User:SteRos7/sandbox/Approaches to Knowledge/Seminar 2/History

History of Mathematics

Invented or Discovered?

Mathematics has been a key discipline in discovering the way the world around us works. Throughout history, there has been a debate as to whether mathematics was invented or discovered with key arguments being maths found in nature (fibonacci sequence discovered from rabbit populations, natural numbers e, π etc.) and isolated Amazonian tribes understanding geometry as well as the western population versus its comparison to the invention of languages .

Early Mathematics

Whether it exists naturally or not, Maths can be seen as one of the earliest formed disciplines, dating back to Ancient Babylon (≈2000BC) in which a base 60 counting system was developed to represent fractions and other large arbitrary units, acting as the building block for mathematics in relation to area, volume and surface area. The now named 'Pythagorean Triples' (a²+b²=c²) were also mentioned in several ancient mathematical texts (Plimpton 322, the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, Moscow Mathematical Papyrus) before it's 'discovery' over 1000 years later, making it one of the most prolific and predominant notions throughout mathematical history.

Formation as a Discipline

Unlike other scientific disciplines such as Physics, which was first taught and understood under the branch of philosophy, mathematics has been taught as an isolated subject field since ancient civilisation, beginning as a clear cut discipline in 6th century BC by Pythagoras and his followers. The name 'Mathematics' also originated from Pythagoreanism, coming from an Ancient Greek word meaning 'subject of instruction'. Due to Pythagoras' long lasting and bountiful influence on the discipline of Mathematics, it is widely accepted that his coining of the term can be seen as the definitive beginning of the discipline.

Modern Mathematics

Although Mathematics had been widely taught from ancient civilisation onwards, it's teaching in modern universities began with controversy as many English universities only offered teachings in humanities during their establishment. It took until the early 17th century for English universities to improve the quality of Mathematic teachings and, even so, students who wanted to study the subject were not greeted with much support or enthusiasm. This, however, changed in 1619 when the first chair in Geometry was set up in the University of Oxford, recognising Mathematics as the important and influential discipline it is seen as today.

History of Physics: The Conflict between Science and Religion

Physics is a branch of science that focuses on nature and the properties of matter and energy. The study of this discipline can be dated to the 17th century, with marking events such as the creation of the Royal Society in 1660. This institution marked the birth of physics as a discipline as it encouraged the sharing of scientific ideas and formalized the teaching of experimental knowledge. Since its start, the Royal Societies’ motto “Nullius in verba” (“takes nobody’s word for it”) showed the will to verify all statements through a scientific method that consisted of a hypothesis and observation.

However, the English society in the 17th century was heavily influenced by the catholic church, that discussed the same domain as physicians but answered it with a different approach . While religious people used faith and empirical claims, physicians used observation and experimentation, making the latter give different explanations to the events happening in our world, leading to a clash between religion and physics. For example, during decades the catholic church supported a geocentric model that stated all planets orbited around the earth and even made it heresy to teach any other model after 1615. In spite of this, after observations through the telescope, Galileo stated that Jupiter, Venus and Mercury orbited around the sun and not the moon, causing him to be summoned by Rome and being accused of heresy in 1932. It can be seen, therefore, that in the early decades of physics, the influence of the catholic church impeded its development as a discipline.

Nonetheless, as modern physics gained authority and social changes decreased religion’s impact on society, physics and religious studies have been analyzed together. Indeed, in 1988, Pope John Paul II stated in a letter addressed to the Director of the Vatican Astronomical Observatory "Science can purify religion from error and superstition; religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes. Each can draw the other into a wider world, a world in which both can flourish." The fact that the Pope, the head of the catholic church, acknowledged a benefit coming from interdisciplinarity between religious studies and sciences shows that society has evolved and therefore forgotten the past conflict between the two disciplines.

Despite this, the two disciplines remain fundamentally separate in their approaches to evolution and the creation of the world. In fact, ten years after the Pope wrote his letter, groups of Christians fought with the state of Kansas' education board to adjust the science curriculum, so that the theory of evolution and Big Bang theory were no longer referred to or taught . Thus, whilst compromise and collaboration between the two disciplines is possible, there are certain beliefs engraved in each of their history's which prevents them from being able to overcome their issues of the past and completely support each other.

