This article examines the history of European knowledge production back to medieval Scholasticism. My focus is on the emergence of dynamics (the motions and forces of bodies) as the prevailing concern of physics. This privileging of motion in European epistemology over the past five centuries marks a stark shift from Scholastic knowledge, which privileged form as the underlying causal impetus of the world (as opposed to motion). I trace several forking paths in the history of science in which alternate epistemic paradigms could have come to prominence over dynamics. Specifically, I look at the thinking of the 14th century Scholastic Nicole Oresme, the 15th century thinker Nicholas of Cusa, the 17th century polymath Blaise Pascal, and the transition from hydrodynamics to thermodynamics at the beginning of the 19th century. I conclude this counterfactual history with a brief overview of Constructor Theory—a paradigm being developed today that could offer an alternative to energy (dynamics) as the starting point for our knowledge of the universe. I point to the close relationship between the development of European knowledge production and the dominant socioeconomic assumptions of colonial-capitalist society.

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    7 days later

    Thank you for the treasure of historical information. It is an interesting coupling between the development of European knowledge production and the dominant socioeconomic assumptions of colonial-capitalist society. The economy and war are important reasons for the speed of development of science. Now we are on the verge of a new era, and the results of science that we we have achieved throughout history have led to the realisation of a complex system that assists us without being a specialist in any branch.

    a month later

    Scott Schwartz
    A very deep, extremely important study and ideas aimed at overcoming the conceptual - paradigmatic crisis in the metaphysical / ontological basis of knowledge.
    Fields Prize winner Vladimir Voevodsky (1966-2017):
    "What we now call the crisis of Russian science is not only a crisis of Russian science. There is a crisis of world science. Real progress will consist in a very serious fight between science and religion, which will end with their association."
    [http://baaltii1.livejournal.com/198675.html]

    I think that the main "serious fight" will be here: Meta Axiom "In the Beginning was the Logos…/ Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος" VS. Hypothesis "In the Beginning was the "Big bang."
    "Logos" - Meta-LAW that governs the Universe (in the spirit of Heraclitus).
    Do you agree with V. Voevodsky?

    Excellent conclusion: "As many scholars working in the field of Science Studies have argued, “social emancipation must be premised upon a new epistemology” (Santos 2015, 42)."
    I would add - and above all a new ontology. A Big Ontological revolution is needed in the foundations of knowledge.

      12 days later

      Hi IndigoHeron

      I see you have 6 ratings and so need another 4 to qualify for the next stage of the contest. As do I. Would you like to help each other get across the line by reading and rating each others essays over the weekend?

      Cheers
      Swan

      4 days later

      You have to think big!
      It is known that Newton determined the gravitational coefficient through the parameters of the orbits of the planets of the solar system. If the gravitational coefficient is determined in a similar way from the parameters of the orbits of electrons in the Hydrogen atom, then the gravitational coefficient of the planetary system of the Hydrogen atom becomes 40 orders of magnitude greater than in the solar system. Then the Planck parameters of the Hydrogen atom are the parameters of an electron with its radius equal to the radius of the Compton wave of the electron. Those. each level of fractal matter has its own “Planck parameters”, and the generally accepted Planck parameters are an abstract delusion and have no real meaning at all. Indeed, what relation does the gravitational coefficient from the parameters of the Solar system have to the parameters of the planetary system of the Hydrogen atom? None!!!

      You have to think big!
      The fine structure constant can be easily calculated with an accuracy of up to 7 digits, assuming that all elements of matter have a fractal structure. Then, therefore, "black holes" do not exist, and there is no event horizon. Those. inside putative "black holes", there is deterministic matter that obeys the simple quantum laws of fractal matter, which unify gravity and quantum phenomena of the deterministic functioning of matter on all scales of the universe [ appendix: https://s3.amazonaws.com/fqxi.data/data/essay-contest-files/16/reference_id_2304.pdf
      https://qspace.fqxi.org/competitions/entry/2304#control_panel ].

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