The questions of the origin of empirical studies in the ancient protoscience: modern historiography of the problem

This article is devoted to the historiography of the problem of appearance and formation of the method of the empirical study in early Greek science. The article presents a detailed analysis of data obtained by different researchers about the scientific researches of the ancient Greek scientists and reviews estimates that dominate in the historiography. The richest source for the study is the Corpus of Hippocrates. In the treatises of Hippocrates are given detailed and reasoned description of fixing almost every day for various diseases. This history is one of the main examples of detailed observations in Ancient Greece, indicating the empirical method in the ancient tradition. There are strong arguments in favor of the fact that the idea of an animal autopsy to confirm the research hypotheses and conducting certain studies appeared at the end of V-IV centuries B.C. In his treatise "On the sacred disease", the author mentions the possibility of conducting a post-mortem dissection of the brain. On the basis of this and other works we can conclude that the anatomical autopsy was conducted even before Aristotle. Most contemporaries of Hippocrates, dating to the V and IV centuries B.C., say about a limited knowledge of the internal anatomy, however, two of the treatise are the exception - "On the places in man" and "On the meat". The view that doctors contemporaries of Hippocrates were the founders or one of the founders of the empirical method in Greek science, historiography is accepted with some reservations. Some physicians carried out clinical observations, and some, like the author of "On ancient medicine", even made an important contribution to debate about the methodology, speaking against arbitrary assumptions, insisting on verifiability of theories, the importance of the methods of scientific discovery and perception of the obvious display as hidden. Use and development of the empirical method in science can also be seen, for example, in some disciplines such as geography and astronomy. For a long time such method as the observation was used to collect and record data about the known parts of the world. We will not be able to fully recreate the first map of Greece, compiled by Anaximander, but, according to Herodotus, we can assume that the cards were very sketchy. Astronomy, like medicine, is a shining example of the link between empirical and theory in ancient Greek science. Many believe that scientists studying astronomy in the late V - early IV century had a notion about the Solar system. From the works of Hesiod it implies that people were watching sunrise and sunset, the location of the major constellations in the sky to predict the onset time of the year. In the catalogue of Ptolemy, there are more than 1020 stars with a description of their longitude and latitude in degrees and minutes, as well as their magnitude. This directory is a genuine testimony of surprisingly accurate observations of the Greek astronomers. Ptolemy reports that his source was the astronomical data of the Babylonians in the time of Nabonassar and observation of lunar eclipses in VIII, VII and VI centuries B.C. Observation of the night sky, as well as anatomical dissection, are evidence of the thoroughness, breadth and accuracy of the empirical research conducted by Greek scientists. The article emphasizes the importance of using by the antique scientists the empirical methods in protoscience of the Ancient Greece, which allowed it to achieve significant success and it is stated that the research in the natural Sciences, namely medicine and astronomy should be considered as the best examples of empirical studies.

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