History of Artificial Intelligence as a discipline

Artificial intelligence (AI) is described as ‘the study of how to produce machines that have some of the qualities that the human mind has, such as the ability to understand language, recognize pictures, solve problems, and learn'. As a discipline, AI can be categorised into two main areas of study. First, the understanding and simulation of human intelligence, and secondly the study of computational reasoning pathways. Historically, AI has been classified as a sub-discipline of Computer Science. In a classical university setting, you will often find the artificial intelligence 'section' within the department of computing. This is because the methodologies and content needed to formally engage with the study of Artificial Intelligence, come predominantly from computer science (the need for a strong mathematical background and a sound knowledge of programming and logic). However, this argument is undermined by many of the underlying principles of the AI discipline, including the physical symbol system hypothesis (PSSH).

A physical symbol system refers to a process of receiving physical patterns which are then formed into structures and expressions. Newell and Simon, the philosophers credited for the idea, believed that a ‘physical symbol system has the necessary and sufficient means for general intelligent action’[3]. When broken down, this statement implies two things. Firstly, as the human brain is regarded as ‘intelligent’, it must be a symbol system. Secondly, that a computer (a classical symbol system) must have the capacity for intelligent action. This hypothesis is relevant because it highlights that one of the guiding principles of AI is built from a philosophical and psychological perspective. It is the relationship between psychology, philosophy and computer science that has allowed the discipline of artificial intelligence to emerge. In addition, the field of AI research was only founded in 1956 and therefore the discipline is still young and so has not had the same time to individualise its theories and practices. It is evident that unique methodology and research is important to distinguish AI as its own discipline rather than simply being an interdisciplinary field of study.

Influences of Philosophy and Scientific Theory on Psychology through the 19th and 20th centuries

Introduction

There is an ardent debate as to how facts should be determined and the way the models of philosophy and science can be mapped onto reality, both within and between both disciplines, psychology has had a fruitful interplay with both of these areas.

The roots of psychology reach deep into the philosophical tradition. In the late 18th century Immanuel Kant hypothesized the first dimensional model of personality, paving the way for a huge variety of personality models as well as statistical psychology. Friedrich Nietzsche, although now thought of as a philosopher, often referred to himself as a psychologist and criticized much of the preceding philosophical tradition as overly introspective and self-indulgent. This foreshadowed the rift that formed over the coming century between the psychologist-philosophers and the institutions of psychology.

The Rift

This rift was largely due to the rapid progress was made in understanding the brain and human behaviour and the desire of psychology departments to establish themselves as equals to the already established natural sciences. Psychology succeeded in this through the use of empirical and statistical methods and rigorous scientific methodology and experimental protocols in conjunction with technologies such as magnetic resonance imaging and advances in biochemistry that were facilitated by quantum mechanics. However, this materialistic focus led to a loss of confidence in the utility of psychoanalytic theories and widespread criticism of the psycho-philosophers that claimed knowledge or predictions about human behavior individually and societally based on introspective experiences or enumerative inductivism (the repeated observation instances which fit a framework or hypothesis).

Conclusion

Freud, Jung, and Addler, for example, thought of themselves as psychologists and scientists. However, by the end of the twentieth century their work was respected and taught more in fringe institutions, humanities, and social science departments. In psychology departments, if taught, these thinker's work is usually in the context of a historical artifact rather than a working theory. The discussion that lead to this view of psychoanalytical work helped separate psychology, based on empirical evidence and methods of experimentation developed in the natural sciences, from the multitude of observation, interpretation, introspection and enumerative inductivism based hypotheses developed by early 'psychologists', both turned psychology into a true science and advanced the scientific method as a whole as well as producing some fascinating, important and useful philosophies and interpretive models. However, the psychoanalitic discipline has been left in disarray by its dissociation from academic institutions, which still considerably hampers it's developement despite it's continueing importance in theraputic settings and culture.

