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History

Main article: History of science


Both Aristotle and Kuan Tzu (4th century BCE), in an example of simultaneous scientific discovery, mention that some marine animals were subject to a lunar cycle, and increase and decrease in size with the waxing and waning of the moon. Aristotle was referring specifically to the sea urchin, pictured above.[8]
Science in a broad sense existed before the modern era, and in many historical civilizations, but modern science is so distinct in its approach and successful in its results that it now defines what science is in the strictest sense of the term.[9] Much earlier than the modern era, another important turning point was the development of classical natural philosophy in the ancient Greek-speaking world.
Pre-philosophical
Science in its original sense is a word for a type of knowledge (Latin scientia, Ancient Greek epistemē), rather than a specialized word for the pursuit of such knowledge. In particular it is one of the types of knowledge which people can communicate to each other and share. For example, knowledge about the working of natural things was gathered long before recorded history and led to the development of complex abstract thinking, as shown by the construction of complex calendars, techniques for making poisonous plants edible, and buildings such as the pyramids. However no consistent conscientious distinction was made between knowledge of such things which are true in every community, and other types of communal knowledge such as mythologies and legal systems.
Philosophical study of nature
See also: Nature (philosophy)
Before the invention or discovery of the concept of "nature" (Ancient Greek phusis), by the Pre-Socratic philosophers, the same words tend to be used to describe the natural "way" in which a plant grows,[10] and the "way" in which, for example, one tribe worships a particular god. For this reason it is claimed these men were the first philosophers in the strict sense, and also...