematics … Egypt … … … Athenian … … Clinias … … Babylon … … India … … … Greek Mathematics … Thales … … Pythagoras … … Euclidean Geometry Evaluation & Conclusion References … …
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CHAPTER FIVE History of Physical Science, Cosmology, Astronomy … … … … … Ancient Astronomy … … … … Eratosthenes … … … … … Ptolemy … … … … … Medieval & Renaissance Astronomy … Modern Astronomy … … … … Newton‟s Physics Astronomy … … Universal Law of Gravitation … …
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PART B: PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE CHAPTER SIX Philosophy of Science: Physics, Chemistry & Biology Nature & Scope of Philosophy of Science … Philosophy of Physics … … … … Aristotle‟s Physics … … … … … Philosophy of Chemistry … … … … x
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Aristotle‟s Chemistry … … Philosophy of Biology … … Aristotle‟s Philosophy of Biology …
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CHAPTER SEVEN Positivism & Local Positivism … … … Introduction … … … … … … Positivism … … … … … … Types of Positivism … … … … … Social Positive … … … … … Evolutionary Positivism … … … … Critical Positivism … … … … … Logical Positivism … … … … … Tenets of Positivism … … … … … Verifiability Criterion … … … … … Evaluation of the Positivist Philosophy of Science Works Cited … … … … … …
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CHAPTER EIGHT Karl Popper‟s Philosophy of Science Critical Rationalism … … … Falsification & Falsification … … Hypothetico-Deductive Method … Verisimilitude … … … …
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CHAPTER NINE Thomas Kuhn‟s Philosophy of Science Paradigm Shift … … … Stages in a Scientific Theory … Theory Choice … … … Incommensurability … … … Commentary on Kuhn … …
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CHAPTER TEN Imre Laka tos‟ Philosophy of Science … … Te methodology of Scientific Research Programme Hard Core … … … … … … Negative heuristic … … … … … Positive Heuristic … … … … … Commentary on Lakatos … … … …
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CHAPTER ELEVEN Paul Feyerabend‟s Philosophy Science Against Methodology … … Incommensurability … … … Commentary on Feyerabend … References … … … …
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CHAPTER TWELVE The Logic of Science … … … … Introduction to Induction & Causal Reasoning … Inductive Arguments … … … … The Logic of Induction & Everyday Paradigms of Scientific Practice … … … … … Paradigm I … … … … … … Paradigm II … … … … … … Causal Arguments … … … … … David Hume‟s Causal Analysis Causation … Hume Says … … … … … … Karl Popper‟s Response to Hume … … … Conclusion … … … … … … Query … … … … … … … References … … … … … …
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CHAPTER THIRTEEN Philosophical History of Science Ancient Era … … … Medieval Era … … … Renaissance & Modern Era Matter is a Field … …
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PART C: RELEVANCE OF SCENCE & TECHNOLOGY IN NIGERIA CHAPTER FOURTEEN Science & Technology in Nigerian Society & Technology Transfer … … … … Introduction … … … … … … Conceptual Clarification … … … … Technology … … … … … … Knowledge conversion and Technology Transfer Conclusion … … … … … … References … … … … … …
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PART D: ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY & RENEWABILITY CHAPTER FIFTEEN Environmental Sustainability& Renewability: Pollution, Energy & Petroleum … … Introduction … … … … … Reflection … … … … … Air Pollution … … … … … Sources … … … … … Effect … … … … … … Acid Rain … … … … … xiii
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Ozone-Layer Depletion … … … Land Pollution … … … … Sources … … … … … Effect … … … … … … Water Pollution … … … … Causes … … … … … Industrial Sources … … … … Natural … … … … … Energy … … … … … Forms of energy … … … … Classes of Energy … … … … Recent Conception of Energy Resources Non-Renewable Energy … … … Renewable Resources … … … Electrical Energy Generation … … Wind Power … … … … … How it Works … … … … Solar Energy … … … … … Two ways to harness it for Use … … Petroleum … … … … … Petroleum Formation & Uses … … Coal … … … … … … Extraction & Uses … … … … Conclusion … … … … … References … … … … … CHAPTER SIXTEEN Climate Change & its threat … … Introduction … … … … … Climate Change & Culture … … … Historical Overview of the change Culture & Climate Change … … … … xiv
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Culture & theatre … Theoretical Framework Operations of TFD …
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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN Health & Nutrition Reproductive Health & Diseases Climate Change & Culture Origin of Climate Including HIV/AIDS & Ebola … … … Introduction … … … … … … Health … … … … … … … Nutrition … … … … … … Nutritional Requirements of Human Body … Carbohydrates … … … … … Proteins … … … … … … Vitamins … … … … … … Mineral … … … … … … Water … … … … … … … Nutrition Related Diseases … … … … Science & Technology … … … … Agriculture … … … … … … Transportation … … … … … Communication … … … … … Medicine … … … … … … Summary & Conclusion … … … … Bibliography … … … … … …
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285 285 286 287 288 288 288 289 289 290 291 296 300 301 301 302 304 306
The Epistemological Claim of Scientific Realism The Semantic Claim of Scientific Realism … Anti-Realism … … … … … … Constructivism … … … … … Underdetermination … … … … … Assessment … … … … … … Summary & Conclusion … … … … References … … … … … …
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CHAPTER NINETEEN The Philosophy of space and Time Space & time in mathematics … Space & time in Newtonian Physics
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PART F: ISSUES IN CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE CHAPTER EIGHTEEN Scientific Realism … … Claims of Science Realism …
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BASIC CONCEPTS IN HISTORY & PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE Ephraim-Stephen Essien and Joseph Alphonsus Okon
HISTORY OF SCIENCE
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INTRODUCTION This chapter intends to present a conceptual analysis of basic terms in the history and philosophy of science. The history and philosophy of science is a study of the gradual development of the entire series of human activities which has culminated in what is now termed science. As can be seen and expected, the terms, “History”, Philosophy” and “Science”, stare us in the face begging for explanations. We shall, therefore, analyze these terms in their nuances and ramifications. The question of science, what science is and what it exists for will be presented. There will be an attempt to analyze “scientific method” and distinguish it from “scientific technique”. There will be an attempt to analyze “scientific method” and distinguish it from “scientific technique”. The features and goals of science will also be discussed here. The notions of facts, hypothesis, scientific theory and scientific law will be briefly explained. With an analysis on the scientific method, we shall realize that the scientific process involves inductive reasoning in the most part and a quantum of deduction. There will be a cursory explanation of the nature and place of philosophy of science.
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The scientific method is analyzed in this work in terms of being a body of procedural rules and as a number or processes or stages of activities. Here is an allusion to understanding science as a rule-governed system, that is, a conceptual structure, as well as a human activity (Giddings, 1924). Taking a voyage into everyday paradigms of scientific practice, a balanced judgment would acknowledge an inherent and co-existing romance between inductive and deductive procedures in scientific method. Grant4ed that both inductive and deductive procedures are identified in the scientific method, the inductive reasoning tends to be more dominant and so predominant that, in some departments of learning, induction is said to be the all about science. The nature of science with scientific discoveries has made it an imperative to pay serious attention to scientific method. This is done with the view of ascertaining the way of science. Here the question of science and what it is poses itself. Nevertheless, we must know ahead that the concept of science and its analyses is deeply enmeshed in an avalanche of polysemicity. In other words, the notion of science has been variously defined or described. But, here, we need a specific, operational definition. First, we take on the concepts of history and philosophy. History The term history is an English version of the Greek historia and the Latin historia. While the Greek historia means inquiry, knowledge acquired by investigation; the Latin historia means story or account. As coined by Nikolaos Gysis, historia is an umbrella term that relates to past events as well as the discovery, collection, organization and presentation of information about those events. Also, history could be termed a chronological account of events in time. This idea is well represented in the Latin version of historia, which means story or account. As an 3
academic discipline, history uses a narrative technique to examine and analyze a sequence of past events as well as objectively determine the dynamics and peculiar root causes of the events. Thus, history is characterized with: 1. Passion for research/investigation 2. Objectivity in recording the discoveries 3. Concern for the preservation of facts 4. Ability to understand/interpret facts and pieces of information However, the 5th century Greek Herodotus has been identified as the father of the western tradition of history. His unique interest in culture and the military interest of Thucydides, his contemporary, became foundational to modern western history. The relevance of history need not be over emphasized. Hence, George Santayana held that „those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it‟. Philosophy The term philosophy is also an English version of the Greek phrase Philos tes Sophia. „Philos‟ means „love‟, „Philein‟ means „to love‟ and „Sophia‟ means „wisdom‟. Thus, etymologically (from the root of the word), philosophy means „love of wisdom‟. This literal translation, simple as it is, aptly defines philosophy in entirely. But the concept of love here does not imply a mere affective orientation of admiration of wisdom or knowledge. For instance, one could say of an eloquent speaker, “I love (admire) his command of language” or of a persuasive/motivational speaker, “I always love (admire) his gaits”. Again, one may be fascinated and endeared to plausible results/outcome of certain intellectual endeavor; she/he may as well be in perpetual sincere appreciation of what the human mind 4
can/actually sachieve(s). Yet, such levels of affective orientation do not, in the least sense, explain the word love, as used in the original Greek sense. Love in this context, goes beyond a passive attitude to become an active exercise voluntarily embarked upon. It goes beyond a passive attitude of admiring any given thing to become a commitment to an active exercise of the intellects natural desire to understand. Philia, a feminine gender of the verb philein, simply implies an irresistible drive (eros), a burning desire, a passion which often overwhelms the individual. Love of wisdom therefore, goes beyond a passive admiration of values and or concepts to imply an active radical exercise of the intellect in attempts to articulate fundamental principles and evaluate/justify certain claims, values or concepts. As an exercise of love, it is a commitment freely embarked upon and exercised in an ambience of liberty and simplicity. Hence, philosophy is a voluntary commitment to articulate fundamental principles, evaluate/justify certain claims and dispassionately search for values in human affairs/concerns through a dynamic radical exercise of the intellect. In a similar vein, Olusegun Oladipo underscored philosophy in three perspectives: as the formulation or construction of world-views, critical thinking and as a rational, but non-scientific, quest for understanding (Thinking about Philosophy, 12). Given this understanding of philosophy from the roots of the word, it becomes necessary to hold that philosophy could be seen as a natural disposition and as a cultivated habit. It is a natural disposition for those who have the propensity by nature, to articulate fundamental Principles, evaluate/ justify certain claims and dispassionately search for values in human affairs/concerns through a dynamic radical exercise of the intellect. But it is a cultivated habit for those who, either through formal tutelage or social acquaintance, voluntarily commit themselves to articulating 5
fundamental principles, evaluate/justify certain claims and dispassionately search for values in human affairs/concerns through a dynamic radical exercise of the intellect. In this sense, philosophy is characterized by three major qualities. Personal Commitment: An individual has to be deeply involved and concerned. She/he requires limitless interest and disposition to cogitate, meditate, reflect and discourse whatever crosses the mind not necessarily for any material advantage but more so for the satisfaction of the natural desire to understand. Again, conclusions arrived at must be solely personal not a group idea; authenticity is the watch word. Broad based liberty: There must be a broad based liberty for there to be a philosophy. This is so precisely because the scope of interest of the subject cuts across whatever can be thought of and whatever exists. Hence, the domain of philosophy is unrestrictive; nothing delimits its concerns. Again, maximum liberty of thought is a necessity in philosophy; thinking should not be restricted or checkmated. Hence, the philosopher radically contemplates and seeks to understand whatever crosses his mind. Critical mindedness: The exercise requires not only a high level of curiosity but also much vigor for criticism (even of self-criticism). Again, a high level of alertness/discipline is required for the appreciation of values and salient points even in a rival‟s opinion. Hence, it shuns narrow mindedness. Given this understanding of philosophy as its unique characteristics, note is worthy of the often agnostic argument that 6
philosophy is difficult to define. Any view that philosophy is difficult to define cast immense doubt on the proponent‟s knowledge of the subject as such knowledge must necessarily be founded on the weakness of the subject. Some scholars hold a somewhat apologetic view that a common/acceptable definition of philosophy is impossible. But these are not to be taken seriously. As could be reasoned above, philosophy is quite definable in terms of its most fundamental denominators; a perspective that can stand any weight of criticism. Again, the characterization of philosophy above could well be seen in virtually any of the purported diverse definitions of philosophy not merely because what is here articulated is eclectic, but more so on the grounds that it aptly articulates the fundamental characteristics of the subject. For instance, in holding the view that it is difficult to proffer a common definition of philosophy, C. S. Momoh identified five factors as the sources of the perceived difficulty. As outlined in The Substance of African Philosophy, they include: the cultural and social influences on the particular philosopher; the historical epoch in which the philosopher lives; the school of thought (the strand/direction of thought) that a philosopher belongs; the specific subject areas (branch) of philosop0hy of the philosopher‟s interest; and the personal motive/agenda of the particular philosopher (cf.p.5-7). For C. S. Momoh therefore, difference in the definition of philosophy follows from the differences in culture, history, interest and motive of the particular philosopher. Hence, C. S. Momoh identified the following as the different definitions of philosophy: 1. Philosophy is the search for a comprehensive view of nature, an attempt at the universal explanation of things. 2. The business of philosophy is to analyze the concepts of science. 7
3. The task of philosophy is to change the world. 4. Philosophy is the pursuit of wisdom and its formulation in words. 5. Philosophy interprets the knowledge of life. 6. Philosophy is the search for the reality. 7. Philosophy is the search for the truth. 8. Philosophy is the search for the goal of human existence. 9. Philosophy is the critical discussion of critical discussion. 10. Philosophy is a direct personal intuition of general conclusions. 11. Philosophy is the uncovering of nonsense. 12. Philosophy is the art of life. 13. Philosophy is the scientific knowledge of man. 14. Philosophy is the theory of being. 15. Philosophy is the theory of culture. (cf:p.15) Of the varied perspectives of the subject so identified, one thing stands out: each is a reflection on a particular aspect of the entire gamut of human experience. As such, they all approximate to certain concerns of philosophy not, stricto sensu, a definition of philosophy. Definition, as a concept, entails the setting of limits, the delineation of the domains/concerns of a given concept. In a similar vein, K. A Ojong identified some purported definitions of philosophy to include: a discipline of study in an academic institution; any general theory or idea dealing with important questions about life; a free rational inquiry into the nature and meaning of reality, thought about thought (cf: a. f. Uduigwomen & G. O., Ozumba, ed.p3-4). But what disturbs most about Ojong‟s notions of philosophy is the rather permissive and apologetic expression that “the concept philosophy like any other abstract concept, is capable of diverse interpretations depending on the perspective from which the particular philosopher views it, 8
and what problem he intended to solve with the definition. This could be called anarchistic as it accepts any view as definitive of the subject. What is Science? Science is a systematic body of knowledge which is made, popularized, confirmed and sometimes rejected. By the scientific community. Otherwise expressed, science is a systematic body of knowledge which is enacted, promulgated, ratified and sometimes repealed by the scientific community (Essien, “The Logic of Scientific Method”, 2008). Science involves a step-by-step observation, experimentation and investigation of nature. Etymologically, science means knowledge, from the Latin word „Scientia‟. Natural philosophy was the name under which science was studied before it broke away from philosophy when much emphasis was placed on the scientific method by Galileo Galilei, Francis Bacon and Thomas Hobbes. The scientific method involves acquiring knowledge through critical observation, formation of hypothesis or informed guess and experimenting to see whether the results match the hypothesis. Results that match the hypothesis become theories and theories that pass the test of time become scientific laws. In the scientific method is the scientific technique which involves the use of scientific tools in carrying out experiments. The tools include physical tools such as the apparatus and equipment used, and non-physical like the ideas that are in the mind of the researcher. The Greek word “Episteme”, the Latin word “Scientia”, the German word “Wissenschaft”, and the Russian word “Nauka” all refer to science as a systematic body of knowledge. For Heidegger, the term “science” today means something essentially different from the “doctrina” and the “scientia” of the middle Ages, and also from Greek “episteme” (Heidegger, 1977). Heidegger 9
