Between understanding and control: Science as a cultural product

TL;DR

This paper explores the historical development of science as a dual pursuit of understanding and controlling nature, emphasizing its evolution as a cultural product influenced by social-historical contexts.

Contribution

It provides a historical analysis showing science's dual nature and how societal factors have shaped its focus over time.

Findings

Science has two interdependent natures: understanding and control.

Historical periods favored one aspect over the other.

Science's development is influenced by social-historical contexts.

Abstract

Since the early days of humankind, people have been asking questions about Nature of two kinds: why did that happen? And how can that be used? In a broad sense, science was born that day. We show indeed that science has two complementary and interdependent souls that aim, respectively, to how to understand and how to control Nature. Through a broad historical analysis, this essay aims to (1) give an account of the development of science as an oscillation and an interplay between its two intrinsic natures, (2) demonstrate that this happened already in ancient times starting from the 6th century BC, and (3) the fact that in different periods one of the two natures was largely favored over the other is a consequence of science being a cultural product of the different social-historical contexts.