The "experimental method" in alchemy means chemistry and medecine.
For more details, see, for example, 'The History of Chemistry', by T. Thomson,
especially Chapter III, 'Chemistry of the Arabians'
(http://archive.org/stream/historychemistr01thomgoog#page/n5/mode/2up)
--- In evola_as_he_is@yahoogroups.com, "vnvsmvndvs" <g.vdheide@...> wrote:
>
> "It is also extremely interesting that the one credited for introducing
> the experimental method in alchemy is the Muslim alchemist,
> astrologer, astronomer, chemist, engineer, geologist, philosopher,
> physician and physicist Abu Musa Jābir ibn Hayyān, known in Europe
as
> Geber, and whose writings and treatises on alchemy are quoted by Evola
> in 'The Hermetic Doctrine' (the research of the most celebrated
> nineteenth century historian of chemistry M. Berthelot would tend to
> show that not all works held to have been written by Jabir are
> actually his, but a contemporary European alchemist's]."
>
> We're speaking of practical alchemy here in the first place ?
>
> --- In evola_as_he_is@yahoogroups.com, "evola_as_he_is" <evola_as_he_is@>
wrote:
> >
> > One of our two main aims in the following study is to address this
> > more or less rhetorical question asked by R. Guénon in 'The Crisis of
> > the Modern World' :"Why have the experimental sciences received a
> > development in the modern civilization such as they have never
> > received at the hands of any other civilization before? Our answer, or
> > rather our clarification, is not rhetorical in any way.
> >
> > The French orientalist E. Renan, "one of the most widely read authors
> > of the mid- to late nineteenth century", "brought to a wide public the
> > findings of linguists and philologists. His 'Life of Jesus' (1865) has
> > been described as the most widely read work in France at the time,
> > next to the Bible itself. (...) one of its central messages was
> > 'religious' in a way that paradoxically gave support to traditional
> > Christian attitudes towards Jews. That message also echoed points made
> > by Kant and the German liberal Protestant theologians whom Renan had
> > studied : Christ had founded a genuinely universal religion, "the
> > eternal religion of humanity, the religion of the spirit liberated
> > from priesthood, from all cult, from all observance, accessible to all
> > races, superior to castes, in one word absolute." Judaism, on the
> > other hand, remained tribalistic ; "it contained the principle of a
> > narrow formalism, of fanaticism, disdainful of strangers."
> > Renan used the word 'race' copiously, if in bewilderingly diverse
> > senses, from a synonym for 'type,' to a social and economic group, to
> > a physical category (...) In some of his writings, Semitic inferiority
> > in a cultural sense is a pervasive theme (particularly because of
> > Semitic tribalism and intolerance), but he also considered the Semites
> > and the Aryans to be part of the same "white race"(while of a
> > different "physical type"). He described modern Jews as being
> > perfectly capable of becoming modern citizens with other enlightened,
> > modern men. In other passages, however, he laid historical
> > responsibility on the Jews for the destructive intolerance introduced
> > into the world through Christianity and Islam. (…) But Renan also
> > praised the Semitic contribution to civilization. The very idea of
> > human solidarity, of equality before one god, was, he wrote : "The
> > fundamental doctrine of the Semites, and their most previous legacy to
> > mankind", even if paradoxically contradicted by the Jewish notion of a
> > Chosen people. He further spoke of both the modern European Aryans and
> > the Semites as noble, in contrast to the inferior races outside
> > Europe." ('Modern Anti-Semitism and the Rise of the Jews', A.S.
> > Lindemann) In the introduction to his five-volume 'History of the
> > People of Israel', he wrote : "For a philosophic mind, that is to say
> > for one engrossed in the origin of things, there are not more than
> > three histories of real interest in the past of humanity: Greek
> > history, the history of Israel, and Roman history... Greece in my
> > opinion has an exceptional past, for she founded, in the fullest sense
> > of the word, rational and progressive humanity. Our science, our arts,
> > our literature, our philosophy, our moral code, our political code,
> > our strategy, our diplomacy, our maritime and international law, are
> > of Greek origin... Greece had only one thing wanting in the circle of
> > her moral and intellectual activity, but this was an important void;
> > she despised the humble and did not feel the need for a just God...
