Course Name
|
Turkish |
İslam Dünyasında Bilim ve Teknoloji Tarihi
|
| English |
Science and Technology in the Muslim World |
Course Code
|
BTT 505E |
Credit |
Lecture
(hour/week) |
Recitation
(hour/week) |
Laboratory
(hour/week) |
| Semester |
1
|
3 |
3 |
1 |
- |
| Course Language |
English |
| Course Coordinator |
Peter Jonathan Starr
Peter Jonathan Starr
|
| Course Objectives |
This course is both an introduction to “Science and Technology in the Muslim World” and a more in-depth account of the impact of one discipline, Greek ethics, upon Arabic thought (ethics because my study of Greek physics or medicine is insufficient at this stage). It will become clear that the Greeks had a pervasive influence on mainstream Muslim thinkers and theologians, just as later the Arabs were vital for the development of the sciences in the Latin West.
|
| Course Description |
1a. Medicine.
1b. Classical Ethics: Al-Kindi and his circle.
2a. Physics.
2b. Classical Ethics: Ibn ‘Adi.
3a. Pharmacology.
3b. Classical Ethics: Al-Miskawayh.
4a. Optics.
4b. Classical Ethics: Ibn Zur’a.
5a. Mineralogy.
5b. Classical Ethics: Abu Bakr ar-Razi.
6a. Cartography.
6b. Classical Ethics: Ibn Sina.
7a. Chemistry.
7b. Classical Ethics: Al-Ghazali.
8a. Logic.
8b. Classical Ethics: Al-Majusi and medical ethics.
9a. Travel Writing.
9b. Classical Ethics: Ibn Hazm.
10a. Geoponics.
10b. Classical Ethics: Hadith ethics between reason and tradition.
11a. Astronomy and Astrology.
11b. Classical Ethics: al-Maqdisi.
12a. Physiology.
12b. Classical Ethics: Al-Biruni.
13a. Influence on the Latin West.
13b. Classical Ethics: Al-Jahiz.
14a. Engineering.
14b. Classical Ethics: Predestination and freewill.
1a. Abstract: “Medicine.” This discipline took a leading role in the rise of the sciences in the Islamic world, with medical works among the earliest to be written in Arabic-Islamic science. The lecture draws on the introduction written by Pormann and Savage-Smith, with some references to primary sources such as the works of Ibn Abi U?aybi?a and Ibn Sina.
Bibliography:
Gutas, Dimitri, Greek Thought, Arabic Culture (London and NY, Routledge, 1998).
Ibn Abi U?aybi?a, ?Uyun al-anba’ fi ?abaqat al-a?ibba’, Nizar Ri?a’ (ed.) (Beirut, Maktabat al-?ayat, 1965).
Ibn Sina (Avicenna), The Canon of Medicine (al-Qanun fi'l-?ibb), vol. 1. Laleh Bakhtiar (ed.), Oskar Gruner (trans.), Mazhar H. Shah (trans.) (Great Books of the Islamic World, 1999).
Ibn Sina, al-Qanun (Rome, Medicia of Raimondi, 1593).
Pormann, P. and Savage-Smith E., Medieval Islamic Medicine (Edinburgh, EUP, 2007).
Rosenthal, Franz, The Classical Heritage in Islam (Eng. trans. NY, Routledge, 1975).
Handout:
Assignment in preparation for the next lecture:
1b. Abstract: “Classical Ethics: Al-Kindi.” Al-Kindi was a contemporary of Ishaq ibn Hunayn, the main translator of Aristotle’s ethics. Although not specifically about ethics, al-Kindi’s surviving work which most reflects his ethical ideas is Daf’ al-ahzan, a text later quoted by al-Miskawayh and others. Al-Kindi gives practical advice on avoiding sorrow, for example by remembering that others suffer also. The early sections are the most philosophical, and al-Kindi teaches the value of rejecting material goods. Rather, one should value the incorruptible riches that come by the intellect.
Bibliography:
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics/Ethika Nikomacheia (many editions and commentaries, esp. (ed.) Bywater, I., trans. Ross, D. (revised by J. L. Ackrill and J. O. Urmson, OUP, 1925).
Endress, Gerhard, “The Circle of al-Kindi: Early Arabic Translations from the Greek and the Rise of Islamic Philosophy,” Gerhard Endress and Remke Kruk (eds), The Ancient Tradition in Christian and Islamic Hellenism (Leiden, CNWS, 1997).
Kindî, al-, (çev.) Mustafa Çağrıcı, Risale fi’l-hile li-def’i’l-ahzan (Ankara, Diyanet, 2012).
Handout:
Assignment in preparation for the next lecture:
2a. Abstract: “Physics.” In the Greek sense, physics is about objects which change in space, and the rules of physics are thus fundamental to the sub-lunar world. The question of how bodies are formed leads Avicenna to expound his Aristotelian physics of form and substance, and to argue against Atomism. His disagreement with Kalam Atomism provides context. Avicenna offers some ‘solutions’ to widely-discussed problems with Aristotle’s explanation of motion.
Bibliography:
Lammer, A., “Defining Nature: From Aristotle to Philoponus to Avicenna,” A. Alwishah and J. Hayes (eds), Aristotle and the Arabic Tradition (Cambridge, CUP, 2015), p. 121-142.
