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For those interested in the culture of the era, Islam did play a strong influence on technological development. The earlier form of Islamic philosophy was most
by muzani 4y ago
For those interested in the culture of the era, Islam did play a strong influence on technological development.
The earlier form of Islamic philosophy was mostly for rulings, e.g. "if X is haram, and Y is similar to X, then is Y haram?" The logical framework they had was Aristotelian.
Then you had the Avicenna era around 10th century. Avicenna was a healer who found the Aristotelian logic lacking, and added more on top of that. It was a little pre-scientific method, things like syndromes where you have XYZ observed in ABC and ACD observed in VWX, and then link A and C to X.
Then around 11th century, Al-Ghazali came in with "The Incoherence of the Philosophers" and roasted Avicennan philosophy, by roasting the Greek philosophy it was built upon. Something about it not being compatible with Islamic theology.
There were some heated discussions. Al-Ghazali also criticized debate for the sake of debate, which philosophers were prone to do. He encouraged people to demonstrate the proof and leave no room for doubt. So people started adopting empirical science over philosophy. Things like astronomy and medicine became the battlegrounds to prove the superior philosopher, which might also be why you see so many polymaths in this period.
There were no major philosophical changes after al-Ghazali, and only in the last two centuries with the decline of Islamic influence did people start looking to Greek philosophy again.
Ibn al Quff was born in the 13th century and likely influenced by the latter stages of Islamic philosophy.
- 29athrowaway 4y agoThe average person in the West today somehow thinks that Ancient Greeks entered a time machine and reappeared later in the Renaissance. Some get angry when you mention that Europe received the torch of knowledge directly from the Islamic world via Spain and Italy, because it invalidates this vision of the world: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdnA-ESWcPs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdnA-ESWcPs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_paper#Paper_in_Europe https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_paper#Paper_in_Euro... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scholasticism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scholasticism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_translations_of_the_12th_century https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_translations_of_the_12th...
- rramadass 4y agoThe average person in the Islamic world gets upset if you point out that the "Golden Age of Islam" is more due to the advanced cultures of the countries conquered and appropriated under the Islamic banner. There was quite an advanced world before 7th century AD i.e. before the advent of Islam. Persia, Mesopotamia, The Levant, The Mediterranean, Greece, Turkey, India, China etc. all hosted advanced cultures. Islamic conquest/trade acted as a conduit in the exchange and amplification of ideas from various parts of the world to Europe who then took off impressively to birth the "Modern World".
- realworldperson 4y ago[dead]
- getcrunk 4y agoI don’t think anyone should get upset at that if you acknowledge it was a two way street.
- rramadass 4y agoBut that is the thing; it wasn't a two-way street. When a country/culture is conquered by the sword, they don't have a say in how their culture is suppressed/destroyed/distorted; the conqueror can rewrite history as he chooses and that is exactly what has happened with Islam. In fact some folks have called Islam as merely an "Intermediate Civilization" between Greek/Roman and Renaissance periods (see Between Hellenism and Renaissance—Islam, The Intermediate Civilization by S.D.Goitein). An analogy that i make is - Arabs : 7th-12th centuries :: Mongols : 13th-15th centuries. Both were "primitive" in comparison to the cultures they conquered, but were indispensable in acting as a conduit for the spread of ideas from one part of the world to another. See also: 1) http://hist.science.online.fr/storie/IERI/Myth_islams_contribution_short.htm http://hist.science.online.fr/storie/IERI/Myth_islams_contri... 2) Jack Weatherford's Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World.
- erenyeager 4y ago