I'm talking about the origins here, not modern day. The Mayans didn't learn how to do surgery for the mere sake of surgery, but to sacrifice hearts to the sun. The greeks didn't want to know nature and the stars merely because it's nature, but because nature was their god(Poseiden, Jupiter, Neptune etc) Newton didn't want to learn physics for the mere sake of physics, but to know God by studying His creation. Pythagorus didn't create an astronomical theory for the mere sake of astronomy, he was driven from the need to locate the "great fire" which they believe fueled the Universe.