What is at stake?

 What we understand today as being 'modern science' is in fact not that modern, but was born at the time of the Renaissance in Europe. But even if we think of great Renaissance thinkers, such as Galileo Galilei, Leonardo da Vinci or Sir Isaac Newton, as the first 'true scientists', we should not forget that all civilizations throughout history have produced and accumulated knowledge to understand and explain the world, a process that was often accompanied or stimulated by technological development. The explosion of knowledge during the Renaissance was sparked by a reawakened interest in the writings of Greek, Roman and Arab philosophers and scholars—the word 'Renaissance' implying a renewed interest in classical culture and knowledge. (Iaccarino, 2003)

But regardless of the various cultures and civilizations that have influenced science, what is common to all scientists is that they study natural phenomena, with an appropriate set of rules, to make generalisations and predictions about nature.

Consequently, as colonisation of the world by Europeans took place and the influence of western science grew, much of the world’s indigenous knowledge was replaced with European educational and political systems. Slowly, the importance and influence of traditional knowledge diminished because of the success of western science and technology and the economic power that comes with it. Although western science has attained a dominant position, the ignorance of traditional knowledge is significant, as other knowledge systems do exist; and it should be accepted that our understanding of science is only one knowledge system among many others. (Nakashima, 2000)

Western scientific thought divides things into parts, looking at the parts to explain the whole, based on reasoning. Accordingly, within the science of managing water resources there are a myriad of professions that have expertise in isolated fields such as hydrology, engineering, hydro-geology, limnology, chemistry etc etc. Western science favours reductionist, mechanistic and quantitative methods. Knowledge is thought of as subject-specific and is considered by many to be universal and culture-free. (Iaccarino, 2003)