McGinnis, Jon, The Physics of The Healing: A Parallel English-Arabic Text (Utah, Brigham Young University, 2010).
McGinnis, Jon, “A Small Discovery: Avicenna’s Theory of Minima Naturalia,” Journal of the History of Philosophy, 53.1 (2015), p. 1-24.
Handout:
Assignment in preparation for the next lecture:
2b. Abstract: “Classical Ethics: Ibn ‘Adi” is based on work by Samir Khalil and Sidney Griffith. Echoing Islamic concepts, Ibn ‘Adi advises his reader, primarily the Muslim ruler who is his sponsor, to aim at moral perfection. Later the work gives the philosophical basis for actions, namely the classical tripartite division of man’s motivations according to the faculties of the soul. The text is both Greek-influenced and responsive to its context, especially in its tendency to praise asceticism.
Bibliography:
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics/Ethika Nikomacheia (many editions and commentaries, esp. (ed.) Bywater, I., trans. Ross, D. (revised by J. L. Ackrill and J. O. Urmson, OUP, 1925).
Ibn ‘Adi, The Reformation of Morals, Samir Khalil (ed.), Sidney Griffith (trans.) (Provo, Brigham Young, 2003).
Handout:
Assignment in preparation for the next lecture:
3a. Abstract: “Pharmacology.” Dioscorides’ De materia medica describes about 600 simple remedies, mainly plants. It was translated into Arabic by an elsewhere unknown Istifan ibn Basil. Ibn Sina’s Qanun, Book Two, takes a systematic approach, including a four-degree scale for measuring the effectiveness of each simple remedy. Ibn al-Baytar’s Compendium (Jami) goes into more detail than the Qanun, and has the advantage that it cites its sources. This lecture is illustrated with sections from the Qanun and from Dioscorides.
Bibliography:
Dioscorides, Pedanii Dioscuridis Anazarbei, De materia medica libri quinque, Max Wellmann (ed.) (Berlin, Weidmann, 1907). (Online.)
Dioscorides, De materia medica, Lily Y. Beck (trans.) (Hildesheim, Olms, 2005). (Online.)
Ibn al-Baytar, al-Jami’ li-mufradat al-adwiya wa-al-aghdhiya (Cairo, Bulaq, 1875). (Online.)
Ibn Sina (Avicenna), The Canon of Medicine (al-Qanun fi'l-?ibb), vol. 1. Laleh Bakhtiar (ed.), Oskar Gruner (trans.), Mazhar H. Shah (trans.) (Great Books of the Islamic World, 1999).
Ibn Sina, al-Qanun (Rome, Medicia of Raimondi, 1593). (Online.)
Handout:
Assignment in preparation for the next lecture:
3b. Abstract: The “Classical Ethics” review of Arabic sources continues with al-Miskawayh, whose book The Reformation of Morals was widely read and influential. As we will see, al-Ghazali quotes it extensively. The principles of ethics are similar to those in Ibn ‘Adi’s book of the same title.
Bibliography:
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics/Ethika Nikomacheia (many editions and commentaries, esp. (ed.) Bywater, I., trans. Ross, D. (revised by J. L. Ackrill and J. O. Urmson, OUP, 1925).
Miskawayh, Tahdhib al-akhlaq wa-tathir al-‘araq (Cairo, Maktabat Muhammad Ali Subayh, 1959).
İbn Miskeveyh, Tehzibu'l-Ahlâk, Abdulkadir Şener, İsmet Kayaoğlu, Cihat Tunç (çev.) (Istanbul, Büyüyenay, 2013).
Wakelnig, Elvira, A Philosophy Reader from the Circle of Miskawayh (Cambridge, CUP, 2014).
Handout:
Assignment in preparation for the next lecture:
4a. Abstract: The topic of “Optics” in Islam centres on Ibn al-Haytham, but there is also his commentator, al-Farisi. Ibn al-Haytham’s Book of Optics brought empiricism and precision to an area in which Plato, Ptolemy and Epicurus had differed widely.
Bibliography:
Ibn al-Haytham, Kitab al-Manazir I-V, Sabra, A. I. (ed.) (Kuwait, National Council for Culture, 1983-2002).
Ibn al-Haytham, The Optics of Ibn al-Haytham I-II-III, Sabra, A. I. (trans.) (London, Warburg, 1989).
Rashed, Roshdi, “Ibn al-Haytham's Geometrical Methods and the Philosophy of Mathematics,” A History of Arabic Sciences and Mathematics vol. 5, (New York, Routledge, 2017).
Handout:
Assignment in preparation for the next lecture:
4b. Abstract: Ibn Zur’a’s book on ethics is lost. Nonetheless, we find a presentation of human motivation and action in a couple of his short apologetical works. We find a strong similarity to Ibn ‘Adi. Given the pervasive influence among Aristotelians of the tripartite division of the soul, which is not in Aristotle, we can perhaps conclude that Galen’s ethics came first, and put down deeper roots, in the Arabic-speaking world.
Bibliography:
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics/Ethika Nikomacheia (many editions and commentaries, esp. (ed.) Bywater, I., trans. Ross, D. (revised by J. L. Ackrill and J. O. Urmson, OUP, 1925).
