The Development
of
Science from Muslim View
The history
of science is the study of the historical development of science and scientific knowledge, including both the natural sciences and social sciences. From the 18th century through late 20th
century, the history of science, especially of the physical and biological
sciences, was often seen as a narrative of true theories replacing false ones.
More recent historical interpretations, such as those of Thomas Kuhn, portray the history of science in more nuanced
terms, such as that of competing paradigms or conceptual systems in a wider
matrix that includes intellectual, cultural, economic and political themes
outside of science.
There are so many philosopher who have a
theory about science. The earliest Greek philosophers, known as the pre-Socratics, provided competing answers to the question
found in the myths of their neighbors: "How did the ordered cosmos in which we live come to be?" The pre-Socratic
philosopher Thales (640-546 BC), dubbed the "father of science",
was the first to postulate non-supernatural explanations for natural phenomena,
for example, that land floats on water and that earthquakes are caused by the
agitation of the water upon which the land floats, rather than the god Poseidon.
Plato
and Aristotle produced the first systematic discussions of natural
philosophy, which did much to shape later investigations of nature. Their
development of deductive reasoning was of
particular importance and usefulness to later scientific inquiry. Plato founded
the Platonic Academy in 387
BC, whose motto was "Let none unversed in geometry enter here", and
turned out many notable philosophers. Plato's student Aristotle introduced empiricism and the notion that universal truths can be arrived
at via observation and induction, thereby laying the foundations of the
scientific method. Aristotle also produced many biological writings that were
empirical in nature, focusing on biological causation and the diversity of
life. He made countless observations of nature, especially the habits and
attributes of plants and animals in the world around him, classified more than
540 animal species, and dissected at least 50. Aristotle's writings profoundly
influenced subsequent Islamic and European
scholarship, though they were eventually superseded in the Scientific Revolution.
In this review, the writer want to describe
about the development of science from Islamic view. Islam and science
describes the relationship between Muslim communities and science in general.
From an Islamic standpoint, science, the study of nature,
is considered to be linked to the concept of Tawhid (the Oneness of God), as are all other branches
of knowledge.[1] In Islam, nature is not seen as a separate entity,
but rather as an integral part of Islam’s holistic outlook on God, humanity,
and the world. Theoretical physicist Jim Al-Khalili believes the modern scientific method was pioneered by Ibn Al-Haytham (known to the west as “Alhazen”) whose contributions he likened to those of Isaac Newton. Alhazen helped shift the emphasis on abstract
theorizing onto systematic and repeatable experimentation, followed by careful
criticism of premises and inferences.[5] Robert Briffault, in The
Making of Humanity, asserts that the very existence of science, as it is
understood in the modern sense, is rooted in the scientific thought and
knowledge that emerged in Islamic civilizations during this time.
In the history of science,
science in the muslim world refers to the science developed under Islamic civilization between the 8th and 16th centuries,
during what is known as the Islamic Golden Age. It is
also known as Arabic science since the majority of texts during this period
were written in Arabic, the lingua franca of Islamic civilization. Despite these
terms, not all scientists during this period were Muslim
or Arab, as there were a number of notable non-Arab scientists
(most notably Persians), as well as some
non-Muslim scientists, who contributed to scientific studies in the muslim
world.
A number of modern scholars such as Fielding H. Garrison, Abdus Salam and Hossein Nasr consider modern science and the scientific method to have been greatly inspired by Muslim scientists who
introduced a modern empirical, experimental and quantitative approach to
scientific inquiry. Some scholars, notably Donald Routledge Hill, Ahmad Y Hassan, Abdus Salam, and George Saliba, have referred to their achievements as a Muslim
scientific revolution, though this does not contradict the traditional view of
the Scientific Revolution
which is still supported by most scholars.
It is believed that it was the
empirical attitude of the Qur'an and Sunnah which
inspired medieval Muslim scientists, in
particular Alhazen (965-1037), to
develop the scientific method. It is also known that certain advances made by
medieval Muslim astronomers, geographers and mathematicians was
motivated by problems presented in Islamic scripture, such as Al-Khwarizmi's (c. 780-850) development of algebra in order to solve the Islamic inheritance laws
and developments in astronomy, geography, spherical geometry and spherical trigonometry in
order to determine the direction of the Qibla,
the times of Salah prayers, and the dates of the Islamic calendar.
Whether Islamic culture has promoted or
hindered scientific advancement is disputed. Islamists such as Sayyid Qutb argue that since "Islam appointed"
Muslims "as representatives of God and made them responsible for learning
all the sciences," science cannot but prosper in a society of true
Muslims. Many "classical and modern [sources] agree that the Qur'an
condones, even encourages the acquisition of science and scientific knowledge,
and urges humans to reflect on the natural phenomena as signs of God's
creation." Some scientific instruments produced in classical times in the
Islamic world were inscribed with Qur'anic citations. Many Muslims agree that
doing science is an act of religious merit, even a collective duty of the
Muslim community.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_science
and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_and_science
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