Greatest contribution to intelligence

[A Free Man]

Hi all I have been reading up on the escapist forum for quite some time now and post occaisionally but thought I might put up my first thread so here is the discussion question.

What field has made the greatest impact on human beings in the form of furthering our understanding of both the outside world and ourselves, maths and science, or literature and philosiphy?

Now I understand that this does not have any one answer but I am not looking for an answer I just really want to hear opinions of people on the forums. Basically I am a very maths minded person, in that I think logically and am apt to maths and science based subjects. That being said I also understand the vital importance of literature and philosphy typed subjects even though I find it quite dificult to grasp the subjects often.

Also this is not a debate I would rather people express their own opinions rather then degrade that of others, and please don't give one or two word answers as I really want to know the reason why you chose your answer moreso then the answer itself.

PS: I don't know if this thread has been done before but it is kind of a big issue so if it has there is no need to flame just let me know or perhaps send a link of the other topic as I would be very interested to read it. Thanks! : )

 

[Korak the Mad]

Each person has a different idea to what has the most impact on man, but I believe science, math, and most importantly philosophy. But these are only my opinions.

 

[infohippie]

Physics, definitely. None of our modern lifestyles would be possible without all the contributions physicists have made, especially quantum physics throughout the 20th century.
Although I'd put mathematics and medicine not too far behind.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Maths. All science is, in some way, derived from it.

Topical Picture:

 

[Simple Bluff]

I don't mean to jump on the bandwagon, but I love Maths, both pure and applied. There's really nothing more satisfying to me than solving - or learning how to solve - problems, especially ones that have teased you for a long time.
To be honest I never really knew (or cared) how Maths could be used practically (before I came to college, at least). So what if I could find the rate of change of the tangent line through a graph? Differentiating is fun!
For me, that's really all it comes down to. I know a lot of other things I love doing (like videogames) wouldn't be possible without the advances of other fields, but Maths is what's most important to me, as an individual.

 

[ThisIsSnake]

Mathematics, because without it Physics, Chemistry etc become much harder. /understatement

 

[Aesmodan]

Philosophy and history.

These humanities are historically the origin of critical, logical, and 'scientific' thought.

Man's first intellectual endeavor was an attempt to understand his surroundings, the heavens, and how the universe came into being. Without the humanities, there could be no civilization, as there would be no history, and therefore no cultural/intellectual advancement since these wouldn't have been recorded. No science could ever have developed, as there wouldn't have been a means of passing on our achievements to the next generation.

Cheers,
-Aes

 

[Treefingers]

Maths. All science is, in some way, derived from it.

Topical Picture:

Damn, beat me to it!! I personally think that philosophy is equally important though.

BUT, above all, language is what helps out the human race more than anything else, as it is through language that we can pass on what we have learnt to others, so that they can learn even more. Without language we'd be nowhere.