D02 Islamic World Flashcards
Why is the term ‘Islamic Science’ or ‘Arabic Science’ misleading?
- all good science has transcultural character
- not all scholars and science at this time was Muslim or Arab
- it is impossible to determine now what the religious beliefs scientist are
The developmental stages of islamic science
Awareness - understanding that the Greeks know a lot that other people didn’t know
Translation - Greek work into Arabic
New Inquiry - Expansion of knowledge
Revolutionary Thinking - some old ideas are thrown out
3 aspects of Islamic civilization that encourage the development of Science
- Islamic expansion: contact with ancient learning; openness to other cultures
- Muhammed and the Quran welcomed education and inquiry into nature
- The wealth of unity of Islamic civilization supported activities of different religions to broaden knowledge
4 great inventions of ancient China
- paper
- printing
- compass
- gunpowder
Primary strengths of Islamic Science
- mathematics: alegebra is an arabic word
- optics
- chemistry (alchemy)
- medicine
What was science during this time more focused on compared to the Greeks
more focussed on experiment
What was alchemy trying to provide people with
wealth and longevity
what were the 2 objects that promoted wealth and longevity
- philosophers stone: wealth. This converts base metals into gold
- elixir: longevity. this prolongs health and lifespan
what did alchemists think was the philosophers stone
Phosphorous. Got this by distilling urine
What did alchemists discover/invent that were later useful to other chemists/alchemists
- apparatus, glassware
- distillation
- solution and precipitation - they wanted to find a universal solvent that could dissolve anything
- concepts - analysis: separation of components; Transformation
What were Islamic medicine’s main contributions?
- medical encyclopaedias and - the preparation and use of drugs
What did Avicenna study
he was a physician but also a mathematician, philosopher, astronomer and poet
What was Avicenna’s most important book? What did this book include
Canon of Medicine
- incorporated all Avicenna knew about Greek, Roman, and Islamic medicine
- adopted Aristotle’s concept of purpose and nature
- based anatomy off Galen
- had bold and original ideas on philosophy and theology that were ahead of his time that conservative Islamic theologians would not agree with
- stressed diagnosis, disease symptoms and disease names (in contrast to Hippocrates)
What did Avicenna’s book stress that was not stressed in Hippocrates time
Diagnosis, disease symptoms and disease names
How did Avicenna’s work have influence on others
Avicenna’s work formed the basis of curriculum in European medical schools.
what did Ibn an-Nafis discover
pulmonary circulation: blood moves from the right ventricle to the left ventricle via the pulmonary circuit
- not by the pores in the septum between the 2 chambers like Galen believed
what was permitted after islamic medicine
- human dissection
- large public hospitals were now a thing
Islamic Medicine Legacy
- many ancient books re-entered Europe as Arabic translations
- the influence of Avicenna became equal to Galen’s in Europe
- Experimental science
what were the 3 important historical issues of Islamic Science
- Were Islamic scholars just preservers and transmitters of ancient science, or were they original contributors?
- To what extent did religious thought in islamic civilization help or hider scientific scholarship?
- Why was there no self-sustainng revolution in Islamic science? Why did scientific leadership go to Europe in the later centuries.
Scientists in Medieval Europe outside the scholastic Islamic tradition
- St Hildegard of Bingen
- Fredrick II of Hohenstaufen
- Roger Bacon
what was St. Hildegard of Bingen
- a healer
- a naturalist
- a musician
What was Fredrick II of Hohenstaufen fluent in
Latin, Arabic, Italien, Greek
what was Fredrick II of Hohenstaufen’s most important contribution to science
The Art of Falconry
–> one of the few works of medieval science that is worth anything
How was Fredrick II different from other scholastics?
he did not share the religion, assumptions or approach of other scholastics
Was Fredrick II religious
not much. He believed in free thought but only for himself
What schools did Fredrick II establish
- University of Naples
- Salerno Medical College
what did the salerno medical college teach
medical school
–> taught the works of Hippocrates, Galenm and Avicenna as influences
What did Fredrick separate the duties of
Physician, Pharmacist
What did Roger Bacon study?
astrology
numerology
magical herbs
gems and alchemy
he was experimental
What did roger bacon invent
magnifying glass
what language did universities in the Scholastic period study in?
Latin
What are the aspects of continuity of universities
- independence of universities
- literal physical continuity
- the academic side of universities is under control of the academics themselves
- big difference between grade school education and university education
