Science and creation;: From eternal cycles to an oscillating universe, (Hardcover)

by Stanley L Jaki (Author) "In the genesis of scientific ideas, as Duhem once noted, there is no well-defined starting point..." (more)
Key Phrases: cosmic treadmill, cyclic world view, par les astres, New York, Middle Ages, Clarendon Press (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"It would be difficult to praise this book too highly ... a masterpiece!" -- Journal of the Victoria Institute

"Jaki has demonstrated once again his immense learning, his originality..." -- The Times, London --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
This is the first systematic probing into perhaps the most puzzling, but least discussed fact of cultural history: the birth of science. Cultural history abounds in parallel achievements, but it happended only once, between 1250 and 1650, that rudimentary science turned into a self-sustaining enterprise. Such a singular process can hardly be without a lesson, the grasp of which might be of crucial importance for the future of mankind.

To unfold this lesson the author, Stanley L. Jaki, Distinguished University Professor at Seton Hall University, New Jersey, and an internationally renowned historian and philosopher of science, first gives a detailed analysis of ancient Hindu, Chinese, Maya, Egyptian, Babylonian, and Greek cultures, all of which, especially the Greek, could boast a valuable start in science. Yet, in all of them, science suffered a stillbirth. They all failed to muster up a sufficient measure faith in progress, confidence in the rationality of the universe, appreciation of the quantitative method, and a depersonalized view of the process of motion, all qualities which are the main features of the scientific quest.

Because the Koran overemphasized the will of the Creator, Muslim scholars fell prey to a mistrust in the validity of rational laws, and as a result science came to a standstill among the Arabs as well. Quite different was the case in the Christian, medieval West, where the biblical faith in the Creator permeated for the first time a whole culture and effectively produced the qualities described above. The ultimate result was the rise of classical physics.

Such is the main theme of a highly original book, in which an astonishing wealth of information is marshalled to unfold, as the author states, 'the ultimate consequences of some basic presuppositions'. The work is a classic effort of synthesis, full of drama that vibrates through the long history of science. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 367 pages
• Publisher: distributed by Chatto & Windus; First American edition (1974)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0701120231
• ISBN-13: 978-0701120238
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,518,888 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Jaki examines one of the great fundamental questions, June 13, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Science and Creation (Paperback)

The temporal nature of the universe of matter is one of the fundamental questions examined by all societies from antiquity. For those who who have taken this issue seriously, "fundamental philosophical considerations are at play in the acceptance of the idea of a universe that goes on forever through a supreme cycle." Jaki sifts through the details of those considerations with great skill and energy spanning the range from the ancient Hindu and Babylonian cultures to modern scientific thinkers of this century.

I had the great fortune to work through this volume with the author in a graduate course at Seton Hall University in the early eighties. Your understanding of the history and philosophy of science will be greatly enriched by investing your reading effort in this remarkable book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An enthralling and mind-expanding survey of mankind's conception of the Universe, September 15, 2008

By	ropata (New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Science and Creation (Paperback)

"Science and Creation" is the first systematic probing into perhaps the most puzzling, but least discussed fact of cultural history: the birth of science. Cultural history abounds in parallel achievements, but it happened only once, between 1250 and 1650, that rudimentary science turned into a self-sustaining enterprise. Such a singular process can hardly be without a lesson, the grasp of which might be of crucial importance for the future of mankind.

To unfold this lesson the author, Stanley L. Jaki, Professor of the History of Physics and Astronomy, Seton Hall University, New Jersey, and an internationally known historian of science, first gives a detailed analysis of ancient Hindu, Chinese, Maya, Egyptian, Babylonian, and Greek cultures, all of which, especially the Greek, could boast a valuable start in science. Yet, in all of them science suffered a stillbirth. They all failed to muster in a sufficient measure faith in progress, confidence in the rationality of the universe, appreciation of the quantitative method, and a depersonalized view of the process of motion, all qualities which are the main features of the scientific quest.

Because the Koran overemphasized the will of the Creator, Muslim scholars fell pry to a mistrust in the validity of rational laws, and as a result science came to a standstill among the Arabs as well. Quite different was the case in the Christian, medieval West, where the biblical faith in the Creator permeated for the first time a whole culture and effectively produced the qualities described above. The ultimate results was the rise of classical physics. Today, in an age of space travel, atomic energy, and computerized production, science looms as a threatening factor. The reason for this may very well lie in an erosion of Western man's commitment to the biblical view of the world as a once-and-for-all linear process with its absolute values. No wonder, that at the same time great popularity is accorded to a cyclic conception of the world, the idea of an oscillating universe.

Such is the main theme of a highly original book, in which an astonishing wealth of information is marshalled to unfold, as the author states, 'the ultimate consequences of some basic presuppositions'. The work is a classic effort of synthesis, full of drama that vibrates through the long history of science.