Haddad, Cyrille, “Isa ibn Zura, philosophe arabe et apologiste chrétien” (Beirut, Dar al-Kalima, 1971).
Handout:
Assignment in preparation for the next lecture:
5a. Abstract: The focus of the lecture on “Mineralogy” will be al-Biruni, as his little-known Kitab al-Jamahir is one of his most remarkable books. Some reference also will be made to Ibn Sina, and to Prof. Celal Şengör’s favourite passage in the Shifa. A general survey of relevant texts will be included.
Bibliography:
Biruni, al-, Kitab al-Jamahir fi Marifat al-Jawahir (Alam al-Kutub, 1984).
Biruni, al-, Kitab al-Jamahir fi Marifat al-Jawahir, trans. Hakim Muhammad Said, The Book Most Comprehensive in Knowledge on Precious Stones (Pakistan Hist. Soc.,1965).
Biruni, al-, Kıymetli Taşlar ve Metaller Kitabı, Emine Özcan (trans.) (Ankara, Türk Tarih Kurumu, 2017).
Handout:
Assignment in preparation for the next lecture:
5b. Abstract: “Classical Ethics: Abu Bakr ar-Razi.” This course aims to draw the connections between Aristotle and his Arabic-Islamic successors. One of the more unusual thinkers is Abu Bakr ar-Razi, whose thought has variously been compared to that of Manicheans, gnostics, or other groups. His ethical works are well known, especially at-Tibb ar-ruhani and as-Sira al-falsafiyya.
Bibliography:
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics/Ethika Nikomacheia (many editions and commentaries, esp. (ed.) Bywater, I., trans. Ross, D. (revised by J. L. Ackrill and J. O. Urmson, OUP, 1925).
ar-Razi, Abu Bakr, Al-?ibb al-ru?ani li-Abu Bakr al-Razi, Abd al-Latif Muhammad al-Abd (ed.) (Cairo, Maktabat al-Nah?a al-Mi?riyya, 1978). Also: P. Kraus, Resâ?il felsefiyye, Cairo, 1939.
ar-Razi, Abu Bakr, Ruh Sağlığı, Hüseyin Karaman (trans.) (Istanbul, İz Yayıncılık, 2004).
ar-Razi, Abu Bakr, The Spiritual Physick of Rhazes, Arberry, A.J. (trans.) (London, Murray, 1950).
ar-Razi, Abu Bakr, "The Book of the Philosophic Life,” Charles E. Butterworth (trans.), Interpretation 20 (1993).
Handout:
Assignment in preparation for the next lecture:
6a. Abstract: “Cartography” focuses on the works of al-Maqdisi and ash-Sharif al-Idrisi. The first worked at the height of the so-called Balkh School of geographers, where a particularly Islamic approach to geography was developed, the latter derives ideas from them and from his own context in 12th century Sicily. The lecture will try to assess the claims of André Miquel about al-Maqdisi. Attention will also be drawn to some details of the Idrisi map.
Bibliography:
Beeston, A.F.L., “Idrisi's Account of the British Isles", Bulletin of the SOAS 13 (1950), p. 265–280.
al-Idrisi, Opus geographicum, sive "Liber ad eorum delectationem qui terras peragrare studeant” (in Arabic), Bombaci, A. et al. (ed;) (Naples: Istituto Universitario Orientale, 1970-1984).
al-Muqaddasi, Ahsan al-taqasim fi ma’rifat al-aqalim = Descriptio Imperii Moslemici, Michaël Jan de Goeje (ed.) (Leiden, Brill, 1906).
al-Muqaddasi, Ahsan at-taqasim fi ma’rifat al-aqalim: La Meilleure Répartition pour la Connaissance des Provinces, Traduction française partielle, annotée par André Miquel (Damas, Institut Français de Damas, 1963).
al-Muqaddasi, The Best Divisions for the Knowledge of the Regions, Basil Anthony Collins (Reading, Garnet, 1994).
al-Muqaddasi, İslam Coğrafyası, Ahsen Batur (trans.) (Istanbul, Selenge, 2015).
Handout:
Assignment in preparation for the next lecture:
6b. Abstract: “Ibn Sina” did not include a section on ethics in the Shifa. Rather, we examine a treatise he wrote on Happiness and the Ten Proofs for the Human Soul’s Being a Substance.
Bibliography:
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics/Ethika Nikomacheia (many editions and commentaries, esp. (ed.) Bywater, I., trans. Ross, D. (revised by J. L. Ackrill and J. O. Urmson, OUP, 1925).
Ibn Sina, (çev.) Fatih Toktaş, Mutluluk ve İnsan Nefsinin Cevher Olduğuna İlişkin On Delil (Ankara, Diyanet, 2011).
Handout:
Assignment in preparation for the next lecture:
7a. Abstract: In the Middle Ages, the theories of “Chemistry” were closely aligned to alchemy. Although Ibn Sina rejects alchemy, some of his ideas found in the Shifa have their origins in alchemical thought. Some attempt will be made to assess the importance of alchemy in the rise of science in Islam.
Bibliography:
Anawati, Georges, "Arabic alchemy", in Roshdi Rashed, ed., Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science, Vol. 3 (Routledge, London and New York, 1996), p. 853–885.
