首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Why the inductive and mathematical sciences, after their first rapid development at the culmination of Greek civilization, advan
Why the inductive and mathematical sciences, after their first rapid development at the culmination of Greek civilization, advan
admin
2010-02-17
51
问题
Why the inductive and mathematical sciences, after their first rapid development at the culmination of Greek civilization, advanced so slowly for two thousand years—and why in the following two hundred years a knowledge of natural and mathematical science has accumulated, which so vastly exceeds all that was previously known that these sciences may be justly regarded as the products of our own times—are questions which have interested the modern philosopher not less than the objects with which these sciences are more immediately conversant. Was it the employment of a new method of research, or in the exercise of greater virtue in the use of the old methods, that this singular modern phenomenon had its origin? Was the long period one of arrested development, and is the modern era one of normal growth? Or should we ascribe the characteristics of both periods to so-called historical accidents—to the influence of conjunctions in circumstances of which no explanation is possible, save in the omnipotence and wisdom of a guiding Providence?
The explanation which has become commonplace, that the ancients employed deduction chiefly in their scientific inquiries, while the moderns employ induction, proves to be too narrow, and fails upon close examination to point with sufficient distinctness the contrast that is evident between ancient and modem scientific doctrines and inquiries. For all knowledge is founded on observation, and proceeds from this by analysis, by synthesis and analysis, by induction and deduction, and if possible by verification, or by new appeals to observation under the guidance of deduction—by steps which are indeed correlative parts of one method; and the ancient sciences afford examples of every one of these methods, or parts of one method, which have been generalized from the examples of science.
A failure to employ or to employ adequately any one of these partial methods, an imperfection in the arts and resources of observation and experiment, carelessness in observation, neglect of relevant facts, by appeal to experiment and observation—these are the faults which cause all failures to ascertain truth, whether among the ancients or the moderns; but this statement does not explain why the modern is possessed of a greater virtue, and by what means he attained his superiority. Much less does it explain the sudden growth of science in recent time.
The attempt to discover the explanation of this phenomenon in the antithesis of "facts" and "theories" or "facts" and "ideas"—in the neglect among the ancients of the former, and their too exclusive attention to the latter—proves also to be too narrow, as well as open to the charge of vagueness. For in the first place, the antithesis is not complete. Facts and theories are not coordinate species. Theories, if true, are facts—a particular class of facts indeed, generally complex, and if a logical connection subsists between their constituents, have all the positive attributes of theories.
Nevertheless, this distinction, however inadequate it may be to explain the source of true method in science, is well founded, and connotes an important character in true method. A fact is a proposition of simple. A theory, on the other hand, if true has all the characteristics of a fact, except that its verification is possible only by indirect, remote, and difficult means. To convert theories into facts is to add simple verification, and the theory thus acquires the full characteristics of a fact.
According to the author, one possible reason for the growth of science during the days of the ancient Greeks and in modern times is ______.
选项
A、the similarity between the two periods
B、that it was an act of God
C、that both tried to develop the inductive method
D、due to the decline of the deductive method
答案
B
解析
细节归纳题。第一段最后一句话讲的是上天的安排,这是作家运用方法论失败后得出的结论。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/gNnK777K
0
专业英语四级
相关试题推荐
WillChineseReplaceEnglish?ChineselanguagehasmanyadvantagesoverEuropeanlanguagesandthespeakerthinksChines
PassageThreeWhichuniversityimprovesthemostintheoverallrankingstable?
PassaqeTwo(1)Oneoftheobviousproblemswithpredictingthefutureeffectsofclimatechangeisthattheyhaven’thappe
PassageThreeInthewriter’sopinion,what’stheproblemwithmicrowaveovens?
PassageThreeAsfaraspersonalitystylesareconcerned,whatisthediscrepancyaccordingtotheauthor?
Itisnowclearthattheterminologyusedbyacultureprimarilyreflectsthatculture’sinterestsandconcerns.Forinstance,
Earlychildhoodisatimeoftremendousgrowthacrossallareasofdevelopment,especiallythelanguageskills.Frombirth
Earlychildhoodisatimeoftremendousgrowthacrossallareasofdevelopment,especiallythelanguageskills.Frombirth
Foxesandfarmershavenevergotonwell.Thesesmalldog-likeanimalshavelongbeenaccusedofkillingfarmanimals.Theyare
NEWHORIZONS Areyoulookingforsomethinginterestingtodo?Thenwhynotworkabroadforayearortwo? We
随机试题
患者,女性,30岁。6年前和2年前分别足月顺产一名男孩和一名女孩,4个月前行宫外孕手术,前来咨询避孕措施。下列哪项避孕措施不适合
原发性骨肿瘤最常见的是
患者,女,38岁,因反复皮下紫癜伴月经量明显增多,拟为ITP收入院。血常规:红细胞3.2×1012/L,血红蛋白80g/L,白细胞4.5×109/L,血小板18×109/L。经确诊ITP后给予糖皮质激素治疗2周。下列哪项不是糖皮质激素治疗后的并发症
(2013年)钢瓶理想气体p1V1/T1=p2V2/T2可适用的范围是()。
某受压灌注桩桩径为1.2m,桩端入土深度20m,桩身配筋率0.6%,桩顶铰接,桩顶竖向压力设计值N=5000kN,桩的水平变形系数α=0.301m-1。桩身换算截面积An=1.2m2,换算截面受拉边缘的截面模量W0=0.2m2,桩身混凝土抗拉强度设计值
注册会计师通常在审计计划和审计报告阶段可以使用分析程序,而在审计测试阶段则由实质性测试方法来代替分析程序。( )执行分析程序发现重大的非预期差异,如果管理当局的解释可将这一差异变得并不重大,则注册会计师可就这一事项加以确认。( )
你认为让幼儿创编儿歌最重要的是什么?如果一个小朋友说他不会创编你会怎么办?
下列各句中,没有语病的是()。
在元代画家的笔下,花鸟画已经成为借物抒情、托物言志的途径,这种发展无疑丰富了花鸟画的内涵。发展至明清时期,许多花鸟画家更把家国观念、道德品评、祈求幸福等传统的人文精神寄托于画中,有些画家甚至将花鸟内容个性化,借以表达喜怒哀乐。因此,画家创作时重视追求境界多
甲、乙两车分别从A、B两地同时出发,在A、B间不断地往返行驶。甲车每小时行20千米,乙车每小时行50千米,已知两车第10次与第18次迎面相遇的地点相距60千米,那么A、B间的路程是多少千米?
最新回复
(
0
)