THE HELIX OF HISTORY 21 



Sarton says: "If we wish to explain the progress of man- 

 kind, then ^ve must focus our attention on the development 

 of science and its applications." This view is emphasized 

 by Sarton in his definitions of science and the theorem and 

 corollary he derived from it.* They are: 



Definition: Science is systematized positive knowledge, 

 or what has been taken as such at different ages and in 

 different places. 



Theorem: The acquisition and systematization of posi- 

 tive knowledge are the only human activities w^hich are 

 truly cumulative and progressive. 



Corollary: The history of science is the only history 

 which can illustrate the progress of mankind. In fact, 

 progiess has no definite and unquestionable meaning in 

 other fields than the field of science. 



Sarton points out that we should not be dazzled by the 

 shibboleth of progress, for there are other features of human 

 life which are at least as precious as scientific activities though 

 they are unprogressive; and he instances charity and the love 

 of beauty. Nevertheless, the scientific activity of man is the 

 only one which is obviously and undoubtedly cumulative 

 and progressive.f As we have seen, the very idea of progress 

 is modern, an idea that derived from the scientific revolution 

 of the seventeenth century and the industrial revolution that 

 followed it. 



The justification for selecting scientific knowledge as essen- 

 tially different from the artistic attainments or the philo- 

 sophical attainments of man is that scientific knowledge builds 

 on itself. An artist is essentially born. It is true that he 

 acquires a certain amount of technical skill when trained by 

 a master and is influenced by his predecessors, but funda- 

 mentally the level of his art is his own, and for that reason 

 the best art of the early periods compares well with art of 

 the later periods. 



* George Sarton, The Study of the History of Science, p. 5, Cambridge, 

 Harvard University Press, 1936. 



f George Sarton, History of Science and the New Humanism, p. 10, 

 Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1937. 