> > Her religions were merely elegant municipal playthings; the idea of a
> > universal religion never occurred to her. The ardent genius of a small
> > tribe established in an outlandish corner of Syria [i.e. The
> > Israelites] seemed to supply this void in the Hellenic intellect [by
> > giving birth to Christianity]."
> >
> > One of the two main characteristics of nineteenth century scientism
> > lies in that passage : a Philosemite anti-Semitism based on religious
> > grounds and on a cultural determinism strongly influenced by a racial
> > determinism of the zoological order ; and the belief in the Greek
> > origins of modern European science : both tendencies were
> > interconnected. Taine, whilst being more consistent and clear-headed
> > than Renan in his assessment of the Semitic races on the typological
> > and spiritual plane [with them, "metaphysics are lacking, religion can
> > only conceive of a God-King who is all-consuming and solitary"], is
> > just as blinded as him, when it comes to evaluating their abilities in
> > the scientific domain : "[with them], science cannot come into being,
> > the spirit is too rigid and complete to reproduce the delicate
> > ordering of nature (...)". In many respects, Bernal, in his famous
> > controversial 'Black Athena', has showed that scientific
> > 'Eurocentrism' derives from a pre-scientist and pre-Darwinist
> > fabrication of ancient Greece, whilst not having seen that it
> > originates essentially in a non European spirit and world-outlook.
> >
> > Like many nineteenth century scientist and racist, Renan claimed that
> > "Islam and science – and therefore, by implication – Islam and modern
> > civilization were incompatible with each other. (...) Renan admitted
> > indeed the existence of a so-called Arabic philosophy and science, but
> > they were Arabic in nothing but language, and Greco-Sassanian in
> > content. They were entirely the work of non-Muslims in inner revolt
> > against their own religion ; by theologians and rulers alike they had
> > been opposed, and so had been unable to influence the institutions of
> > Islam. This opposition had been held in check so long as the Arabs and
> > Persians had been in control of Islam, but it reigned supreme when the
> > Barbarians – Turks in the east, Berbers in the west – took over the
> > direction of the umma. The Turks had a "total lack of the philosophic
> > and scientific spirit", and human reason and progress had been stifled
> > by that enemy of progress, the State based on a revelation. But as
> > European science spread, Islam would perish (...) ('Arabic Thought in
> > the Liberal Age, 1798-1939, A.H. Hourani).
> >
> > "This is how a very large number of books on science and religion, as
> > well as those dealing with the history of science, M. Iqbal states in
> > 'Science and Islam', depict the eight hundred years of scientific
> > activity in Islamic civilization. Most accounts actually reduce this
> > time period to half its length by a summary death sentence, which
> > turns this tradition to an inert mass some time in the twelfth
> > century. This is the prevalent view of nonspecialists, who have never
> > touched a real manuscript with their hands and who have never looked
> > at an Islamic scientific instrument of surpassing aesthetic quality
> > and dazzling details, displaying a mastery of complex mathematical
> > theorems. The extent of the entrenchment of this view makes it almost
> > an obligation of anyone writing a new work on Islam and science to
> > first examine evidence supporting this view. When one makes that
> > attempt one finds that all roads lead to Ignaz Goldziher, the
> > godfather of the 'Islam versus foreign sciences' doctrine (...)
> > Goldziher's attitude toward Islam was formulated in the background of
> > the colonization of the Muslim world by European powers that had, in
> > turn, presented Islam as a spent force that could only be derided and
> > vilified. (...) Religion was thus seen as an inhibitor of science.
> > This was first seen in reference to Christianity, but soon this
> > initial recasting of the role of Christianity in Europe was enlarged
> > to include all religions, Islam being particularly chosen for its
> > perceived hostility toward rational inquiry. The idea that Islam was
> > inherently against science was thus nourished under specific
> > intellectual circumstances then prevalent in Europe, and it was in
> > this general intellectual background that the first echoes of the
> > 'Islam against science' theory [which, as matter of fact, many
> > Muslims, whether of Arabic stock or not, still uphold] are heard."