means that one commonly characterizes modern science in contradistinction to medieval science by saying that modern science starts from facts while medieval science started from general speculative propositions and concepts (Heidegger, 1977). For placing theory before facts and observation, Popper may be referred to as thinking science the medieval way, if the said characterization of science is anything to go by. Galileo‟s thought Experiment would not be far from this analysis, therefore. Nonetheless, one may likely get a clearer view of the concept of “science” when it is understood in broad and narrow senses. Broad and Narrow meanings of Science To say that science is any body of knowledge or systematic body (corpus) of knowledge over broadens the scope of science. In this broad sense, all of physics and philosophy, history and law, economics and music, biology and geography, Mathematics and chemistry, astronomy, architecture, medicine and chemistry, astronomy, architecture, medicine and psychology would all be rightly named sciences. This is a general sense of conceptualizing science which the ancients and medieval thinkers gave credence to. Science in this sense, Robert Morgan (1979), affirms, is any activity resulting in knowledge and understanding about the world around us. Science in this sense is equated with human knowledge, “scientia”. In its narrow and conventional sense, the term “science” is employed to signify the natural sciences, such as physics, chemistry and biology. These disciplines are called pure sciences because their objects of study are natural kinds. It was in this sense that I defined science as a systematic body of knowledge which is enacted, promulgated, ratified and sometimes repealed by the scientific community (Essien, “The Logic of Scientific Method”, 2008). It was in this sense that I described science as a 10
step-by-step observation, experimentation and investigation of nature. It is in this narrow sense of science that is our concern in this work. From the above, one must note that the object of science must be a natural kind or the properties and behavioural pattern of natural objects. Technology: There is the attendance concept of technology associated with science. This term is often used to refer to the application of science in practical concerns of life. Technology is then said to be an application of scientific theories and discoveries. Agassi (1980) observes the ultimate goal of the applied sciences is to be able to control the course of events and enhance man‟s comfort and happiness on earth by inventing more and more technological facilities (Agassi, 198o- quoted in Aigbodioh). Science in its conventional, “purely” scientific predication fairly traces its genesis to the works of Copernicus, Kepler, Brahe, Galileo, Descartes and then Newton, who was the culmination, the acme, the zenith, the apogee and the blossoming of classical science. The conventional notion of science and the popular notion of science are then convertible. U. D. Rohansky‟s characterization of science enters into this scientific level of analysis. The reason he suggested include the mathematisation of science; the evolution and application of fruitful scientific method which em0loyhs both the theoretical and experimental levels of cognition. He included the existence of scientific collectives, engineers, programmists, instruments, apparatii, experimental situation as sine qua non for a scientific enterprise (Alozie, 2001). Although one may discern implied features and goals of science from the above analysis, since the human mind always seeks to receive or know more, one would be justified in 11
describing the basic features and goals of science more clearly. To these we turn. Featured of Science According to Aigbodioh (1997), Philosophers of science and scientists generally assume four different, but closely related characteristics of the scientific enterprise. These are: i. Specific ii. Public iii. Impersonal and iv. Objective Ernest Gellner (1974) is in praise of this characterization of science in his Legitimation of Belief. i
The Specific character of Science There are two sense of looking at the specific character of science. First, science deals with particular, observable or identifiable objects of this immanent world, instead of some abstract general ideas or beings in this or some possible world. Science studies the properties, components and behavior of such natural objects as water, air, space, the planet soil, trees and animals, all of which cross our sensory spectrum. Secondary, the science are specific or said to be specific in that they furnish us with information about our world as it actually is. In other words, some authors claim that what scientist discover bout our world represents the world as it is (Aigbodioh, 1997). ii
The Public character of Science The conclusions and knowledge claims in the sciences are open to public scrutiny and are interpersonally variable. The techniques and methods as well as the findings and products are
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capable of being communicated and taught to the generally of persons.
before relativity and quantum physics. Wither the objectivity in science and human knowledge save relative objectivity?
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To put the characteristic of science in a nutshell, however, one observes that the explanatory schemata of scientific knowledge are impersonal, indifferent to idiosyncrasy and identify, and articulated in terms which are socially and morally blind, and which are indeed, generally un-intelligible without specialized and technical training (Gellner, 1974).
The Impersonal character of Science Science does not involve idiosyncratic beliefs resulting from a person‟s peculiar power of imagination. The impersonal character of science also means that the sciences are unprejudiced methods redeem science from the interests of a biased theorist and accords science with the status of near universality. iv
The objective character of science An objective is claimed by scientists in as much as the conclusions of science. In terms of concepts, laws and theories are inferred directly from the facts from the world of everyday trial experience. The facts which are alleged to be involved are such that no one can make mistakes about them (Aigbodioh, 1997). It is on this that Paul Feyerabend (1993) affirms that a point of view or a procedure is “valid irrespective of human expectations, ideas, attitudes, wishes” and is mostly associated with today‟s scientists and intellectuals. We do not claim such absoluteness. We do not know everything about bodies. In the face of modern physics, the claim to objectivity in scientific knowledge is a mere misnomer, a chimera, flight of fantasy and a figment of the mind. This is because our knowledge of an object is relative to the motion of the object and that of the observer. With the relativity theory propositions which used to be proved by reasoning become conventions or approximatetruths ratified by observation (Russell, 1979). With indeterminacy, we cannot know the exact positions or velocity of particles. Theories, such as uniformity of nature, law of universal causation, one-embracing absolute time, all crumble 13
The Basic Goals of Science The goals of science may be said to be multifarious, in that there is no single ultimate goal of science. Scientific endeavours are readily characterized as acts of explaining, understanding, predicting or describing the occurrences of natural events or phenomena. Stating the ultimate aim of science is an initiation a controversy for philosophers of science. Since the scientists may go on with their theories irrespective of what philosopher of science say about them and their advances (Hawking, 1988). Philosophers too, must go on with what they are familiar with, controversies, since through them they can increase the vistas of human knowledge. Some say that science is pursued for its own sake. This view supports the assertion that science aims to discover more and more about the world, or about the phenomena under investigation, whatever the world or the phenomena may turn out to be like (Maxwell, 1974). In support of this view, Einstein says that “there exists a passion for comprehension just as there exists a passion for music… without this passion there would be neither Mathematics nor natural science”. Again, Einstein questioned: what, then impels us to devise theory after theory? 14
Why do we device theories at all? The answer to the latter question is simply because we enjoy “comprehending” i.e., reducing phenomena by the process of logic to something already known or (apparently) evident. This view arrogates the acquisition of human knowledge per science. However, we have indicated how this scientific theories of relativity and quantum mechanics. I science is not pursued merely for knowledge sake, some others argue, it must be for its practical benefits. This is utilitarian view about science that is science exists for its useful end. This view has been criticized with the argument that the attainment of utilitarian values cannot be the principle and ultimate goal of science. For instance, many of the primary products of the sciences, like theoretical physics, are not limited to the achievement of immediate practical and technological ends (Aigbodioh, 1997). There is the third view that sees the scientists in the question how best to understand the world. Science is thus viewed as the supreme human effort to explain and predict the world Maxwell (1994) opines: Science constitutes search for an underlying simplicity, unity, harmony, order, coherence, beauty or intelligibility which we conjecture to be inherent in the universe, new scientific hypotheses only constituting contributions to our knowledge to the extent they promise to help us towards realizing this basic aim. Science explains the world and world phenomena by establishing observed regularities in the world and expressing such observed regularizes in terms of hypothesis, laws and theories which may be employed to predict future occurrences. Science tends to have varied goals. It exists for its own sake; it explains, understands, predicts and describes the occurrences and processes of natural events and phenomena. There is however, a greater proclivity and prediction among 15
analysts of science towards the explanatory and predictive goal of science. Mach, Poincare, Einstein, Maxwell and Carl Hempel, etcetera vouched for the explanatory and predictive goal of science. For Professor Carl Hempel: Empirical science, in all its major branches, seeks not only to describe the phenomena in the world of our experience, but also explains or understands their occurrences. It is concerned not just with “what?”, “when?” and “where?”, but definitely and often predominately with the “why?” of the phenomena it investigates. Hempel presented the DeductiveNomological and Inductive-Probabilistic models of scientific explanation (Hempel, 1970). For him, science has explanatory and predictive powers. Scientific inquiry presents us with ideas of discovery of facts and building of hypotheses and theories are meant to predict the occurrence of events or results of experiments with a vision of anticipating new facts. Explanation renders intelligible facts which have already been recorded. Whereas prediction looks forward from what is, to what is to come, explanations usually looks back from what is to what was in the past. The object of explanation, its position and motion, the measuring instrument, the mental disposition of th4e observer and the functionality of his sense, all these stare in the face any claim too objective knowledge through science. Quantum mechanics upholds epistemological subjectivism. Scientific Method Scientific Technique The scientific method is held to be the procedure by which conclusions and discoveries are alleged to be made in every science. The scientific technique does not necessarily imply scientific method. There is a distinction. The phrase “Scientific Technique” may be said to refer to the manner in which a scientific tool is used. A scientific tool refers to any physical or conceptual 16
instrument which is employed in the scientific inquiry (Ackoff, 1962). Whereas conceptual scientific tools include mathematical symbols and “structural terms” such as “Theory”, “Law”, “Observation”, “Hypothesis”, and “Evidence”, physical scientific tools include microscopes, thermometers, cyclotrons, et cetera. That scientific technique is the way in which a scientific tool is used is contrasted with “scientific method”. Ackoff considers scientific method as “the way techniques are selected in science; that is, the evaluation of scientific courses of scientific action”. It is argued that the actual techniques which the scientists employ are a result of his personal decision. The method is said to be the decision rules which guide the scientists in making his decisions or choices. Methods are then said to be rules of choices whereas the techniques are the choices themselves. Except we go beyond semantics, the above distinction may land our audience in confusion. This may be due to kindred elements in method and technique as the way or style of doing something. The distinction would be deep or deeper in the section that follows. Given that the procedure by which conclusions and discoveries are alleged to be made in every science is referred to as the “scientific method”. Danto (1972) conceives of the method of consisting of in: (a) Explaining natural processes through identification of the natural causes responsible for them, and (b) Testing any given explanation with regard to consequences that must hold if it is true. On this method, Ernest Nagel and Moris Cohen (1934) say that it is “the most assured technique man has yet devised for controlling the flux of things and establishing stable beliefs. The 17
above outlay of the method by Danto, according to Aigbodioh (1997) can be analyzed into for stages as follows: a. The identification of the problem or a puzzling phenomenon; b. The making of a large number of observations. c. Drawing and hypothesis on inductive grounds, and d. Confirming or verifying by the process of deduction. The above, so far, indicates that there is a step-by-step process in scientific research. However, scholars are not agreed on the exact number of the research stages in scientific method. Ackoff (1962) identifies observation, Generalization and Experimentation as the three phases of scientific research. A.D. Abro names three phases, but these are varied from Ackoff‟s list. D‟Abro‟s list includes the observational stage, the experimental stage, and the theoretical and the mathematical stage. F. Giddings (1924) presents to us a six stage process of scientific research as follows: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Formulating the problem Constructing the model Testing the model Deriving the solution from the model Testing and controlling the solution Implementing the solution
Following this modality in the process of scientific research, Giddings (1924) argues that: We control everything that happens. We determine when it shall occur and where. We arrange circumstances and 18
surroundings, atmosphere and temperature; possible ways of getting out something that has been in, or put in something that has been out, and see what happens. Irving Copi (2000) suggest a seven-stage description of the scientific method in what he designates as “the Detective as scientists”. The stages are as follows: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
The selection of problem for study Preliminary hypothesis Collecting addition facts Formulating the hypothesis Deducing further consequences Testing the consequences Application
The details of Copi‟s of scientific method shall be given below under the brief on familiar everyday paradigms of scientific method. From what we have done so far it is presupposes that the scientific method involves both a body of procedural rules as well as a number of stages or process of activities. In so far as the scientific method is concerned, neither method as the body of procedural rules nor the number of stages or process of activities is mutually exclusive. There is an entailment of process in system-building and the stages of activities, or say the scientific activities are rules-laden. Scientific Facts, Hypothesis, law and Theories Fact, hypothesis, law and theory are operative concepts in science. Fact may be said to be the starting point of the use of the scientific method. It is as well, some scientists argue, the goal 19
of the use of scientific method. For Cohen and Nagel (1934), scientific method aims to discover what the facts truly are, and the use of the method must be guided by the discover facts. The result of the sciences are said to be formulated on empirical facts which can be observed or perceived with the senses. Scientific facts are the raw materials from which scientific hypothesis, laws and theories are formulated. In an Introduction to Philosophical analysis, John Hospers (1976) distinguishes two sense of the word fact. The first sense is that “fact” means a “true proposition”, such as when we say “there are a million books in this study”. The second sense refers to fact as “actual state-of affairs”. This refers to “the configuration of things around us, how the objects or events in the world happen to be”. Scientific Hypothesis These are unconfirmed suggestions or proposals which are intended to resolve specific problems in scientific enterprise. They are suggestions of possible connections between actual facts or imagined ones (Cohen and Nagel, 1934). Hypothesis involves linking of fact in order to explain “why something is as it is (Hospers, 1976). Hypotheses are suggested but not confirmed work of scientific endeavours”. They constitute what the scientist seeks to verify and confirm. Hypothesis and the making of hypothesis call the rationality of science to question. They are seen as “mere guess work” and is thus epistemologically humbled when the question of their justification is even merely posited.
