Editing Protoscience (section)

==Origin of protoscience==
Protoscience may arise from the philosophical inquiry that anticipates science.{{sfn|Costa|2014|p=12}}  Philosophers anticipated the development of [[astronomy]], [[atomic theory]], [[evolution]] and [[linguistics]].{{sfn|Costa|2014|p=12}}  The Greek philosopher [[Anaximander]] (610–546 BC) viewed the earth as a non-moving free-floating cylinder in space.{{sfn|Costa|2014|p=12}}  The atomist doctrine of [[Democritus]] (460–370 BC) to [[Epicurus]] (341–270 BC) was that objects were composed of non-visible small particles.{{sfn|Costa|2014|p=12}}  Anaximander had anticipated that humans may have developed from more primitive organisms.{{sfn|Costa|2014|p=12}}  [[Ludwig Wittgenstein|Wittgenstein’s]] study of language preceded the linguistic studies of [[J. L. Austin]] and [[John Searle]].{{sfn|Costa|2014|p=12}}  [[Karl Popper|Popper]] describes how scientific theory arises from myths such as atomism and  the corpuscular theory of light.{{sfn|Popper|2002|p=347}}  Popper states that the Copernican system was "inspired by a Neo-Platonic worship of the light of the Sun who had to occupy the center because of his nobility", leading to "testable components" that ultimately became "fruitful and important."{{sfn|Popper|2002|p=347}}

Some scholars use the term <em>"primitive protoscience"</em> to describe ancient myths that help explain natural phenomena at a time prior to the development of the scientific method.{{sfn|Johnson|2021|p=42}}