Science In Islamic Countries

biohack sends us to Physics Today for a thought-provoking article on the status of and prospects for science in Islamic countries. The author, a Pakistani physicist, posits that 'Internal causes led to the decline of Islam's scientific greatness long before the era of mercantile imperialism. To contribute once again, Muslims must be introspective and ask what went wrong.' The author makes a few strong conclusions, many of which are relevant to the general debate between science and religion. From the article: "Science finds every soil barren in which miracles are taken literally and seriously and revelation is considered to provide authentic knowledge of the physical world. If the scientific method is trashed, no amount of resources or loud declarations of intent to develop science can compensate. In those circumstances, scientific research becomes, at best, a kind of cataloging or 'butterfly-collecting' activity. It cannot be a creative process of genuine inquiry in which bold hypotheses are made and checked."

Comments

Re:"Here's your problem"

[jandrese]

Wow, flamebait much? I bet you're a big hit with the Bible Literalists too.

Re:"Here's your problem"

[arminw]

.....Hell, that's why the Muslim religion has a standing death threat for converting away.......

Indeed, especially if a Muslim converts to become a Christian. Early scientists were mostly Christians. The Bible encourages examination of God's creation and our power of reason. It's just that those who call themselves Christians have often not paid attention as to what the Bible actually says about this matter.

Re:"Here's your problem"

[aichpvee]

Tolerance is just another word for putting up with shit that you can't stand. And there is no god.

We've got two kinds of people who "tolerate" shit in this world, both are pricks. We've got the asshole who "tolerates" gays, blacks, jews, and whoever else they hate for no fucking reason. And then we have the assholes who "tolerate" mass genocides, corporate imperialism, and teaching children that a magic fairy named jesus created the world 6000 years ago.

We don't need anyone who "should tolerate" these things, so why do we care if they do or not? We don't need tolerance. What we fucking need is some grown ups.