Early Greek contributions to scientific knowledge and the understanding of God

    The early Greek philosophers from Homer to Pythagoras' quest for understanding the world around them led to scientific inquiries. They observed and studied the natural processes and changes around them. Homer was mindful of the unpredictable irregularities of nature. Hesiod understood justice and the moral obligation of Zeus. Thales believed that water was the cause of all things. He also devised the concept of theories to understand the world. Anaximander differed from Thales only in the substance that made up all things. For him, that staff was something infinite or boundless. Heraclitus thought that fire created the world. Parmenides used geometric knowledge to answer the questions his predecessors were preoccupied with. Empedocles proposed that reality is a plurality, not a unity. Anaxagoras questioned the changeability and malleability of things to become something else. Finally, Pythagoreans used mathematics to study nature around them. All these early Greek philosophers contributed to cognitive, rational, and scientific advancements. Greek philosophers' fascination with nature inspired them to conduct scientific inquiries. They all posed questions, leading them to believe in various gods and scientific methodologies. 

The most pivotal thing was the constant seeking answers to the questions they encountered. These questions gave birth to the power of reason as an instrument for obtaining knowledge. Emotions ruled the mind during Homer's period, and Zeus was the almighty deity. At the time of Pythagoras, they used reason to find answers. The early rationalists, Parmenides, Heraclitus, and Zeno, used reason as a more reliable source of knowledge than sense perception. They believe that information attained via reason is indisputable, universal, and rational. 

Early Greeks devised various scientific inquiries to see the world around them. They gradually discovered the science of theory, hypothesis, and empirical knowledge to answer their difficult questions. Thales' approach to nature gave birth to the concept of theories that are open to criticism and rejection based on empirical evidence. For instance, Anaximander differed with Thales' theory about water as the stuff that gave birth to life and the natural process by which water becomes many. He understood that the substance of life wasn’t water; it was something boundless.

Anaximenes believed in the diversity of things, and air is the ultimate stuff in all things. Anaximenes' concept of change was changes in object density. In this way, he established the foundation for a quantitative approach to examining the world. Heraclitus also contributed to our understanding of the fundamental components of the universe. He believed fire is the stuff that gave birth to life. 

Early Greek philosophers were more reliant on logic after the invention of the axiomatic approach. This invention reduced their reliance on sensory experience in their search for natural knowledge. Parmenides analyzed the concept of change and concluded that the very notion of change is self-contradictory.  His premise was that there is no nothing. Everything is either created out of nothing or out of something.

Empedocles decided that the components that comprised the world were earth, air, fire, and water and that these were the ingredients of all other creations. Pythagoras is known as the person who practiced scientific inquiry beyond all other men. Pythagorean science was more interested in mathematics than in physics. Their science made notable advances and even invented a new notion. Unlike others who believed in some physical material as the basic concept, Pythagoreans derived everything from numbers.   

God's concept changed frequently in the early Greeks. The patterns of natural events, unpredicted irregularities of nature, and social customs were the perplexing phenomena that kept the philosophers understanding and knowing nature and God. In Homeric society, Gods were all-powerful. Fate was a power above the gods that even gods had to submit to. Hesiod's monarch or god, he felt, was capable of delivering justice, righting wrongs, raising the oppressed, and punishing the wicked and unjust.

Thales believed that water was the genesis and it was god.  For Heraclitus, God is day and night, war and peace, and winter and summer. He is like fire and takes various shapes. Human commits wrong, and god is indifferent to human evilness. Xenophanes God is one being. He isn’t mortal or a thought. Empedocles revered evolutionary theory as a deity, much as Xenophanes revered his world process. Pythagoreans were deeply concerned for the well-being of the immortal soul. Their goal was to release the soul from the cycle of birth and death by obtaining wisdom.

Life, natural occurrences, gods, and the universe captivated early Greek thinkers. It kept people guessing and hunting for answers. They posed challenging questions, and the answers led them to uncover and develop scientific knowledge. They shift their focus from emotion and experience to logic and factual facts. This contribution inspired later Greek philosophers to contribute to human economic and political life.