Apollonius, Pseudo-, see: Ursula Weisser (ed.).
Ateş, Ahmed (ed.), İbn Sînâ, “Risâlat al-iksîr veya Risala fi amr mastûr,” Türkiyat Mecmuasi (Istanbul) 10. 1951-53, (1953).
Gutas, Dimitri, Avicenna and the Aristotelian Tradition (Leiden, Brill, 2014).
Ibn Abi U?aybi?a, ?Uyun al-anba’ fi ?abaqat al-a?ibba’, Nizar Ri?a’ (ed.) (Beirut, Maktabat al-?ayat, 1965).
Ibn Sina, Kitab aš-Šifa’, Ibrahim Madkur et al. (ed.), (Cairo, Dar al-Kitab al-?Arabi li-?-?iba?a wa-n-Našr, 1389/1969).
Käs. Fabian, Al-Maqrizis Traktat über die Mineralien: Kitab al-Maqa?id... (Leiden, Brill, 2015).
Kraus, Paul, Jabir ibn ?ayyan: contribution à l’histoire des idées scientifiques dans l’Islam: Jabir et la science grecque (Cairo, Institut Français, 1942; repr. Frankfurt, IHAIS, 2002; Paris, Belles Lettres, 1986).
Paul Kraus, ed., al-Biruni, Risala fi Fihrist kutub Mu?ammad ibn Zakariya’ ar-Razi (Paris, al-Qalam, 1936).
Kraus, Paul, “Studien zu Jabir ibn ?ayyan,” Isis, 1931, vol. 15.1.
Holmyard, Eric John, and Desmond Mandeville (eds), Avicennae De congelatione et conglutione lapidum, being sections of the Kitab aš-Šifa’ (Paris, Guethner, 1927).
Martin Plessner, Vorsokratische Philosophie und griechische Alchemie... Turba philosophorum (Wiesbaden, Steiner, 1975).
ar-Razi, Mu?ammad ibn Zakariya’, Kitab al-Asrar, see: Ruska (ed.).
Ruska, Julius, Al-Razi's Buch Geheimnis der Geheimnisse, in Quellen und Studien zur Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften und der Medizin, vol. 6 (Berlin, Springer, 1937).
Ruska, Julius, “Die Alchemie des Avicenna,” Isis, no. 60, 1934.
Stapleton, Harry, et al. “Two Alchemical Treatises Attributed to Avicenna,” Ambix, vol. 10.2, 1962.
Shawkat Toorawa, “A Portrait of ?Abd al-La?if al-Baghdadi's Eduction and Instruction,” in Joseph Lowry et al. (eds), Law and Education in Medieval Islam (Cambridge, Gibb Memorial Trust, 2004).
Muhammad Tanji (ed.), “Beyrûnî'nin İbn-i Sînâ'ya yönelttiği bazı sorular, İbn-i Sînâ'nın cevapları ve bu cevaplara Beyrûnî'nin itirazları,” in Beyrûnî'ye armağan (Ankara, Türk Tarih Kurumu, 1974, repr. 2011).
at-Taw?idi, al-Imta’ wa-l-mu’anasa, A?mad Amin and A?mad az-Zayn (eds) (Cairo, 1953).
Ullmann, Manfred, Die Natur- and Geheimwissenschaften im Islam (Leiden, Brill, 1972).
Weisser, Ursula (Arabic ed.), Buch über Geheimnis der Schöpfung und die Darstellung der Natur von Pseudo-Apollonios von Tyana (Aleppo, Institute for the History of Arabic Science, 1979).
Weisser, Ursula (summary and study), “Buch über Geheimnis der Schöpfung” von Pseudo-Apollonios von Tyana (De Gruyter, Berlin, 1980).
Handout:
Assignment in preparation for the next lecture:
7b. Abstract: “Al-Ghazali” was the founder of a kind of Sunnism which survives, although hard pressed, until today. In this lecture we will see that many of his ideas, notably in the area of ethics, derive from Greek thought.
Bibliography:
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics/Ethika Nikomacheia (many editions and commentaries, esp. (ed.) Bywater, I., trans. Ross, D. (revised by J. L. Ackrill and J. O. Urmson, OUP, 1925).
al-Ghazali, Maqâsid al-falâsifa, M.S. al-Kurdî (ed.) (Cairo, al-Matba’a al-Mahmûdiyya, 1936).
al-Ghazali, Ihyâ’ ‘ulûm al-dîn, 16 parts (Cairo, ath-Thaqâfa al-Islâmiyya, 1937-38). (Reprint Beirut, Dâr al-Kitâb al-‘Arabî, [c.1990]).
al-Ghazali, Mîzân al-‘amal, M.S. al-Kurdî (ed.) (Cairo, al-Matbaa al-Arabiyya, 1923).
al-Ghazali, Deliverance from Error, R. McCarthy (trans.) (Louisville, Fons Vitae, 1923).
Handout:
Assignment in preparation for the next lecture:
8a. Abstract: “Logic” occupied the leading role in philosophical studies in the Islamic world. In spite of the vicissitudes to which works on other areas of philosophy were subject, logic was and is taught in the madrasas. Its place as defended by, among others, al-Ghazali. This lecture considers the context in which Aristotelian logic came to play such a role. We will also look at aspects of the logic of Ibn Sina.
