Islamic Science: the Myth of the Decline Theory

This book examines and critiques the theory of thedecline of Islamic science using the work of thefourteenth century sociologist, Ibn Khaldun, andcontemporary evidence in the fields of mathematics, medicine and astronomy. The central argument of thebook is that after Ibn Khaldun there was a centurieslong gap in which even excellent historians ofscience used simple, dismissive terms and conceptsdefined by a limited, but highly persistent, bundleof interpretative views with a dominant theme ofdecline. The book assesses the logic and empiricalaccuracy of the decline theory and investigates someprocedural and social-physiological factors that mayhave given rise to inadequacies in understanding thefate of Islamic science after the eleventh century. It also attempts to construct an intellectual modelfor the fate of Islamic science, one that examinesthe cultural environment and the interactions amongdifferent cultural dynamics at work.