NMC354H1

Science and Literature: Baghdad inherits Athens

This course examines Arabic literary works of the Abbasid empire (750-1258 CE) that engaged with the flourishing study of natural sciences, Greek philosophy, and the philosophies of language and knowledge in the Islamic sciences. Students will read narrative works by Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ, al-Jahiz, Ibn Qutayba, al-Tanukhi, al-Tawhidi, ʿAbd al-Latif al-Baghdadi, as well as poetry dealing with scientific and philosophical concepts. Students will ask how (and whether) Abbasid authors differentiated between the categories of literature, science, beauty, knowledge, and narrative, and how they imagined interactions between them. All readings are in English translation.