Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Islam and Science
Islam and Science
Elective reading (but highly useful): Lindberg, D.C. The Beginnings of Western Science: The
European Scientific Tradition in Philosophical, Religious, and Institutional Context, 600 B.C.
to A.D. 1450. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007, pp. 82-131. 509 L742
8 March: The translation movement
Gutas, D. Greek Thought, Arab Culture: The Graeco-Arabic Translation Movement in
Baghdad and Early 'Abbasid Society (2nd-4th/8th-10th centuries). New York: Routledge, 1998,
pp. 28-60. 297.93 G983 ; E-Book 001841577
15 March: Philosophy and the classification of the sciences
Biesterfeldt, H.H. Medieval Arabic Encyclopedias of Science and Philosophy, in S. Harvey (ed).
The Medieval Hebrew Encyclopedias of Science and Philosophy. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 2000, pp.
77-98. Main Library BM 538 S3 M42 2000
Bosworth, C.E. A Pioneer Arabic Encyclopedia of the Sciences: Al Khwarizmi's Keys of the
Sciences. Isis 54 (1963), pp. 97-111. E-JOURNAL
22 March: Graeco-Islamic(?) science
Sabra, A.I. The appropriation and subsequent naturalization of Greek science in medieval Islam: a
preliminary statement. in: idem., Optics, Astronomy and Logic. Variorum, 1994, article I.
ERESERVE 001458711
28 March: Final date for signing up for a presentation topic (via Moodle)
29 March-18 April: Passover vacation. I strongly encourage you to use this time to work on your
presentation!
19 April: The Andalusian tradition of agriculture
The Fila Text Project: http://www.filaha.org/introduction.html
Extracts from Arb b. Sad (tenth century), Calendar of Cordoba:
http://www.filaha.org/calendar_of_cordoba_english_translation_revised.html
Ab al-Khayr al-Ishbl, On the Olive, Kitb al-Fila:
http://www.filaha.org/khayr_final_translation_revised.html
26 April: The impact of Islamic science in the West I
Montgomery, Scott L. Science in Translation: Movements of Knowledge through Culture and
Time. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000. pp. 138-185. 500 M787 ; ERESERVE
001458712
3 May: The decline theory
Huff, T. The Rise of Early Modern Science: Islam, China and the West. 2nd ed. Cambridge,
Cambridge University Press, 2003, pp. 209-239. 509 H889
OR
Yousefi, Najm al-Din. Secular Sciences and the Question of Decline. Iranian Studies 41 (2008),
pp. 559-579. E-JOURNAL
10 May: Science under the Mongols and Mamluks
Allsen, T. Culture and Conquest in Mongol Eurasia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2001, pp. 141-175. 303.47 A442; E-BOOK 001772540
OR
F. Jamil Ragep, F. Jamil. Freeing Astronomy from Philosophy: An Aspect of Islamic Influence on
Science. Osiris 16(2001), pp. 4971. E-JOURNAL
17 May: The impact of Islamic science in the West II
Saliba, G. Whose science is Arabic science in Renaissance Europe?, on-line at
http://www.columbia.edu/~gas1/project/visions/case1.html [accessed 10 July 2016]
24 May: Student Day no classes
31 May: Shavuot vacation
7 June: Developments in the Ottoman Empire and Safavid Iran
Shefer, Miri. Ottoman Medicine: Healing and Medical Institutions, 1500-1700. Albany: SUNY
Press, 2009, pp. 63-100 E-BOOK 001833766
OR
Newman, A. Baqir al-Majlisi and Islamicate Medicine: Safavid Medical Theory and Practice Reexamined. in: idem. (ed.). Society and Culture in the Early Modern Middle East, Studies on Iran
in the Safavid Period. Leiden: Brill, 2003, pp. 371-396. E-Book 001779436
14 June: The engagement with modern science in the nineteenth century: India and Egypt
Irfan Habib, S. Reconciling science with Islam in 19th century India. Contributions to Indian
Sociology 34 (2000), pp. 63-92. ERESERVE 001458716
OR
Livingston, J.W. Muhammad 'Abduh on science. Muslim World 85 (1995), pp. 215-234. EJOURNAL
21 June: Science, technology and Islam today I: engagement and ethics
Golshani, M. Values and ethical issues in science and technology: a Muslim perspective. Islamic
Studies (Karachi) 42 (2003), pp. 317-330. ERESERVE 001458717
28 June: Science, technology and Islam today II: Islamization of science
Kalin, I. The sacred versus the secular: Nasr on science. in: Lewis Edwin Hahn, Randall E. Auxier,
Lucian W. Stone (eds.) The philosophy of Seyyed Hossein Nasr. Chicago: Open Court, 2001, pp.
445-468. ERESERVE 001458719
Elshakry, M. Muslim hermeneutics and Arabic views of evolution. Zygon 46 (2011), pp. 330-344.
E-JOURNAL
6 July: Final date of submission for take home exam