Final answer:
The ancient Greeks labeled science "philosophy" because the quest for knowledge at the time included both natural and philosophical inquiries. It wasn't until later that natural philosophy evolved into specialized scientific disciplines, after a long tradition of rational exploration that often did not involve empirical testing.
Step-by-step explanation:
The ancient Greeks called science "philosophy" because, in their time, the pursuit of knowledge encompassed both what we now consider science and philosophy. The term philosophy literally means love of knowledge and, for them, included the study of the natural world, moral and ethical inquiries, and political theory. Notably, Greek philosophers like Aristotle were versed in multiple fields, contributing to subjects ranging from physics to politics. These thinkers utilized reason and logic to understand the world, often without recourse to experiment and observation, thus their investigations remained largely theoretical.
It is remarkable to consider how the early Greek philosophers managed to reach profound insights with their minds alone, given their preference for theory over empirical testing. For instance, even though they developed fascinating ideas, such as Democritus' theory of atomos, these were not substantiated by experiments and thus not widely accepted or understood until much later. This intellectual tradition emphasizes the value of rational inquiry and the belief that the human mind can uncover truths about the world without exclusively attributing phenomena to the divine or supernatural.
The sage tradition in Greece evolved into a period of natural philosophy whereby philosophers attempted to explain natural occurrences using rational methods. Ultimately, this period laid the groundwork for the later distinction between science and philosophy as we understand it today, with natural philosophy branching out into more specialized disciplines.