Post by joustos on May 23, 2021 16:05:27 GMT
AETIOLOGY [Gr. Aitiologia] is the study or theory of the reasons or causes of what happens in anything or, broadly speaking, in the physical world and in human history. A doctor who looks for the source(s) of your unpleasant symptoms is an aetiologist, and so is any other diagnostician.
Some ancient writers, such as Homer, the author of the "Iliad", and the writers of the Hebrew Bible either occasionally or systematically mention that the world was formed and is being ruled by gods or a God, and that, likewise, man was formed, and human history is affected by some deity. These writers can be called theologians as they give a theistic explanation of cosmic and historical events, whether they act by their own initiative or, as they themselves might claim, they are moved to speak by a god (wherefore they are called prophets). Theology presupposes the historical rise of theism and the cerebral/mental ability to judge in terms of causes and effects.
In the 6th century B.C., in the middle of Hesiod's Theogony and Thales' "the world is full of gods" came the dissenting voices of Anaximander and the future philosophers. To jump ahead to the Italian Renaissance, Telesio stated that philosophy is the understanding of Reality [the Cosmos and History, we may specify] justa propria principia -- according to its own Principles or Causes. What might these be? He was an Aristotelian and thus we know what he meant: the four causes (Material, Formal, Final/Teleological, and Efficient), which the master saw at work in artisans such as sculptors). So, generally speaking, philosophical aetiology (of Nature/Cosmos) is done by some model desumed from the physical world: things happen according to the innate nature of things, not by extraneous forces or agents. For a philosophical aetiology of human history, start by consulting Wikipedia's "Philosophers of History" and Cultural Anthropology.
The notion of Scientific aetiology is more problematic. For example, Why does the sun go around the earth (or vice-versa)? Newton's answer is part of his scientific work, not a meta-physical issue. Modern cosmology is aetiological. As for human history or cultural anthropology, we do not have a science of culture (theism etc.), but you may make contributions about this issue. We have laws of thermodynamics, but no laws that govern the formation of electrons or atoms out of fire (or black holes).Some elements and some compounds have been synthesized in labs, and so also some viruses --which make the cosmos different from the way it was out of God's hands,so to speak. Are there scientists of human history? (Explain.)
Some ancient writers, such as Homer, the author of the "Iliad", and the writers of the Hebrew Bible either occasionally or systematically mention that the world was formed and is being ruled by gods or a God, and that, likewise, man was formed, and human history is affected by some deity. These writers can be called theologians as they give a theistic explanation of cosmic and historical events, whether they act by their own initiative or, as they themselves might claim, they are moved to speak by a god (wherefore they are called prophets). Theology presupposes the historical rise of theism and the cerebral/mental ability to judge in terms of causes and effects.
In the 6th century B.C., in the middle of Hesiod's Theogony and Thales' "the world is full of gods" came the dissenting voices of Anaximander and the future philosophers. To jump ahead to the Italian Renaissance, Telesio stated that philosophy is the understanding of Reality [the Cosmos and History, we may specify] justa propria principia -- according to its own Principles or Causes. What might these be? He was an Aristotelian and thus we know what he meant: the four causes (Material, Formal, Final/Teleological, and Efficient), which the master saw at work in artisans such as sculptors). So, generally speaking, philosophical aetiology (of Nature/Cosmos) is done by some model desumed from the physical world: things happen according to the innate nature of things, not by extraneous forces or agents. For a philosophical aetiology of human history, start by consulting Wikipedia's "Philosophers of History" and Cultural Anthropology.
The notion of Scientific aetiology is more problematic. For example, Why does the sun go around the earth (or vice-versa)? Newton's answer is part of his scientific work, not a meta-physical issue. Modern cosmology is aetiological. As for human history or cultural anthropology, we do not have a science of culture (theism etc.), but you may make contributions about this issue. We have laws of thermodynamics, but no laws that govern the formation of electrons or atoms out of fire (or black holes).Some elements and some compounds have been synthesized in labs, and so also some viruses --which make the cosmos different from the way it was out of God's hands,so to speak. Are there scientists of human history? (Explain.)
