In 1667, the alchemist and physician J. J. Becher proposed the phlogiston theory.
The phlogiston theory is a superseded scientific theory that postulated that a fire-like element called phlogiston is contained within combustible bodies and released during combustion. It was widely used until the 1780s when Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier showed that combustion requires a gas that has mass (oxygen) and could be measured by means of weighing closed vessels. This gave birth to the Oxygen theory and the phlogiston theory became obsolete.
The lesson here is that, what may be perceived as true today may not be so tomorrow. Knowledge needs to be constantly reviewed and updated. As everyday passes by, we learn new ways of doing things, new explanations to phenomenons and so on. Sometimes a new theory may just be an improvement of a former one, other times it may render the former theory totally false. We often say that the former has become superseded or obsolete.
Peter Ferdinand Drucker was an Austrian-born American management consultant, educator, and author, whose writings contributed to the philosophical and practical foundations of the modern business corporation. He once said:
Knowledge has to be improved, challenged, and increased constantly, or it vanishes.
If we keep holding onto old methods, we cannot make new discoveries. We must endeavor to be innovative so as to test and challenge our present ways of doing things.
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BY @osmansnr from #steemitghana.
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