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Scientific Laws Whereas a hypothesis is a suggested solution to a problem, science laws are statements about discovered regularly which holds in the course of natural events. A scientific law may be defined as a universal generalization which states an invariant relationship between natural facts. It is said to be a universal generalization because it is unrestricted in the scope of its application to the object which is specified. A universal law is not applicable only to a few of the objects to which it refers nor is it (claimed to be) applicable to all the objects in mention at all times and all places when the necessary conditions are satisfied. Scientific Theories In most cases scientific theories are often used interchangeably with scientific laws. Their difference is not readily clearly drawn. First of all, whereas all the terms of laws of nature are directly explicably by reference to observable or observed facts, some of the terms in a theory do not directly signify any observable thing in experience. For example, the atomic theory in modern physic assumes that even within the unobservable atom there are such other minute particles, such as the nucleus, neutron, neutrino, proton and electron. Secondly, while law can usually be stated in a single statement, a theory usually takes a system or related statements to express. Scientific Axioms An axiom is a self-evident truth. This implies the ideas which are necessarily taken to be true and have been proven the other way round. Though they are assumptions, that is, ideas taken for granted, they have hitherto remained valid and aids human thinking. Thus, axioms exist in the logic like the axioms of identity, 21
non-contradiction and excluded middle. Axioms equally exist in religion and the sciences. Scientific axioms are therefore the basic assumptions or postulates in the sciences. They are mere basic postulates which are foundational to the scientific enterprise. These could be summarized thus: 1. The Principle of Causality: This is the belief that every event has a cause and that, in similar situations, the same cause always produces same effect. 2. The principle of Predictive Uniformity: Holds that a group of events will manifest same degree of relationship in the future as they manifested in the past or present. Protoscience This is a term used to designate earlier fields of study which existed prior to the development of modern scientific method. It represents all modes of inquiries about the world in early cultures irrespective of their mode and methods of approach. They are often concerned with occultism religion and of course free rational attitude identifiable with philosophy. In this sense, protosciences approximate to both the rudimentary manifestations of the scientific zest and the foundational considerations for the modern sciences. Jaap Brakel defines protoscience as “the study of normative criteria for the use of experimental technology in science”. (Philosophy of chemistry, 12). Wheras Jaap‟s view entails a philosophic consideration of the guiding principles and procedure for practical investigations of the universe, some other scholars imply regard earliest forms and approaches to nature, the persecutors to modern science, as protosciences. However, protosciences have otherwise been referred to as fringe sciences. Examples of protosciences include alchemy which developed into modern chemistry, astrology which 22
developed into astronomy; herbalism which developed into pharmacology; alienism which developed into psychology. Again, philosophical considerations of the justifiable methodologies in the sciences could also be called protosciences. Above all, the term is a combination of two words Proto which means First or Foremost or „Earliest Form of‟ and the word Science itself.
and examine the grounds of their validity. Philosophy of science has the demarcation of science from pseudo-science or nonscience as one of its aims and objectives. Uduigwomen (2006: 27-29) captured different conceptions of philosophy of science as follows:
What is Philosophy of Science? Philosophy of science is the critical, rational and systematic investigation, probing and questioning of the assumptions, claims and findings of science. It attempts to evaluate the nature of scientific inquiry, the scientific procedure, theories and methods
(a) Philosophy of science consists in the formulation of worldviews that are consistent with findings in science or based on scientific laws and theories. (b) Philosophy of science is a predispositionless discipline which seeks to uncover the presuppositions or predispositions of the scientists. (c) Philosophy of science is the classification and analysis of scientific theories and concepts with the aim of making their scientific usage clear. (d) Philosophy of science plays a second order role to science by answering questions bordering on the meaning of scientific concepts such as law, theory and explanation, the nature of, and claims about, scientific knowledge, the logic and procedure of scientific explanation, and the cognitive statue of scientific laws principles. Uduigwomen subscribes to the fourth conception of philosophy of science as a second order discipline. In his view, “…although the fourth conception incorporates some elements of the second and third conceptions, it is, nevertheless, the best of the four conceptions. It is, nevertheless, the best of the four conceptions. The reason is that in it is the traditional distinction between „is‟ and „ought‟ that is, between doing science and thinking about science is brought into focus. Following this, science is to be seen as a discipline whose subject-matter is the explanation of facts, while philosophy of science is to be seen as a second-order discipline whose
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Pseudoscience The word “pseudo” means fake. Hence, the concept, in brief, implies fake science. Pseudoscience displays an indifference to facts while the genuine science adores facts. Pseudoscience is indifferent to criteria of valid evidence. Its emphasis is not on meaningful, controlled, repeatable scientific experiments. Instead it is on unverifiable eyewitness testimony, stories and tall tales hearsay, rumor, and dubious anecdotes. Genuine scientific literature is either ignored or misinterpreted. Pseudoscience relies heavily on subjective validation. Technoscience This is a concept widely used in the interdisciplinary community of science and technology studies to designate the technological and social context of science. The notion indicates a common recognition that scientific knowledge is not only socially coded and historically situated but sustained and made durable by material (non-human) networks. The term, “Technoscience” itself was coined by a French philosopher Gaston Bacheland in 1953.
subject-matter is the analysis of not only the procedures and logic of scientific explanation…” (29). What should be added here is the idea that just like in every consideration of philosophy as a second order discipline, philosophy of science is a committed intellectual examination of both the procedures and conclusions of the sciences in terms of their epistemic, ethical and metaphysical foundations and implications. Philosophy of science asks the question: What method should be used to demarcate what is scientific from what is non-scientific? What should be the standard for measuring science from nonscience? Answers to this question are addressed in chapter four of this work. Conclusion The concern of the chapter was a conceptual consideration in history and philosophy of science. Thus, we limited our scope to some preliminary clarification of terms. Though some terms required a little elaboration on them, clarifications given are aimed at contributing insignificant measures towards adequate understanding the fecund discourse on the history and philosophy of science. However, the terms elucidated here are by no means exhaustive of the list of relevant terms on the subject. Yet, they suffice for preliminary studies on the subject.
REFERENCES Ackoff, R. L. (1962). Scientific Method, Optimizing Applied Decisions. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Agassi, J. (11980). “Between Science and Technology” in Philosophy of Science. Vol.47, No. 1, March, 1980. Aigobodioh, J. A. (1977). Philosophy of Science. Problems. Ibadan: Hope publications.
Issues and
Alozie, P. I. (2001). History and Philosophy of Science 2nd editions, Calabar: Clear Lines. Asouzu, I. I. (2004). The Method and Principles of Complementary Reflection in and Beyond African Philosophy. Calabar: Calabar University Press. Brakel, Jaap. (Ed.), (2002). “Protoscience and protochemistry” in Philosophy of Chemistry: Between the Manifest and the Scientific Image. Belgium: Leuven University Press, 2000:12. Cohen, m. R. and E. (1934). An Introduction to Logic and Scientific Method. New York: Harcourt and Brace. Copi, I. M. and Cohen, C. (2002). Introduction to Logic. 9 thed. New Delhi: Prentice Hall of India. D‟Abro, A. (1951). The Rise of the New Physics. New York: Dover Publications. Danto, A. C. (1972). “Naturalism” in Paul Edward (ed). The Encyclopedia of Philosophy. New York: Macmillan, Vol. 5.
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Einstein, A. (1950). “On Generalised Theory of Gravitation” Scientific American Encyclopedia Britannica 11th edition. New York: Encyclopedia Britannica Inc. Essien, E. S. (2008). “The Logic and Nature of Scientific Method” in International Researcher, Volume 1 Number 2, November, 2008, pp 229-240. Feyerabend, P. (1993). Farewell to Reason. London: Verso. Gellner, E. 91974). Legitimation of Belief. London: Cambridge University Press. Giddings, F. H. (1924). The Scientific Study of Human Society. Campel Hell: University of Nroth California Press. Hawking, S. W. (1988). A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes. London: Bantam Press.
Hosper, J. (1976). An Introduction to Philosophical Analysis. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. Huxley, T. H. (1972). “Method of Scientific Investment” in Burr, J. R. and M. Goldinger (eds). Philosophy and Contemporary Issues. New York: Macmillan. Kuhn, T. (1970). The Structure of Scientific Revolution. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. Vol. II, No. 2. Maxwell, N. (1974). “The Rationality of Scientific Discovery: Part I: The Traditional Rationality Problem”. Philosophy of Science. Vol. 41 No. 2, June, 1974. Momoh, C. S. (ed.), (1989). The Substance of African Philosophy. Auchi: African Philosophy Projects Publishers.
Heidegger, M. (1977). Question Concerning Technology and other Essays (trans) William Lovit. New York: Haper and Row.
Morgan, R. P. et al. (1979). Science and Technology for Development: the Role of U. S. Universities. New York: Pergamon.
Heidegger, M. (1996). “Modern Science, Metaphysics and Mathematics” in Basic Writings. D. F. Krell (ed). London: Routledge.
Oladipo, Olusegun (200*). ThinkingAbout Philosophy: A General Guide, Ibadan: Hope Publishers.
Hempel, C. (1970). “The Logic of Functional Analysis” in Baruch A. Brody (ed) Readings in the Philosophy of Science. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Popper, K. (1965). The Logic of Scientific Discovery New York: Harper Torch Books. Uduigwomen, A. F. and G. O. Ozumba: A Concise Introduction to Philosophy and Logic. 2nded. Calabar Centaur Publishers, 2005.
Hempel, C. (1970). Aspects of Scientific Explanation and other essays in Philosophy of Science New York: the Free Press. 27
Uduigwomen, A. F. A Textbook of History and Philosophy of Science. Abba: AAU Vitalis books, 2007. 28
ORIGIN OF MAN AND THE UNIVERSE Dr. Uti O. Egbai The major problem this chapter addresses concerns the origin of man and the universe. Although no one theory has been universally accepted, the principal theories concerning the origin of man, time and the universe are: the theory of evolution, the big bang theory, and creationism. Besides the Big Bang theory, there is a multitude of other scientific and cosmological theories. And there are stories or theories of origin of the universe that are typical of the African culture, with particular reference to Egypt, Yoruba and the Annang cultures. Question: Why are there different views concerning the origin of the universe? Perhaps as far as the human mind keeps reflecting, and doing so from different points of view, there may hardly be a universally acceptable and coherent account of the origin of the universe. There are as many accounts of the origin of the universe as there are many cultures. In this chapter we shall come in contact with many theories and stories about the origin of man time and the universe and they come from diverse backgrounds and cultures. The account of creation of the universe and man in the Christian bible, called “Creationism”, came from the Hebrew-Jewish background and culture; Evolutionism, the Big Bang theory and other theories in modern physics and astronomy come from the Euro-American background and culture. We also present here cosmogonies (stories of creation) from the African background 29
and culture. The plethora of accounts of creation of the universe increases the problematic question regarding the correct or true theory of how the universe and man began. Christians maintain the theory of creationism based on belief in the Bible. Some others do not subscribe to any of these theories. This theory is associated with Charles Darwin in his books “On the Origin of Species” (1866) and “The Descent of Man” (1871). In his natural selection thesis, Darwin observed competition and struggle for survival among species. He reasoned that weaker and diseased forms of life die off and become extinct, causing all living organisms to evolve into stronger and more virulent forms. In The Decent of Man, in particular, Darwin maintained that man must have evolved from a single-celled organism through a very long process of evolution. The theory of evolution, however, does not account for the origin of the first single-celled organism. It does not give account of how life emanated from anon-living organism. There is no explanation for the passage from the plant world to the animal world and to the human world. It does not account for what the human being will evolve into or why monkeys and other apes have ceased evolving into human beings. 3.
The Big Bang Theory The generally accepted scientific theory of the birth and evolution of the universe is the big bang model. According to this theory, 12-15 billion years ago the universe was born from a cosmic explosion or “big bang”. This theory came to lime light in 1927, when a Belgian priest and astronomer, George Lemaitre, presented this theory of an expanding universe that had a beginning in time, “a day without yesterday” (Obu 66). For this, Lemaitre is viewed as the “father” of the Big Bang Theory.
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The singularity contained the entire mass of the universe in the form of elementary particles of matter and electromagnetic energy at infinite temperature, compressed to infinite density in zero space (Velan 121). The mass at infinite density created infinite gravity and, consequently, a complete curvature of space around it. In accordance with this theory, the entire universe as we observe it today with all the galaxies, stars and planets, white dwarfs and pulsars, quasars and black holes evolved from this gigantic explosion, followed by expansion and cooling down (Velan 121). Astronomers, looking out into space, have assumed that on a sufficiently large scale the universe is homogenous and isotropic. Homogenous means that the distribution of mass in galaxies or density is uniform throughout the universe. The universe would appear the same to all observers, regardless of their location. Isotropic means that it looks the same from all directions (Velan 122). The discoveries in recent years of enormous local concentrations of mass in the form of clusters of galaxies, called the “great wall”, and clusters of quasars put this theory of an isotropic and homogenous universe in doubt. What is the fate of the universe? Will it expand forever? One possibility is that the universe will continue to expand forever. This case is called an open universe, and this corresponds to the case in which the universe is infinite. The other possibility is that at some time in the future the universe will stop expanding and will begin to contract. This case is called a closed universe, and corresponds to the case in which the universe is finite (Pasachoff 601). In a closed universe, we would eventually reach a situation that we might call a “big crunch” (Pasachoff 601). Approximately general relativity theory, the universe of the big bang is closed, spherical and finite. The universe thus began with the big bang and would end with the big crunch. However, 31
what was present before the big bang is not explained in this theory. The fact that there was a big bang could mean that there was a center of the universe from which everything expanded. Where is that center? Again, what happened at zero time shortly before the cosmic explosion? On the whole, the big bang theory appears more speculative such that it possesses a greater philosophical appeal than scientific. Where did the enormous energy required to create all of the particles of matter contained in the universe originate? How did all matter and radiation contained in the universe get into the singularity in the first place? How could the gigantic amounts of matter and radiation be compressed to infinite density in zero space – a radiation where all known physical laws of nature break down? How could the universe have started isotropically and uniformly everywhere? Where did the energy come from to generate the particles of matter that collapsed into the singularity? 4.
The Steady-State Theory The cosmological principle, that the universe is homogenous and isotropic, was extended by three British scientists, Hermann Bondi, Thomas Gold, and Fred Hoyle, to what is called “perfect cosmological principle”. The perfect cosmological principle holds that the universe is not only homogenous and isotropic in space but also unchanging in time. The theory that follows from the perfect cosmological principle is called the “steady-state theory” (Pasachoff 607). This theory differed from the big bang theory. For one thing, according to the steady-state theory, the universe never had a beginning and will never have an end. It always looked just about the way it does now and will always look that way.
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The steady-state theory, if squared with the fact that the universe is expanding, would bring the paradox of a universe expanding continually but not changing in its overall appearance. For the density of matter to remain constant, new matter must be created at the same rate that the explosion would decrease the density. Only in this way can the density remain the same (Pasachoff 607). According to Pasachoff, the matter created in the steadystate theory is not simply matter that is being converted from energy by E=mc2, but matter that is appearing out of nothing, and is thus equivalent to energy appearing out of nothing (Pasachoff 607). The debate between proponents of the big bang theory and the proponent of the steady-state theory is resonant of the first antinomy in the critical philosophy of Immanuel Kant, where the thesis held that the world has a beginning in time and is limited as regards space, and the antithesis held that “the world is infinite both in time and space” (Kemp 7). However, most astronomers are in favour of the big bang cosmology (Pasachoff 601). 5. The Inflation Theory The cosmological theory of inflation, introduced by Alan Guth, claims that the universe underwent a very short period enormous expansion at 1035 sec. after the big bang. At 1035 sec, however, the expanding mass of matter and radiation suddenly underwent rapid expansion, called inflation, which ended at 1030 sec. After the short inflationary period, the radii in both theories were the same (Velan 145). This theory claims that when singularity exploded, the universe expanded, particles and radiation were cooled down, and the energy associated with the vacuum of space-time was also “cooling” down.
