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I love this biography because it shows how contact with the Islamic world was beneficial and generative to the West (and put the West back in contact with aspec

I love this biography because it shows how contact with the Islamic world was beneficial and generative to the West (and put the West back in contact with aspects of its intellectual inheritance that it had lost, like the thought of Aristotle).

kitd 4y ago
"The Name of the Rose" by Umberto Eco touches on these themes. Its lead character, William of Baskerville, is very much in the Roger Bacon mold.
MisterTea 4y ago
[flagged]
- valarauko 4y ago
  This is something bought up every time science is mentioned in the context of the Islamic world in the Middle Ages, but it's more nuanced than that. Every civilization goes through cultural trends, and Luddites are universal. It's also helpful to think of scientific progress accelerating in places where different civilizations can interact, and the core Arab lands had reached a sort of homogeneity by the Middle Ages, and some level of intellectual stagnation, pretty similar to Europe in the Early Middle Ages. Contrast with parts of the Islamic world at the periphery, and you see a great deal of innovation. The early Ottoman period was one of major technical innovation, as was the Indian subcontinent.
- dang 4y ago
  Please do not take HN threads into religious flamewar. It's the last thing we need, and fortunately is particularly avoidable. Fortunately your other recent comments have all been good HN posts—thank you!
  - MisterTea 4y ago
    It was not meant to start a flame war as this was truly a sad moment in history.
    - dang 4y ago
      Intent is not enough with such posts. If your comment pattern-matches to flamewar then it will generally produce flamewar whether you intended it that way or not. There needs to be enough information to disambiguate your intent, and the burden is on the commenter to include that. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=burden%20disambiguate%20by%3Adang&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...
ilamont 4y ago
The biography of Bacon mentions the influence of St Augustine, who, in his Confessions (written in the 300s) cites a lost work by Cicero as turning him away from his sinful life including lust, conceit, Manachaeism, and the theater, among other vices. That a revered saint could give credit to a pagan thinker was surprising when I first read it, as I assumed ancient Catholic theologians would be more conservative and “pure” in their philosophy, especially on the heels of their persecution by various Roman emperors.

kitd 4y ago

"The Name of the Rose" by Umberto Eco touches on these themes. Its lead character, William of Baskerville, is very much in the Roger Bacon mold.

MisterTea 4y ago

[flagged]

valarauko 4y ago
This is something bought up every time science is mentioned in the context of the Islamic world in the Middle Ages, but it's more nuanced than that. Every civilization goes through cultural trends, and Luddites are universal. It's also helpful to think of scientific progress accelerating in places where different civilizations can interact, and the core Arab lands had reached a sort of homogeneity by the Middle Ages, and some level of intellectual stagnation, pretty similar to Europe in the Early Middle Ages. Contrast with parts of the Islamic world at the periphery, and you see a great deal of innovation. The early Ottoman period was one of major technical innovation, as was the Indian subcontinent.
dang 4y ago
Please do not take HN threads into religious flamewar. It's the last thing we need, and fortunately is particularly avoidable. Fortunately your other recent comments have all been good HN posts—thank you!
- MisterTea 4y ago
  It was not meant to start a flame war as this was truly a sad moment in history.
  - dang 4y ago
    Intent is not enough with such posts. If your comment pattern-matches to flamewar then it will generally produce flamewar whether you intended it that way or not. There needs to be enough information to disambiguate your intent, and the burden is on the commenter to include that. https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&query=burden%20disambiguate%20by%3Adang&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&que...

ilamont 4y ago

The biography of Bacon mentions the influence of St Augustine, who, in his Confessions (written in the 300s) cites a lost work by Cicero as turning him away from his sinful life including lust, conceit, Manachaeism, and the theater, among other vices. That a revered saint could give credit to a pagan thinker was surprising when I first read it, as I assumed ancient Catholic theologians would be more conservative and “pure” in their philosophy, especially on the heels of their persecution by various Roman emperors.