Bibliography:
al-Ghazali, The Incoherence of the Philosophers / Tahâfut al-falâsifa, a Parallel English-Arabic Text, M. E. Marmura (ed. and trans.), 2nd. ed. (Provo, Brigham Young, 2000).
Ibn Sina, Mantığa giriş Ömer Türker (ed. and trans.) (İbn Sina Felsefe Serisi) (Istanbul, Litera, 2006).
Ibn Sina, Kategoriler Ömer Türker (ed. and trans.) (İbn Sina Felsefe Serisi) (Istanbul, Litera, 2006).
Ibn Sina, Topikler Ömer Türker (ed. and trans.) (İbn Sina Felsefe Serisi) (Istanbul, Litera, 2006).
Ibn Sina, II. Analitikler Ömer Türker (ed. and trans.) (İbn Sina Felsefe Serisi) (Istanbul, Litera, 2006).
Ibn Sina, Sofistik deliller, Ömer Türker (ed. and trans.) (İbn Sina Felsefe Serisi) (Istanbul, Litera, 2006).
Ibn Sina, Yorum üzerine Ömer Türker (ed. and trans.) (İbn Sina Felsefe Serisi) (Istanbul, Litera, 2006).
Handout:
Assignment in preparation for the next lecture:
8b. Abstract: Beginning with a passage from al-Majusi, “Medical Ethics” is a brief look at the subject of medical ethics, both in their medieval and modern contexts.
Bibliography:
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics/Ethika Nikomacheia (many editions and commentaries, esp. (ed.) Bywater, I., trans. Ross, D. (revised by J. L. Ackrill and J. O. Urmson, OUP, 1925).
Larijani, B., Malekalafzali, H., Zahedi, F., Motevaseli, E., “Strengthening Medical Ethics by Strategic Plan in the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Developing World Bioethics 6 (2006), p.106-110.
Levy M., Medical ethics of Medieval Islam with special Reference to Al Ruhawis Practical Ethics of the physician BMJ, vol. 57, part 3 (1967).
Pormann, P. and Savage-Smith E., Medieval Islamic Medicine (Edinburgh, EUP, 2007).
Handout:
Assignment in preparation for the next lecture:
9a. Abstract: In the area of “Travel Writing” the most famous writer is Ibn Battuta. However, Ibn Jubayr, Nasir Khusraw, Evliya Çelebi, and others, often provide facts and insights which would otherwise be lost. Evliya Çelebi is perhaps our most important source for life in Ottoman times.
Bibliography:
Evliya Çelebi, Seyahatname, 10 vols, Robert Dankoff, Seyit Ali Kahraman, Yücel Dağlı (eds) (Istanbul, Yapı Kredi, 1999-2007). Vol. 1 publ. in 1996, but then revised and republished in 2006.
Ibn Battuta, Rihla, 4 vols, C. Defrémery and B. Sanguinetti (eds) (Paris, Société Asiatic, 1853-1858).
Ibn Battuta, Travels, Hamilton Gibb (trans.), The Travels of Ibn Ba??u?a, A.D. 1325–1354 (5 vols) (London, Hakluyt Society, 1958-1994).
Ibn Jubayr, Rihla, William Wright (ed.), M. de Goeje (revised) (Leiden, Brill, 1907 revision of Wright, 1852).
Hunsberger, Alice, Nasir Khusraw, the Ruby of Badakhshan: A Portrait of the Persian Poet, Traveller and Philosopher (London, I. B. Tauris, 2003).
Mattock, J.N., “Ibn Ba??u?a's use of Ibn Jubayr's Ri?la,” Peters, R. (ed.), Proceedings of the Ninth Congress of the Union Européenne des Arabisants et Islamisants, 1978 (Leiden, Brill, 1981), p. 209-218.
Handout:
Assignment in preparation for the next lecture:
9b. Abstract: “Ibn Hazm” (AD 994-1064) is both one of the most prolific and one of the significant writers of the medieval Islamic world. His work on ethics, which shows his reading of old authorities, also seeks to adapt these to a particular vision of Islam. This lecture, which will also refer to other works like al-Muhalla and Tawq al-hamama aims to cast light on the distinctive traditions of al-Andalus.
Bibliography:
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics/Ethika Nikomacheia (many editions and commentaries, esp. (ed.) Bywater, I., trans. Ross, D. (revised by J. L. Ackrill and J. O. Urmson, OUP, 1925).
Ibn Hazm, al-Akhlaq wa-s-siyar, Dar Ul Thaqafah (trans. as “Morals and Behaviours”).
Ibn Hazm, al-Akhlaq wa-s-siyar, Eva Riad (ed.) (Uppsala, Dar Ibn Hazm, 1980).
Ibn Hazm, The Ring of the Dove, A. J. Arberry (trans.) (London, Luzac, 1953). (Online)
Handout:
Assignment in preparation for the next lecture:
10a. Abstract: “Geoponica” is the name given to works on agronomy and animal husbandry for farmers. They were written in classical Roman times, but completed in the East Roman (Byzantine) period. Authors included Julius Africanus (3rd c.), Anatolius Vindonius (4th c.), and Ibn al-Awwam (13th c.). In this lecture we will look at sections on viticulture, bee-keeping, and horses. To provide another perspective, we will look at some of rural archaeology evident in Turkey.