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Linde, Albrecht, and Steinhardt amended the Guth theory and called the amended theory the “New inflation theory”. In this new inflation, the inflation stops smoothly after a small fraction of a second. At this time, the universe is transformed from the state in which the forces are symmetric into the lower energy state, in which the symmetry among the forces is broken. All the state energy is rapidly converted into ordinary matter and radiation (Pasachoff 629). Linde holds unto chaotic inflation. It claims that the universe starts off in a completely random state. The question on inflation theories is: what triggered inflation? 6. The Free Lunch Theory of Creation Whereas in the big bang theory the vacuum of space did not exist but was created simultaneously with the expansion of the universe after the explosion, the Free Lunch theory, advanced by Zeldovich, Starobinsky, and Tryon, claims that the universe was created from a vacuum fluctuation (Velan 148). This theory claims that all of the particles contained in the universe were created suddenly and coincidentally as a long lived vacuum fluctuation. This theory explains below the long period of sustaining the existence of matter and the universe, in comparison to the shortlived appearance of virtual particles. The positive, kinetic energy in all of the expanding matter of the universe is fully counter balanced by the opposite acting gravitational potential energy, resulting in the total energy of the universe being equal to O. It is assumed that this is the reason that the lifetime of the accidental vacuum fluctuation may be infinite (Velan 148).
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This theory, claiming that the universe emerged from vacuum fluctuations does not identify the source of energy required to sustain the emerging virtual particles from the vacuum. The Theory of Everything or Superstring Theory On and off for over 30 years, the supporters of the string theory, which considers point like particles of matter such as quarks or electrons as excitations of strings, made numerous claims of how the theory can eliminate all anomalies and infinites of Einstein‟s general theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. These supporters indicated that they could unify both theories and the four forces of nature as well as explain the origin of matter and the big bang birth of the universe (Velan 150). Einstein‟s general theory of relativity (Einstein: Relativity) has related gravity to the space structure on a large scale and enabled the universe to be described. Quantum mechanics, on the other hand, deals with the micro-space of elementary particles, as small as 10-17cm (electron) and beyond, at Planck‟s micro dimensions of 10-33cm. At these distances it is impossible to integrate Einstein‟s general theory as gravity becomes infinite (Velan 151). Also, the Einstein concept of space-time consisting of infinite number of points, regardless of whether the distance between two points is 1033cm or 1064cm, would have to be abandoned. As to the unification attempts of the four forces of nature, quantum mechanics was able to unify the weak, strong and electromagnetic forces but failed to find a solution to include gravitation. After many years of ups and downs from the various string theories, which all regard point like elementary particles of matter as different types of excitations of strings, a new variation of the theory was formulated in 1984 by John Schwartz, Michael B. Green, and Joel Shferk, called superstrings theory (Velan 151).
The superstrings theory or theory of everything claims to be capable of unifying all four forces of nature and eliminating all anomalies and infinite of Einstein‟s general theory of relativity (Velan 151).
7.
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The superstring theory or the theory of everything or complete unified theory, with its vagaries of nomenclature makes the mind to question: can there really be such a unified theory? Or are we perhaps just chasing a mirage? Stephen hawking answers: There seems to be three possibilities: 1) There really is a complete unified theory, which we will someday discover if we are smart enough. 2) There is no ultimate theory that describe the universe, just an infinite sequence of theories that describe the universe more and more accurately. He presently calls these “Model Dependent Realism” in The Grand Design (2010). 3) There is no theory of the universe; events cannot be predicted beyond a certain extent but occur in a random and arbitrary manner (Hawking 176). In a word, hawking dismissed the theory of superstring as the ultimate theory of the universe. 8.
The Twistor Theory David Bohm suggested that space can be described by topology rather than by geometry (Velan 157). This is said to make sense, especially when space becomes curved by gravity, straight lines become curves, and triangles change to squares or even circles (Velan 157). Roger Penrose, on the other had developed an entirely new principle. In the same way that matter has its origin in elementary particles, Penrose claims that space-time has its origin 36
in twistor space (Velan 151). The twistor primordial space had complex dimensions and points were replaced by twistors. The complex twistor space was used to generate our four dimensional space-time. The twistor theory was developed by Penrose to trace the origin of space-time. 9.
Quantum Cosmology The question of the origin of matter and the large scale universe had led cosmologists back to the question of the initial conditions. Hawking admires the chaotic inflation theory of Andrei Linde (Hawking 139). As indicted above, the chaotic inflation claims that the universe started off in a completely random state (Hawking 139-140). It attempted the question of the initial condition. Quantum cosmology is another theory of initial condition. It is the application of quantum mechanics to the entire universe, based on the theory of quantum gravity. Quantum cosmology was developed in 1983 by Stephen Hawking and James Hartle which has become known as the “No Boundary Proposal” (Hawking 143). The description of this theory follows. According to Hawking, there are only two possible ways the universe could have behaved in the classical theory of gravity, which is based on real space-time: either it has existed for an infinite tie, or else it had a beginning at a singularity at some finite time in the past (Hawking 143). A third possibility arises in the quantum theory of gravity, Hawking argues. Because one is using Euclidean space-time, in which the time direction is on the same footing as directions in space, it is possible for space-time to be finite in extent and yet to have no singularities that formed a boundary or edge. Space-time would be like the surface of the earth, only with two more dimensions.
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The surface of the earth is infinite in extent but it doesn‟t have a boundary or edge (Hawking 143). If Euclidean space-time stretches back to infinite imaginary time, or else starts at a singularity in imaginary time, Hawking argues that, we have the same problem as in the classical theory of specifying the initial state of the universe. God may know how the universe began, but we cannot give any particular reason for thinking it began one way rather than another. On the other hand, the quantum theory of gravity has opened up a new possibility, in which there would be no need to specify the behaviour at the boundary (143). There would be no singularities at which the laws of science broke down and no edge of space-time at which one would have to appeal to God or some new law to set the boundary conditions for space time (Hawking 143-144). Hawking says that one could say: “The boundary condition of the universe is that it has no boundary” (Hawking 144). The universe would be completely self-contained and not affected by anything outside itself. It would neither be created nor destroyed. “It would just BE” (Hawking 144). Hawking employed the concept of “Instanton” to consolidate his “No Boundary Proposal” in respect of the origin of the universe. In this description, general relativity and the concept of time are partially suspended until the existence of the universe. Universe creation is not something that takes place inside some bigger space-time arena. The instanton thus describes the spontaneous appearance of a universe from literally nothing. Once the universe exists, quantum cosmology can be approximated by general relativity so time appears. In Fang and Wu‟s introduction to the book Quantum Cosmology, they said that quantum cosmology implies that “in 38
principle, one can predict everything in the universe solely from physical laws. Thus, the long standing „first cause‟ problem intrinsic in cosmology, according to them, has been finally dispelled (Fang and Wu 3). According to Quentin Smith in his paper “Why Steven hawking‟s cosmology precludes a creator”, his cosmology has eliminated the need to postulate (or even the possibility of postulating) a first cause (originating cause) of the universe‟s beginning (75). Stephen Hawking has famously said “there is no place for a creator” (Hawking, A Brief History of Time). Although there is an avowed atheism in Hawking‟s open denial of a place for a creator and Quentin Smith‟s admission that Hawking‟s cosmology precludes a creator, I shall demonstrate the logical inconsistency of this atheism; how this purported atheism turns around to support the theology of creatioex nihilo (creation out of nothing), thus making the whole fabric of quantum cosmology logically compatible with theism. We shall also point out Quentin Smith‟s fallacy. Smith says that quantum cosmology proposes that the universe exists because it has an unconditional probability of existing based on a functional law of nature. This law of nature, according to him is “the wave function of the universe”. The wave function of the universe (Hartle and Hawking 1983) gives a probabilistic and non-causal explanation of why our universe exists. More precisely, Smith says it provides and unconditional probability for the existence of a universe of a sort (that is, an expanding [and later contracting universe]), with an early inflationary era and with matter that is evenly distributed on large scales. According to Smith, given their functional law of nature, there is a high probability that a universe of this sort begins to exist uncaused. I object that if everything has a cause, then the universe must be caused. An uncaused universe would be logically inconsistent with causality. 39
Heinz Pagels says Hawking and Hartle “calculate the probability for the universes to emerge from a state of „nothing‟ to the state of „something‟” (Perfect symmetry 347) According to Pagels. The nothing “before” the creation of the universe is the most complete void we can imagine – no space, time or matter existed. It is a world without place, without duration or eternity, without number – it is what the mathematicians call “the empty set”. Yet this unthinkable void converts itself into the plenum of existence – a necessary consequence of physical laws. What are those laws written into that void? What “tells” the void that it is pregnant with a possible inverse? It would seem that even the void is subject to law, a logic that exists prior to space and time (Pagels, Perfect Symmetry, 347). As a quick response to the above passage, what law and logic exist prior to space and time? Pagels here gives no answer. Hawking holds that there are no boundary conditions as to the origin of the universe save the laws of nature (Hawking, 1982). The universe, quantum cosmology holds, exists from literally nothing (Hartle and Hawking p. 2961; Hawking and Penrose, 1996). I here comment that the creation of the universe from nothing conforms to the Christian theology of creatio ex nihilo (creation out of nothing). If Hawking‟s quantum cosmology maintains that the universe came from nothing and Christian theology holds that the universe was created ex nihilo, does quantum cosmology not defend theism? In my opinion, quantum cosmology is logically compatible with theism. Quentin Smith‟s argument that quantum cosmology is logically incompatible with theism is erroneous. Smith ended his article “Why Steven Hawking‟s cosmology precludes a creator” with the following statement: “…Since Copernicus and Galileo, anytime that religion has opposed 40
science, religion has lost…” This is a hydra-headed fallacy of nonsequitur. It does not logically follow that if science has always won over religion in controversies since Copernicus and Galileo, that it has won in this case, or that it will always win in every case. In this case, as pointed out, science has conformed to religion. This compatibility corresponds with Einstein‟s suggestion, that “science without religion is blind, religion without science is lame”. Should quantum cosmology be combined with Einstein‟s relativistic cosmology theory for a better analysis of the origin and structure of the universe? This question had been answered elsewhere (Essien, 2008a). 10.
Egyptian Cosmogony and Education Egypt is said to be the cradle of civilization. This means Egypt is the cradle of formal learning and education. Ancient Egypt had mystery system schools at Heliopolis, Memphis, Thebes and Hermopolis. These names were given by the Greek thinkers and philosophers who studied in Egypt. Philosophy and Mathematics originated in the Egyptian mystery schools. However, in terms of the origin of the universe, the school of Heliopolis held that, before anything was created, that there was nothing but a primordial abyss of water, which was known as “Nun” and out of this abyss emerged Atum-Ra (the sun-god or fire), whom they regarded as a supreme being. Hence extract from the Pyramid Text says: “O Atum-Ra, when you came into being you rose up as a high hill” (cited in Udoidem 1991:24). “Shu” (the air-god) was the spirit of life and eternity. According to the Pyramid Text “she” said: “am the eternity, the creator of the millions”. “Geb” was the Earth and “Nut” the sky. All in all, they had the “Atum-Ra” (sun god or fire), “Nun” (water), “Geb” (earth) and “Nut” (the sky).
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The Memphite school, named after Memphis, the most ancient of Egypt capitals, where the third and fourth Great Dynasties lived had “Ptah” the god of god as the god of creation. “Ptah” emerged from “Nun”. “Ptah” had posited himself as a Hill, and Atum-Ra appeared from the primordial water and sat upon the Hill. Udoidem argues that despite some flaws in this Egyptian theogony and cosmogony that the emergence of Atum-Ra was necessary because it was he who completed the creative process already started by Ptah (Udoidem 1991:24-25). Atum-Ra was responsible for the being of world order through his daughter Tefnut. The Memphites held that Ptah merely uttered words and things came to be. One might want to reason that Moses who learnt and studied in Egypt could have been influenced by the Egyptian theogony. The Egyptian pyramid might have been influenced by their belief in Atum-Ra who sat upon the Hill. The apex of the Pyramid remains the core point of the Pyramid. Not much is known about the Mystery school at Thebes and Hermopolis partly due to the destruction of Thebes via earthquake in 27 BC. The Egyptian mystery schools were created by the Pharaohs and run by the priestly caste at the palaces of the Pharaohs. Every learnable subject was carried out here and was later named philosophy “love of wisdom” by Pythagoras. These ranged from Mathematics (arithmetic and geometry), architecture, agriculture, music, wisdom, astrology, writing, to medicine. The history of Mathematics in ancient time dates back to 2900 B.C., when Egyptian civilization reached its advanced stage. Mathematics was developed in response to needs of early societies. With growing numbers of people living, working, and even fighting together came the need to solve practical problems of their civilization. There were such problems like calculating the quality of materials needed to build a store house or the amount of 42
food needed for the army. Besides practical problems of Mathematics were problems arising from religion, including geometric problems arising in the construction of altars and temples. One of the earliest examples of writing were the hieroglyphs on Narmer‟s Pallette, named after the first king of upper and lower Egypt, who was also known as Menes. The numerical used cited thousands of heads of cattle and thousands of prisoners, indicating the numerical and hieroglyphs already had a long history in Egypt (Alan Gardiner, 1978:5). The early beginnings of algebra and geometry in ancient Egypt are briefly covered in many history books. But the full scope and depth of ancient Egyptian Mathematics have been largely overlooked because of the first judgment of the European translators of the papyri who dismissed this Mathematics as primitives. As long as 2900 B.C., Egyptian civilization was advanced enough to be able to build one of the wonders of the world, the Great Pyramids. No records of any Mathematics of that time have been preserved. The main mathematical documents in existence refer to the period of the middle kingdom which spanned the years from about 2100 B.C. to 1800 B.C. It is amazing that any documents at all remained from that period, and in fact, there are very few Egyptian mathematical texts. The only writings which have been preserved are those either purposely placed in tombs or were by some accident kept insulated from the elements for thousands of years. The Egyptians wrote on papyrus, a type of paper made from leaves that grew near the water. Being an organic substance, it will soon deteriorate if left to the elements. You could imagine what will happen to the pages of this paper on which I now write in 6000 years, for instance, if nothing is done to preserve them. Therefore, it is lucky that some pieces of papyrus have remained 43
as evidence of the extent to which the Egyptians had developed their knowledge of Mathematics. Hieroglyphics, the earliest Egyptian writings, are made up of pictorial characters, a picture possibly representing an object. A house, for instance, might have been represented by a picture of a house. Later the picture became simplified into a conventional sign which was easier to write but looked less like a house. The concept of numbers was also portrayed pictorially by hieroglyphics (Gittleman, 1975:2). A main source of information on Egyptian Mathematics is a papyrus brought by a Scottish Egyptologist, Rhind, in the nineteenth century, often referred to as the Rhind papyrus (Iroebgbu, 1994:124). It is also called the Ahmes Papyrus in honour of the scribe who wrote it. The Ahmes papyrus was copied about 1650B.C. from an older work of the middle kingdom and is a collection of solved problems used in a school for scribes (Gittleman, 1975:3). Then very few people could write. So, being a scribe was a revered profession, and this prestige earned the scribe a position close to the people in power. Scribes were afforded such respect that this profession was honoured by a famous stable of a scribe dated 2500 B.C. (Gtittleman, 1975:3). The great accuracy of the dimensions of the pyramids still gives rise to words. Geometry literally means the measurement of the land („Geos‟ and „metros‟, meaning „land‟ and „measurement‟). The ancient Egyptian Mathematics developed methods of measuring the land through formulas for the areas of rectangles, triangles, circles and even the area of a curved dome. It is not the case that the Egyptians systematized all of Mathematics. They originated Mathematics. For Herodotus, “Egyptians geometry originated in the need created by the annual overflow of the Nile to determine the boundaries of the lands owned by the farmers” (Herodotus II, trans. George Rawlinson, 1956). However, they 44
had their limitations. The limited Egyptian algebra employed practically no symbolism. In the Ahmes papyrus, addition and subtraction are represented respectively by the legs of a man coming and going, and the symbol is used to denote square root. The Egyptians did not separate arithmetic and geometry. Our emphasis is that Mathematics originated in Egypt. Plato, in The Laws, report a dialogue between Clinias and Athenian in which Plato admits and regrets that the Greeks were ignorant of Mathematics, which young Egyptians learned at an early state. Onewuenyi gives a representation of the dialogue. Athenian: “Well, then, I maintain that free-born should learn of those various subjects as much as in Egypt is taught to vast numbers of children along with their letters. To being with, lessons have been devised there in ciphering for the various children which they can learn with a good deal of fun and amusement, problems about the distribution of a fixed total number of apples and garlands among larger and small groups, and the arranging of a successive of „byes‟ and „pair‟ between boxers and wrestlers as the nature of such contests require… In this way, they, as I was saying, incorporate the elementary application of arithmetic in the children‟s play, given the pupils a useful preparation for the dispositions, formations and movements of military lfie as well as for domestic management… They then go on to exercises in measurement of lengths; surface and cubical content, by such they dispel the native and general, but ludicrous and shameful, ignorance of mankind about the whole subject. Clinias: And in what may this ignorance consist? Athenian: “My dear Clinias, when I was told, rather belatedly of or condition in this matter, like you, I was utterly 45
astounded. Such ignorance seems to me more worthy of a stupid beast like the hog than of a human being, and I blushed not for myself alone but for our whole Hellenic world” (Plato The laws, 819 B-E), in: (Onyewuenyi, 1994: 49-50). “Let no one who has no sense of the mathematical come in here” was the inscription at the entrance of Plato‟s Academy. Plato apparently refused Eudoxus entry into his Academy due to his lack of a sense of Mathematics (Onyewuenyi, 51). Eudoxus had to proceed to Egypt to learn Mathematics (Diogenes Laetius, Vol. 2, p. 401). Aristotle consolidated this claim that Mathematics originated in Egypt. This is found in his Metaphysics, where he says: “…the mathematical arts were founded in Egypt, for there the priestly caste was allowed to be at leisure” (Metaphysics, Book 1 (A), 20). The Egyptians had a well-developed mathematical tradition and were capable of solving many useful mathematical problems. Their ideas and techniques influenced alter generations of Mathematics. The doubling of a number, a basic step in the Egyptian method of multiplication, was one of the fundamental operations in many medieval arithmetic texts, although those texts also included more significant techniques learned from other peoples. 10.
