The History and
Philosophy of Islamic Science,
[A5] Paperback - x + 266 = Total 276 pages,
by Osman Bakar.
Description :
The essays presented in The History and Philosophy of Islamic Science discuss the principles behind the different sciences cultivated in the Islamic world from the third century of the Islamic era onwards and the place of science in relation to other branches of Islamic learning.
In defining what Islamic science means, Professor Osman Bakar shows how these sciences are organically related to the fundamental teachings of Islam. Covering all the natural and mathematical sciences, The History and Philosophy of Islamic Science illustrates what Islamic science shares with modern science. Professor Osman Bakar also highlights where the Islamic approach to science differs from the secular, modern approach.
Review:
‘[Osman Bakar’s book] marks a most valuable contribution both to the effort of revealing the Islamic intellectual and spiritual approach to science, and to the concomitant endeavour to highlight the deeper causes of the contemporary crisis in western science and technology...it opens up, with clarity and simplicity, the philosophy of Islamic science.’ ----Islamic Quarterly.
Table of Contents :
Part One : The Epistemological Foundation of Islamic Science,
---[1]. Religious Consciousness and the Scientific Spirit in Islamic Tradition,
---[2]. The Question of Methodology in Islamic Science,
---[3]. The Place of Doubt in Islamic Epistemology: al-Ghazzali’s Philosophical Experience.
Part Two : Man, Nature, and God in Islamic Science,
---[4]. The Unity of Science and Spiritual Knowledge: The Islamic Experience,
---[5]. The Atomistic Conception of Nature in Ash’arite Theology,
---[6]. An Introduction to the Philosophy of Islamic Medicine.
Part Three : Islamic Science and the West,
---[7]. The Influence of Islamic Science on Medieval Christian Conceptions of Nature,
---[8]. Umar Khayyam’s Criticism of Euclid’s Theory of Parallels,
Part Four : Islam and Modern Science,
---[9]. Islam and Bioethics,
---[10]. Muslim Intellectual Responses to Modern Science,
---[11]. Islam, Science & Technology: Past Glory, Present Predicaments, and the Shaping of the Future.
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About the Author : Professor Osman bin Bakar was born and raised in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. Since 1995, Professor Bakar has served as the Deputy Vice Chancellor/Vice President of Academics and was the first (1992) and present holder of the Chair of the Professor of Philosophy of Science at the University of Malaya (Kuala Lumpur).
He completed his undergraduate degree with Honors and an M.Sc. in Mathematics (specializing in Algebra) at London University. In 1981, Osman Bakar entered Temple University where he completed an M.A. in Comparative Religion and his Ph.D. in Philosophy of Science/Islamic Philosophy at Temple University.
Osman Bakar's literary work appears in numerous journals, chapters in various books as well as in encyclopedias. His books, Classification of Knowledge in Islam; Tawid and Science; and Civilizational Dialogue, among others, have been translated into Albanian, Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Indonesian, Persian, Spanish, Turkish, and Urdu. In 1994, he was awarded the Dato'ship by Sultan of Pahang and has received additional recognition for his work to include the Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Harvard University. In addition, he has served as a consultant to various agencies to include the United Nations and UNESCO.
Currently, Dr. Osman Bakar is the Malaysia Chair of Islam in Southeast Asia, Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding and is a member of the Center's Academic Council.
Also see Falsafa : Darsi.
