Desiree Tamez
Cluster Assignment
Science vs. Mythology
Throughout hundreds of years there have been many theories and ways of thinking that
determine how the universe works. Years ago, most believed in the stories of Mythology to
explain how the universe worked. There were also pre-philosophers, pre- scientists and modern
day scientists. What distinguishes them from one another though? Without philosophers or early
scientists we would not have our modern day scientists and theories that we have today. Early
philosophers led the way for everyone else. Looking at Classic Mythology, Early Greek
Philosophy by Jonathan Barnes and In the Quest of the Universe, T Koupleis, one can look at the
three different groups and examine the differences between one another. The important thing to
note though is that no matter what they are called, they are all important and created some type
of answer that allowed humans to understand the universe.
As said before the theories about the universe came from pre- scientist and prephilosophers. Their ideas were mostly in the form of poetry or stories. They did not have clear
and concise definitions for what was happening in the universe. It was just observations and
looking up to the gods and myths to explain the universe. Such as looking at Demeter. She is sad
when her daughter is gone, therefore causing different seasons throughout the year. They wanted
to know how the world worked, but they still did not know how to fully understand it at this
time.
In Classical Mythology, in the first chapter it explains how the biggest misconception of
myths is to just disregard and ignore them. The book though explains though how myths are
actually “in a sense is the highest reality” and “serves to interpret the whole of human”
experience.” This is the way that the pre-scientists and pre-philosophers such as Homer
interpreted life. The question that they wanted to answer was how does the universe work, and
they answered that by using myths and poetry like said before. There really is no scientific
reasoning behind their explanations, but it was how they saw the world at that time.
As the years go on though, the ideas and thoughts of the pre-scientists and prephilosophers start to change. More questions arise and they look for a more concrete answer to
the questions of the universe. It took a while for them all to change their ways of thinking, but
eventually they did. These people became known as the proto-scientists and proto-philosophers.
Some of these included, Parmedides and Mellissus. As well as, Lecuppus and Democritus. This
group of observers answered questions by looking at the universe internally. They started to drift
away from thinking that the Gods had everything to do with how the universe worked and truly
started to explore it. Along with looking at the world internally, they created a systemic approach
that would help them answer questions. They began philosophy and were considered the early
thinkers. They also created different words used to describe what they were observing such as
Kosmos and Physis. Questions that they asked questioned how the natural world worked as well
as the universe. Most of their answers were given by different reasoning’s.
Parmedides and Mellissus looked more into making arguments about space and exploring
biology, as well as exploring what was opinion vs. truth. Other observers looked into matter and
the limits of human knowledge. The observations and questions are endless. They basically
question everything and started to formulate answer. Their answers again though could not be
proven to the best of their abilities or up to par with modern day science. Their answers were still
observations and were not written in a scientific form. It was no longer poetry like before, but it
was not complete formulated answers as well.
As more years go on, the shift between proto- scientists and proto-philosophers to
modern day scientists could almost be missed in a blink of an eye. The shift happens so quickly
that it is actually hard to determine where the actual shift takes place. The fact is that the protoscientists and philosophers wanted more evidence to their own answers and wanted to keep
asking more questions therefore leading to this switch that just kind of happened. One event/
theory that really defines the shift is those that continued to argue that the universe revolved
around the earth, (also known as the Geocentric model or Ptolemaic model). Philosopher
Ptolemy proposed the idea that the Earth was the center of the universe. Compared to the
universes more modern day Heliocentric model where the universe revolves around the sun. the
proto- scientists and philosophers still wanted to believe that the Geocentric model was how the
universe worked. There were even some kings, who forced their people to believe this model. As
the years continued though more evidence was gathered and more and more people started to
accept the Heliocentric model or our modern day scientists.
As of for the modern day scientists that we have today, they are still asking
questions about how the universe and earth works, except now they are going based off of
evidence that has already been found and creating scientifically formulated answers and
definitions. Modern day scientists have answered the original questions, but it does not meant
that those answers could still change as the years go on and they observe new things that come
up in the universe. Science is always changing, which means that there will be another scientist
who will soon build off of the answer that the modern scientists have found. There will also be
new questions to answer. There are always new questions to answer. No one will know though
what those questions are until they come up though. It is believed that we will have to evaluate
once again our place and importance in our universe. We will have to do this because their might
become a time when our place and importance in the universe changes. This means that the
world will change, therefore, everything will need to be reevaluated. If we look through history,
nothing has stayed the same as it was hundreds of years ago. Therefore, 50 years from now, the
answers to the universe will be changed again.
As for the answers that the “pre-scientists” have presented. It is important that we refer
back to them. The answers that they provided should not be disregarded. Are they the most
important answers anymore? No but it is important to see where everything started. Sometimes
scientists will need to go back to the basics in order to evolve the answers that they provide the
world with today. Sometimes it helps looking at where back at where everything started. Without
the earliest answers being valued, they current answers would have no meaning.
With all the changes in science and philosophy, some might argue that humans own
identity might need to be looked at again. This is because it was said that the humans and earth
are the center of the universe which actually is not true. For me, I do not necessarily think we
need to change our identity. I think that some people could still believe that they are the center of
the universe, as long as they know that in scientific terms they really are not. I believe that some
people feel that they might have to change their identity while many others do not. I say this
because humans still will use the phrase “I’m the center of the universe” and not think twice
about it. It is something that is interesting to think about though and how it affects ones identity,
because for me I never thought about it until I was asked the question.
Overall, over time I feel like humans have come to know and understand our universe
better, but I still feel like there are many questions that are still not answered and many things
that humans do not understand. Sometimes though I feel like everything is not meant to be
understood, it just is and that is how it is supposed to be. We will never find all the questions to
the universe and honestly sometimes that is the true beauty of our universe.
Works that I referenced too:
Classic Mythology,
Early Greek Philosophy by Jonathan Barnes
In the Quest of the Universe, T Koupleis,