Yoruba Cosmogony Besides the myths presented above, the Yoruba tradition has its own account of creation of the universe. The myth has it that there was a supreme being called “Olodumare” who had a son “Oduduwa” and a host of minor gods. Olodumare gave “Orisa-nla” (one of the minor gods) loose earth wrapped in a leaf of snail shell, two pigeon birds and five-toed hen to be used as tools for the creation of the universe. Oris-nla cast the loose earth 46
on the universe. Orisa-nla cast the loose earth on the watery waste and let loose the birds to scatter and spread the loose earth. The portion that was covered by the loose earth became land and the remaining portion remained water. Olodumare ordered Oris-nla to equip the earth and to be assisted by Orunmila, the oracle divinity. Olodumara gave Orisanla palm tree to be planted to give food and shelter and silk rubber tree and white-wood tree full of sap to give drink. Finally, Olodumary commanded Orisa-nla to make the physical feature of man. Orisa-nla made different types of men on earth and then Olodumare breathed the breath of life on man to give him life (see Idowu: 1963). One might want to question why the sap from the silk rubber tree and white-wood tree had to be given for drink when there was plenty of water in the sea. But, as in every myth, there is hardly a strong logical consistency, including the scientific theories of origin of the universe to which we now turn. 11.
Annang Cosmogony First of all 11.1 Myths of Origin of Annang One of the most popular of the myths of origin of Annang nation, as recorded by Udondata and Ekanem (2011), was that the gods sent three brothers, Akpan, udo and Udoudo, from the land of the spirits on an errand to earth. The three brothers were free to choose any weapons for use on their journey. They were to take a message to Iwritam (Ibritam), the oracle of the universe or vastness (Anaan). Akpan took a machete (ikwa), Udo took a club (aboi), while Udoudo took a slender piece of iron (atip). They had to cross seven rivers (Inyang itiaba) before arriving at Iwritam‟s land. It was a long and cumbersome journey.
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By the second river, a big snake (udukikod) appeared. Akpan killed the snake and removed the entrails and put them inside his bag. By the third river, they were confronted by a woman fairly (akananwan ekpo). The woman got Udo drowned in the river. Akpan sprinkled the blood of the snake in the river and the fairy that he had a message from the gods to the oracle of the universe. The fairy disappeared into the river and came out with a bottle of perfume (anem utebe aran) for them. By the fourth river, they were bitten by many ants (nnuene). They robbed the perfume given to them by the fairy on their bodies and got relived of the pains. They were confronted by a lion (ekpe) at the fifth river. The lion killed Udoudo. As the lion was devouring Udoudo, Akpan brought out his matched and stabbed the lion on the back. Akpan then ran away, leaving the lion dead. By the sixth river, Akpan was confronted by a one-legged spirit (inyion ekpo) who had a very bad and obnoxious odour. Akpan pretended not to have perceived the odour. The spirit asked him who he was and where he was heading to. Akpan replied that he was a messenger of the gods and was on an errand to Iwritam. The spirit asked who Iwritam was and where he lived. Akpan told him that iwritam was the oracle of the earth and lived in vastness (Anaan). The spirit took Akpan into his cave near the river. There was a disorderly wailing and mourning in the spirit camp by the time they went in. One of the child-spirits had died. The spirit all agreed that Akpan would not be released except he restored the spirit-child to life. Akpan brought out the bile of the snake he had killed from his bag and put a drop into the child-spirit‟s mouth. The child-spirit woke up immediately. The spirits were happy and in recompense gave a spirit-wife to Akpan and saw him off to the seventh river, where Iwritam‟s guards were 48
stationed. His spirits-in-law pleaded for his entry into Iwritam‟s land. Alas! Akpan eventually met Iwritam, narrated his encounters and presented his message. Iwritam admired him and his young wife. Iwritam then sent his messengers to go with him to the fifth river and bring the carcass of the slain lion. This was done. In recompense. Iwritam gave him two young girls (ubaikpa) to marry and a portion of land to build a home. This portion of land and its inhabitants became known as “Nnung Ugwod Ekpe” (the land of lion killers) and was part of Iwritam‟s “universe” or “vastness” (Anaan), which is the Annangland. Another creation myth is the one presented by Umana (2002). This source has it that “Anaang” was a powerful farmer and awarrior and that his name originated from his exploits in warfare and farming. He was described as “Inaanga” that is, person who could frighten and destroy without being destroyed. He was said to have had two sons: “Abak”, the progenitor of the villages in Abakland; and “Akpene”, the progenitor of the villages in Ikot Ekpene. Among the children of Abak were “Afagha”, “Uruk”, “Abong”, “Echiet”, “Utue”, “Ikono”, and “Urim”. The children of Akpene were “Akara”, “Amanyam”, “Atoro”, “Arino”, “Awia”, “Ebak”, “Arino”, and “Iboong”. These two children, Abak and Akpene brought up children, who in turn raised children who were responsible for the establishment of several clans that make up the Annang nation. The link between the first and the second myths is that both present the notion of courage, bravery and gallantry which are associated with Annang person. However, none of the two myths presents any creative act as to how the universe originated, which is always the quintessence of any creation story of origin of the universe). And so, we turn to an Annang cosmogony. 49
11.2
Annan Cosmogony (Story of Creation) Ancient Anang wisdom and tradition (Eched Annang) held it that everything has cause (ukeed mkpo anyone ntak) and everything has a beginning (ukeed mkpo anyene ntoongo). So, the Annang believe that the world or universe had a beginning (arorobod anyene ntoongo). The Annang cosmogony we present here is Annang version of the origin of the universe (ntoongo arorobod or ntoongo ukpoobod). The Annang cosmogony shares resemblance with Ibibio cosmogony (Udoidem, 1991). Of course, some of the Ibibio and Efik traditions have some similarities and closeness with Annang. The Annang believe that the universe has its origin from a divine supreme being who was self-begotten, Awasi-Ibom. He created Anyong (the sky) and Isong (the earth) and Inyang-Ibom (ocean). The details of this first creative act are not exactly known. However, both Anyong (sky) and isong (earth) existed in the heavens while water was below. Tradition has it that Anyong (sky) and Isong (earth) were joined together. Awasi-Ibom sent one of his creature show name is not mentioned to separate Anyong from Isong. This creature had a human form but was a giant: seven times the size of a normal human being that we know of today. The giant came with a tool and separated Anyong from Isong. And since that time, Anyong (sky) and Isong (earth) have been at constant enmity. Whenever Anyong (sky) covers Isong (earth) we have day (usen/uguemeejo) and whenever Isong (earth) covers Anyong (sky) we have night (akon-ejo). Awasi-Ibom ordered Anyong (sky) and its children (the heavenly bodies: sun, moon, stars, etc) to move upward while Isong (earth) was ordered to move downward. While moving downward earth (Isong) fell into the massive water. A section of it
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was submerged in the water and the portion that floated became the dry land. The giant went to bathe in the water after he had completed his work. He got drowned and died in the water. The particles of the decayed body of the giant gave birth to the living animals and plants in both land and water. His teeth which were washed ashore germinated into many plants, shrubs and grasses (Udoidem, 1991). His bones became the rocks, his breath became the air and the wind. The insects which stuck to the decaying head (after having been washed ashore) grew up to become the land animals. A certain animal “ukpong-ajen” (wall gecko) which literally means “soul of the child” was seen licking the dust of the remains (head) of the dead giant. Awasi- Ibom instructed Awasi-Isong (earth goddess) to make a pot from a mixture of sand and water and put ukpong-ajen (wall gecko) in there for eight days. AwasiIbom sent “akuwe” (chameleon) to spy and monitor if Awasi-Isong had carried out the orders. Akuwe (chameleon), unseen by AwasiIsong, inspected the work of Awasi-Isong and reported to AwasiIbom that the job had been done. On the eighth day, Awasi-Ibom, in the company of Awasi-Isong, came, spat into the pot and broke it open. Suddenly, two hitherto unknown beings (male and female) emerged from the pot. Awasi-Isong asked the male being with a thunderous voice “ade anyie?” (Who are you?), to which he answered with a small voice “nde agwo” (I am a human being). Awasi-Ibom came again and thundered: “agwo, du uwem” (human being, keep on living). Awasi-Ibom was friendly with the human being he had created and this attracted the envy of Awasi-Isong. This friendliness extended when, according to Annang oral tradition, Awasi-Ibom instructed Awasi-Isong to inform man that whenever one of its kind dies, that he (man) should pour ashes on him/her 51
and put him/her on the side veranda (ere mesa) of the house for three days and which he/she would resurrect. Awasi-Isong did not welcome this. So, she (Awasi-Isong), in order to dismiss the immortality that could have been granted to the human being and yet, in order not to disobey Awasi-Ibom directly, sent the dog (ewa) to deliver the message to man. She also sent her personal message through the sheep (erong), that whenever any human being dies, that he or she should be buried deep into the ground. The dog ran faster to deliver the message, but called any times on the way to eat faeces and this delayed the dog. The slow but steady sheep eventually arrived first and delivered the message it carried. Man took the first message and put it into practice, but ignored the late message of the truant dog. The above is the creative act of the universe in Annang cosmogony. Perhaps, the association of “ukpong-ajen” (wall gecko) with the origin of the human being may partly explain why, among the Annag, “ukpong-ajen” is allowed to live and move freely around the house without being killed. It is believed that the souls of children to be born in the house are in ukpong-ajen (ukpong ajen). In the story, the creative act of the human being took place on the eight day, and this may partly explain why there are eighth market days that make up a week in Annang tradition. These days are: Ared-Abo, Abo, Urabom, Affiong, Ared, Aritagha, Atim, Akenyong. These are the eight days that make up the Annang week. This is a departure from the four market days that make up the week in Igbo tradition: Orie, Afor, Eke, Nkwo; a departure from the seven days that make up a week in Western tradition. Moreover, the number eight (itiaita) shows its significance again in an Annang folk song mostly sung by children at play, which says:
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Nti ewep Nti ewep Ewep akeman njen itiaita Keed aboko ewep akpa Ajen awong adia mkpo iwe-iwe… The song above is about ewep, an animal, which gave birth to eight children, but one of these died, remaining seven. Generally, the Anang cosmogony demonstrates a high level of organization, where things were often arranged in pairs of opposites, the most important of which were up/down, sky/earth, land/sea, male/female, great/small, fast/slow, good/bad, night/day, visible/invisible, life/death, mortal/immortal, body/soul. Where we have body/soul/spirit, I shall explain their complementarity under the section of this work called “agwo ontology” under Annang philosophy. For the pairs, I wish to say that they are used in this way throughout Annang and in fact are found worldwide; and Anaxagoras, the Greek philosopher, had earlier brought the conflict of opposites to the intellectual fore. In Annang tradition, up/down were particularly handy for physical items and geometrically, they stand for height and base. Male/female had many ritual uses, and night/day provided a framework for passage through time. These pairs could also be used as completeness formulas. Up/down and earth/sky described the framework of the universe: they sky above, the earth below”. And even when libation is poured in Annang, mention is always made of “Awasi-anyong mme Asasi-Isong” (god of the sky and goddess of the earth). Again, all things could be divided into male and female, and the night/day pair encompassed all time. This organization by pairs supported the tendency of Annang thinking towards balance, for the members of a pair tended to be seen as equals rather than 53
as forming a hierarchy. At the shrines the statues of male gods on one side were balanced by those of goddesses on the other side. This sense of harmony is an integral part of Annang society. Conclusion It seems too many, that all theories of origin of the universe are myths and like fairy tales created only to explain a universe of discourse. While we reject all myths for lack of epistemic jurisdiction and want of logic, it is here argued that they can, however, be extrapolated to address moral, religious and cultural problems and sometimes, to calm intellectual fantasies. This argument explains why moral lessons are always sought after folk or fairy tales, in the form of the question: “What does this story teach us””. In this context, we ask: “What do these theories or stories teach us?”
