The role of science in enabling the survival of civilisations
Upvote:4
The quote seems to be resting its entire thesis on a neglect of science being the cause of the collapse of the Roman Empire.
If they had other good examples of this thesis in action, they probably should have used one of those instead. There are hundreds of different theories for the cause of the fall of the Roman Empire floating around. Its one of the oldest and most storied arguments in historiography. Back during the 80's, historian Alexander Demandt counted 210 different theories in the literature, and I think its fair to say a few more new ones have been put forth in the intervening three decades.
So any attempt pass off a single one of them, in a short aside with no explanation, as the one and only true cause of the fall of the Roman Empire strikes me as highly intellectually dishonest.
Upvote:6
On my opinion, this statement "When we look to history we see that ignoring science has led to the crumbling of societies" is not confirmed by history. Societies, or civilizations come and go and there is no evidence that this is somehow related to the development of science.
Science, in its present form, was mostly created by the Hellenistic Greeks, and this society did not exist longer than other societies. Neither it was stronger or more durable in any sense. Some of the later societies continued the development of Hellenistic science. A millenium later this ancient science was picked by the Western European society, but it does not exist long enough yet to make any conclusions.
On comparison of Greeks and Romans. Most of those who say that the Romans were not interested in science, miss the point, that the lands where the Greeks lived were also incorporated in the Roman empire, and that science existed there for long time. So for example Ptolemy and Diophantus should be listed in "Science of the Roman empire". And these are among the best examples of science that ever existed.
It is true that most scientific work was written in the Greek language. But this is not enough to label this science as Greek. (In early Western Europe, most of the science was written in Latin, and we do not call it "Roman science" because of this).
EDIT. Another aspect of the question is that in the present time, the physical survival of mankind depends on science. The Earth would be unable to support its present population without modern scientific technology of food production. But this situation is quite recent.
More post
- 📝 In Edwardian England, did poor families arrange to have their children buried in the graves of unrelated adults?
- 📝 What was the postage from Japan to US in 1945?
- 📝 What made the English the dominant power of the British Isles?
- 📝 What did the Catholic Church do to promote human rights of non-christians from 1500s to mid 1900s?
- 📝 Was Brown v Board of Education the only major decision that changed educational choice in America?
- 📝 When did Averroes start to study medicine?
- 📝 Two ships named "Mary Celeste" -- concidence or not?
- 📝 Alignment of South American and Egyptian Pyramids
- 📝 Who were some Greek Plebeian Gentes, especially from Magna Graecia?
- 📝 What is my ancestor wearing, and what is the purpose?
- 📝 For how many years in the eighteenth century were Russian soldiers present within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth borders?
- 📝 Why did British Gen. Frank Messervy oppose the invasion of Kashmir?
- 📝 To what extent did the "Arab Spring" protesters meet their goals?
- 📝 Is there documented evidence of Israel concentration/death camps used against the Arabs?
- 📝 Who really put to flight American hostages in America's embassy in Tehran in 1979?
- 📝 Did France & Italy continue to develop and manufacture sophisticated military hardware once under German control?
- 📝 Is Sumer considered by historians as a part of Western Civilization?
- 📝 What happened to all the notable Roman families?
- 📝 Was Christianity the first belief system which encouraged the ideal of peace among all people on Earth?
- 📝 How long would it have taken to get to the Poconos in the early 1900s?
- 📝 Why was the Kashmir issue not completely solved at the end of Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971?
- 📝 Why did fighter pilots wear their hats lopsided during the World Wars?
- 📝 What was the ancient Greeks view on people of African descent?
- 📝 Did NATO ever make plans for an unprovoked attack at the Soviet Union?
- 📝 Nazi Germany - Income of low-wage workers, and prices of food and other items?
- 📝 At what point, and why, did snuff tobacco fall out of favor with European nobility?
- 📝 What Was the State of German Tank Design In Between the World Wars?
- 📝 Why are some monarchs sent to exile after a country is declared a republic?
- 📝 What battle of WW2 is depicted in this Battlefield V level?
- 📝 Where was the Ixcanha Maya community located during the Caste War of the Yucatán?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 The role of science in enabling the survival of civilisations
- 📝 Did the ancients or other pre-industrial civilisations engage in unsustainable practices?
- 📝 What was the role of the Soviet Navy during WWII?
- 📝 Did Germany's role in WW2 affect the historical perception of its role in WW1?
- 📝 What role did the Eastern Roman Empire play in the fall of the Western Roman Empire?
- 📝 Is there any evidence to support the claim that the US Strategic Defense Initiative played any significant role in undermining the USSR?
- 📝 What role did Lucky Luciano play in facilitating the invasion of Sicily?
- 📝 What was the role of Indian princes and aristocratic landowners under British colonial rule?
- 📝 What role did the Ancient Samurai heritage play on Modern Japan during WW2?
- 📝 What led Extremadurans to take a leading role in the conquest of Spain's territories in the Americas?
- 📝 What role did the space race play in reducing the nuclear threat during the 1960s?
- 📝 Did the founding members of the Black Panthers ever mention the role of Malcolm X in creating their group?
- 📝 The diminishing role of the "family name" throughout the Byzantine Empire
- 📝 What was the Soviet role in Syria during the Cold-War?
- 📝 What was the role of the Russian Orthodox church in Soviet Russia?
- 📝 When did humans understand the science of hail?
- 📝 How did the Egyptian engineers of the Third and Fourth Dynasty construct the Pyramids and Sphinx without modern science and mathematics?
- 📝 What was President Jimmy Carter's role in the Iranian Revolution?
- 📝 Is there any science behind this graph that suggests we'd be exploring new galaxies if not for the dark ages?
- 📝 What role did the media have in the outcome of the "Arab Spring" revolt in Tunisia?
- 📝 What was Finland's role in the siege of Leningrad?
- 📝 Why did science flourish in Germany after the First World War?
- 📝 What was the role of a 'Tidy Man' and what might their duties have been?
- 📝 What was the social and cultural role of a "country squire" in Victorian/Edwardian England?
- 📝 How did one's statistical chance of survival as a hidden Jew change during the course of the Nazi occupation of northern France?
- 📝 What role did Jews play in the Punic Wars?
- 📝 Did the Indo-Greeks play a crucial role in promoting Buddhism?
- 📝 What was the role of Nikita Khrushchev during the battle of Stalingrad?
- 📝 Did the 'founding fathers' of the United States see Oliver Cromwell as a role model?
- 📝 Did Jim Morrison ever comment on his father's career choice or role in the Vietnam war?