What Hath Biology to Do with Physics?

It’s the Scientific Method, Right? Well, Not Exactly

“The” Scientific Method is therefore Illusory…the truth is that there is no such thing as “scientific inference”—Sir Peter Medawar (nobel laureate)

Some problems with the ‘scientific method’ are that it doesn’t do justice to the process of inventing hypotheses nor to understanding natural reality as a whole.

It habituates a reductionist mindset and an algorithmic approach.

‘Felicitous Strokes of Inventive Talent’ “Hypotheses are of course imaginative in origin.

It was not a scientist or a philosopher but a poet who first classified this act of mind and found the word for it…the imaginative exploit was regarded by Shelley as cognate with poetic invention. He was using the word “poetry” in the root sense poesis—the act of making, of creation. Certainly hypotheses are products of imaginative thinking.”—Sir Peter Medawar

So How can we Teach in a Nonreductionistic and Imagination Shaping Way ?Natural History, Natural Science, and Natural Philosophy

The two Aristotles “There is the first Aristotle, who wrote

the Historia Animalium. He was a keen observer of actually existing beings, deeply concerned in observing the development of the chick in the egg, the mode of reproduction among sharks and rays, or the structure and the habits of bees.”

—Etienne Gilson

The two Aristotles “But there is a second Aristotle, much

nearer to Plato than the first one… ‘but inasmuch as these individuals possess one common specific form, it will suffice to state the universal attributes of the species…once for all.’…For centuries and centuries men will know everything about water , because they will know its essence, that which water is…

—Etienne Gilson

The two Aristotles The first is the Aristotle of Natural

History The second is the Aristotle of the

syllogism, the deductive system, the Aristotle of Natural Science

What is Natural History? ”The method then that we must adopt is

to attempt to recognize the natural groups [forms], following the indications afforded by the instincts of mankind, which led them to form the class of Birds and the class of Fishes, each of which groups combines a multitude of differentiae, and is not defined by a single one as in dichotomy.” —Aristotle, Parts of Animals

What is Natural History? ”The apparent indefiniteness and

inconsistency of the classifications and definitions of Natural History belongs, in a far higher degree, to all other except mathematical speculations.” —William Whewell, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge

Baconian Natural History had a place for physical non-organic phenomena as well.

What is Natural Science? “Science is a demonstrable knowledge

of causes.” —Aristotle

“Science is organized knowledge…Science is, or aspires to be, deductively ordered.”

—Sir Peter Medawar

What is deductively ordered? AB A B A syllogistic system as in geometry

flowing from postulates and axioms to necessary conclusions

This is the way we usually teach science, as if Newton’s Universal Law were simply a mathematical or logical demonstration.

The Third Aristotle? Perhaps there is a third Aristotle who holds the

other two together? “Since ‘nature’ has two senses, the form and

the matter, we must investigate its objects as we would the essence of snubnose-ness. That is, such things are neither independent of matter nor can be defined in terms of matter only…Since there are two natures, with which is the natural [philosopher] concerned? Or should he investigate a combination of the two?”

—Aristotle Physics

The Third Aristotle? “If…art imitates nature and it is part of

the same discipline to know the form and matter up to a point…it would be part of natural [philosophy] also to know nature in both senses…Again, ‘that for the sake of which,” or the end, belongs to the same department of knowledge as the means.” —Aristotle Physics

What is Natural Philosophy?• “I was coming to the increasing conclusion

that I could make no further progress in modern physics without a greater understanding of Greek Natural Philosophy”

—W. Heisenberg

• “I agree that the whole of natural philosophy will never be perfectly a science for us.”

—Gottfried Leibniz and John Locke

So how does this impact our pedagogy for Natural Science?

“The best course appears to be that we should follow the method already mentioned, and begin with the phenomena presented by each group of animals, and, when this is done, proceed afterwards to state the causes of those phenomena.” —Aristotle

The ‘Methods’ The Method of Natural History is to

accumulate the phenomena and classify them according to their like kinds (forms).

The Method of Natural Science is to reason from the phenomena to the causes of the phenomena [hypotheses], and set them in a syllogistic causal system.

