ISLA 581 F. Jamil Ragep Science and Religion in Islam Fall 2015 Thursday 15:35 – 17:25, MH 328 [email protected] Office Hours (Morrice Hall 024): Th 13:30 – 15:15 (Tel: 514-398-4400; ext 094026)
This seminar will focus on scientific traditions in Islam and their interactions with a number of religiously-based Islamic doctrines. During part of the term, we will critically examine some of the writings on the subject that have appeared over the last century and a half. The other part of the course will be devoted to looking at primary source materials that have a direct bearing on the subject. There will of course be overlaps, so we may well be looking at both primary and secondary materials during a single class.
Although knowing Arabic is desirable, it is not a prerequisite as long as the student has a background in Islamic intellectual traditions, the history of science, or science/religion issues.
Assignments: 1) [1/4 of grade] The basic assignment will be to come to class each week, keep up with the readings, and be prepared to discuss them. 2) [1/4 of grade] Both enrolled students and auditors will be asked to present at least one report during the term based on additional readings related to that week’s topic. The written report should be turned in at the end of the class in which the presentation is made. 3) [1/2 of grade] The term paper (approximately 15-20 double-spaced pages) will be on some aspect of science and religion in Islam. The paper may be either historiographical or historical; in the latter case you could focus on a specific author or text, or else trace an idea, discourse, or interaction over time. In any case, you will be expected to use primary source materials, either in the original language or in translation. DUE: DEC. 22, 2015
Goals of the Class: By the end of the course, you should have become knowledgeable about the major arguments, positions, theses, etc. regarding science and religion in Islam and be able to assess them critically. You should also have acquired some of the tools needed to do original work in this field.
Readings will be available at the course website https://www.rasi.mcgill.ca/ISLA581/, as an e-book or e-article through the McGill Libraries, or as printed media in the Islamic Studies Library.
ISLA 581 F. Jamil Ragep Science and Religion in Islam Fall 2015
SCHEDULE
Sept. 10, 17: Setting the Stage Peter Harrison, The Territories of Science and Religion (Chicago, 2015). Available as an e-book through McGill Libraries: http://site.ebrary.com/lib/mcgill/detail.action?docID=11031204
Sept. 17, 24: Translation and Transformation Franz Rosenthal, The Classical Heritage in Islam: The Islamic World Series (Berkeley, 1975), pp. 1-23. Dimitri Gutas, Greek Thought, Arabic Culture: The Graeco-Arabic Translation Movement in Baghdad and Early ʿAbbāsid Society (2nd-4th/8th-10th Centuries) (London; New York, 1998), pp. 1-8. George Saliba, Islamic Science and the Making of the European Renaissance (Cambridge, MA, 2007), pp. 1-72. F. Jamil Ragep “Islamic Reactions to Ptolemy’s Imprecisions,” in Ptolemy in Perspective, ed. A. Jones (New York, 2010), pp. 121-34. Alnoor Dhanani, “Kalām Atoms and Epicurean Minimal Parts,” in Tradition, Transmission, Transformation: Proceedings of Two Conferences on Pre-Modern Science Held at the University of Oklahoma, eds. F.J. Ragep and S.P. Ragep (Leiden, 1996), pp. 157-71.
Additional Readings for Reports: Alnoor Dhanani, The Physical Theory of Kalām: Atoms, Space, and Void in Basrian Muʿtazilī Cosmology: Islamic Philosophy, Theology, and Science, V. 14 (Leiden; New York, 1994). Franz Rosenthal, Knowledge Triumphant: The Concept of Knowledge in Medieval Islam, Brill Classics in Islam, (Boston, 2007). http://booksandjournals.brillonline.com/content/books/9789047410959
Oct 1: The Place of Science in Islam—Marginality vs. Naturalization Ignaz Goldziher, “The Attitude of Orthodox Islam toward the ‘Ancient Sciences,’” in Studies on Islam, ed. and trans. Merlin L. Swartz (New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1981), pp. 185-215, especially pp. 195-6 (German original: “Stellung der alten islamischen Orthodoxie zu den antiken Wissenschaften,” Abhandlungen der Koniglich Preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 8 (Berlin, 1916). G. E. von Grunebaum, “Muslim World View and Muslim Science,” in idem, Islam: Essays in the Nature and Growth of a Cultural Tradition, 2nd ed. (London, 1961). A. I. Sabra, “The Appropriation and Subsequent Naturalization of Greek Science in Medieval Islam: A Preliminary Statement,” History of Science 25 (1987): 223-43; reprinted in idem, Optics, Astronomy and Logic: Studies in Arabic Science and Philosophy, no. I (Aldershot, Hampshire: Variorum, 1994); and again in Tradition, Transmission, Transformation, pp. 3-27. David King, “Science in the Service of Religion: The Case of Islam,” in Astronomy in the Service of Islam, by David King (1993), pp. 245-62.
