Greek Science After Aristotle

by G.E.R. Lloyd

In his previous volume in this series, Early Greek Science: Thales to Aristotle, G. E. R. Lloyd pointed out that although there is no exact equivalent to our term 'science' in Greek, Western science may still be said to originate with the Greeks. In this second volume, Greek Science after Aristotle, the author continues his discussion of the fundamental Greek contributions to science, drawing on the richer literary and archaeological sources for the period after Aristotle. Particular attention is paid to the Greeks' conception of the inquiries they were engaged in, and to the interrelations of science and technology. In the first part of the book the author considers the two hundred years after the death of Aristotle, devoting separate chapters to mathematics, astronomy and biology. He goes on to deal with Ptolemy and Galen and concludes with a discussion of later writers and of the problems raised by the question of the decline of ancient science.

Genres: Science, History, Nonfiction, Philosophy, History Of Science, Classical Studies, Ancient History

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1973

About the author

Sir Geoffrey Ernest Richard Lloyd is Emeritus Professor of Ancient Philosophy and Science at the Needham Research Institute. His University career has been based chiefly at the University of Cambridge, where he held various University and College posts, first at King's College and then at Darwin. From 1983 onwards he held a personal Chair in Ancient Philosophy and Science and from 1989 until retirement in 2000 he was Master of Darwin College. He served as Chairman of the East Asian History of Science trust, which is the governing body directing the work of the Needham Research Institute from 1992 to 2002, and afterward Senior Scholar in Residence at that Institute.

Prof. Lloyd has held visiting professorships and lectured across the world, in Europe (France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Holland, Belgium, Greece) in the Far East (Fellow of the Japan society for the Promotion of Science in Tokyo in 1981, visiting professor at Beijing daxue in 1987, visiting professor at Sendai in 1991, and the first Zhu Kezhen Visiting Professor in the History of Science at the Institute for the History of Natural Science, Beijing, in 2001), in Australasia (Hood Professor at the Department of Philosophy at the University of Auckland, 2006) and in North America (Bonsall professor, Stanford in 1981; Sather professor Berkeley in 1984; AD White professor at large, Cornell from 1990 to 1996; also lectured at Harvard, Princeton, the Princeton Institute for Advanced Studies, Yale, Brown, University of Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, UCLA, Austin, Chicago among other places).

He has served on the editorial committees of 10 journals, including Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science, Journal of the History of Astronomy, Physis, History of the Human Sciences, Arabic Sciences and Philosophy, Endoxa and Antiquorum Philosophia.

Reviews

[Ahmad Abdul Rahim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mula dengan bercerita tentang latar belakang sosial era pasca Aristotle: Sains Hellenistik, pendirian institusi Lyceum milik Aristotle dan pelangsungan legasi Aristotelian; perkembangan mazhab Epicurean dan Stoics yang merangkumi pandangan mereka tentang faedah di sebalik perusahaan sains serta sumbangan beberapa tokoh mereka di dalam mengkritik ide-ide Aristotellian dan Platonian.

Diikuti dengan bab dengan tinjaun yang lebih rinci: matematik, astronomi, biologi dan perubatan serta mekanik dan teknologi. Aku sedikit terkejut bagaimana aku boleh memahami penjelasan astronomi yang diberikan walau tidak penuh. Penangan buku Feyerabend agaknya. Bab mekanik sukar untuk digarap walau sudah dibantu dengan illustrasi-illustrasi. Penjelasan penulis secara umumnya adalah sangat tersusun dan teratur. Patutlah Bertrand Russell gemar merujuk karya penulis untuk topik Sains Yunani.

Bab-bab akhir menyentuh Ptolemy dan Galen, dua figura saintis gergasi yang paling terampil berbanding tokoh-tokoh lain yang hidup zaman pasca Aristotle. Bab Ptolemy melibatkan maklumat-maklumat yang melampaui pengetahuan aku. Bab Galen menampilkan pengenalan tokoh perubatan ini yang paling tuntas dan padat pernah aku baca - di sebalik nadanya yang apologetik.

Bab terakhir berkenaan kemunduran Sains Yunani - punca dan kesannya - tidak memenuhi persoalan aku. Penulis mengelak topik pewarisan Sains Yunani lewat Tamadun Arab atas sebab ruang yang tidak mengizinkan. Sementara itu, perkaitan antara falsafah tabie dan pendirian moral yang diimani saintis Yunani Hellenistik serta pengaruhnga terhadap perusahaan sains yang diceburi mereka telah digariskan oleh penulis dengan baik.

Terdapat perasaan dalam diri pembaca bahawa banyak daripada bahagian-bahagian yang paling menarik berkenaan Sains Yunani sudahpun terungkapkan di dalam buku penulis yang sebelumnya, Early Greek Science.

Secara khulasah, penulis menegaskan kesinambungan antara saintis zaman kuno dan saintis zaman Renaissans dari segi semangat dan metodologi yang dijelmakan.

[Lance Schonberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Big chunks of this were required reading for a recent classics course. The parts that weren’t didn’t take too long to fill in to get the full overview intended by the author. This, and its companion volume need to be considered introductory texts, a basic introduction to some of the major figures, movements, and work in the building of Greek science without going into tremendous depth. That said, I haven’t done enough other reading yet to know if this is dated or not. Written in the early 70s, that means there has been more than four decades of research, scholarship, and archaeology since.
It is important to note that neither volume offers any judgement on the nature of the science noted or discussed, recognizing that we bring our own cultural and temporal baggage to any reading. Without descending into relativism, Lloyd reminds us without needing to do it directly that science is an ongoing process and what the ancient Greeks developed leaned heavily on what they knew and understood at the time, building on the knowledge and work that came before them.

[Georgia Gold · Rating 3 out of 5]

this is all very interesting but I will immediately forget everything I just read

[Robert Hudder · Rating 2 out of 5]

Revisiting an University text before I get rid of it. It does a great job of describing what passed for science in Greece. I loved the course and held onto the book for that reason. The main thesis has stayed with me throughout the years but the book isn't necessary for me to hold that thought.

Time for it to hit the give away pile.

[Lobstergirl]

Score - found this in the dumpster in excellent condition. I already own the Thales to Aristotle volume.