Rediscovering Arabic Science

[L. Coyote]

You have to hand it to Ahmed Djebbar: The science historian certainly knows how to draw a crowd. As we circulate among the astrolabes, maps and hydraulic models of an eye-opening Paris exhibition on medieval Arabic science, curious museum-goers gather around us.

“Did you know that the Egyptian doctor Ibn al-Nafis recognized that the lungs purify blood in the 13th century, nearly 350 years before the Europeans?” he asks, standing in front of an anatomical drawing of the human body. “Or that the Arabs treated the mentally ill with music therapy as early as the ninth century?”

Examining a case of rare manuscripts, the dapper Lille University professor launches into a mini-lecture before the rapt group. The 13th-century Persian astronomer Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, the author of one of the yellowing Arabic-language texts, upended the geocentric Greek view of the universe, Djebbar explains, by declaring Ptolemy’s model of planetary motion flawed .....

.......

Rediscovering Arabic Science
http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200703/rediscovering.arabic.science.htm

[Teaser]

1. "the lungs purify blood"

on another planet, maybe.

[msongs]

2. and here I thought the liver purifies blood. oh well, wrong again ;-) nt

[AtheistCrusader]

20. Don't forget the Kidneys!

But I agree, the lungs don't 'purify' anything. Exchanging, is not purifying.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

18. Lungs purify the blood of carbon dioxide.

The lungs are absolutely critical in purifying blood.

[YOY]

3. So then what happened?

Can't blame European imperialism on everything.

[BlooInBloo]

6. The article's author vastly overstates what they had, in an effort to make science appealing...

to current-day Muslims. (A worthy goal, but the author is bound to lead those who know little of the history of science astray, with its exaggeration.)

In fact, all they had were little fragments of this, and little fragments of that. They didn't come up with any significant, comprehensive, cohesive *wholes* from which further inquiry could be performed. The three primary contrasts of the ancient world would be The Elements, the Ptolemaic model, and All Of Aristotle. In Kuhnian terms, the Arabs never got to the stage of "normal science", via the adoption of a "paradigm". (Both quoted terms are technical terms, not normal English.)

[Teaser]

11. KUHN!

points for the reference.

[BlooInBloo]

12. Meh. A low bar to set for points, but thanks.

[Teaser]

17. nah, I'm in favor of working the term kuhnian

into any and all conceivable conversations.

In a kuhnian sense, of course.

[L. Coyote]

13. Thomas Kuhn wrote about paradigms in Science.

See: Kuhn's "Structure of Scientific Revolutions" - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Structure_of_Scientific_Revolutions

[BlooInBloo]

14. (facepalm) I think the poster is aware of this.

[struggle4progress]

24. Medieval Arabic mathematics was advanced, compared to what the Europeans did

This is true with respect to both geometry and practical calculation

ABU ALI HASAN IBN AL-HAITHAM (ALHAZEN) (965 - 1040 AD) http://www.geog.ucsb.edu/~jeff/115a/history/alhazen.html

[Confusious]

23. The muslims started following a preacher ( mulla? )

Who was conservative, he said the greeks and science was not from god, they stopped all thought, even as Europe picked it up. His influence has continued to the present day.

seems to me, as someone who has studied history, as civilizations get older, they get more conservative, and spend so much energy trying to go back to what was, that they never look forward to what might be.

[ensho]

4. thank you for info

nt

[Trajan]

5. While it is fair to praise past brilliance in scientific studies by early Arab scholars

It is also fair to note that the current scientific environment in the Arab world would fail to produce similar results ....

Isn't Aramco the Arabia-American Oil Company ? .... Isn't it the nexus between Saudi Oil Barons and Texas Oil Barons ?

[L. Coyote]

7. HELLO! "the current scientific environment in the Arab world" is building nuclear power plants.

What a prejudiced statement!! And ignorant of the real world, at best!

[Trajan]

8. BS ....

They are building nuclear power plants with existent technology developed in western scientific circles ....

What do you mean I am prejudiced ? .... That somehow I have 'pre-judged' the current scientific climate before today ? .... Sheeesh Louise ....

Am I prejudiced when I say George Bush is the worst US president that ever existed ? ... Shall I reconsider him ? ..... Well: Call me prejudiced if I have already come to that conclusion ... I believe that theological dogmatism that exists in many Muslim states strongly discourages real scientific investigations, and this has already been established in my view ....

You have some sort of evidence that Arab nations are embracing a new scientific paradigm within their own states ? (other than the construction of boilerplate power facilities) ...

Dont get me wrong: The so called 'Golden Age of Baghdad' was quite impressive as a scientific era, and there is no doubt as to the contributions to scientific thought that many Arab philosophers have provided through the ages, but they were living in an era when there investigations did not ruffle the feathers of the Mullahs and Caliphs .... Today's Arab state is a hugely different place from 9th century Baghdad .... The golden age is long gone ...

Those Arab scientists who are currently involved in modern science do so outside of the stultifying dogma of the Islamic clerical system ... I have the deepest respect for any scientist who moves knowledge forward, no matter where they are, but I have little respect for ANY theology that would insinuate itself between the natural world and the citizens of the world, and declare any questioning of preeminent theological precepts as 'apostasy' or 'heresy' ....

I have no love for religion, and religion has no love for science ....

[Realityhack]

10. As Trajan points out, Building nuclear power plants...

is hardly cutting edge science. It is fairly well understood engineering.

[L. Coyote]

15. Point is, we live in One World, not separate universes, and the dividions are our

misconceptions. It is called "Eurocentrism."

[Realityhack]

16. Oh BS.

There *are* distinct divisions between different countries in terms of how open they are to scientific inquiry of various types and the same goes for different cultures, possibly to an even greater degree.

Nobody is claiming there are no Arab scholars or that they have never contributed to science. But the current climate in the 'Arab world' is not the most conducive to scientific inquiry. Arab scholars themselves will tell you that they loose a lot of brainpower to the 'western world' for exactly that reason.

[L. Coyote]

19. You are just being argumentive.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

21. Says somebody from the country that's banned stem cell research.

And Evolution from it's schools.

There's plenty of great science occuring in muslim countries. In fact, the U.S. has banned U.S. journals from publishing peer-reviewed papers by muslim authors from muslim countries because of its own "current climate."

[Realityhack]

22. I never claimed we were perfect.

Only that there are real issues. And while I think we were talking Arab not Muslim many Muslims suppress half of their brilliant minds based on gender. I honestly think you would find many Arab scientists agree that they have a poor climate with respect to scientific research.

You should be more precise about stem cell research. It isn't banned. Just severely hampered. Might as well be banned because so much finding comes from the government but we should be precise.

BTW which articles from which journals?

[Realityhack]

9. What a strange quote

"“Even though the Arabs possessed the knowledge to make lenses, they probably thought it was an idiotic idea. God made us like this; why hang something on our noses to see better?”"

This is an exhibit celebrating their scientific achievements. What an odd way of approaching science.

I think it is clear that the Arabs did contribute more to science than many may generally think of. I am not convinced it is all that important outside of historical accuracy. But it is definitely an interesting topic.