History of Disciplines: Emergence of Criminology

Criminology is a discipline that studies the crime in its large meaning, including all the things that are contrary to the moral and lead to legal proceedings. This is a study of the crime in its globality from the comprehension of the convicted and his crime to the management of the situation at the scale of the legal system and even at the scale of a society. To have this complete approach several disciplines need to be intertwined: psychology, law, sociology, history, economy…. The creation of criminology is based on the previous work of several specialists in the various sectors of activity mentioned above. One can mention Bentham or Lombroso as the precursors of the discipline in the 18th century. At this time, the term ‘criminology’ wasn’t topical. One of the reasons is because of the conflicts between the different fields, the aim of each discipline is unique and it can be laborious to see it as a set. For example, one of the major aspects of the law is its objectivity, while psychology tries to understand and create an adequate sanction considering the person. The term ‘criminology’ only appeared in the book of Raffaele Garofalo called ‘Criminologia’ published in 1885. The first lectures were destined to postgraduate medical students and senior prison medical officers. Later in July 1931, the ‘Association for the Scientific Treatment of Criminals’ was established in London, it is known today as the 'Centre for Crime and Justice Studies’. The real turning point for this discipline was the creation of the Criminology program at Cambridge University Institute of Criminology. Criminology is a fast-growing discipline that is now appearing at more and more universities. The taking into account of the individual behind the act was a real turning in the approach to crimes of the legal system, for example, one finds the ’extenuating circumstances’ that will lead to a different and generally a more lenient punishment .

History of Disciplines: The Conflict Between Law and Psychology

Conflict Between Law and Psychology

Law & Psychology – two disciplines connected by their explorations of human behaviour yet individually grounded by opposing principles and methodologies. Methodology in particular is an important aspect to look at when examining the history of the disciplines. In 1857, Francis Bacon shared his concerns that inadequate psychological motives could influence the legal system and its outcomes .

Case Study Intersection

Whilst Psychology uses experiments to come to potential conclusions which can always be altered or falsified with new information, methodologies and paradigms, the law is firmly rooted in perpetual and indisputable facts with conclusions drawn through strictly regulated guidelines and constitutionally assigned principles . The history of the disciplines significantly intersects in a 1908 case of a laundromat owner in the state of Oregon who was charged with violating gender-specific employment rules – forcing his female staff to work more than the legal 10 hours per day. When writing his brief, Louis D. Brandeis focused his argument on data-based psychological information demonstrating the negative impacts of excessive work hours on women , being the first brief to be submitted to the Supreme Court whose argument was fundamentally backed by extra-legal and psychological data.

Psychology's Influence on Law

The brief inspired the rise of non-legal, psychological data in legal cases and since this, any brief to contain such data has become known as a ‘Brandeis Brief .’ One could attribute the increasing merge between the disciplines with the change in a historical context whereby there is an increasing need to incorporate certain psychological facts to determine the success of particular processes (e.g. testimony, eyewitness accounts etc.), necessary to enforce the principles of justice .

Conclusions

Though the history of psychological science is highly nomothetic whilst that of Law is ideographic , history has seen these two disciplines overcome their fundamental methodological differences and strengthen each other.

History of Disciplines: Evolution of Gender and Women’s Studies

Introduction

Gender Studies is an interdisciplinary field of study that combines aspects from history, literature, science, sociology, and economics . It has evolved from Women’s Studies, and the final name for the discipline is still an ongoing debate. Gender and Women’s Studies focus on a wide range of topics, including women’s health; intersections between gender, race, and sexuality; activism and social change, and many others .

History of Women’s Studies

Women’s Studies originated in the 1960s. They were inspired by the first wave of feminism . The founders used the gender-sensitive perspective to create a new, interdisciplinary field of study . In the United States, the first programme originated at the San Diego State University in 1970 . Later, in the United Kingdom, the first postgraduate programme was founded in 1980 at the University of Kent . Defining Women’s Studies as a discipline helped the founders obtain financial resources and gave necessary credibility . At the beginning of the 1990s, the debate over the name of the discipline started, suggesting a change to "Gender Studies".

