07-Macfarlane Science and Industry Islamic World
In-class work on science and industry in the Islamic world. We will begin by watching the the second set of videos (Istanbul) on Alan Macfarlane’s page at http://www.alanmacfarlane.com/global/prog3.htm
You will then post to the blog your summary and response to the points Professor Macfarlane makes.
Do not use the Leave a Reply box below but the New Post link in the blue area at the top of the page. Also remember to check your name (under People) and Science and Industry-Macfarlane (under assignments) in the category boxes to the right of the posting area.
February 4, 2008 at 8:29 pm |
In this movie we watched in class on Thursday, January 31st, Alan Macfarlene discussed many points on the science and industry in the Islamic world. In he first point, reasons for statistics in Islamic science, Alan Macfarlene discusses come reasons why Islamic science failed to switch its dominance after its early brilliance. He stated that they didn’t have universities, and religious schools weren’t the same, and he also said that Islam also draws the line of too much asking of questions of why this and why that. The next topic Macfarlane discussed was the topic of why an industrial revolution had not occurred in the Ottoman Empire. There were natural resource shortages, which was among reasons of the lack of development in the empire. There was also no grain, and no vegetables, in Islam, whereas the West had new methods of raising crops in addition to rich soils and great plowing. Another topic was on the nature of Islamic religion and civilization, here Macfarlene discussed the ways in which the Islamic religion saturates all aspects of civilization, and puts limits on scientific and industrial development. Next, commercial sophistication was discussed, it discussed the market systems in the Ottoman Empire and reflected on the factors which made it difficult to take this towards a modern industrial civilization such as the fact that they don’t produce anything there, they simply buy and sell goods. The nature of power in the ottoman empire was discussed, and in this portion Macfarlene reflected on the nature of the political and social power within the Ottoman Empire, in Islam there is no diversity of groups, and there is a strong conservative argument that’s based on the idea that the strength of society depends on its diversity with lots of different groups. Lastly, Macfarlene discussed science, religion, and technology in Islamic civilizations; he went over the differences between religions and technologies and their effects on the development of thought. All in all this film was very informative, as it clearly described key characteristics in Islamic culture.