Non-Western civilizations achieved major rational-scientific discoveries before Europe
Evidence
Of course, there remain a few small facts that resist this doctrine. To wit, the invention of arithmetic and geometry by the Egyptians. To wit, the discovery of astronomy by the Assyrians. To wit, the birth of chemistry among the Arabs. To wit, the appearance of rationalism in Islam at a time when Western thought had a furiously pre-logical cast to it. But M. Caillois soon puts these impertinent details in their place, since it is a strict principle that “a discovery which does not fit into a whole” is, precisely, only a detail, that is to say, a negligible nothing. — Aimé Césaire, Discourse on Colonialism, 220
Categorization
- QUESTION: Useful factual ammunition: Egyptian arithmetic, Assyrian astronomy, Arab chemistry, Islamic rationalism as concrete counterexamples to primitive-mentality claims — worth keeping for the Islamophobia readings.
- XREF: connects to: Islamic civilization preserved ancient learning and stimulated Western scholasticism — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 1634; Medieval Europe’s intellectual labor was transmission of Arabic-held knowledge rather than invention
Related
- Muslim scholars’ work paved the way for the European Renaissance. (similarity 0.81)
- Medieval Europe’s intellectual labor was transmission of Arabic-held knowledge rather than invention (similarity 0.80)
- Europe’s classical knowledge of the East was preserved and returned by Islamic scholars (similarity 0.80)
- European science built directly on Muslim scholarship and Copernicus drew on Arabic sources (similarity 0.79)
- Islamic civilization preserved ancient learning and stimulated Western scholasticism (similarity 0.79)
- Egyptian thought seeded Greek intellectual and scientific development (similarity 0.78)
Broader Connections
- Medieval Europe’s intellectual labor was transmission of Arabic-held knowledge rather than invention
#corroborates(0.90) - Islamic civilization preserved ancient learning and stimulated Western scholasticism
#corroborates(0.85) — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 1634