Mendeleyev's Dream: The Quest for the Elements

by Paul Strathern

Socrates’ dialectical method consisted of pretending to know nothing, and then questioning the knowledge put forward by his adversary, asking its meaning, breaking down the concepts upon which it was based. This was an early form of analysis. (The Greek word analytika means ‘to unravel’.)

Socrates was not interested in atoms or evolution or the fundamental elements which make up the world. Instead, his philosophy was based on introspection – his favourite saying was ‘know thyself’. Here was the only true knowledge. With disastrous consequences, philosophy turned away from the world.

Although Aristotle was one of the finest scientific minds in all history, his ideas were fatally infected with Platonic thinking.