Natural Philosophy synthesizes these two into a composite whole and asks questions of invention, interpretation, purpose, and insight

How do we teach this? An Evidence, Reasoning, and Narrative

Approach Natural History provides the evidence Natural Science demands clear

reasoning Natural Philosophy weaves them

together to answer big questions

So What?What’s the difference?

Reasoning from Phenomena to Causes Physical Models Biological Models

Physical Model Kinematics Force Analysis Energy Analysis

Uniform Motion

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Natural History & Natural Science The Phenomena of Motion

Poetic Rational Empirical ANE Heavens declare the Glory of God Sexagesimal system—Babylonians Astronomical Charts—Egypt/Babylon Man is made in the image of God Arithmetic Crude approximations of pi and

pythagorean theorem Man called to name things Man called to use reason Man with dominion Creation is God’s handiwork GR Thales—unified physical reality Pythagoras—All is number Thales—predicted eclipse Plato—unified metaphysical reality Pythagoras—Geometry, Astronomy,

Music, (and Arithmetic) Earth is spherical and size is as a point to the heavens

Democritus—atomism Hipparchus—Trigonometry (Chords) Aristarchus—relative sizes and distances of sun, moon, and earth

Aristotle—The four causes Archimedes—method of exhaustion (early calculus)

Eratosthenes—actual size of the earth

Ptolemy—Astronomical system unifying many rational and empirical truths Med Faith and Reason combined Indic (Arabic) numerals and decimal

system

Neoplatonism Indic (Arabic) Trigonometry Aristotelian revival Ockham’s razor Concept of momentum Mod Galileo—Mathematics is the

language with which God created the universe

Copernicus—heliocentric system Tycho Brahe—excellent Prague observatory which increased accuracy of celestial data

Mechanistic universe Democritean atomistic revival

Kepler—celestial laws from Brahe’s data Galileo—bodies fall with the same acceleration both one and two dimensionally

Galileo—acceleration can be represented in mathematical proportionalities (kinematics equations)

Galileo—uses telescope to discover the moons of Jupiter and imperfection of the moon’s surface

Galileo/Newton—concept of relative and absolute space and time

Galileo—two dimensional motion can be represented with vectors

Pascal—Great experiment shows that outer space is a vacuum (and they exist)

Newton—concept of mass Leibniz and Newton—Caculus of infinities and infinitesimals

Hooke spring experiments

Newton—concept of force Newton—Three Laws Huygens collision experiments Leibniz—concept of energy Newton—Analysis of circular motion and

centripetal force

Newton’s Metaphysics, Three Laws, and Law of Universal Gravitation Unite all significant data from celestial and terrestrial physics into an integrated “System of the World [Universe]”

Leibniz delivers a compelling critique of Newton’s system and offers an alternative unification of natural philosophy, moral philosophy and metaphysics. Leibniz thereby influences the ensuing generations of mathematicians, natural scientists and

philosophers on the continent who lay broad foundations for their disciplines.

Natural Philosophy:The Physics Narrative

From the Ancients to Newton’s Law of Universal

Gravitation

Phenomena Aristotle [c. 300 BC] Linnaeus [by 1740] Lamarck [by 1820] Darwin [by 1860] Present Neo-Darwinian Synthesis

HUMANS

Reason Sensation Locomotion Life

Image of God Reason

‘Savages’ Descent of Man

(‘emergent’ intellectual)

ANIMALS

Sensation Locomotion Life Processes: Respiration, Digestion, etc.

ANIMAL KINGDOM: Feeling Life Growth

[voyages of discovery] increased diversity

(‘emergent’ psycho-social)

PLANTS

Life: Self-Nutrition, Growth, Reproduction

VEGETABLE KINGDOM: Life, Growth Species/ form distinguished by reproductive parts

Continuous chain of being and plenitude from Leibniz

‘Accidental natures’ of species make them competitive

(‘emergent’ organic)

OTHER LIFE

Monstrosities Deficient Kinds Animalcules

[Leuwenhoek]microorganisms [fossils]’MINERAL KINGDOM’: Growth

Protists

Eubacteria Archaebacteria Fungi Viruses?

STRUCTURES

Heterogenous Parts: Features, Organs Homogenous Parts: Tissues, Blood, etc.

