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APUD ARABES Notes on Greek, Latin, Arabic, Persian, and Hebrew Online version: http://www.capurro.de/iran.html APUD ARABES Notes on Greek, Latin, Arabic, Persian, and Hebrew Roots of the Concept of Information Rafael Capurro CONTENTS Introduction I. The Philosophical Debate: Aristotle, Averroes and Albertus Magnus 1. Biographical Data 2. Some Findings 3. Translations and Interpretations II. Research Questions 1. What is the origin and interpretation of the concepts ta ṣawwur and ta ṣdīq in the Middle Ages? 2. What happened regarding the interpretation of these concepts after the Middle Ages? 3. How would a discourse on message theory ('angeletics') in an Iranian context look like? 4. How would a discourse on Information Ethics in an Iranian context look like? III. Questions and An swers. Notes from a dialogue between Rafael Capurro and Mahmood Khosrowjerdi Conclusion Acknowledgements References 1 "Theoretical differences and divergence of views is inevitable in societies in spite of their unity and agreement in principles, and as long as the roots of the differences lie in methods o f inference, and not in vested interests, they are even beneficial; because they cause mobility, dynamism, discussion, curiosity, and progress. Only when the differences are accompanied by prejudices and emotional and illogical alignments, and lead individ uals to slander, defame, and treat one another with contempt, instead of motivating them to endeavor towards reforming themselves, that they are a cause of misfortune." (Martyr Murtada Mutahhari: An Introduction to 'Ilm al- Kalam , transl. from Persian by 'Ali Quli Qara'i, Vol. II, No. 2, Rabi al Tani 1405 - January 1985) INTRODUCTION The following palimsestic notes on Greek, Latin, Arabic, and Persian roots of the concept of information go back t o my PhD thesis " Information. Ein Beitrag zur etymologischen und ideengeschichtlichen Begründung des Informationsbegriffs " (Munich 1978) [Information. A contribution to the etymological and historical foundat ion of the concept of information]. Key insights of this thesis can be found in Rafael Capurro and Birger Hjørland: "The Concept of Information," in Annual Review of Information Science and Technology (ARIST), Ed. Blaise Cronin, (New Jersey 2003, pp. 343-411) as well as in Rafael Capurro: "Past, present and future of the concept of information," in triple C (2009). The first par t of these notes deals with the philosophical debate between Aristotle, Averroes and Albertus Magnus. It is based around certain findings from my PhD thesis concerning the concept of informatio as quoted by Albertus Magnus who in his interpretation of Aristotle refers to "the Arabs" ("apud Arabes"). In the second part , I propose a number of questions for research on the concept of information through the context of Christian and Is lamic traditions as well as a few questions regarding the phenomenological and ethical issues of today's message societies. The third part is a dialogue with Mahmood Khosrowjerdi dealing with some issues of the first and second 2 parts with quotes in extenso from Harry A. Wolfson. I excuse myself for quoting in the original languages. The transliteration particularly from Arabic and Persian names and words is not uniform. Not being able to understand Arabic and Persian, I ask the reader to be careful when I dare an interpretation based on other's knowledge and to accept my apologies when she expects better explanations. I've made a few formal chan ges in the Wikipedia quotes, for instance, deleting the links. Some quotes are given in extenso . This presentation is on the occasion of an invitation from Prof. Jafar Mehrad to visit the Islamic World Science Citatio n Center (ISC) and the Regional Information Center for Science and Technology (RICeST), Shiraz and to give a number of lectures on the information concept and on information ethics. My sincere thanks to Prof. Mehrad for his invitation. I've prepared PowerPoint presentations on the Philosophical Debate as well as on Intercultural Information Ethics based on the following notes. I thank the reader for critical remarks and comments. Rafael Capurro Karlsruhe (Germany), Summer 2014 A short version of this text was presented at the conference FIS/ISIS 2015 : Information Society at the Crossroads — Response and Responsibility of the Sciences of Information,Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, June 3-6, 2015. See here . 