Bibliography:
Scardino, Carlo, “Editing the Geoponica: The Arabic Evidence and its Importance,” Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Studies 58 (2018), p. 102-125.
Ibn al-Awwam, Terceme-i Kitabü’l-Filaha (Zootekni Kısmı), Muhammed ibn Mustafa ibn Lutfullah (trans.), Mükerrem Bedizel Zülfikar Aydın (ed.) (Istanbul, Kitabevi Yayınları, 2019).
Rodgers, Robert, “Kypopoika: Garden Making and Garden Culture in the Geoponika,” Byzantine Garden Culture, Antony Littlewood et al. (eds) (Washington DC, Dumbarton Oaks, 2002), p. 159-175.
Handout:
Assignment in preparation for the next lecture:
10b. Abstract: “Hadith ethics between reason and tradition” takes its title from a book by George Hourani. Ethics and law have always been in the forefront of Islamic thought. While the Mu’tazila developed a reasoned ethical approach, this was opposed as investing too much in human thought. The focus of this lecture is on al-Ghazali, for whom reason was above all an aid in understanding scripture.
Bibliography:
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics/Ethika Nikomacheia (many editions and commentaries, esp. (ed.) Bywater, I., trans. Ross, D. (revised by J. L. Ackrill and J. O. Urmson, OUP, 1925).
Hourani, George, Reason and Tradition in Islamic Ethics (Cambridge, CUP, 1985).
Handout:
Assignment in preparation for the next lecture:
11a. Abstract: The study of “Astronomy and Astrology” was often combined, although the functions of each differed. Knowledge of astronomy offered the best ways to tell the time, and date, to navigate, to pray correctly, and to travel over deserts. Astrology entered into many aspects of national life, was primarily required by rulers. This lecture focuses on al-Biruni.
Bibliography:
Gutas, Dimitri, Yunanca Düşünce Arapça Kültür, 5. edition, (trans.) Lütfü Şimşek (Istanbul, Kitap Yayınevi, 2011). English orig.: Greek Thought, Arabic Culture: The Graeco-Arabic Translation Movement in Baghdad and Early ?Abbasid Society (2nd-4th/5th-10th c.) (New York/Abingdon, Routledge, 1998).
Kaçar, Mustafa and Atilla Bir, “Usturlap”, TDV İslam Ansiklopedisi, vol. 42, Istanbul, 2012, p. 195-198.
Kâtip Çelebi, Keşf’üz-zunûn, Yaltkaya, Bilge (eds) (Istanbul, Maarif Vekaleti, 1941-1947).
Kennedy, Edward S., Colleagues and Former Students, “Al-Battânî’s Astrological History of the
Prophet and the Early Caliphate,” Suhayl, vol. 9 (2009-2010), p. 13-148.
Kırkoğlu, R. Hakan, Göklerin Bilgeliği, Doğan Kitap, 2005.
Özcan, Emine Sonnur, “Ebû’r-Reyhân Muhammed bin Ahmed el-Bîrûnî’nin Hayatı (973-1061),” Milel ve Nihal İnanç, kültür ve mitoloji araştırmaları dergisi, vol. 10, issue 3 Eylül – Aralık 2013.
Pingree, David, “Al-Biruni’s knowledge of Sanskrit astronomical texts,” in P. Chelkowski (ed.), The Scholar and the Saint, New York, NYUP, 1975.
Pingree, David, “Hellenophilia versus the History of Science,” Isis, vol. 83, no. 4, 1992, p. 554-563.
Pingree, David, “Historical Horoscopes,” Journal of the American Oriental Society, 1962, 82: 487-502.
Pingree, David, Biruni, Abu Rayhan, ii. Bibliography, in Encyclopedia Iranica, 2010, vol. IV, issue 3, p. 276-277.
Ptolemy, Claudius, Tetrabiblos, Four Books of the Influence of the Stars, trans. from the Greek Paraphrase of Proclus by J. M. Ashmand, London, Davis and Dickson, 1882.
Rosenfeld, Boris, and İhsanoğlu, Ekmeleddin, Mathematicians, Astronomers and Other Scholars of Islamic Civilisation and Their Works (7th-19th c.), Research Center for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA), Istanbul, 2013.
Edward Sachau, Al-Biruni’s India, An Account of the Religion, Philosophy, Literature, Geography, Chronology, Astronomy, Customs, Laws and Astrology of India about A.D. 1030. An English edition with notes and indices, 1-2, Leipzig, 1888; re-ed. by Fuat Sezgin, Frankfurt, 1993.
Sachau, Edward, The Chronology of Ancient Nations, an English version of the Arabic text of al- A?ar al-baqiya, W. H. Allen, London, 1879.
Saliba, George, “Al-Biruni and the Science of His Time,” in M. J. L. Young, J. D. Latham and R. B. Serjeant, Religion, Learning and Science in the ‘Abbasid Period, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge/New York, etc., 1990.
Saliba, George, İslam Bilimi ve Avrupa Rönesansı’nın Oluşumu, trans. of: Islamic Science and the Making of the European Renaissance, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2007, Turkish trans. Günseli Aksoy, 1. ed., Istanbul, 2012.
