Bookbag (0)
Search:
Path::legacy::uvaBook::tei::Wil1Sci.xml in subject [X]
University of Virginia Library, Text collection in subject [X]
2000::01::01 in date [X]
Modify Search | New Search
Results:  1 ItemBrowse by Facet | Title | Author
Sorted by:  
Page: 1
Subject
collapsePath
collapselegacy
collapseuvaBook
collapsetei
Wil1Sci.xml[X]
UVA-LIB-Text (1)
University of Virginia Library, Text collection[X]
Date
1Author:  Williams, Henry Smith, 1863-1943Add
 Title:  A History of Science: in Five Volumes. Volume I: The Beginnings of Science  
 Published:  2000 
 Subjects:  University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text 
 Description: TO speak of a prehistoric science may seem like a contradiction of terms. The word prehistoric seems to imply barbarism, while science, clearly enough, seems the outgrowth of civilization; but rightly considered, there is no contradiction. For, on the one hand, man had ceased to be a barbarian long before the beginning of what we call the historical period; and, on the other hand, science, of a kind, is no less a precursor and a cause of civilization than it is a consequent. To get this clearly in mind, we must ask ourselves: What, then, is science? The word runs glibly enough upon the tongue of our every-day speech, but it is not often, perhaps, that they who use it habitually ask themselves just what it means. Yet the answer is not difficult. A little attention will show that science, as the word is commonly used, implies these things: first, the gathering of knowledge through observation; second, the classification of such knowledge, and through this classification, the elaboration of general ideas or principles. In the familiar definition of Herbert Spencer, science is organized knowledge.
 Similar Items:  Find