SCIENCE: knowledge or a system of knowledge covering general truths or the operation of general laws
Derived from Latin scientia, “knowledge,” the Old French science referred to the body of human knowledge. Until about the 14th century, science meant the knowledge gained from theology and philosophy. The word first appeared in the Middle English work, Apocalypse of St. John: A Version.
Its meaning actually began to shift in the 13th century, when Albertus Magnus (d. 1280) asserted a distinction between revelation and experimental science. Around the same time, Roger Bacon (d. 1292), a Franciscan friar, challenged unquestioning acceptance of Aristotle’s teachings, which relied more on reasoning without physical evidence. Later, Renaissance scholar Francis Bacon (d. 1626)...
is a retired secondary teacher of English and philosophy. For forty years he challenged students to dive deep into the classics of the Western canon, to think and write analytically, and to find the cultural constants reflected throughout that literature, art, and thought.
Get Salvo in your inbox! This article originally appeared in Salvo, Issue #73, Summer 2025 Copyright © 2025 Salvo | www.salvomag.com https://salvomag.com/article/salvo73/method-or-materialism
