26
R. Barrett and P. P. Delsanto
mythological, i.e. intertwined with symbols and legends. To answer the question of the world’s origin, some primordial form of cosmogony was assumed:
the shapeless chaos of Greek mythology, the waters of the Bible and of
Mesopotamian and Egyptian mythologies, the qi of the Chinese tradition.
Gods were also conceived, like any other form of life, as the result of some
inexplicable and sudden event.
In the dreamtime of the Australian aboriginals, the earth began as a bare
plain, with no life or death. Then the eternal ancestors rose and found halfformed shapeless human beings with no limbs or features, created from
animals and plants. The ancestors carved out heads, arms and feet, and
finished the creation process. They then went back to sleep, leaving traces
of their presence in what are today sacred sites. To the aboriginal peoples, the
dreamtime is not in the past, it is eternal.
Both the Chinese and the Hindu traditions conceive the evolution of the
universe as a cyclic process. The Hindu cosmology even quantifies the duration of each cycle in terms of billions of years. At the end of each cycle the
universe is destroyed by fire, and then after an interlude, it is created again.
It is instructive to realize that human beings have long been awestruck by
the mysteries of nature. One might even argue that it is this yearning for
knowledge that defines the species, Homo sapiens. However, their intuitive
approach was very remote from the formal mindset of modern science. In
the next Section, we will consider the formal logic, or systematised way of
thinking, that underpins modern science.
2.2 Logic, and Its Role in Science
Science, and the mathematics that underpins it, is derived from formal logic,
which is a systematised way of valid reasoning. Formal logics were developed
in China, India and Greece. The roots of logic probably began with the development of language. In modern humans both of these activities appear to
occur largely in the left hemisphere of the brain. There is no consensus on
when spoken language first appeared, with estimates varying widely. Because
there was apparently no way to tackle this question in a meaningful, i.e. scientific, manner, the Linguistic Society of Paris in 1866 banned any existing or
future debates on this subject. The prohibition remained influential for over
a century [7].
It is far beyond the scope of this book to delve into the history and nature
of formal logic. After all, it is a subject that has occupied philosophers for
centuries. However, a few points are worth considering to set the background
R. Barrett and P. P. Delsanto
mythological, i.e. intertwined with symbols and legends. To answer the question of the world’s origin, some primordial form of cosmogony was assumed:
the shapeless chaos of Greek mythology, the waters of the Bible and of
Mesopotamian and Egyptian mythologies, the qi of the Chinese tradition.
Gods were also conceived, like any other form of life, as the result of some
inexplicable and sudden event.
In the dreamtime of the Australian aboriginals, the earth began as a bare
plain, with no life or death. Then the eternal ancestors rose and found halfformed shapeless human beings with no limbs or features, created from
animals and plants. The ancestors carved out heads, arms and feet, and
finished the creation process. They then went back to sleep, leaving traces
of their presence in what are today sacred sites. To the aboriginal peoples, the
dreamtime is not in the past, it is eternal.
Both the Chinese and the Hindu traditions conceive the evolution of the
universe as a cyclic process. The Hindu cosmology even quantifies the duration of each cycle in terms of billions of years. At the end of each cycle the
universe is destroyed by fire, and then after an interlude, it is created again.
It is instructive to realize that human beings have long been awestruck by
the mysteries of nature. One might even argue that it is this yearning for
knowledge that defines the species, Homo sapiens. However, their intuitive
approach was very remote from the formal mindset of modern science. In
the next Section, we will consider the formal logic, or systematised way of
thinking, that underpins modern science.
2.2 Logic, and Its Role in Science
Science, and the mathematics that underpins it, is derived from formal logic,
which is a systematised way of valid reasoning. Formal logics were developed
in China, India and Greece. The roots of logic probably began with the development of language. In modern humans both of these activities appear to
occur largely in the left hemisphere of the brain. There is no consensus on
when spoken language first appeared, with estimates varying widely. Because
there was apparently no way to tackle this question in a meaningful, i.e. scientific, manner, the Linguistic Society of Paris in 1866 banned any existing or
future debates on this subject. The prohibition remained influential for over
a century [7].
It is far beyond the scope of this book to delve into the history and nature
of formal logic. After all, it is a subject that has occupied philosophers for
centuries. However, a few points are worth considering to set the background