# The Modern Scientific Interest in Nature explained — Democracy and Education

> Chapter companion for Democracy and Education by John Dewey.

## What happens

This chapter explores the Renaissance revival of learning and its new interest in nature and human life, which led to the development of modern science. It examines how the initial unity of humanistic and scientific interests gave way to a sharp division between the physical sciences and the humanities, due to institutional inertia, theological controversies, the application of science to industrial exploitation, and a dualistic philosophy that separated mind from matter.

## Themes in this chapter

### Experience and Learning by Doing

The chapter highlights the shift from passive acceptance of tradition to active observation and experimentation in science, as exemplified by Bacon's call to become nature's 'humble interpreter.'

### Division of Labor and Leisure

Discusses how the aristocratic tradition looked down upon manual and sensory engagement with material things, reinforcing a split between intellectual and practical pursuits.

### Critique of Traditional Curriculum

Criticizes the entrenched academic focus on language and literature, which resisted the inclusion of experimental science, and the theological capture of linguistic training.

## Character check-ins

### Francis Bacon

Presented as a key figure uniting naturalistic and humanistic interests, advocating for science as a means to control nature for human benefit, though his vision was later co-opted for class exploitation.

## Key lines

> The history of science in the sixteenth century shows that the dawning sciences of physical nature largely borrowed their points of departure from the new interest in Greek literature. As Windelband has said, the new science of nature was the daughter of humanism.

The emerging physical sciences of the 1500s took their initial inspiration from the renewed fascination with Greek writings; Windelband noted that natural science was born from humanistic study.

_Highlights the original unity between humanistic and scientific inquiry during the Renaissance._

> Francis Bacon presents an almost perfect example of the union of naturalistic and humanistic interest. Science, adopting the methods of observation and experimentation, was to give up the attempt to 'anticipate' nature—to impose preconceived notions upon her—and was to become her humble interpreter. In obeying nature intellectually, man would learn to command her practically. 'Knowledge is power.'

Bacon exemplifies the blend of natural and humanistic concerns: science, through observation and experiment, should stop forcing preconceived ideas onto nature and instead interpret it humbly; by understanding nature, humanity gains practical control, as captured in the phrase 'knowledge is power.'

_Illustrates Bacon's vision of science as a cooperative human endeavor to master nature for the common good._

> Such a philosophy does not represent the genuine purport of science. It takes the technique for the thing itself; the apparatus and the terminology for reality, the method for its subject matter.

This mechanical philosophy misrepresents science by mistaking its tools and methods for the actual reality it studies.

_Critique of the dualistic philosophy that reduced nature to mere quantitative motion, ignoring qualitative human experience._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/democracy_and_education_se/chapters/ii-the-modern-scientific-interest-in-nature
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/democracy_and_education_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/democracy_and_education_se/chapters