Science in the “Dark Ages”

1. Science in the “Dark Ages” The world is still largely undiscovered. People in one country or continent know little or nothing about people or ideas elsewhere. Much of the flourishing of scientific thought is taking place in China and what is now known as the Middle East.

2. One Possible Waveform of Knowledge Evolution Oops … The Barbarian Hole

3. Important Conditions • Barbarians, hordes, warrior-kings and empire building is a major aspiration of some cultures. • Translation of ancient latin/greek texts into Arabic becomes very important for the transmission of knowledge

4. TRIBES trying to Build Empires

5. The “Golden Age” of Medieval Islam • Islam spread rapidly with the conquests of the first caliphs, or Muslim rulers • 750-1050 AD was a “golden age” for the Islamic world • Arabia was at the crossroads of trade between Asia, Africa and Europe • Trade and conquest (Caliphate Empire) led to cultural exchange and the spread of knowledge • Cities like Baghdad and Alexandria became great centres of scholarship

6. Why did the “Golden Age” come to an end? • Religious divisions caused problems by the end of the 11th century • Conservative theologians imposed a return to orthodox beliefs and rejected ‘foreign sciences’ • The European crusades and attacks by the Mongols weakened the empire

7. But What is Islam? • A religion that began with the prophet Muhammad in the 7th century • Muhammad believed he was a messenger sent by God --> a belief similar to other religions • Islam spread rapidly throughout the Middle East and beyond so it rivals Christianity in terms of a population base of followers "And it is He who created the night and the day and the sun and the moon; all [heavenly bodies] in an orbit are swimming." [Noble Quran 21:33] "We (Allah) will show you (mankind) Our signs/patterns in the horizons/universe and in yourselves until you are convinced that the revelation is the truth." [Noble Quran 41:53]

8. Science and Learning in Medieval Islam • Early Islamic teaching encouraged the pursuit of all knowledge that helped to improve people’s lives – this might be different from pursuing knowledge to understand the Universe • Muslims translated important works from ancient Greece and Egypt into Arabic • Huge libraries were established in big cities like Baghdad, Cairo and Damascus

9. Algebra circa 800 Muslim Spain becomes one of the principal centers of learning and discussion in all of Europe. This activity was mostly located in Cordoba.

10. Astronomy • Astronomy was important to Muslims for practical reasons • Astronomy contributed to navigation • Observations of the sun and moon were used to determine prayer times and an accurate calendar • Large observatories were established and new instruments such as the astrolabe were developed

11. Nasir al-Din al-Tusi 1201-1274 • Most significant alteration of Ptolemy model – replaced epicycles with complex nesting of circles • Copernicus knows about this work and seems to have borrowed it for his book • But fails to improve the accuracy of prediction of planetary positions

12. By the 12th and 13th Centuries, Muslim contributions to knowledge and fundamental texts rivaled those of the Greeks

13. A new character Emerges • Roger Bacon (1214-1284) • Championed the Experimental Method as the best road to the truth • Was persecuted and imprisoned many times due to this aggressive opposition to the Medieval Church that condemned his experimental science approach The strongest arguments prove nothing so long as the conclusions are not verified by experience. Experimental science is the queen of sciences and the goal of all speculation.

14. New Methodologies • In 1267 and 1268, Roger Bacon published proposals for educational reform, arguing for the study of nature, using observation and exact measurement, and asserting that the only basis for certainty is experience, or verification • “Reasoning draws a conclusion, but does not make the conclusion certain, unless the mind discovers it by the path of experience” • What would Aristotle say to this?

15. Roger Bacon • There two ways of acquiring knowledge, one through reason, the other by experiment. Argument reaches a conclusion and compels us to admit it, but it neither makes us certain nor so annihilates doubt that the mind rests calm in the intuition of truth, unless it finds this certitude by way of experience. • Even if a man that has never seen fire, proves by good reasoning that fire burns, and devours and destroys things, nevertheless the mind of one hearing his arguments would never be convinced, nor would he avoid fire until he puts his hand or some combustible thing into it in order to prove by experiment what the argument taught. But after the fact of combustion is experienced, the mind is satisfied and lies calm in the certainty of truth. Hence argument is not enough, but experience is.