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Politcal Science - Selcuk University Why Scientific Revolutions Didn’t Take Place in Islamic World?
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What exactly is meant by a scientific revolution? Is revolution useful for us? The scientific revolution emerged in Europe around the seventeenth century when it was hit by a severe life crisis. Economic life that didn’t benefit some ordinary people and the very realistic state of feudalism of capitalists caused turmoil in Europe. Several times revolutions took place including the Industrial Revolution, the Agricultural Revolution, the French Revolution, and the Scientific Revolution. (Steven,1996) The scientific revolution is a revolution that marks the rise of European intellectual groups on scientific thinking. The scientific revolution is a revolution about changing the way of thinking and human perception in gaining knowledge for human. The change in human perception is the change from ontological way of thinking to mechanistic mathematical thinking. The ontological way of thinking is a legacy left by Europeans when the Middle Ages establish religious laws for everything, including scientific activities. When the Renaissance Age humans were no longer the image of God, but humans also had human ratios or consciousness as well as creativity as a desire to progress, improve human culture. Knowledge is based on rationality and empiricism which develops rapidly with the mathematical approach applied in its studies. The human world and its knowledge are anthropocentric, a world centered on the "power" of the human mind. During the Renaissance, Europe's victory and pride was built, that is, knowledge began to be based on rationality and empiricism. Various relics of buildings, such as magnificent works of art (painting, sculpture and architecture) that are in mainland Europe mark the rise of Europeans to dominate the world of art and science. Humanist Renaissance reformers, such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo. N. Copernicus, J. Keppler and Galileo Galilei are very famous for their works of art and inventions in the field of science. (Nnaji, 2013)
When many people talk or write about the Muslim world, they tend to limit it more with Arab countries and other Muslim societies. They often make a separation between Turkey, Persia, Spain, Byzantium and Arabic which they describe separately, as if they were a nation representing different civilizations. Very few people realize that Islamic civilization did not advance. Instead, it is an expansive civilization that embraces various races and nations into it through conquest and propaganda and successfully integrates them into one Islamic tradition. Considering this fact, I will categorize the Muslim world as all communities that accept Islamic messages without differentiating their race type. In my opinion, the Muslim world consists of all the Muslims who stretched from Spain to Central Asia and North Africa to the Archipelago in Southeast Asia. The command to observe this natural phenomenon equips the Muslim mind to recognize and then accept all scientific ideas that already existed when the arrival of Islam. So even though many
After inheriting a basic scientific paradigm from Muslims, the Westerners then equip themselves with knowledge that is transformed in every way to be ready to welcome the scientific revolution. The most important process and transformation of this science is institutionalization. The Europeans then formed a university institution. This activity has been the foundation of modern science from the middle ages to the present. The main factor in the advancement of the scientific tradition in Europe is the emergence of a group of philosophers-theologians. They play a major role in supporting philosophy as an important field of study. Basically it was they who saved the philosophers and the source of the anger of the church. Compared to their colleagues in the Islamic world who are hostile to philosophy, theologians in the West are looking for a compromise between philosophy and theology. Even if necessary theology uses philosophical ideas, such as Aristotle, to be used to defend unreasonable Biblical doctrines such as the Trinity and the Eucharist. The fact of the association of philosophy with theologians explains the paradox why the Aristotelian philosophy which the Church disliked could grow in medieval universities, even though at that time the university was under the protection of the church. this does not mean that philosophers in the West are freedom than in the Muslim world. The general conditions in the West support scientific activities. Among the most important is the peaceful atmosphere in Europe towards the 17th century AD Generally, social and political stability also means mental stability, and without which intellectual progress would not be possible. Western Europe has never experienced terror like the Mongols and Crusaders did to the Muslim world. Economic prosperity is also closely related to peace in Europe. The city-state there was generally more prosperous than the empire in the Muslim world. In Europe at that time it was famous for private companies that developed and wealthy businessmen. These entrepreneurs have become the backbone for raising all kinds of life. Europeans discovered the world through the oceans and the land, not just a plan to facilitate the birth of glorious ideas and stream economic prosperity, but also an adventure for the search for knowledge. Expensive experiments are supported and many learning activities are funded. In fact, university funding was partly successful because many Europeans prospered.
The emergence of a scientific revolution in 17th century Europe is a historical fact that cannot be denied. Even so, we need to put this important scientific historical phenomenon in the natural way, thus it is necessary to look at the processes and events of several centuries before the peak of the revolution. As we have described above, it is not true to say that scientific phenomena throughout the centuries were the result of European efforts themselves. In other parts of the world, especially in the Islamic world, contributions to the development of science are no less important. Their contribution is as important as other elements that join one another for the sake of a revolution. The question of why the revolution did not arise in their midst was merely a historical coincidence. The factors we have described above to explain the emergence of scientific knowledge in Europe should not be considered exclusive to Europe alone. Either way, the scientific revolution only happens once in history and it doesn't allow us to make comparisons. For example, the role played by universities in Europe may have been carried out by certain institutions elsewhere. Of course a scientific revolution can also occur in China or even India, but because it occurs only in Europe, we are forced to believe that the atmosphere and behavior of European scientists is what drives the revolution. The attitude of Muslim theologians towards philosophy should not be exaggerated as a barrier to the progress of scientific activity in the Islamic world. For this I need to react to it by agreeing on the law of adopting an external culture, which says that ‘living cultures can borrow foreign elements to develop to the extent that they can be adapted and integrated with local forces. But with all the power to resist excessive rapid growth, a living culture also ignores or rejects elements of foreign culture that conflict with its fundamental values, emotional attitudes or aesthetic criteria. And this is exactly what scholars have done on Greek philosophy within the limits of the Islamic way of life.