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REFERENCES Aristotle (1924). Metaphysics. Trans. W. D. Ross. Oxford Clarendon Press. Diogenes Laertuis (1925). Lives of Eminent Philosophers. Vol. 2. London: William Heinemann. Essien, E. S. (2007). “Einstein‟s Relativity Theory and the Structure of the Universe”. Sophia: An African Journal of Philosophy 10.1:220-228. Essien, E. S. (2008). “Compatibility Principle as a theoretical frame work for combining Einstein‟s Relativistic Cosmology with Hawking‟s Quantum Cosmology”. A Doctoral Dissertation in Philosophy of Physics and Cosmology, December 2008, Department of Philosophy, University of Calabar, Nigeria. Essien, E. S. (2011). Annang Philosophy, History and Culture: An Inquiry into Afrology and Afrophilia. North Carolina: Lulu Press. Gardiner, Alan (1978). Egyptian grammar. Oxford: Griffith Institute.
Hawking, S. W. (1988). Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to The Black Holes. London: Bantam Books. Hawking, S. W. (2001). The Universe in a Nutshell. London: Bantam Books. Hawking, S. W. (2010). The Grand Design. New York: Francis & Taylor. Hawking, Stephen and Hartle, John (19830. “Wave Function of the Universe”. Physical Review, 28: 2960-2975. Hawking, Stephen and Penrose, Roger (1966). The Nature of Space and Time. Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press. Herodotus. Herodotus II. Translated by George Rawlinson, 1956. Idowu, E. B. (1973). African Traditional Religion: A Definition. London. Iroegbu, P. (1994). Enwisdomuzation and African Philosophy. Owerri: international University Press.
Gittleman, A. (1975). History of Mathematics. Bell and Howell Co., Ohio.
Obu, J. (2006). “History of Physics: From Antiquity to the 21st Century”. History and Philosophy of Science. Ed, Princewill Alozie. 4thed. Calabar: El-Sapphire. 1-35.
Hawking, S. W. (982). The Boundary Conditions of the Universe: Astrophysical Cosmology. Vatican City: Pontifica Academiae Scientiarum.
Onyewuenyi, I. C. (1993). The African Origin of Greek Philosophy: An exercise in afrocentircism. Nsukka: University of Nsukka Press.
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Pagels, Heinz. The Cosmic Code: Quantum Physics as the Language of Nature. London: Bantam Books, 1984. Pasachoff, Jay A. (1995). Astronomy: From the Earth to the Universe. 4th edition. New York: Sander College Publishing.
HISTORY OF THE SCIENCES Plato, The Laws, 819B-E.
Joseph Alphonsus Okon and Ephraim-Stephen Essien
Smith, Quentin. (1998). “Why Steven hawking‟s Cosmology Precludes a Creator”. Philosophy 1.1.75-94. Udondata, J. P. and Ekanem, J. B. (2011). History of Annang Nation. Elohim educational Ventures. Uduigwomen, Andrew (2007). A Textbook of History and Philosophy of Science. 3rd edition. Aba: Vitalis Books. Umana, A. (2002). “Annang Nation: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” in: Joseph Udondata (Ed.), Annang Cultural Development. Ikot Ekpene: Joe Graph Publications, Vol. 1:1-9. Velan, Keran (1992). The Multi-Universe Cosmos: The First Complete Story of the Origin of the Universe. New York: Plenum Press.33
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The history of the sciences requires a careful schema. Although an outline, in this schematic presentation, guidance ensues from an observation earlier made in this text that “the history of science is an inquiry into or study of the gradual development of the entire series of human activities which has culminated in what is now termed science… shall open our concerns towards the rich contents of varied cultures in human history … into the roots of the natural and applied sciences …. Identify the stages and manifold expression of the latent scientific flair even in remote and prehistoric cultures … only attempt a fair trace on the precursors to the present”. And this justifies the tag „outline‟. As such, we shall outline the major precursors to the present sciences under the subheads identified above. Science in Ancient Africa The ancient African societies had rich cultural heritage that contained lots of human activities and relations with the natural order carefully and purposefully embarked upon and so, justifiable as scientific. Princewill Alozie made a thorough exposition of these in three interrelated perspectives which he identified as functional; structural and historical (History and Philosophy of Science, 6-28). His points in explanation of the unique scientificity of the ancient African societies could very well be confirmed 58
through an examination of the traditional lifestyle in our diverse cultural backgrounds. Outstanding among such mode of scientificity were: 1. Adequate knowledge of the floraand fauna. 2. Interest in knowing the identity and different utility values of the flora and fauna in Medicare, aesthetics and architecture. 3. Development of numbers and counting systems. 4. Production of chemically related substances like drinks, balms, and inks for aesthetic uses. 5. Production of unique tools and other devices for Agriculture related activities. 6. Development of astronomical concepts and theories about the Moon, Stars and Sun with which time, day, weeks, months and the year were marked and differentiated. 7. Techniques of manipulating astronomical variables like rainfalls; thunderstorm; movement of comets and asteroids. Science in the Ancient Mesopotamian Region Human activities and relations with the natural order cold be traced in the Mesopotamian regions like Babylon (Iraq) and Egypt, though in the rudimentary stages, they served as starting points for the present advances in the sciences. Outstanding among the Mesopotamian precursors of the present sciences is Kidinnu, a Chaldean astronomer and mathematician, while outstanding development strides were: 1. The art and science of writing: Done on a slate called Mesopotamian clay tablet, (about the year 492 BC) especially for the recording of astronomical information. 2. Development of numbers for recording observations of the universe like: 59
3. 4.
5.
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(a) Recording Pythagoras‟ law called the Pythagorean triplets (3,4,5) (5,12,13) in the 18thBC on the Mesopotamian cuneiform tablet called Plimpton 322. (b) Astronomical records of the motions of the stars, planets, and the moon. (c) Development of the calendars. (d) Prediction of the appearances and disappearances of the Moon and planets and eclipses of the Sun and Moon through arithmetical methods devised to compute the changing length of daylight in the course of the year. Development in astronomy, Mathematics in ancient Egypt. The development of geometry through regular surveying to preserve the layout and ownership of farmland, which was flooded annually by the Nile River. The development of architecture thought the use of a „3-45‟ right angle triangle and other means of measuring thumbs. The development of Medicine through advances n alchemy in Egypt. The papyrus accredited to Edwin Smith is one of the first medical documents believed to have contained the first analysis of the brain: hence the very foundation of modern neuroscience. The Egyptian medicine applied components like examination, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis.
Science in Ancient Greece In ancient Greece, human activities which could be seen as precursors to modern sciences commenced with the shift in orientation from the deeply religious outlook to rational explication of the universe about the 5thcentury BC. This shift in orientation contained within itself, both the satisfaction of the human curiosity even about abstract things and the practical utilization of findings 60
about nature especially in curing a variety of illnesses. Generally, the name for the entire free rational orientation was philosophy while that for the particular focus on nature was natural philosophy. Natural philosophy examined the universe in terms of the relations of the satellites: moon, sun, stars and other planetary bodies; the dynamics the natural earth, the waters, the functional relations amongst living things. It prompted the entire precinct of the modern sciences. However, the outstanding contents of science in ancient Greece could be outlined thus: 1. Postulation of non-religious explanatory theory for the natural universe in answering the puzzling question „ex qua material constitute mundi‟?‟ (Of what material is the world made)? Tales (640-546 BC) hinted that the primordial stuff is water. F. M. Cornford, acknowledge Thales as having been dubbed the “father of science” and noted that he “was the first to postulate non-supernatural explanations for natural phenomena, for example, that land floats on water and that earthquakes are caused by the agitation of the water upon which the land floats, rather than the god Poseidon” (Principium Sapientiae: the Origins of Greek Philosophical thought, 159). 2. Development of interest in the study of Mathematics as a field of study: this was championed by Pythagoras of Samos. He founded the Pythagorean School, with special interest in Mathematics and music. He was the first to postulate that the Earth is spherical in shape (cf: Arieti, James A. Philosophy in the ancient world: an introduction, 45).
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3. Introduction of atomism by Leucippus (5th century BC), a unique theory which spanned through a very long history of science. Atomism was later expanded by Leucippus‟ students Democritus. The theory holds that all matter is made of indivisible, imperishable units called atoms. 4. Development of deductive and inductive forms of reason through the systematic modes of investigating the natural world by Plat and Aristotle. Plato founded the school called the Academy in 387 BC, with the motto “Let none unversed in geometry enter here”. This implies his emphasis on Mathematics and the concept of forms. Aristotle, a student of Plato, departed from his master‟s emphasis on idealistic anchorage on Mathematics. Aristotle rather emphasized investigation of the palpable, the sensuous and empirical. As such he brought in empiricism and “the idea that universal truths can be arrived at via observation and induction, thereby laying the foundations of the scientific method” (cf: Dicks, D. R. Early Greek Astronomy to Aristotle. 72-198). 5. Classification of plants and animals into various species by Aristotle. He classified more than 540 animal species, and dissected at least 50 of them. 6. The development of the scientific laws like laws of equilibrium by Archimedes. 7. Development of primordial astronomical models like heliocentric model of the solar system by Aristarchus, the astronomer Aristarchus of Samos, while the geographer
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Eratosthenes, the geographer was first to given an accurate calculation of the circumference of the Earth. 8. Development of the first systematic star catalog by Hipparchus (cf. 190-c. 120 BC).
mathematical development in ancient India. However, most expressions of the scientific flair in early India were conveyed in the Vedas, their religious literature like: Rig-Veda, and others Siddhanta Shiromani, a 12th century religious cum didactic literature by Bhaskara. These could be highlighted from:
Analog computer Development of Antikythera Mechanism (150-100 BC) and for calculating the position of planets. 9. Increased interest inmedicine. Hippocrates (460 BC- c, 370 BC) and his students have been reckoned as the first to describe many diseases and medical conditions. The Hippocratic Oath for physicians still in use today was developed by him.
1. Bricks made for stable brick structure by the people had dimensions in the proportion 4:2:1.
10. The human nervous system was first described by Herophilos (335-280 BC).
3. Introduction of trigonometric functions (like sine, versine, cosine and inverse sine), trigonometric tables, and techniques and algorithms of algebra by Aryabhata (476550).
Other notable contributors from this source were: Euclid who laid down the foundations of mathematical rigor and introduced the concepts of definition, axiom, theorem and proof still in use today in his elements. Archimedes of Syracuse (287-213 BC), credited with sing the method of exhaustion to calculate the area under the arc of a parabola with the summation of an infinite series, and gave a remarkably accurate approximation of Pi; laying the foundations of hydrostatics in physics.
2. Standardization of units of measurement especially length with ruler called „the Mohenjo-daro ruler‟. The ruler‟s unit of length (approximately 1.32 inches or 3.4 centimetres) was divided into ten equal parts.
4. Development in astronomy though speculations about the emergence of the universe ex nihilo (out of nothing or nonexistence), the formation and shape of the universe the idea that the earth is spherical and standing on its own and the assumption that a year is made up of 360 days which they conveniently divided into 12 equal parts of 30 days each.
Science in Ancient India Traces of the scientific flair are replete in ancient India. One of such is the remarkable skills with which metallurgy was championed in that culture. Again, the Indus Valley Civilization (c. 4th millennium BC – c. 3rd millennium BC) contains traces of
5. Development in medicine and surgery. Out of ancient India (about 2500 BC) came Ayurveda. This is a form of traditional medicine which has now been adopted as a form of alternative medicine in some parts of the world. Though
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traditional, processes for diagnosis in Ayurveda were detailed in a famous text called Susrutasamhita of Susruta. Science in China The ancient Chinese were outstanding in a variety of scientific activities like: 1. The use of a positional decimal system on counting boards for calculation from the 1st century. 2. First attempts at articulating basic axioms in geometry in 330 BC. 3. Development of algebraic methods in geometry in the 3rd century AD by Liu Hui who also calculated pi to 5 significant figures. 4. Significant development in astronomy and Seismology. Science in the Middle/Medieval Ages The Middle Ages (5th to 15th century Europe) was characteristically different. From the political economy of the region of Europe, the gradual development of science even in remote cultures of China, Egypt and India were hampered. Whereas regions or nations were politically interested in annexation and control of one another, little or nothing was done to preserve flourishing trends in the conquered nations. Often little resistance from the threatened nationalities resulted in outright destruction of their evolving legacies. One of such instances is the Arab conquest of Egypt and eventual annexation and control of same Egypt by Rome which led to the destruction of the Library of Alexandria (Bibliotheca Alexandrina) in the year 30 BC starting from: A fire set by Julius Caesar in 48 BC. An attack by Emperor Aurelian in the 270s AD; the decree of Coptic Pope Theophilus in 391 and finally by the Muslim conquest of Egypt in the year 642 AD. 65
Although some other conqueror empires like the Byzantine Empire still held learning centers such as Constantinople, learning in the Roman controlled Western Europe was concentrated in monastic schools was tailored after the non-practical. It aimed at leisured knowledge through contemplation and speculation. Such leisure base curricula were scientifically not fit for practical utility. They were direct points of departure from very busy academic activities which were „negotium‟ (not leisure) based. Technically called the school men, scholars of the middle ages in Western Europe went after mere theoretic contents. The theoria was at best, a discourse on formal concepts and axioms like the mathematical interest of Niccolas of Cusa, the empty formalism of William of Ockham and the probabalism of Don Scotus Eriugena. What was of primary interest to the school men was the justification of theological postulates with distillates of ancient thoughts in what has been described as the medieval synthesis. But the situation was somewhat different in the Middle East as Greek philosophy was promoted in Arab controlled Empires. The influence of Islam with its adoption of the rich philosophic equipoise of the ancient Greeks in the 7th to the 13th century centuries characterized period as a period of Muslim scholarship or the Islamic Golden Age. This Muslim scholarship thrived at the instance of use of Arabic language as a common means of communication; access to Greek and Latin texts from the Byzantine Empire, access to Indian literature. Hence, we can talk of science in the Islamist world. Science in the Islamic world Major strides in the scientific enterprise of the Muslim scholars could be appreciated under the following:
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1. Development of scientific method for examining the refraction of light and other issues in optics by Ibn alHaytham (Alhazen) c. 1000. 2. Further development in Mathematics like: the coinage of the concept „algorithm‟ by Muhammad Ibn Musa alKhwarizmi (a Persian mathematician). He also coined „algebra‟ from „al-jabr‟ the first words in title of one of his works. 3. The development of Arabic numerals and decimal point notations from the Indian number system. 4. Improvement upon the Astronomy earlier Greek and Indian astronomies by scholars like Al-Battani; Averroes; Nasir alDin al-Tusi, Mo‟ay Yeduddin Urdi and Ibn al-Shatir. 5. Development in chemistry by Jabir Ibn Hayyan. 6. Introduction of experimental medicine with clinical trials by Ibn Sina (Avicenna). He wrote two outstanding works Kitab al shifa (Book of Healing) and the Canon of Medicine. Science in Post Medieval Europe With significant insight from Islamic scholars, scientific interest resurfaced in Europe with a liberal philosophic quest even about already established truths. Thus, learning became renewed and remodeled from the scholastic theoria to a comparative analysis of the natural order against emerging and captivating postulates of the ancient works refined and publicized. And this explains the rebirth in learning across Europe, Beyond the 12th century Scholasticism and the early part of Italian Renaissance 67
9which quieted interest in sciences), later events in the Renaissance agenda „showed a decisive shift in focus from Aristotelian natural philosophy to chemistry and the biological sciences (botany, anatomy, and medicine)‟. Modern sciences assumed a central stage in Europe almost concomitantly with the following: the Protestant Reformation and Catholic counter-reformation; the discovery of the Americas by Christopher Columbus and the Fall of Constantinople. With these upheavals a radical shift in mental attitude Mathematics in terms of the development of nonEuclidean geometry. But this idealistic dimension of romanticism was checkmated by the emergence of the first form of positivism (1840-1880) with emphasis on empirical basis of research. Hence, the concept of empirical of natural sciences which could be identified as: 1. History of Biological Sciences: Involves all concerns about the flora and fauna in terms of the basic and distinguishing characteristics of living things; unique internal components of living things in terms of the interrelationship between them (expressed in modern biological sciences as cell theories, molecular biology and the likes; studies in organs, systems and parts of the human body; concerns in medicine and surgery and ecological concerns. Notable names here are: Aristotle, Hippocrates, Herophilos, the Indian Susrata, Jabir ibn Hayyan, Ibn Sinai (Avecena), Hungarian physician Ignac Fulop Semmelweis, the British surgeon Joseph Lister, the French biologist Lois Pasteur, the British naturalist, Charles Darwin, the Moravian monk, Gregor Mendel, others are James D. Watson, Francis Cric, K., Maurice Wilkins, Ferdinand Cohn, Ernst Haeckel (originator of the term ecology) and Arthur Tansley.
