Islamic World and Medieval Europe Flashcards
in the islamic world in the 8th to 13th century what was the demographic of scholars and scientists?
Arab muslims
Persian muslims
jews
Arab christians
Nestorian christians
science has a transcultural characteristics in terms of what?
methods and conculsions
what are the developmental stages of the islamic world? (5)
1) awareness of ancient knowledge (greek legacy)
2) Translation from greek to Arabic
3) Assimilation (fit it into the readers world view)
4) new inquiry (new insights)
5) Revolutionary thinking (calculus, physics, atomic theory)
What does Abdus Salaam argue?
That islamic science in this period was revolutionary
what are three aspects of islamic civilization encouraged the development of science?
- Islamic expansion; contact with ancient learning; openess to other cultures
- Muhammad (AD 570-632) and the Quran welcomed education and inquiry into nature
- the wealth and unity of islamic civilization supported the activities of a secular intellectual class
as islamic civilization started to expand what did the scholars do?
start to collect the scattered remains of the classical learning (Library of Alexandria works that survived, Byzantine libraries and House of Wisdom) and translated them
The collecting, translating, and copying of the scrolls was aided by what?
by the construction of a paper making plant in Baghdad in 794
what was the Islamic world primary scholarly strengths?
4
mathematics
optics
chemistry (alchemy)
medicine
Islamic science was more focused on what than the greeks had been?
experimentation
what was the science of Alchemy in the islamic world?
provide wealth and longevity through partly practical and mystical attempts
What were alchemists looking for to provide wealth and longevity?
Wealth - philosophers stone
Longevity - elixir (gave immortality)
what are 4 examples of discoveries or inventions from the alchemists that provided useful later on ?
Apparatus, glassware
distillation - the alembic
solution and precipitation
concepts such as analysis and transformation
Islamic medicine was largely what?
practical medicine
islamic medicines main contributions were what? (2)
medical encyclopedism and the preparation and use of drugs
who was Avicenna and dates?
980-1037
was the greatest islamic intellectual of all
physician but also a mathematician, philosopher, astronomer, physicist, poet, and encylopedist
Discovered Newtons 1st law
what did Avicenna believe about medicine?
that it was a science, there was no folk medicine and drugs should be simple
what was Avicennas most important book? What did it incorporate? Who did he borrow from?
Canon of medicine
Greek, Roman, Chinese and Islamic medicine.
He borrowed heavily from Hippocrates, Aristotle, and Galen, He also contributed his own experience and synthesis
What subjects were included in Avicennas book of medicine? What did he discuss and stress?
Subjects of physiology and psychology
He stressed diagnosis, disease symptoms and disease names (in contrast to hippocrates)
He discussed 650 compound drugs, telling readers how to make them and recommending clinical trials
Why did Avicennas book formed the basis of curriculum in European medical schools?
Constantine of Africa showed up at Salerno Medical College in Italy carrying some of his works (1080s)
Ibn an-Nafis (d.1288) questioned Galen authority on what?
blood movement by proposing pulmonary circulation; blood moves from the right ventricle to the left ventricle via pulmonary circuit, not by pores
What are the aspects of human dissection and public hospitals in Islamic medicine?
human dissection was not allowed in earlier centuries but WAS permitted by the 13th century
There were large public hospitals; the most famous were in baghdad, Damascus and cairo
Many ancient books re-entered Europe as what?
Arabic translations
the influence of Avicenna in islamic world can be compared to who in europe?
Galen
what grew out of islamic Alchemy? What concepts of chemistry did alchemy introduce?
modern chemistry, acids and isolation of elements
How did alchemy contribute to medicine and pharmacy?
discoveries like nitric acid and alcohol (most important elixr of all time)
what was a large take away from islamic science?
experimental methods
What are three important historical issues of islamic science?
- Were Islamic scientists contributers or merely transmitters (now accepted that they contributed)
- To what extent did religious thought help or hinder science (11th century there was a religious reaction against science, and Islamic science stopped in 13th century)
- Why were there no self sustaning revolutions in Islamic science (possibly due to Mongolian invasion)
What dominated during the medeival peroid? What happened to science?
Dominated by the church and religion
Science was marginalized, but there was still progress through innovation of clocks, horse collars, and the wheelbarrow.
what is scholasticism?
the assimilation of ancient writings into a christian framework
what were the methods of Scholasticism?
definition; logical analysis of texts; reconcilling opposing points of view
who was Albertus Magnus? (c 1200-1280)
what was he known as?
know as Doctor universalis; first great european alchemists
was a literary scholar, an alchemist (had doubts about it), a teacher.
What element is Albert Magnus noted for isolating?
Arsenic
Albertus Magnus in terms of his biology was what?
the foremost medieval naturalist, he described and listed plants
what was Albertus Magnus’s view on Aristotle?
he fit his observations into an aristoelian framwork and made Aristotles conception of nature widely known in europe
who was Albertus Magnus star pupil?
Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), who became the greaest of the Scholastics
What basic premise of science did medeival thinkers agree with?
Causation (Aristotle)
Material Cause
Formal Cause
Efficient Cause
Final Cause
What did Thomas Aquinas do to try and prove the idea of causation?
Attempted to merge science and theology, which oppose each other
who was St. Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)?
Outside scholastic tradition
she was a nun, abbess and mystic who wrote down her religious visions - she was also a healer (no medical training), a naturalist (complied a book of flora, fauna, and rocks), a musician
who was frederick 2 of Hohenstaufen (1194-1250)
holy Roman Emperor
Frederick grew up where and had what type of childhood?
sicily
had very little supervision but became fluent in latin greek Arabic and Italian
what was Fredrick’s most important original contribution to science?
The Art of Falconry
one of the few works of medieval science that is worth anything
what was Fredricks religious views?
he did not share the religion, the assumptions or the approach of the other scholastics, he may have been an atheist
what did Frederick II establish?
a university in Naples 1224 (still around today)
what did Frederick charter at the Salerno Medical collage?
a formal curriculum that had standardized exams, and produced many medical treatises with Hippocrates, Galen and Avicenna as influences
Charter to be a physician
- 3 years general education
- 5 years medicine and surgery
- 1 year apprentice
- Licensing exam
what did Fredrick seperate the duties of by law?
physicians and pharmacists
who was Roger Bacon (1214-1292)? What work of his was published long after his death?
Part of the Scholastic tradition and was interested in astrology, numeroloy, magical herbs, gems, and alchemy
Opus Majus which contained knowledge about natural science
what was different about Bacon’s thinking, considering he was part of the scholastic tradition?
it was modern for its time
- envisioned an encylopdia of science
- experiment cycle
- thought mathematics were important in science
- Knew about telescopes
at what time period did universities flourish?
scholastic period
How did higher education transition in the early Middle ages into the late 11th century?
Higher education originally took place in a cathdral staffed by clergy, but started to transform in the first European Universities
What aspects of continuity are seen between modern unversities and medieval universities?
- Physically exist today
- Academic independence and freedom
