From: Brian D Williams (talon57@well.com)
Date: Thu Jun 25 1998 - 10:18:46 MDT
From: Sean Parker <seanp@uu.net>
>A little recommended reading... Freeman Dyson has a few words to
>be said on this subject. I can't recall offhand which of his
>books addresses the issue. However his central argument concerns
>the Judeo-Christian tradition of theology--descended from the
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>Greek fixation on reason--and its effect on
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>rational/empirical/scientific thought.
Thanks Sean I'll keep my eye's open, but as we've already discussed
and you pointed out above, scientific reasoning predates
christianity. Just one example, Aritosthanes, the head of the great
library of Alexandria, computed the circumference of the earth
within 5% in 399 B.C.. I could easily make the case the the Muslims
did far more to promote scientific reasoning. (i.e. Algebra is a
muslim word.) I remember one instance from the James Burke series
"The Day the Universe Changed", he was talking how the christian
forces had "liberated" a library in Cordova Spain, it contained
400,000 volumes, more than in all of France, and was one of 72
libraries in town. The transfer of these books after the fall of
Moorish Spain is what ignited the Renaissance.
Brian
Member,Extropy Institute
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