Comparison and Contrast of Greek and Islamic Culture - Essay Example

Culture, Religion and Science Compare and contrast the influences of culture and religion in sciences in ancient Greece and the Islamic empire. Introduction Before there was a western civilization, there was an Islamic empire and long before the Islamic empire there was the Greek culture and as western thought often dominates the scientific world today so did those cultures dominate the arena of science during their respective times. While examining the Greek culture along with the Islamic empire and their respective advancements in science, a realization is made that culture or closely held beliefs are often inseparable from the scientific thought of a nation (Magner, 2002). At the same time, the topic itself is quite vast and it will probably be very difficult to cover all the points which can be made about the similarities and differences of how culture and religion affected the scientific developments of the ancient Greeks or the early Muslims. In fact even a brief retelling of their combined histories can take up many pages but I shall endeavor to cover the salient points which I came across while researching this topic. To better understand the differences and common elements it would be easier if each civilization is examined in detail on an individual basis while providing links to the other. Ancient Greek Civilization Ancient Greece is rather difficult to pinpoint in terms of historical timelines since there is little agreement on the exact dates of the existence of this culture (Bower, 1991). The historians are in general agreement that all Greek history which came before the Roman Empire is a part of Ancient Greece. There are several periods in this society which are depicted by the art and culture as it existed in those times. Pottery samples and statues have often been of use in marking timelines for various periods of ancient Greek culture. But while the start of the Greek civilization may be questioned, its end is generally taken as the death of Alexander the Great. Cultural and Religious Influences Amongst the many achievements of this culture are wonderful advancements made in the field of science. The made many discoveries of importance particularly in the areas of mathematics, agriculture, animal husbandry, economics and (perhaps most importantly), philosophy (Magner, 2002). Greek culture itself laid a very high value on the ability to speak to an audience and motivate them to do something or the other (Goldstein, 1995). This was the fundamental art of verbal and written rhetoric which basically had someone prove something to others. This cultural influence can be clearly seen in the way the philosophy and the mathematics of the Greek culture operates where very little abstraction is used and most of the theories are based on concrete evidence or examples which can be understood with ease. Euclidian geometry is one such instance since it is based on and originated the idea of formal mathematical proof for theorems. In comparison, the philosophies of Socrates, Aristotle, Plato etc. also work with formal examples and proofs for their ideas (Magner, 2002). Similarities with Muslims The clear similarity between the Greek philosophical thought and the Islamic philosophies which developed much later was the idea of being reasonable and encouraging inquiry with experiment or hypothesis. The continuation of these ideas led to the development of modern scientific methods as they are used in all accepted sciences today. Undoubtedly, the Islamic civilization owes a lot to the Greek thinkers since their ideas were used extensively by Muslim thinkers as they adopted and modified them to fit in with the Islamic culture. Differences with Muslims The major difference between the sciences as they were developed by the Greeks as opposed to the Muslims was that the Greeks sought to find reasons for the existence of the world as it was. They accepted the many gods which the Greek culture believed in but they provided them with stories and reasons for existence. More than that, the Greek culture defined through science and argument the reasons for the world as they saw it. On the other hand, the Muslims accepted certain things as the truth because God willed them to be so and therefore to find out the reasons for them would be useless. That is not to say that the Muslims did not inquire about the world around them at all. Far from it, since they led the field of scientific discovery and thought for many centuries while Europe was struggling with the dark ages (Stone, 2002). The point which is to be made is that the level of inquiry and questioning of things as they were was much higher for the Greeks than it was for the Muslims. None the less, the Muslim culture also had certain things going for it which helped their own scientific ventures. The Muslim Empire An empire of the Muslims was more or less established during the lifetime of the founder of the religion, Muhammad, but the height of the empire came a few hundred years later when the Muslims expanded themselves and their religion from India to Africa and even into Europe. The Muslims are perhaps unique amongst the major religions of the world in the sense that their religion lays great emphasis on the importance of learning, understanding and knowledge. Influence of Religion Sardar (2004) reports that: “The Koran devotes almost one-third of its contents to singing the praises of scientific knowledge. The first Koranic word revealed to the Prophet