Mathematics and Philosophy in the Arab World

Abstract

In the Arab world, the real cultivation of science and philosophy in the form of academic disciplines began in the second/eight century, after the period of the great conquests, as a result of the translation movement that was fostered by the ʿAbbāsids of Baghdad. The “translation” into Arabic of the scientific and philosophical knowledge of the Ancients (Greeks, Persians, and Indians) was not uncritical, as the necessity (for religious reasons) of synthesizing this cultural heritage and the Islamic religious thought led to the foundation of a gnoseological itinerary, the final aim of which was God. It was on the basis of this purpose that the recovery of the ancient knowledge and the study of all disciplines, both philosophical and scientific, were justified.

Arab scholars generally used to present science as a branch of philosophy, since the process of inquiry into the nature of science was the same as that used to inquire into the nature of philosophical knowledge. In turn, science was generally distinguished into two main groups: mathematical sciences and natural sciences.

Mathematical sciences included arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music. Regarding mathematics, it seems that there were two different systems of thought in the school of Baghdad. One system was influenced by the classical heritage and tried to recover the Greek and Mesopotamic knowledge. The other system, more practical, was influenced by Indian sources, which had its champion in the beginner of algebra, Muḥammad b. Mūsā al-Khwarizmī.

As for philosophy, it played a fundamental role not only in the process of absorption and synthesis of “foreign” sciences and the formation of the Islamic ones, but also in the cultivation and the development of sciences in general, to the extent that this process would have been impossible without the contribution of the falsafa or ḥikma (wisdom).

As for the role of science and its relationship with theology, the Arabs maintained that science, in its general meaning, was useful in order to understand and implement the divine law.