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 understand how to control Nature. Through a broad historical analysis, this essay aims to (1) give an account of the development of science developed 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. This reconstruction would allow to make hypothesis on how science could be different.
Flavio Del Santo
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