Abstract

When India embarked on the 1400 years of its rationalistic period around 1000 BC Greece was a poor agrarian country of little means to excel in scientific thought. Around 600 BC Greek philosophers began to ask rational questions about nature, and Greek science soon eclipsed Asian science. The separation of science from religion and the rise of the new occupation of philosopher was in response to new material needs of Greek society, which had undergone a revolutionary change from the rule of the landed aristocracy to democracy. This paper presents evidence in support of the argument that the worldly character of the Greek religion assisted in the process of separating philosophy from religion but was not its cause.