[373]
The first distinct impulse toward a higher view of research into
natural laws was given by the philosophers of Greece. It is true
that philosophical opposition to physical research was at times
strong, and that even a great thinker like Socrates considered
certain physical investigations as an impious intrusion into the
work of the gods. It is also true that Plato and Aristotle,
while bringing their thoughts to bear upon the world with great
beauty and force, did much to draw mankind away from those
methods which in modern times have produced the best results.
Plato developed a world in which the physical sciences had
little if any real reason for existing; Aristotle, a world in
which the same sciences were developed largely indeed by
observation of what is, but still more by speculation on what
ought to be. From the former of these two great men came into
Christian theology many germs of medieval magic, and from the
latter sundry modes of reasoning which aided in the evolution of
these; yet the impulse to human thought given by these great
masters was of inestimable value to our race, and one legacy
from them was especially precious--the idea that a science of
Nature is possible, and that the highest occupation of man is
the discovery of its laws.
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