History of Gender Studies

Gender Studies connects ideas from different disciplines to investigate issues regarding race, masculinity, LGBTQ+ studies, and inequality . In 1997, the first department of Gender Studies was founded at Indiana University . That raised the question of whether the change of the name of the discipline made it more or less inclusive for marginalised social groups. The name Women’s Studies limits the research only to issues concerning females, arguably excluding other communities. Some people state that the name “Gender Studies” gives an origin to the institutionalisation of the research on gender . Moreover, there is a strong belief in society that Women’s Studies achieved its goal to promote and empower women, who are no longer oppressed . Furthermore, academic publishers prefer the term “Gender Studies”, stating that it brings financial benefits . Alternative perspectives disagree, arguing that the change of name can limit the research on women’s issues, making it less relevant in academia. That would have an impact on the funding and opportunities for quality research. However, the word 'women' is more internationally accepted than 'gender'. Many cultures and traditional communities do not acknowledge 'gender' as a valid characteristic nor a discipline on its own. Gender an anglophone concept that is not recognised globally. By naming the discipline Gender Studies, not only are we moving away from more inclusive feminism but discrediting the history of communities around the world that do not acknowledge gender. .

Conclusion

The case of this discipline shows how, over time, a field of study can change to match the current political debate and social issues. Women's Studies, although still relevant, has been replaced with the studies of gender. One can argue that it explains the main aim of creating new interdisciplinary studies: to solve the complex issues of the modern world.

History of Sociology

Sociology

Sociology, according to Wikipedia, “refers to social behaviour, society, patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and culture that surrounds everyday life.” Originally, sociology solely existed rooted in other disciplines such as history and philosophy, however as its relevance to society became increasingly apparent, it was recognised as an individual discipline.

Sociology's emergence from within other disciplines

The complex relationship between an individual and their society has been a topic of interest long before sociology was recognised as its own discipline. Aristotle, who is most commonly known as a philosopher, has been said to have been the founder of sociological thought in his attempts to systematically gather and rationalise knowledge about humans in society. Centuries later, a Chinese historian named Ma Tua-Lin wrote an encyclopedia titled General Study of Literary Remains, in which he recognises the key role that social dynamics play in historical development. Shortly after, Ibn Khaldun, who many consider the first sociologist, expanded on this soon-to-be discipline, building the foundation for modern sociology.

Becoming its own discipline

Although sociological concepts and thought existed long before this, the term “sociology” was first coined in 1780 by the French essayist Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès. This distinction set it apart from the disciplines that it was once rooted in, catalysing its path to becoming the complex, huge field that it is today. In a similar way to how it emerged from compatibility to other disciplines, it is commonly used to further understand problems from an interdisciplinary lens. For example in the sub-field of social psychology, where scientific methods are used to “understand and explain how the thoughts, feelings, and behaviour of individuals are influenced by the actual, imagined, or implied presence of other human beings.”

History of International Relations

International Relations is a key discipline to understand and study the increasingly globalized world we live in. It is very interdisciplinary since it requires, among other things, knowledge of law, geography, economy, sociology, politics and history. Studying the history of International Relations reveals several debates and disagreements concerning the theories and actions arising from this discipline.

The emergence of International Relations as a discipline could date back to 1919. Indeed, in 1919, the first ever department of International Relations was established at the University of Aberystwyth, Wales. However, International Relations may also be considered as a political activity, going back to the Greek political systems or more recently to the Peace Treaty of Westphalia of 1648 in Europe. On the 24th of October 1648, after the Thirty Years War between the Protestants and the Roman Catholics that tore Europe apart, the Peace Treaty of Westphalia was signed with the aim of creating a new system of international relations based on state sovereignty. It emphasized the importance of maintaining peace between the key actors of international relations to create collective European security based on international laws and defined standards of acting. The Peace Treaty of Westphalia can thus be seen as the starting point of International Relations.

