Optics, Astronomy and Logic: Studies in Arabic Science and Philosophy

by Sabra,A.I.

• ISBN13: 9780860784357
• ISBN10: 0860784355
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1994-01-28
• Publisher: Variorum

Summary

Running through the articles in this volume is the theme of the appropriation and subsequent naturalization of Greek science by scholars in the world of medieval Islam. The opening paper presents the historiography of this process, and the focus is then placed on Ibn al-Haytham, one of the most original and influential figures of the 11th century, and in particular in his contribution to the science of optics, both mathematical and experimental, and the psychology of vision. Professor Sabra then continues the analysis of how Greek thought was developed in the Islamic world with two studies of work based on Euclid's geometry and two on critiques of Ptolemaic astronomy. The final articles turn specifically to questions in the history of logic - Aristotelian syllogism, and Avicenna's views on the subject - matter of logic.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
GENERAL
The appropriation and subsequent naturalization of Greek science in medieval Islam: A preliminary statement	223
Ibn al-Haytham	189	(362)
OPTICS
Explanation of optical reflection and refraction: Ibn al-Haytham, Descartes, Newton	551
Ibn al-Haytham's criticisms of Ptolemy's Optics	145
The authorship of the Liber de crepusculis: an eleventh-century work on atmospheric refraction	77	(56)
The astronomical origin of Ibn al-Haytham's concept of experiment	133
The Physical and the mathematical in Ibn al-Haytham's theory of light and vision	1	(298)
Ibn al-Haytham's Lemmas for solving `Alhazen's problem'	299
Psychology versus mathematics: Ptolemy and Alhazen on the moon illusion	217
Sensation and inference in Alhazen's theory of visual perception	160
Form in Ibn al-Haytham's theory of vision	115
GEOMETRY
Thabit ibn Qurra on Euclid's parallels postulate	12
Simplicius's proof of Euclid's parallels postulate	1	(116)
ASTRONOMY
An eleventh-century refutation of Ptolemy's planetary theory	117	(16)
The Andalusian revolt against Ptolemaic astronomy: Averroes and al-Bitruji	133
LOGIC
A twelfth-century defence of the fourth figure of the syllogism	14	(732)
Avicenna on the subject matter of logic	746
Corrections
Index	1