3 I. THE PHILOSOPHICAL DEBATE ARISTOTLE, AVERROES AND ALBERTUS MAGNUS 1. BIOGRAPHICAL DATA Arist otle, roman copy of original by Lysippus (ca.330 BC), Paris, Louvre Source: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristoteles "Aristotle (Greek: Ἀριστοτέλης , Aristotél ēs; 384– 322 BCE) was a Greek philosopher and scientist born in Stagirus, northern Greece, in 384 BCE. His father, Nicomachus, died when Aristotle was a child, whereafter Proxenus of Atarneus became his guardian. At eighteen, he joined Plato's Academy in Athens and remained there until the age of thirty-seven (c. 347 BCE). His writings cover many subjects including physics, biology, zoology, metaphysics, logic, ethics, aesthetics, poetry, theater, music, rhetoric, linguistics, politics and government – and constitute the first comprehensive system of Western philosophy. Shortly after Plato died, Aristotle left Athens and, at the request of Philip of Macedon, tutored Alexander the Great between 356 and 323 BCE. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, "Aristotle was the first genuine scientist in hi story ... [and] every scientist is in his debt." Teaching Alexander the Great gave Aristotle many opportunities and an abundance of supplies. He established a library in the Lyceum which aided in the production of many of his hundreds of books. The fact th at Aristotle was a pupil of Plato contributed to his former views of Platonism, but, following Plato's death, Aristotle immersed himself in empirical studies and shifted from Platonism to empiricism. He believed all peoples' concepts and all of their knowl edge was 4 ultimately based on perception. Aristotle's views on natural sciences represent the groundwork underlying many of his works. Aristotle's views on physical science profoundly shaped medieval scholarship. Their influence extended into the Renaissance and were not replaced systematically until the Enlightenment and theories such as classical mechanics. Some of Aristotle's zoological observations were not confirmed or refuted until the 19th century. His works contain the earliest known formal study of logic, which was incorporated in the late 19th century into modern formal logic. In metaphysics, Aristotelianism profoundly influenced Judeo-Islamic philosophical and theological thought during the Middle Ages and continues to influence Christian theology, especially the scholastic tradition of the Catholic Church. Aristotle was well known among medieval Muslim intellectuals .(ا اول :and revered as "The First Teacher" (Arabic His ethics, though always influential, gained renewed interest with the modern advent of virtue ethics. All aspects of Aristotle's philosophy continue to be the object of active academic study today. Though Aristotle wrote many elegant treatises and dialogues – Cicero described his literary style as "a river of gold" – it is tho ught that only around a third of his original output has survived." Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle Averroë s by Andrea Bonaiuto (14th Century) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Averroes أ :Ab ū l-Wal īd Mu ḥammad bin ʾAḥmad bin Rušd (Arabic" commonly known as Ibn ,(ا! ا ر or by his Latinized name ا ر :Rushd (Arabic Averroës (/"#v$ro %.i&z/) Apr il 14, 1126 – December 10, 1198), was an Al-Andalus Muslim polymath, a master of Aristotelian philosophy, Islamic philosophy, Islamic 5 theology, Maliki law and jurisprudence, logic, psychology, politics and Andalusian classical music theory, and the scienc es of medicine, astronomy, geography, mathematics, physics and celestial mechanics. Averroes was born in Córdoba, Al Andalus, present-day Spain, and died in Marrakesh, present-day Morocco. He was interred in his family tomb at Córdoba. The 13th-century ph ilosophical movement based on Averroes' work is called Averroism. Averroes was a defender of Aristotelian philosophy against Ash'ari theologians led by Al-Ghazali. Although highly regarded as a legal scholar of the Maliki school of Islamic law, Averroes' p hilosophical ideas were considered controversial in Muslim circles. Averroes had a greater impact on Western European circles and he has been described as the "founding father of secular thought in Western Europe". The detailed commentaries on Aristotle ea rned Averroes the title "The Commentator" in Europe. Latin translations of Averroes' work led the way to the popularization of Aristotle and were responsible for the development of scholasticism in medieval Europe. [...] Averroes wrote commentaries on most of the surviving works of Aristotle working from Arabic translations. He wrote three types of commentaries. The short commentary ( jami ) is generally an epitome; the middle commentary ( talkhis ) is a paraphrase; the long commentary ( tafsir ) includes the who le text with a detailed analysis of each line." Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Averroes Albertus Magnus, a fres co by Tommaso da Modena (1352) Church of Saint Nicolò, Treviso, Italy Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albertus_Magnus "Albertus Magnus , O.P. (1193/1206 – November 15, 1280), also known as Albert the Great and Albert of Cologne, was a Catholic saint. He was a German Dominican friar and a Catholic bishop. He was 6 known during
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