Additional Readings for Reports: David King, “On the Role of the Muezzin and the Muwaqqit in Medieval Islamic Society,” in Tradition, Transmission, Transformation, pp. 285-346. Basim Musallam, Sex and Society in Islam: Birth Control before the Nineteenth Century: Cambridge Studies in Islamic Civilization (Cambridge; New York, 1983). http://name.umdl.umich.edu/HEB00923
Oct. 8: The Place of Science in Islam—Location, Location, Location George Makdisi, The Rise of Colleges: Institutions of Learning in Islam and the West (Edinburgh, 1981), selections. https://archive.org/details/TheRiseOfCollegesInstituionsOfLearningInIslamAndTheWest İhsan Fazlioğlu, “The Samarqand Mathematical-Astronomical School,” Journal for the History of Arabic Science 14 (2008): 3-68. http://islamsci.mcgill.ca/Fazlioglu.pdf A. I. Sabra, “Situating Arabic Science Locality Versus Essence,” Isis 87 (1996): 654-70. François Charette, “The Locales of Islamic Astronomical Instrumentation,” History of Science 44 (2006): 123-38. Sonja Brentjes, “On the Location of the Ancient or ‘Rational’ Sciences in Muslim Education Landscapes (AH 500-1100),” Bulletin of the Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies 4, no. 1 (Spring/Summer 2002): 47-71.
Additional Readings for Reports: Sonja Brentjes, “Courtly Patronage of Ancient Sciences in Post-Classical Islamic Societies,” Al-Qanṭara 29 (2009): 403-36. Aydın Sayılı, The Observatory in Islam and Its Place in the General History of the Observatory. Publications of the Turkish Historical Society, Series 7 (Ankara,1960).
Oct. 15: Philosophy and Science Ahmad S. Dallal, Islam, Science, and the Challenge of History: The Terry Lectures (New Haven, CT: 2010), ch. 2, pp. 54-109. A.I. Sabra, “Some Remarks on Al-Kindi as a Founder of Arabic Science and Philosophy” in Dr. Mohammad Abdulhadi Abu Ridah Festschrift, ed. A.O. Al-Omar (Kuwait, 1993), pp. 601-7. Gerhard Endress, “Mathematics and Philosophy in Medieval Islam,” in The Enterprise of Science in Islam: New Perspectives, eds. J.P. Hogendijk and A.I. Sabra (Cambridge, MA, 2003), pp. 121-76. Robert G. Morrison, “Falsafa and Astronomy after Avicenna: An Evolving Relationship,” in Avicenna and His Legacy: A Golden Age of Science and Philosophy: Cultural Encounters in Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, ed. Y.T. Langermann (Turnhout, 2009), pp. 307-26.
Background Reading: Jon McGinnis, “Arabic and Islamic Natural Philosophy and Natural Science.” http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/arabic-islamic-natural/
Oct. 22, 29: Ibn Rushd vs. al-Ghazālī vs. Ibn Sīnā: The Reaction against Hellenistic philosophy Averroës, Tahafut Al-Tahafut = the Incoherence of the Incoherence: Unesco Collection of Great Works Arabic Series, trans. S. van den Bergh, 2 vols. (London, 1954). [Selections] Averroës, Tahafot at-Tahafot, ed. M. Bouyges, 3ème éd.: Bibliotheca Arabica Scholasticorum Série Arabe (Beiruit, 1992). Frank Griffel, Al-Ghazālī’s Philosophical Theology (Oxford, 2009). [Selections]
Additional Readings for Reports: Leor Halevi, “The Theologian’s Doubts: Natural Philosophy and the Skeptical Games of Ghazālī,” Journal of the History of Ideas 63 (Jan., 2002): 19-39. Steven Harvey, “Why Did Fourteenth-Century Jews Turn to Alghazali’s Account of Natural Science? The Jewish Quarterly Review, New Series, vol. 91, no. 3/4 (Jan.-Apr., 2001): 359-76. Michael E. Marmura, “Ghazali and Demonstrative Science,” Journal of the History of Philosophy 3, no. 2 (October 1965): 183-204. Michael E. Marmura, “Ghazali's Attitude to the Secular Sciences and Logic,” in Essays on Islamic Philosophy and Science, ed. G.F. Hourani (Albany, 1975), pp. 100-11. Ayman Shihadeh, “From al-Ghazālī to al-Rāzī: 6th/12th Century Developments in Muslim Philosophical Theology,” Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 15 (2005): 141-79. Ibn Khaldun, The Muqaddimah: An Introduction to History (Princeton, 1967), vol. 3, pp. 246-80. Max Meyerhof and J. Schacht, “Maimonides against Galen on Philosophy and Cosmogony,” in Studies in Medieval Arabic Medicine, M. Meyerhof (London, 1984), treatise IX, pp. 52-88.
