Full Description
'Science and Civilization in Islam' has remained unsurpassed as the authoritative statement on this subject. With his characteristic breadth of learning, clarity of exposition and insight, Seyyed Hossein Nasr presents here for the first time a full picture of Islamic science, not as a chapter in the history of Western science, but as an integral aspect of Islamic civilisation and the Islamic intellectual tradition. By means of an historical presentation, an analysis of its forms, including the use of passages from the writings of many Muslim scientists and philosophers, the author is able to convey not only a sense of the operative context of Islamic science but he also demonstrates its inter-relatedness with the sapiential wisdom on which it is based. An introductory chapter provides the reader with a necessary orientation to the subject according to the principles of Islam, while subsequent chapters survey the whole spectrum of the individual sciences from cosmology, philosophy, theology to alchemy, physics, mathematics, astronomy, and medicine concluding with a chapter on the gnostic tradition.For this edition, Dr Nasr has written a preface surveying the fields covered in the book since its first appearance in 1968, and has provided a supplement that brings the bibliography up to date.
Contents
Introduction; A. The Principles of Islam; B. The Perspectives within Islamic Civilization; 1. The Universal Figures of Islamic Science; 2. The Basis of the Teaching System and the Educational Institutions; 3. Cosmology, Cosmography, Geography, and Natural History; 4. Physics; 5. Mathematics; 6. Astronomy; 7. Medicine; 8. The Sciences of Man; 9. The Alchemical Tradition; 10. Islamic Alchemy and its Influence in the Western World; 11. Philosophy; 12. The Controversies of Philosophy and Theology; 13. The Gnostic Tradition; Selected Bibliography; Index.
