13 Feb The Reception of Aristotelian Science in Early Islam: A Historical Account
Dimitri Gutas (Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations, Yale University)
Monday, February 13, 2017 / 5:00 PM
HSSB 6020
This talk examines Hellenic science in late antiquity in its historical, social, and political context, including the consolidation of the Aristotelian/(Neo-)Platonic curriculum of higher studies, expressing the scientific outlook on reality of Hellenism in its defense against Christianity. It will also examine the beginning of translations of parts of the curriculum into Syriac and Middle Persian, culminating with its wholesale translation into Arabic after the appearance of Islam and the the social and historical context of the reception of the Aristotelian treatises into Arabic and their role in the formation of classical Islamic civilization, successor to the Hellenic.
Dimitri Gutas, Professor of Arabic and Graeco-Arabic at Yale University, has devoted a large part of his scholarly career to the edition and study of Greek philosophical texts translated into Arabic and their influence in the Islamic world. He has published Greek Wisdom Literature in Arabic Translation (New Haven 1975), Greek Philosophers in the Arabic Tradition (Aldershot, Hampshire 2000), and has been involved from the beginning as co-editor in Project Theophrastus. He has also been involved in the longstanding project to compile A Greek and Arabic Lexicon. Dr. Gutas is also the author of Greek Thought, Arabic Culture, Introduction to Reading Avicenna’s Philosophical Works (Leiden 1988 and 2013), and numerous articles.
Sponsored by the Center for Middle East Studies, the Department of History, and the Department of Medieval Studies.