Nov. 5, 12: Naturalization or Reconfiguration? Ahmad S. Dallal, Islam, Science, and the Challenge of History: The Terry Lectures (New Haven CT, 2010), ch. 3, pp. 110-48. A. I. Sabra, “Science and Philosophy in Medieval Islamic Theology,” Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften 9 (1994):1-42. F. Jamil Ragep, “Freeing Astronomy from Philosophy: An Aspect of Islamic Influence on Science,” Osiris 16 (2001): 49-71. İhsan Fazlioğlu, “Between Reality and Mentality: Fifteenth-Century Mathematics and Natural Philosophy Reconsidered,” Nazariyat 1 (Nov. 2014): 1-39.
Additional Readings for Reports: Robert G. Morrison, Islam and Science: The Intellectual Career of Nīẓām Al-Dīn Al-Nīsābūrī: Culture and Civilization in the Middle East (London; New York, 2007). Robert G. Morrison, “Reasons for a Scientific Portrayal of Nature in Medieval Commentaries on the Qurʾān,” Arabica 52, no. 2 (2005): 182-203. F. Jamil Ragep, “Ṭūsī and Copernicus: The Earth’s Motion in Context,” Science in Context 14, nos. 1-2 (2001): 145-63. Nahyan A. G. Fancy, Science and Religion in Mamluk Egypt: Ibn Al-Nafīs, Pulmonary Transit and Bodily Resurrection (London, 2013). Irmeli Perho, The Prophet’s Medicine: A Creation of the Muslim Traditionalist Scholars: Studia Orientalia (Helsinki, 1995).
Nov. 19: Science and Islam: The Modern Context Ernest Renan, L’islamisme et la science: conférence faite à la Sorbonne le 29 Mars 1883 (Paris, 1883); English trans. S.P. Ragep [24 pp] https://www.mcgill.ca/islamicstudies/files/islamicstudies/renan_islamism_cversion.pdf Dimitri Gutas, “Islam and Science: A False Statement of the Problem,” Islam & Science 1.2 (Dec. 2003): 215-20. Muzaffar Iqbal, “Islam and Science: Responding to a False Approach,” Islam & Science 1.2 (Dec. 2003): 221-34 David C. Reisman, “An Unfortunate Response: Iqbal on Gutas,” Islam and Science 2, 1 (Summer 2004): 63-73. ADDITONAL READINGS TO BE ASSIGNED
Additional Readings for Reports: Taner Edis, An Illusion of Harmony: Science and Religion in Islam (Amherst, NY, 2007). Seyyed Hossein Nasr, and Muẓaffar Iqbāl, Islam, Science, Muslims and Technology (Sherwood Park, AB, 2007). Pervez Hoodbhoy, Islam and Science: Religious Orthodoxy and the Battle for Rationality (London; Atlantic Highlands, NJ, 1991).
Nov. 26: Science and Islam: The Modern Context READINGS TO BE ASSIGNED Dec. 3: Wrap-up and Class Presentations ISLA 581 F. Jamil Ragep Science and Religion in Islam Fall 2015
Additional Course Information
1. Ragep’s Office Hrs: Th 1:30-3:15 pm and by appointment. [Morrice Hall 024]
2. Make-up of an examination, or late submission of papers, will be permitted without penalty only in cases of serious illness or emergency (such as a death in the family); approval for such a make-up exam or late essay submission must be obtained in advance in all but highly exceptional cases.
3. Late submissions of assignments will be accepted but will be penalized a half letter-grade (or 5 points on a 100 scale) for every day it is late, up to a maximum of 50% penalty. Missed exams (other than the final) or paper assignments that are unexcused may (and should) be made up; they will be given 50% credit.
4. McGill is committed to providing reasonable accommodation for all students with disabilities. Students with disabilities who require accommodations in this course are requested to speak with the professor as early in the semester as possible. It would be helpful if you contact the Office for Students with Disabilities at 398-6009 (online at http://www.mcgill.ca/osd) before you do this.
5. In accord with McGill University’s Charter of Students’ Rights, students in this course have the right to submit in English or in French any written work that is to be graded. Conformément à la Charte des droits de l’étudiant de l’Université McGill, chaque étudiant a le droit de soumettre en français ou en anglais tout travail écrit devant être noté.
6. McGill University recognizes and respects the diversity of its members, including diversity of religious faiths and observances. For McGill’s policy for the Accommodation of Religious Holy Days, please see https://www.mcgill.ca/importantdates/holy-days-0/policy-holy-days
7. Permission from the instructor is needed for taping of Lectures.
8. Academic Integrity: McGill University values academic integrity. Therefore, all students must understand the meaning and consequences of cheating, plagiarism and other academic offences under the Code of Student Conduct and Disciplinary Procedures (see www.mcgill.ca/students/srr/honest/ ) for more information.
9. In the event of extraordinary circumstances beyond the University’s control, the content and/or evaluation scheme in this course is subject to change.
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Please feel free to email me with any questions or problems: [email protected]