Graeco-Arabic Rationalism in Islamic Traditional Sciences: The Post-Classical Period (ca. 1200-1900 CE)

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Until rather recently, Islamicists held the opinion that the Arabo-Islamic intellectual tradition—and especially those aspects of it associated with the rationalist (ma‘quli) Graeco-Arabic synthesis—had been on a trajectory of sharp decline after the classical period (ca. 800-1200 CE). Since much of the rationalist output of the post-classical period (ca. 1200-1900) was in the form of commentaries and glosses on books from the curricula of the religious colleges (sing. madrasa), it was simply assumed to represent some form of sterile scholasticism. The assumed stagnation of the rationalist strain was regularly deployed by generations of scholars as the explanatory backdrop to the overwhelming traditionalism of the modern and contemporary Islamic world. Yet their position regarding the rationalist decline was never actually based on the investigation of the massive body of works from this tradition. In recent years, Islamicists have begun to change their opinions, partly in view of what classicists and medievalists have shown us of the internal dialectical traditions, vibrancy, and dynamism of post-Aristotelian commentaries and of the scholasticism of the Latin Schoolmen. However, it appears that this new position is equally adopted as a truth by convention. Little serious work on the post-classical tradition has been carried out. This state of scholarship needs to change; and it is hoped that this collaborative project will make a large stride in this direction.

Further Details

Seminars | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Commentaries Conference