Muhammad is: "Read." It is a basic tenet of Muslim belief that the material world is full of signs of God; and these signs can be deciphered only through rational and objective inquiry. ‘Acquire the knowledge of all things’ the Koran advises its readers; ‘Say: O my Lord! Increase me in knowledge’ (Sardar, 2004, p. 28)”. Clearly the religion of the Muslims was more than a guiding force towards discovery and invention but at the same time there are certain things which were not meant to be questioned and those who did soon faced the wrath of the government. Rashud was one of the great philosophers of Islam and his ideologies were different from the social recommendations made by Islam, since he voiced his differences he was forced to go into exile for sometime before he was forgiven by the rulers. This is why Rochberg (1992) suggests that instead of using religion or culture as a point for understanding scientific advancements, we should examine the cultural contact which the ancient empires had with other cultures. In those terms, simply due to the fact of their location in the Middle East, the Muslims come with a significant advantage. They had connections with traders from china all the way to those Portuguese and Spanish sailors who sailed in the Mediterranean. Technologies and ideas like Paper from china, or the number zero from India could all be used and further developed by the Muslims. In terms of art, the Muslim culture did not pay much attention to making statues or paintings since Islam abhors idolatry or image making. The artistic output of the civilization was geared more towards calligraphy and the creation of mosques and monuments. Turkey, Iran, Syria and India are full of examples of how Muslim artists took the inspiration from local cultures and injected their ideas into Islamic architecture of the region (Petersen, 2005). Art moved more towards engineering in the Muslim empire than the Greek civilization and instead of making murals or paintings the Muslims became more famous for the literature they produced. Some of the writings of the time e.g. The Thousand and One Nights still fascinate readers. The Greek Connection The Muslim scientists also owe a great debt to the Greek thinkers since the philosophical ideas of Plato, Socrates and Aristotle were continued and further developed by Muslim philosophers since the Christians of the time had rejected them as pagan ideas (Vallianatos, 2004). Muslims also made the earliest discoveries which led to the foundation of modern medicine (Sardar, 2004). Even Shakespeare recognized the value of Moorish medicine in Victorian times. Additionally, since the Arabs were traders and traders (in those times) had very few means to trade except by travel and navigation, their study of astronomy, cartography and sailing also helped to move along the story of our collective civilization as humans (Turner, 1992). However, their single greatest contribution was in the field of mathematics which they developed for the first time as a truly modern science with the addition of fields like algebra, advanced calculus and the creation of algorithms and mathematical functions (Turner, 1992). These are the ideas which form the basis of all modern computers; therefore that in itself is quite an achievement. The golden age of Islam might have continued onwards beyond the 13th century but the Mongol invasion laid waste to a civilization which had made its mark in science and social discovery. Conclusion The history of scientific discovery and the influence of religion as well as culture on the scientific advancements made by a society is quite an interesting study. While it is clear that there is a connection between religion, culture and scientific advancement, I also believe that the openness of a culture as well as their willingness to accept different ideas is an essential factor as far as the growth and development of a society is concerned. If a culture maintains ideological holy cows which are not meant to be questioned or evaluated then certain fields of discovery could be closed to it. At the same time, there is also the question of how much of an influence does contact with outside cultures have on scientific discoveries and advancements. I believe that there is a very strong connection since cultures which develop in relative isolation seem to be weaker in scientific progress than those who have relatively steady contact with others at higher or lower stages of discovery. Overall, I feel that there is a great debt which the modern world owes to both the ancient Greek and the Muslim Empire since without their advances; we would not be where we are today. Works Cited Bower, B. “Beware of Greeks bearing culture.” Science News 140.23 (1991): 380-381. Goldstein, T. Dawn of Modern Science from the Greeks to the Renaissance. Da Capo Press, 1995. Magner, L. History of the Life Sciences. Marcel Dekker, 2002. Petersen, A. “What is Islamic archaeology?” Antiquity 79.303 (2005): 100-106. Rochberg, F. “The cultures of ancient science: Some historical reflections.” Journal of the History of Science in Society 83.4 (1992): 547-554. Sardar, Z. “How to take Islam back to reason.” New Statesman 133.4682 (2004): 28-30. Stone, L. “The Islamic Crescent: Islam, Culture and Globalization.” The European Journal of Social Sciences 15.2 (2002): 121-131. Turner, H. Science in Medieval Islam. University of Texas Press, 1999. Vallianatos, E. “Christians and the Classics: War against Reason.” Mediterranean Quarterly 15.3 (2004): 75-94 Word Count: 1,823 Read More