Sarton, George, Introduction to the History of Science, vol. 1-3. Baltimore, 1927-1948.
Sayılı, Aydın, Mısırlılarda ve Mezopotamyalılar’da Matematik, Astronomi ve Tıp, Türk Tarih
Kurumu Basımevi, Ankara, 1991.
Sayılı, Aydın, The Observatory in Islam, Ankara, Türk Tarih Kurumu, 1988.
Wiedemann, Eilhard, Aufsätze zur Arabischen Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Olms Verlag, Hildesheim, 1970, including reprints in vol. 1 of: XVII Beiträge zur Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, 1909, p. 519-543; XVIII Beiträge zur Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, p. 544-596; vol. 2: XLVIII Beiträge zur Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, 1916-1917, p. 216-229.
Wright, Ramsay, The Book of Instruction in the Elements of the Art of Astrology by Abu’l- Rayhân Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Bîrûnî, written in Gaznah, 1029 A.D., Luzac and Co., London, 1934.
Handout:
Assignment in preparation for the next lecture:
11b. Abstract: “Al-Maqdisi” is famous for one book, The Best Divisions for the Knowledge of the Regions. This provides the clearest example of the approach of the Balkh-School. It is not just geography, but a certain world-view which developed as political unity collapsed and was replaced by cultural norms.
Bibliography:
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics/Ethika Nikomacheia (many editions and commentaries, esp. (ed.) Bywater, I., trans. Ross, D. (revised by J. L. Ackrill and J. O. Urmson, OUP, 1925).
al-Muqaddasi, Ahsan al-taqasim fi ma’rifat al-aqalim = Descriptio Imperii Moslemici, Michaël Jan de Goeje (ed.) (Leiden, Brill, 1906).
al-Muqaddasi, Ahsan at-taqasim fi ma’rifat al-aqalim: La Meilleure Répartition pour la Connaissance des Provinces, Traduction française partielle, annotée par André Miquel (Damas, Institut Français de Damas, 1963).
al-Muqaddasi, The Best Divisions for the Knowledge of the Regions, Basil Anthony Collins (Reading, Garnet, 1994).
al-Muqaddasi, İslam Coğrafyası, Ahsen Batur (trans.) (Istanbul, Selenge, 2015).
Handout:
Assignment in preparation for the next lecture:
12a. Abstract: “Nemesius”, as well as being a bishop, wrote an influential survey of the kind of Greek science widely taught in his day, focusing on the body and physiology. His account of Ventricle Localisation of Mental Functioning is a reconciliation of Platonic doctrines on the soul with the Judaeo-Christian tradition.
Bibliography:
Bergstraesser, Gotthelf, Hunain ibn Ishaq und seine Schule. Sprach- und literargeschichtliche Untersuchungen zu den arabischen Hippokrates- und Galen-Ubersetzungen (Leiden, Brill, 1913).
Biesterfeldt, Hans Hinrich (ed.), Galens Traktat ,Dass die Kräfte der Seele den Mischungen des Körpers folgen’ in arabischer Übersetzung (Wiesbaden, Franz Steiner, 1973).
Burnett, Charles, ‘Physics before the Physics: Early Translations from Arabic of Texts Concerning Nature in MSS British Library, Add. 22719 and Cotton Galba E IV,’ Medioevo 27 (2002) 53-109.
Kallis, Athanasios, Der Mensch im Kosmos: Das Weltbild Nemesios’ von Emesa (Münster, Aschendorff, 1978).
Matthaei, Christian Frederic (ed.), Nemesius Emesenus De natura hominis, graece et latine (Halle, Gebauer, 1802).
Morani, Moreno (ed.), Nemesii Emeseni De natura hominis (Leipzig, Teubner, 1987).
Nemesius of Emesa, On the Nature of Man, trans. Van der Eijk, P. and Robert Sharples based on Moreno Morani (ed.) (Liverpool, LUP, 2008).
Perler, Dominik, The Faculties: A History (Oxford, OUP, 2015).
Samir Khalil Samir, ‘Les versions arabes de Némésius de Homs,’ L’eredità classica nelle lingue
orientali (Rome, Enciclopedia Italiana, 1986), p. 99-151.
Thillet, Pierre, ‘La formation du vocabulaire philosophique arabe’, in Danielle JACQUART (ed.),
La formation du vocabulaire scientifique et intellectuel dans le monde arabe (Turnhout,
Brepols, 1994).
Ullmann, Manfred, Wörterbuch zu den griechisch-arabischen Übersetzungen des 9. Jahrhun-
derts: Supplement, Band II: ?-? (Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz, 2007).
Van der Eijk, P., Medicine and Philosophy in Classical Antiquity: Doctors and Philosophers on Nature, Soul, Health and Disease (Cambridge, CUP, 2005).
Handout:
Assignment in preparation for the next lecture:
12b. Abstract: “Al-Biruni” is an attempt to gather passages from al-Biruni which show his character. He took a middle course, avoiding the fierce theological debates of his day between Shiites and Sunnis. He knows that science is a matter of trial and error, and that there is no shame in correcting opinions if knowledge of the facts develops.
Bibliography:
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics/Ethika Nikomacheia (many editions and commentaries, esp. (ed.) Bywater, I., trans. Ross, D. (revised by J. L. Ackrill and J. O. Urmson, OUP, 1925).
