[FRIAM] Islamic Enlightenment?

[Prof David West]

There were parallel enlightenment/renaissance periods in India and China that I know about. I will try to post some references later in the weekend. I have heard about similar periods in sub-Sahara Africa but know little about them. Archeology suggests that there might have been a very advanced, if not enlightened, civilization in the "Green Sahara" about 10,000 years ago when North Africa was a land of lakes, rivers, and forests.

davew


On Fri, Sep 10, 2021, at 5:03 PM, uǝlƃ ☤>$ wrote:
> Yeah, I thought that, too. But either way, this is the only recent 
> article I've found that talks about how the enlightenment isn't a 
> Western Exceptionalist thing. I've heard some black radicals claim that 
> several other cultures have had something similar at other times and to 
> other extents. But I'm not well read enough to know where, when, who, 
> etc.
> 
> 
> On 9/10/21 3:58 PM, Prof David West wrote:
> > It seems somewhat limiting to, even partially, equate 'enlightenment' with critical philosophy as this article does. The efflorescence of ideas, of sciences (especially astronomy, math, and medicine), and arts that occurred in the Islamic world long before the European Renaissance would seem a better foundation to conclude that Islam was already enlightened during (and before) the European Middle Ages.
> > 
> > davew
> > 
> > 
> > On Fri, Sep 10, 2021, at 2:26 PM, uǝlƃ ☤>$ wrote:
> >>
> >> Are Islamic philosophers critical of authority?
> >> https://www.newstatesman.com/international/2021/09/are-islamic-philosophers-critical-authority
> >>
> >> "All this sheds an interesting light on a frequently asked question, 
> >> which is why the Islamic world never experienced something like the 
> >> European Enlightenment. Of course, that's a complicated issue. But part 
> >> of the answer might simply be this: to the extent that 'enlightenment' 
> >> involves the emergence of intellectuals who step back from the typical 
> >> views of their society, and critically evaluate prevailing religious 
> >> and philosophical ideas, the Islamic world was already 'enlightened' 
> >> during the European Middle Ages."
> 
> 
> -- 
> ☤>$ uǝlƃ
> 
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