Contrasting Competitive Plausibility

Abstract

Throughout this study we have seen that themes from many different cultures played a significant role in the genesis of modern science. Nevertheless, the history of modern science continues to be conditioned by a Eurocentric perspective in which non-European cultures are perceived to have made little or no contributions, and many of their influences are, instead, traced back to minor themes in the ancient Greek tradition. An illusory history of science is thereby constructed, which continues to shape thinking even today. Thus the biologist Lewis Wolpert writes:

The peculiar nature of science is responsible for the fact that, unlike technology or religion, science originated only once in history, in Greece. Most scholars are agreed that science had its origin in Greece, though those that equate science with technology would argue differently. This unique origin is important for understanding the nature of science, since it makes science quite different from so many other human activities, for no other society independently developed a scientific mode of thought, and all later developments in science can be traced back to the Greeks. (Wolpert 1993, p. 35)