However, the discipline also referred to as IR, and its theories weren’t recognized before the end of World War I when dedicated searchers began to study it. Many theories ensued to understand and try to make sense of the world around us: traditional theories like liberalism and realism, middle ground theories, like Constructivism and The English School, or moreover the critical theories that emerged in response to these early theories like Marxism, Post-colonialism, Feminism and Post-structuralism. All these theories have a different perspective on our world and its interconnected societies.

Today, International Relations is a well-known and recognized discipline studied in many diverse programs at universities. Linked to other disciplines, it tries to maintain peace and avoid new conflicts in an even more complex society.

History of Peace and Conflicts Study: Counterterrorism

Counterterrorism has become in just a few years one of the most crucial disciplines in the world. Its approach combines knowledge of the current international relations, patience, strategy, power, managing information and data with discretion. But what does this discipline try to fight? We can see counterterrorism as a newborn in the tremendous population of disciplines. In order to support that point, we need to take a look at the definition of terrorism, and this definition represents an ongoing debate . In fact, there is, in 2020, no universal agreement on how to define this word. The definition clearly varies from one country to another.

When looking at the emergence of counter terrorism on the international scene, the creation of the League of Nations has to be mentioned. It was the first worldwide organization in charge of maintaining international peace. Therefore, a few years later in 1938, the first legislative statement on counterterrorism was published . Afterwards, the multitude of legal systems and government agencies resulted in greater support at the national level in terms of counterterrorism . However, some worldwide organizations set the framework for the international fight against terrorism. The most famous ones are NATO, INTERPOL, or the United Nations.

Now that we have mentioned how counterterrorism emerged, we can talk about its role since then. In fact, we can separate two periods for the counterterrorism. The first extends from the beginning of the 20th century to 9/11, and the other period lies after. 9/11 attacks represent a crucial moment for counterterrorism. It is still to this day, the first and only time that NATO invoked its collective defence clause which is the fifth article of the North Atlantic Treaty that was signed in 1949.

Formation of History as a Discipline

The starting point of history as a discipline is something that can be considered blurry. The shift of a subject into a discipline can be seen through a number of actions. Indeed, markers such as the establishment of a student and teacher relationship, the creation of a department, degree programs, learning societies, and even the publication of journals all contribute as a whole to the idea of a subject becoming a discipline. We can highlight the fact that it is hard to target the precise moment when a subject can be considered as a discipline, and it is better to acknowledge a compilation of different events through time.

History as a Discipline in Acient Greece

In this case, when history is taken as an example, it can be argued that the historian Herodotus laid the first stepping stone of what the academic know now as history. Indeed, Herodotus is known as "The Father of History” for being the first to document and depict events all regrouped in his work “The Histories”. He described various topics from the Greco-Persian Wars (499-479BCE) to a vivid narration of how the Persian Empire developed itself. In spite of his work being highly criticized for being a romanticized and hyperbolic version of the actual event, and not as objective and accurate, he still managed to inspire future historians, and even to this day, his work is studied in schools.

History as a Discipline in the 19th Century

A couple of centuries later, the publishing of historical revues contributed to history becoming a discipline . Before the mid 19th century history and English literature were intermixed to create one single discipline. Heinrich von Sybel, a German historian from Louis and Maximilien University in Munich published in 1856 the first independent historical journal: “Historische Zeitschrift”, and in 1867 Gabriel Mondo and Gustave Fagniez followed with “The Revue Historique” still existing to this day.

Conclusion

As stated above, Herodotus is to some the first historian and even “The Father of History”. However, this doesn’t necessarily imply the discipline of history was born with him. In the same way, in the discipline of physics, the ancient Greek philosopher Thales was one the first physicians since he used trigonometry to measure distances and he hypothesized that water is the essence of all matter. Nonetheless, the discipline of physics was born centuries after when the Royal Society was created in 1660. Indeed, the Royal Society managed to implement physics in their society and gave it an important role . We can therefore see, that the first men to study those disciplines (Herodotus and Thales) did not create them as they did not incorporate the discipline in their society. Therefore, it can be assumed that history as an independent discipline had its origin in the 19th century.