Seneca on Science, Nature, and the Key to a Fulfilled Human Destiny

“The mind enjoys the complete and perfect benefit of its human destiny only when… entering the secret heart of nature.”

Until the word scientist was coined for the polymathic mathematician Mary Somerville, the term for those who devoted their lives to the contemplation and investigation of the wonder of reality was natural philosopher — the study of nature fell within the domain of philosophy and was indivisible from the humanistic concerns of morality.

Two millennia ago, when the universe revo...