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The philosophy of biological sciences is an inquiry into the basis of fundamental assumptions and terminologies in the various biological sciences. It delves into the methodologies through which biological scientists get at their findings, the basis of the classification of the flora and fauna; the epistemic basis of theories like cell theories and the ethical considerations of the procedures involved in both research and therapeutic experiments on human beings. 2. History of Chemistry: Involves all forms of investigations and examinations of the natural order for purposes of healing certain ailments as well as production of drinks, balms, inks for decoration and the likes in early cultures; distinct studies in gasses, atomic theory, basic elements and components of atom, concepts of mass, molecular structure and bonding as well as areas of interconnected concerns between chemists and physicists or chemists and biologists. Notable names here are: Leucippus, Democritus, the Indian Susrata, Jabir ibn Hayyan, Ibn Sinai (Avicenna), Robert Boyle, William Cullen, Joseph Black, Torbern Bergman, Pierre Macquer, Antoine Lavoisier, John Dalton, Dmitri Mendeleev, Friedrich Wohler and Linus Pauling. The philosophy of chemistry is an inquiry into the basis of fundamental assumptions and terminologies in chemistry like atoms, elements, concepts of mass, molecular structures and valid delineation of atomic numbers and molecular powers said to have been in equilibrium for a desirable bonding between two or more substances. Beyond conceptual analysis, philosophy of chemistry could also be seen as the rational framework for and actual explanatory theory of both the natural and man-made synergy perceived among substances in the world. It further entails the justification of the procedures and conclusions of the chemist or repudiation of same from the three fold perspectives of epistemology, ethics and metaphysics. 69
3. History of Physics: Involves all forms of investigations and examinations of the natural order in early cultures, particular concerns for astrology/astronomy, behaviour of things within the atmosphere and principles operating within the spheres of the earth, the big bang theory and modern concerns with outer space and the galaxies. Notable names here are: Aristarchus of Samos, Claudius Ptolemy, Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei, Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday, James Clerk Maxwell, Max Planck, Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrodinger, Edwin Hubble, Georges Lemaitre. The philosophy of physics is an inquiry into the basis of fundamental assumptions and terminologies in physics like matter, space, time, velocity, motion, energy, inertia especially the mode of interaction between them. It is an effort to evaluate the physicists‟ activities in terms of the basic metaphysical and epistemological sources and ethical implications. 4. History of Mathematics: Mathematics involves a vast range of devices for enumeration, measurement and computation from early cultures to the modern arithmetic and geometric concepts and formulae, abstract axioms and categories, signs and symbols as well as statistical formulae used in the social and management sciences. The philosophy of Mathematics therefore, is an inquiry into the basis of fundamental assumptions, terminologies, concepts and formulae in Mathematics. It seeks the justification for the epistemic foundations of mathematical axioms, concepts and formulae.
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HISTORY OF MEDICINE Ephraim-Stephen Essien Egypt The earliest possible practice of medicine is unarguably traceable to the Egyptians, long before the Greek Hippocrates. Even the holy book mentions the art of midwifery and obstetrics among the Hebrew women in Egypt before the birth of Moses. The godfather of history, or the “papa” of history, Herodotus, had given an account that the Egyptians were “the healthiest of all men, next to the Libyans”, that “the practice of medicine is so specialized among them that each physician is a healer of once disease and not more” (Herodotus: The Histories Book 11, chapter 77). The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus, credited to Imhotep (also regarded as the father of Egyptian medicine) as its author, is an ancient book on surgery and anatomy, describing diagnosis, examination, treatment and prognosis of various diseases (Edwin Smith Papyrus. Britannica Online Encyclopedia Britannica.com. Accessed 1 January, 2016). The Edwin Smith Papyrus was written around 1600 BC. Another great work, the Kahun Gynecological Papyrus, treats women sicknesses, including conception. It details out thirty four cases, involving their diagnosis and cure (cf. Bynum 2006:198-199). Babylonia Like the Egyptians, the Babylonians also introduced the practice of diagnosis, prognosis, physical examination and treatments of diseases. Their authoritative text, the diagnostic Handbook, was written by Esagilkinapli of Borsippa
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(Horstmanshoff, Tilburg & Stol 2004:99) during the reign of King Adadaplaiddina, 1069-1046 BC (Stol 1993:55). The Diagnostic Handbook introduced the methods of therapy and etiology. This text contains a list of medical symptoms and often detailed empirical observations along with logical rules used in combining observed symptoms on the body of the patient with its diagnosis and prognosis (Horstmanshoff, Tilburg & Stol 2004, op. cit, 97-98). It is reasoned in this locus classicus medical text of the Babylonians that through the examination and inspection of the symptoms of a patient, that it is possible to determine the patient‟s disease, its etiology and future development, and of course, the chances of the patient‟s recovery. It is also on record that the Babylonians discovered uroscopy, the practice of diagnosing diseases by examining the patient‟s urine. This idea was based on the further notion that a patient‟s urine reflected how his body is functioning (see Uduigwomen, 2006:67). This, as it appears, is the modern day urinalysis. India That most patients today take frequent trips to India for medical treatment is nothing to cause nay perplexity as India remains one of the most pristine, primordial and ancient centers of medical practice. Kenneth Zysk (1998) argues that in India medical system, health and disease are not predetermined and life may be prolonged and sustained by human effort. The purpose of medicine, for them, then, is to cure the diseases of the sick, protect the healthy, and to prolong life. The Artharvaveda is a sacred text of Hinduism and it is one of the first Indian texts dealing with medicine. It contains prescriptions of herbs for various diseases. 72
The Ayurveda (complete knowledge for long life) is a medical system of India. It assumes a synthesis of traditional herbal practise with theoretical assumptions. Dominic Wujastyk in his Roots of Ayurveda (2003) mentions eight branches of Indian medicine, including internal medicine, surgery (including anatomy), ear, eye, nose and throat diseases, pediatrics, spirit medicine, toxicology, science of rejuvenation and Aphrodisiac. The student was required to know ten arts, alongside the branches of medicine, in preparation for and application of his medicines. These arts were: distillation, operative skills, cooking, horticulture, metallurgy, sugar manufacture, pharmacy analysis and separation of minerals, compounding of metals, and preparation of alkalis. From the foregoing analysis, one can easily see the indispensability of study of biology, agriculture, chemistry, physics, introductory technology and Mathematics in these requirements for Indian medicine. The Indian (Sanskrit) medical system believes in the theory of the presence of the elements (water, air, fire and earth) in the human body. These elements are said to be present in different fluids and their balance of imbalance leads to health or illness. Today, Indian medical care still holds preponderance in the world. China Traditional Chines Medicine, “ab initio” (from the beginning), “ab ovo” (from the egg), had been based on the use of herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage and other forms of therapy, and has been practised in china for thousands of years. Unschuld (2003, p.1) mentions the Yellow Emperor‟s Inner Canon as the foundational text of Chinese Medicine. This was complemented by the Suwen, both containing the traditional roots of traditional Chinese medicine.
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Greece “The priest-doctors of Eastern civilization carried out numerous experiments whose results reached Greece. These provided the basis of the Greek schools of medicine…” (KoruboOwiye, 1991:106). Hippocrates of Kos (c. 460-c 375 BC) Hippocrates of Kos is generally considered the father of Western Medicine (Loudon: 2002 and Nutton: 2012). Hippocrates classified diseases as acute, chronic, endemic and epidemic, and used terms such as “exacerbation relapse, resolution, crisis, paroxysm, peak and convalescence” (Loudon: 2002). Nutton (2012) reports that Hippocrates also described symptomatology, physical findings, surgical treatment and prognosis of thoracic empyema, that is, suppuration of the lining of the chest cavity. He was first to practice cardiothoracic surgery. Hippocrates contributed to environment and integrative medicine, which involved recognizing the importance of taking a complete history which includes environmental exposures as well as foods eaten by the patient which might have a role to play in his sickness. Hippocrates is generally credited with being the first person to believe that diseases were caused naturally and not as a result of superstition or punishment from the gods. Diseases, he theorized, were products of environment factors, diet and living habits. His major medical works are contained in the Hippocratic Corpus. The Hippocratic Oath Of all his contributions to medicine, by far, the most popular is the invention of the Hippocratic Oath for physicians, which forms a core component of medical ethics. The Hippocratic Oath 74
is an oath historically taken by doctors swearing to practice medicine ethically. It is considered a rite of passage for practitioners of medicine. It required a new physician to swear upon a number of healing gods that he will uphold a number of ethical standards. Below are (1) the original version of the oath and (2) the modern version, both translated into English: (1)
In every house where I come I will enter only for the good of my patients, keeping myself far from all intentional ill-doing and all seduction and especially from the pleasures of live with women or men, be they free or slaves. All that may come to my knowledge in the exercise of my profession in daily commerce with men, which ought not to be spread abroad, I will keep secret and will never reveal.
Original version of the Hippocratic Oath I swear by Apollo, the healer, Asclepius, Hygeia, and Panacea, and I take to witness all the gods, all the goddesses, to keep according to my ability and my judgment the following oath and agreement: To consider dear to me, as my parents, him who taught me this art, to live in common with him and, if necessary to share my goods with him, to look upon his children as my own brothers, to teach them this art. I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never to harm anyone. I will not give a lethal drug to anyone if I am asked, nor will I advise such a plan, and similarly, I will not give a woman a pessary to cause on abortion. But I will preserve the purity of my life and my art, I will not cut for stone, even for patient in whom the disease is manifest; I will leave this operation to be performed by practitioners, specialists in this art.
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If I keep this oath faithfully, may I enjoy my life and practice, my art, respected by all men and in all times, but if I swerve from it or violate it, may the reverse be my lot. (2)
Modern version of the Hippocratic Oath I swear to fulfill to the best of my ability and judgment this covenant: I will respect the hard-worn scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow. I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon‟s knife or the chemist‟s drug. I will not be ashamed to say “I know not” nor will I fail to call my colleagues when skills of another are needed for patient‟s recovery. 76
I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given to me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; the awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God. I will remember that I do not treat fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person‟s family and economic stability. My responsibility includes those related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick. I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure. I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm. If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help. Galen of Pergamon (139-161 AD) Sigel (1973) reports the Galen dissected animals to learn a lot the body and performed brain and eye surgeries. He thus 77
presented a physiological model of the human body, but, however, never dissected any human body. It was Andreas Vesalius, a Belgian physician and anatomist, who made Galen popular by translating many of Galen‟s Greek texts into Latin. Rome Dioscorides (40-90 AD) was a Greek botanist and pharmacologist, who served as a Roman army physician. He described over 600 herbal cures in his encyclopedia, De Materia Medica. This work was extensively used for the next 1500 years to follow. Another major contribution of ancient Rome to medicine was their invention of some surgical instruments and surgical uses of forceps, scalpels, cautery, cross-bladed scissors, the surgical needle, the sound, and specula (surgical Instruments from ancient Rome. Healthsystem. Virginia. Edu). Islam The Arabs were greatly influenced by Indian, Greek and Roman medical practices. Hippocrates and Galen were the preeminent authorities in medicine. Hunayn Ibn Ishaq translated 129 of Gelen‟s works into Arabic, insisting on Galen‟s rational systemic approach to medicine. This set the template for Islamic medicine. Avicenna was one of the notable Islamic physicians. The Reneaissance Medical School The first medical schools were opened in the 9th century, primarily the Schola Medica Salernitana at Salerno in Southern Italy. This school got its influences from Greek, Latin, Arabic and Hebrew sources, and was named the Hippocratic city. Students had three years of preliminary studies and give years of medical studies.
