ABSTRACT
The interpretation or history as cyclical was fundamental until the Renaissance. This pattern of thinking included a certain concept of progress, but at that time progress always implied the advancement of humankind toward an ideal state that had been realized once before during the golden age. It is central to the pattern of development that determines our lives that human history implies progress Science had to serve the improvement of human life through the mastery of nature. In addition, the scientific method had to provide a procedure for coping with social and human problems. Science—in full agreement with Nicholas Rescher—would not have come to its end but would only develop in the direction of growing complexity. Then phenomena, natural processes with some practical impact on humankind as well as technically produced ones, would constitute the very field of research.
