I. The Nature of Greek Science

Abstract

The essential difference between science and related forms of intellectual activity is very difficult to define exactly. A dictionary definition of science is an accurate reflection of what some people understand by the term ‘science’, and then only in the period and place in which the dictionary was written. Most people live their lives and use their language without reference to a dictionary. Even sticking to the dictionary definition, what the word ‘science’ has meant to different people has varied over time and cultures, and its meaning continues to change. As such, the term itself can be a source of anachronism in the study of science in ancient times. For we naturally tend to find in ancient authors just those sorts of things which we recognize as science in our own times, and to ignore those things which are incomprehensible or just plain wrong – to our way of thinking. And we naturally tend to organize what we find into categories which reflect our way of dividing up the world into subjects and disciplines. Thus things that the ancients linked together, we tear apart and treat separately. In particular, some we include in the category of science, others we exclude.