Pingree, David, “Al-Biruni’s knowledge of Sanskrit astronomical texts,” in P. Chelkowski (ed.), The Scholar and the Saint, New York, NYUP, 1975.
Pingree, David, “Hellenophilia versus the History of Science,” Isis, vol. 83, no. 4, 1992, p. 554-563.
Pingree, David, Biruni, Abu Rayhan, ii. Bibliography, in Encyclopedia Iranica, 2010, vol. IV, issue 3, p. 276-277.
Edward Sachau, Al-Biruni’s India, An Account of the Religion, Philosophy, Literature, Geography, Chronology, Astronomy, Customs, Laws and Astrology of India about A.D. 1030. An English edition with notes and indices, 1-2, Leipzig, 1888; re-ed. by Fuat Sezgin, Frankfurt, 1993.
Sachau, Edward, The Chronology of Ancient Nations, an English version of the Arabic text of al- A?ar al-baqiya, W. H. Allen, London, 1879.
Saliba, George, “Al-Biruni and the Science of His Time,” in M. J. L. Young, J. D. Latham and R. B. Serjeant, Religion, Learning and Science in the ‘Abbasid Period, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge/New York, etc., 1990.
Handout:
Assignment in preparation for the next lecture:
13a. Abstract: “Influence on the Latin West” is a lecture on the Arabic-Latin translations and their context. It begins with the Salerno School of Medicine, and passes to Toledo and Sicily. Here the claim will be made that the vital importance of the Arab scientists is that they provided the living examples and teachers without whom knowledge would be a dead letter.
Bibliography:
Burnett, Charles, “The Coherence of the Arabic-Latin Translation Program in Toledo in the Twelfth Century,” Science in Context 14 (2001), p. 249–288.
Campbell, Donald, Arabian Medicine and Its Influence on the Middle Ages (New York, Routledge, 2001). (Reprint of London, 1926).
d'Alverny, Marie-Thérèse, “Translations and Translators,” Robert L. Benson and Giles Constable (eds), Renaissance and Renewal in the Twelfth Century (Cambridge MA, HUP, 1982), p. 421–462.
Haskins, Charles, “The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century” (Cambridge MA, HUP, 1927).
Haskins, Charles, Studies in the History of Mediaeval Science (New York, Frederick Ungar, 1967)
Laughlin, Burgess, The Aristotle Adventure; A Guide to the Greek, Arabic, and Latin Scholars Who Transmitted Aristotle's Logic to the Renaissance (Flagstaff, Albert Hale, 1995).
Lindberg, David C. (ed.), Science in the Middle Ages (Chicago, UCP, 1978).
Morelon, Régis, and Roshdi Rashed, Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science (New York, Routledge, 1996).
Handout:
Assignment in preparation for the next lecture:
13b. Abstract: “Al-Jahiz” is a lecture based on the works of Charles Pellat. It presents al-Jahiz, not primarily as a man of science, but as a literary genius and polymath whose interests included the sciences.
Bibliography:
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics/Ethika Nikomacheia (many editions and commentaries, esp. (ed.) Bywater, I., trans. Ross, D. (revised by J. L. Ackrill and J. O. Urmson, OUP, 1925).
Pellat, Charles, Life and Works of Jahiz, D.M. Hawkes (trans.) (Islamic World Series, 1969).
Handout:
Assignment in preparation for the next lecture:
14a. Abstract: “Engineering” is based largely on the book of Donald Hill, and looks particularly at buildings associated with the history of technology.
Bibliography:
Hill, Donald, Islamic Science and Engineering (Edinburgh, EUP, 1994).
Sayılı, Aydın, The Observatory in Islam, Ankara, Türk Tarih Kurumu, 1988.
Handout:
Assignment in preparation for the next lecture:
14b. Abstract: “Predestination and Freewill” are central topics in monotheist cultures. We will approach the topic from the point of view of Nemesius, and of later Muslim writers like ‘Abd al-Jabbar and al-Ghazali.
Bibliography:
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics/Ethika Nikomacheia (many editions and commentaries, esp. (ed.) Bywater, I., trans. Ross, D. (revised by J. L. Ackrill and J. O. Urmson, OUP, 1925).
Hourani, George, Reason and Tradition in Islamic Ethics (Cambridge, CUP, 1985).
Morani, Moreno (ed.), Nemesii Emeseni De natura hominis (Leipzig, Teubner, 1987).
Nemesius of Emesa, On the Nature of Man, trans. Van der Eijk, P. and Robert Sharples based on Moreno Morani (ed.) (Liverpool, LUP, 2008).
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| Course Outcomes |
This course is both an introduction to “Science and Technology in the Muslim World” and a more in-depth account of the impact of one discipline, Greek ethics, upon Arabic thought (ethics because my study of Greek physics or medicine is insufficient at this stage). It will become clear that the Greeks had a pervasive influence on mainstream Muslim thinkers and theologians, just as later the Arabs were vital for the development of the sciences in the Latin West. |
| Pre-requisite(s) |
None. |
| Required Facilities |
None. |
| Other |
None. |
| Textbook |
Handouts and photocopies. |
| Other References |
None. |
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