Evolution of human understanding of Nature

"Human beings have been experimenting with nature for the past two million years with significant achievements. Human approach to science can be divided into four distinct stages namely ad hoc, religious, pragmatic and axiomatic. Indian approach has been largely pragmatic. Indian contribution itself came in three distinct time phases, namely early period till about 1000 BC, the golden period from 1000 BC to 500 AD and the Siddhantic period from 500 AD onwards. The approach of the Indian scientific community was self-limited due to cultural constraints and hence did not produce the dramatic scientific revolution similar to that of Europeans. However, based on the insights developed by Indian and other cultures, the Europeans developed new insights with spectacular results using an axiomatic approach. This approach is also now reaching its limits and will be replaced by a logic based approach. In the light of this, we will discuss the future trends in science."