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In the 12th century universities were founded in Italy, France and England which developed schools of medicine. The University of Bologna was founded in 1088 AD as the first and oldest University in the world, while medical training started there in 1219 AD. The University of Padua was founded in 1220 by walkouts from Bologna, and medical training began in 1222 AD, while the University of Montpellier was founded in 1289 AD. Medical training focused readings on Hippocrates, Galen, Avicenna& Aristotle. Students and expert physicians also made use of De materia medica and pharmacopoeia of the Roman Dioscorides. Paracelsus (1493-1541) Paracelsus rejected Galen and bookish knowledge of medicine. He called for experimental research in nature. For him, sickness and health in the body relied in the harmony of man and materials in their bodies. He also argued that certain illnesses of the body had chemical remedies that could cure them (Webster, 2008). Vesalius and William Harvey of the University of Padua Anatomical knowledge was greatly limited in 1600 Ad, primarily because the church forbade the violation of corpses, a position based on the teaching that the bod would be resurrected from the dead. Biological research had been confined to the dissection of animals, with generalizations then applied to the human body, leading to a great deal of errors and misinformation (Mathews & Platt, 2001:409). Inspired by Galen‟s efforts, Andreas Vesaliu (1514-1564), a professor and chair of surgery and anatomy, made the study of anatomy a central concern of medical science at the University of Padua in Italy. Though offering rival theories, Aristotle and Galen shared many false ideas, namely the notions that air ran directly 79
from the lungs into the heart, that blood flowed from the veins to the outer part of the body, and that different types of blood coursed in the arteries and the veins (Mathews & Platt). Vesalius denied Galen‟s theory that blood passed from one side of the heart to the other through the septum, an impermeable membrane. Modern neurology also began with Vesalius, who described the anatomy of the brain and other organs. Over his lifetime he corrected over 200 of Galen‟s mistakes. Vesalius‟ most famous work was the De Humani Corporis Fabrica, published in 1543. In 1628, William Harvey (1578-1657) published his groundbreaking work, which produced the correct view of circulation, including the roles of the heart, the lungs, the arteries and the veins. Using arithmetic, Harvey proved that a constant quantity of blood continuously circulated throughout the body. Harvey, however, lacked knowledge of the capillaries, the connectors between the arteries and the veins. The world had to wait for the Italian scientist, Macelo Malphigi (1628-1694) to identify the capillaries in 1661, with the aid of microscope. With this critical piece of information an essentially correct, modern description of the blood‟s circulation was compete. Modern Development in Medical Sciences Scientific advancements and the industrial revolution ushered in progress and discoveries in medical sciences, from physiology, anatomy, biochemistry, microbiology, genetics, anesthetics, pharmacology, radiology, endocrinology, cardiology to pathology. -
In 1665, Robert Hooke (1635-1703) discovered cells, Hooke named the biological unit for its resemblance to cells inhibited by Christian monks in a monastery. The word, 80
„cell‟ is derived from the Latin word, „cella‟, which means small room. Mathias Schleiden and Theodore Schwann later developed the cell theory. -
Antoine van Leeuwenhoek first observed bacteria and protists with a microscope in 1676, inventing the field of microbiology.
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In 1842 Karl Nageli discovered subcellular structures later known as chromosomes.
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In 1865, Joseph Lister introduced antisepsis to wound treatment. This became useful in surgery.
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Robert Koch discovered the tubercule in 1881 and cholera pathogens in (1883).
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In 1863, Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) proved that microorganism cause wine fermentation. In 1883, he discovered cure for rabbies.
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In 1861, Gregor mendel (1822-1884) established genetics in his principle of inheritance.
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In 1895, Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen discovered x-ray.
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distribution to daughter cells. Fleming later discovered penicillin in 1928, while Albert Sabin discovered the polio vaccine. In 1921 Frederick Banting and Best discovered the insulin thereby establishing the basis of endocrinology. In psychiatry, Sigmund Fraud projected psychoanalysis in 1933.
Conclusion As observed from the start, our effort here was to outline the history and philosophy of science. Hence, we have merely attempted a sketched, and outlined contents of the rather rich heritage of science from prehistoric cultures, the dark ages to the major domains of the modern sciences. Our humble acknowledgement is the fact that a comprehensive history and philosophy of science requires much more effort even to polish our sketched outline in spite of its being reasonably sufficient for a basic realm of studies in a general studies course for which it is articulated.
Marie Curie and Pierre Curie discovered radium, a radioactive element, thereby establishing the science of radiology and radiography. -
Alexander Fleming pioneered research in cell division and stressed the importance of equality of chromosomes 81
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REFERENCES Bynum, Kl F. (2006). “The Rise of science in medicine, 18501913”. The Western medical tradition: 1800-2000. Edited by Anne Hardy et al. Cambridge: Cambridge University press. Edwin
smith Papyrus. Britannica online Britannica.com. Accessed. January 2016.
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Herodotus. The Histories Book Chapter 77. Horstmanshoff, H. F. J., Tilburg, CR Van, Stol. (2004). Magic and Rationality in Ancient Near Eastern and Greco-Roman Medicine. Leiden: Brill. Loudon, Trines. (2002). Western medicine: An Illustrated History. Oxford: Oxford University press. Mathews, R. T. & Platt, F. D. (2001). The Western Humanities. 4 Edition. California: Mayfield publishing company.
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Unschuld, Paul U. (2003). Huang Di Nei Jing Suwen: Nature, Knowledge, Imagery in Ancient Chinese Medical Text Online. Accessed. January 1, 2016. Webster, Charles (2008). Paracelsus: Medicine, Magic and Mysticism at the End of Time. Yale. Yale University Press. Wujastyk, Dominick, ed. Penguin.
The Roots of Ayurveda.
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Zysk, Kenneth (9198). Ascetisicm and Healing in Ancient India Medicine in the Buddhist Monastery. Oxford University Press. Works Cited Allen Debus, Man and Nature in the Renaissance. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press. 1978. Alozie, Princewill I. History and Philosophy of Science, Calabar: Clear Line Pub. 2nd ed. 2001 Cornford.
Norton, Vivian (2012). Ancient Medicine. New York Routledge.
F. M. Principium Sapientiae: the Origins of Greek Philosophical Thought. Gloucester: Smith and Co. 1971.
Siegel, R. E. (1973). Galen‟s System of Physiology and medicine. London: larger.
Arieti, James A. Philosophy in the Ancient World. An Introduction. Rowman& Littlefield. 2005.
Stol, M. (1993). Epilepsy in Babylonia. Amsterdam: Van Gorcun and Comp BV.
Dicks, D. R. Early Greek Astronomy to Aristotle. N.Y.: Cornell University Press (1970).
Uduigwomen, A. F. (2006). A Textbook of History and Philosophy of Science. 3rd Edition Calabar: Vitalis Books. 83
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Boorstin, Daniel The Discoverers: A History of man‟s Search to Know His World and Himself. New York Random House. 1983. Uduigwomen, A. F. A. Textbook of History and Philosophy of Science. Aba: AAU Vitalis Books. 2007. Titus, Harold. Living Issues in Philosophy: 4thed. New York: Van Nostrand R. 1979.
HISTORY OF MATHEMATICS: EGYPT, BABYLON, INDIA AND GREECE Uti O. Egbai Afrocentricism as pan-Africanism is a consciousness which seeks to apprehend world immanent reality from a purely African point of view. But this is unnecessarily dogmatic, for it closes our window to the rest of the word. Nonetheless, it has been founded that formal learning and civilization, as understood in Western orthodoxy, originated in Egypt. African scholars need not write apologies for these realities, for what is evident needs no evidence. Far from being an apologia, this chapter attempts to trace the origins of the discipline of Mathematicsfrom its ancient conceptions. Incidentally, Egypt remains the cradle of Mathematics, and this is made evident in the works of the philosophers-Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle. Recourse is made in this paper to the existence of Mathematics in Babylonia as well as India. Emphasis is, however placed on Egyptian Mathematics, as this was the primary take-off point for the Greeks who systematized what they learnt from the mystery schools in Egypt. The systematization of Mathematics by the Greeks developed the deductive system, which remain in se, mathematical, logical. While geometry, trigonometry and arithmetic were strongly founded by the ancients, algebra had to wait for some time for its proper establishment. Yet, this algebra had to be founded on
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ancient deductive logic, such that logic remains the foundation of Mathematics. The primordial history of Mathematics entails an account of Mathematics from its beginning. In other words, it traces the origin or beginning of Mathematics. The history of Mathematics in ancient time dates back to 2900 BC, when Egyptian civilian reached its advanced stage. Mathematics was developed in response to needs of early societies. With growing numbers of people living, working, and even fighting together came the need to solve practical problems of their civilization. There were such problems like calculating the quality of materials needed to build a store house or the amount of food needed for the army. Besides practical problems of Mathematics were problems arising from religion, including geometric problems arising in the construction of altars and temples. Many writers on the history of Mathematics often ignore mentioning Africa, but world history correctly presented without bias would show that the Africans were learned in the field of Mathematics like in other spheres of human endeavour (Alozie, 200:10). For thousands of years, African was in the mainstream of Mathematics history. The history began first with written numerical of Egypt, a culture whose African origin has been reaffirmed by recent discoveries in archaeology. Although almost all people have played a role in the history of Mathematics the contributions of Africa are still unacknowledged by western historians. This work seeks to trace the origin of Mathematics to the Africa of the Nile, Egypt and to show how Africa bequeathed the mathematical legacy to the West through the Greeks.
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The Babylonian and Indian origins of mathematics are also given a place in discourse. Thus, the first part of this work is all about the early origins of Mathematics taking its departure from Egypt. The second part is on Greek Mathematics the origin of the deductive system, Greek number system and Greek geometry are also discussed. The work concludes with the affirmation that the origin of Mathematics is Africa and that Mathematics reached Europe through the Greeks, who systematized Mathematics. Early Mathematics The earliest origins of Mathematics are found in the early civilizations of Egypt, Babylonia, and India. That is why we wish to discuss the origins of Mathematics of these early civilizations here. Egypt One of the earliest examples of writing were the hieroglyphs on Narmer‟s Pallette, named after the first king of upper and lower Egypt, who was also known as Menes. The numerical used cited thousands of heads of cattle and thousands of prisoners, indicating the numerical and hieroglyphs already had a long history in Egypt (Alan Gardiner, 1978:5). The early beginnings of algebra and geometry in ancient Egypt are briefly covered in many history nooks. But the full scope and depth of ancient Egyptian Mathematics have been largely overlooked because of the first judgment of the European translators of the papyri who dismissed this Mathematics as primitive. As long as 2900 BC Egyptian civilization was advanced enough to be able to build one of the wonders of the world, the Great pyramids. No records of any Mathematics of that time have been preserved. The main mathematical documents in existence
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refer to the period of the middle kingdom which spanned the years from about 2100 BC to 1800 BC. It is amazing that any documents at all remain from that period, and in fact, there are very few Egyptian mathematical texts. The only writings which have been preserved are those either purposely placed in tombs or were by some accident kept insulted from the elements for thousands of years. The Egyptians wrote on papyrus, a type of paper made from leaves that grew near the water. Being an organic substance, it would soon deteriorate if left to the elements. You can imagine what would happen to the pages of this paper on which I write in 6000 years, for instance, if nothing is done to preserve them, therefore, it is lucky that some pieces of papyrus have remained as evidence of the extent to which the Egyptians had developed their knowledge of Mathematics. Hieroglyphics, the earliest Egyptian writings, are made up of pictorial characters, a picture possibly representing an object. A house, for instance, might have been represented by a picture of a house. Later the picture became simplified into a conventional sign which was easier to write but looked less like a house. The concept of numbers was also portrayed pictorially by hieroglyphics (Gittleman, 1975:2). A main source of information on Egyptian mathematics is a papyrus brought by a Scottish Egyptologist, rhind, in the nineteenth century, often referred to as the Rhind papyrus (Iroegbu, 1994:124). It is also called the Ahmes Papyrus in honour of the scribe who wrote it. The Ahmes Papyrus was copied about 1650 BC from an older work of the middle kingdom and is a collection of solved problems used in a school for scribes (Gittleman, 1975:3). Then very few people could write. So, being a scribe was a revered profession, and this prestige earned the 89
scribe a position close to the people in power. Scribes were afforded such respect that their profession was honoured by a famous stable of a scribe dated 2500 BC (Gittleman, 1975:3). The great accuracy of the dimensions of the pyramids still give rise to words. Geometry, literally, the measurement of the land („Geos‟ and „metros‟, meaning „land‟ and „measurement‟ respectively) is a primordial Mathematics. The Ancient Egyptian Mathematics developed methods of measuring the land through formulas for the areas of rectangles, triangles, circles and even the area of a curved dome. It is not eh case that the Egyptians systematized all of Mathematics. They originated Mathematics. For Herodotus, “Egyptian geometry originated the need created by the annual overflow of the Nile to determine the boundaries of the lands owed by the farmers” (Herodotus II, Trans. George Rawlinson, 1956). However, they had their limitations. The limited Egyptian algebra employed practically no symbolism. In the Ahmes papyrus, addition and subtraction are represented respectively by the legs of a man coming and going, and the symbol is used to denote square root. The Egyptians did not separate arithmetic and geometry. Our emphasis is that Mathematics originated in Egypt. Plato, in the laws, reports a dialogue between Clinias and Athenian in which Plato admits and regrets that the Greeks were ignorant of mathematics, which young Egyptians learned at an early state. Onyewuenyi gives a representation of the dialogue. Athenian: “Well, then, I maintain that free-born should learn of those various subjects as much as in Egypt is taught to vast numbers of children along with their letters. To being with, lessons have been devised there in ciphering for the various children which they can learn with a good deal of fun and amusement, problems about the distribution of a fixed total 90
number of apples and garlands among larger and small groups, and the arranging of a successive of „byes‟ and „pair‟ between boxers and wrestlers as the nature of such contests require… In this way, they, as I was saying, incorporate the elementary application of arithmetic in the children‟s play, given the pupils a useful preparation for the dispositions, formations and movements of military lfie as well as for domestic management… They then go on to exercises in measurement of lengths; surface and cubical content, by such they dispel the native and general, but ludicrous and shameful, ignorance of mankind about the whole subject. Clinias: And in what may this ignorance consist? Athenian: “My dear Clinias, when I was told, rather belatedly of or condition iin this matter, like you, I was utterly astounded. Such ignorance seems to me more worthy of a stupid beast like the hog than of a human being, and I blushed not for myself alone but for our whole Hellenic world” (Plato The laws, 819 B-E), in: (Onyewuenyi, 1994: 49-50). “Let no one who has no sense of the mathematical come in here” was the inscription at the entrance of Plato‟s Academy. Plato apparently refused Eudoxus entry into his Academy due to his lack of a sense of Mathematics (Onyewuenyi, 51). Eudoxus had to proceed to Egypt to learn Mathematics (Diogenes Laetius, Vol. 2, p. 401). Aristotle consolidated this claim that Mathematics originated in Egypt. This is found in his Metaphysics, where he says: “…the mathematical arts were founded in Egypt, for there the priestly caste was allowed to be at leisure” (Metaphysics, Book 1 (A), 20). The Egyptians had a well-developed mathematical tradition and were capable of solving many useful mathematical problems. 91
Their ideas and techniques influenced later generations Mathematics. The doubling of a number, a basic step in the Egyptian method of multiplication, was one of the fundamental operations in many medieval arithmetic texts, although those texts also included more significant techniques learned from other peoples. That is why we need to consider the contribution of Babylonia and India. Babylonia Mesopotamia is the region between the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers which is now known as Iraq. In other words, the Babylonian kingdom is the modern day Iraq. Since Babylon was such an important city in the area, primarily from 2000 BC to 600 BC, the name Babylonia is also often applied to the entire region. Cuneiform is to Babylonia as hieroglyphics is to Egypt. Babylonian writing, called cuneiform, is one of the oldest forms of writing. A rod, or stylus, was pressed into clay producing wedgeshapes, and the clay was then dried. This material was more durable than the papyrus which the Egyptians used. In the ruins of ancient Babylonian cities those clay tables were naturally preserved by being buried. As a result, many thousands have been recovered, which only decompose when exposed to the air (Gittleman, 10). Most of the recovered tablets came from the old babyloBabylonian2100 BC), or from the alter Seleucive period (300 BC), named after one of Alexander‟s generals (Gittleman, 10). The Babylonians in writing numbers, used a sexagesimal system (base 60) but with only two symbols. The wedge in one position gives V=1, turned sideways it gives < = 10. Any number up to 60 is written in a straight forward manner. For example, 32 =