[Harvey: circulation of the blood]systems [Hooke]cells

(Spontaneously generated form moves up the scale of nature)

Organelles Biochemical cell processes: Photosynthesis Microbiology

NATURE

4 Causes Formal=Species=Soul: Essence as recognized by the instincts of man PurposePropagation

Kingdom, Family, Genus, Species system Fixity of species Reductive criteria for form

No real species (form) Vitalism/ Nature Active

Natural Selection Mechanism/ Nature Passive Uniformitarian Ecological Systems PurposeSurvival

Natural Selection on Genetic Variation by Random Mutation Emergence+Complex Systems=’false forms’

HEREDITY

Male and female seed vie for dominance, complex variable form is passed on

Animal Kinds descended from one pair Plant Kinds descended from one hermaphrodite

‘Species’ by transformationism moving up the chain of being

‘Speciation’ by isolation and natural selection Descent from a common ancestor

MendelGene Watson+Crick DNA Collins et allHuman Genome EncodeGene Coding

Natural History & Natural Science The Phenomena of Life

Natural Philosophy:The Biology Narrative

From the Ancients to the present Neo-Darwinian

Synthesis

Poetic Rational Empirical ANE Heavens declare the Glory of God Words recognize kinds=species Wide vocabulary for plants and animals Man is made in the image of God Animal Husbandry Man called to name things Cultivation of crops Man called to use reason Man with dominion Creation is God’s handiwork God speaks his word in creation

days

GR Thales—physical reality One and many Aristotle widely documents species Plato—metaphysical reality Discrete and continuous Aristotle describes parts of animals Democritus—atomism Aristotle--Species and Genus

Dichotomous differentiae Pliny documents species

Aristotle—The four causes Scale of Nature

Logic Galen on anatomy

Heredity involves both parents Med Faith and Reason combined Crop rotation Neoplatonism Aristotelian revival—texts

recovered

Ockham’s razor Fossils Realism/Nominalism Voyages of discovery Tempier—God can do as he

pleases (multiple worlds, etc.)

Mod Leibniz-continuity and plenitude in scale of nature

Continuous chain of species Leibniz: species a point on a curve

Microscope—cells, microorganisms

Mechanistic universe Democritean atomistic revival

Fixity of discrete species (Linnaeus) Harvey—circulation of blood

Vitalism Darwin—dichotomous differentiae (tree of life)

Viruses

All living things connected by descent from a common ancestor

Lamarck—species climbing the continuous chain over time

Mendel and Genes

Transformationism Shannon Information Organelles, Cell Structure Evolution--Spencer Godel’s conservation of information Ecological Systems Emergence Gould--Punctuated Equilibrium (discrete

and continuous) Watson and Crick--DNA

Neo-Darwinian synthesis Complex Systems/Chaos Theory-Randomness? Causality?

Human Genome project and Encode

Dominant Paradigm: Neo-Darwinian Synthesis, and DNA sequencing and interpretation offer a mechanistic explanation of the causes of biological phenomena vs. Contending paradigms note: Life from non-life, the origin of consciousness, the origin of order, and the foundation of meaning and value are topics of debate. The adequacy of the species concept and current cladistics are still under debate as well.

We need all three Aristotles In order to avoid the reductionistic tendency in

contemporary science we should recover the first and third Aristotles, those of Natural History and Natural Philosophy.

Begin with the phenomena and let the students reason to conclusions. Let us not just teach syllogisms.

Let us remind students that the real world of God’s creation is bigger and grander than our representations of it.

We may know reality truly through natural philosophy, but that truth will always retain mystery.

So do we chuck the Scientific Method? Well, not exactly As it turns out, the method itself is often ascribed

to big fans of Aristotle. William Whewell and C.S. Peirce are considered

as major contributors to the development of scientific method and they both thought highly of Aristotle.

But an algorithmic approach to the scientific method should be deemphasized.

And the reductionistic mindset that it often habituates must be addressed.

How do we teach this? An Evidence, Reasoning, and Narrative

Approach Natural History provides the evidence Natural Science demands clear

reasoning Natural Philosophy weaves them

together to answer big questions

Questions?