The Metaphysical Foundation of Buddhism and Modern Science
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facts had gradually accumulated through thous<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> years. <strong>The</strong> early<br />
Babylonians knew that the qualitative fact <strong>of</strong> the succession <strong>of</strong> seasons<br />
depended upon the lapse <strong>of</strong> definite numbers <strong>of</strong> days. In fact, they<br />
constructed very creditable calendars. But the Greeks, with their power<br />
<strong>of</strong> generalization, grasped the full law <strong>of</strong> the interweaving <strong>of</strong> qualitative<br />
fact with geometrical <strong>and</strong> quantitative composition. <strong>The</strong>y had the genius<br />
to be astonished.<br />
Plato drew the conclusion that the key to the underst<strong>and</strong>ing <strong>of</strong> the<br />
natural world, <strong>and</strong> in particular <strong>of</strong> the physical elements, was the study <strong>of</strong><br />
mathematics. <strong>The</strong>re is good reason to believe that the greater part <strong>of</strong><br />
the studies <strong>of</strong> his Academy was devoted to mathematics. <strong>The</strong><br />
mathematicians <strong>of</strong> the succeeding generation, <strong>and</strong> indeed <strong>of</strong> the next two<br />
hundred years, ending with the astronomers Ptolemy <strong>and</strong> Hipparchus, are<br />
the product <strong>of</strong> the systematic shaped by the example <strong>and</strong> the doctrine<br />
<strong>of</strong> Plato. Of course the Academy inherited the Pythagorean tradition <strong>of</strong><br />
Mathematics.<br />
Thus with Plato <strong>and</strong> Aristotle, a new epoch commences. <strong>Science</strong> acquires<br />
the cleansing <strong>of</strong> logical <strong>and</strong> mathematical lucidity. Aristotle established<br />
the importance <strong>of</strong> scientific classification into species <strong>and</strong> genera; Plato<br />
divined the future scope <strong>of</strong> applied mathematics. Unfortunately, later on,<br />
the explicit development <strong>of</strong> Plato’s doctrines has been exclusively in the<br />
h<strong>and</strong>s <strong>of</strong> religious mystics, <strong>of</strong> literary scholars, <strong>and</strong> <strong>of</strong> literary artists.