> >
> > R. Guenon's considerations on science and the Renaissance are worth
> > reading again in the light of these clarifications. While stating
> > first that, at that time, "Men were indeed concerned to reduce
> > everything to human proportions, to eliminate every principle of a
> > higher order, and, one might say, symbolically to turn away from the
> > heavens under pretext of conquering the earth ; the Greeks, whose
> > example they claimed to follow, had never gone as far in this
> > direction, even at the time of their greatest intellectual decadence,
> > and with them utilitarian considerations had at least never claimed
> > the first place, as they were very soon to do with moderns" ; while
> > stating further that "(...) what is called the Renaissance was in
> > reality not a re-birth but the death of many things ; on the pretext
> > of being a return to the Greco-Latin civilization, it merely took over
> > the most outward part of it, since this was the only part that could
> > be expressed clearly in written texts (...)", the fact remains that he
> > is convinced that "some of the origins of the modern world may be
> > sought in 'classical antiquity' ; the modern world is therefore not
> > entirely wrong in claiming to base itself on the Greco-Latin
> > civilization and to be a continuation of it" ('The Crisis of the
> > Modern World'), about which he acknowledged himself in his
> > correspondence that he did not know much. In this case, he would
> > therefore have been well inspired to turn to Mecca, not to pray, but
> > to think. For that "most outward part" of the Greco-Latin civilisation
> > that the Renaissance took over, more precisely, turns out to be
> > constituted by views originating in non Aryan races.
> >
> > "At the beginning of the twelfth century no European could expect to
> > be a mathematician or an astronomer, in any real sense, without a good
> > knowledge of Arabic ; and Europe, during the earlier part of the
> > twelfth century, could not boast of a mathematician who was not a
> > Moor, a Jew, or a Greek." ('A History of Mathematics', C.B. Boyer).
> > "Whether in architecture , agriculture, art, language, law, medicine,
> > music, or technology, the considerable influence of the Arab
> > civilisation on medieval Europe and its determinant role in the
> > genesis of Renaissance was only acknowledged fully in the twentieth
> > century. For instance, its influence on education is enormous :
> > "The origins of the college lies in the medieval Islamic world. The
> > madrasah was the earliest example of a college, mainly teaching
> > Islamic law and theology, usually affiliated with a mosque, and funded
> > by Waqf, which were the basis for the charitable trusts that later
> > funded the first European colleges. The internal organization of the
> > early European college was also borrowed from the earlier madrasah,
> > like the system of fellows and scholars, with the Latin term for
> > fellow, socius, being a direct translation of the Arabic term for
> > fellow, sahib. Madrasahs were also the first law schools, and it is
> > likely that the "law schools known as Inns of Court in England" may
> > have been derived from the madrasahs which taught Islamic law and
> > jurisprudence.
> > If a university is assumed to mean an institution of higher education
> > and research which issues academic degrees at both undergraduate and
> > postgraduate levels, then the Jami'ah which appeared from the 9th
> > century were the first examples of such an institution. The University
> > of Al Karaouine in Fez, Morocco is thus recognized by the Guinness
> > Book of World Records as the oldest degree-granting university in the
> > world with its founding in 859 by Fatima al-Fihri. However, the
> > madrasah differed from the medieval university of Europe in several
> > important respects, namely that the degree took the form of a license
> > (ijazah) which "was signed in the name of the teacher, not of the
> > madrasa". In other words, "the authorization or licensing was done by
> > each professor, not by a group or corporate body, much less by a
> > disinterested or impersonal certifying body". The first colleges and
> > universities in Europe were nevertheless influenced in many ways by
> > the madrasahs in Islamic Spain and the Emirate of Sicily at the time,
> > and in the Middle East during the Crusades.
> > The origins of the doctorate dates back to the ijazat attadris wa
> > 'l-ifttd ("license to teach and issue legal opinions") in the medieval
> > Islamic legal education system, which was equivalent to the Doctor of
> > Laws qualification and was developed during the 9th century after the
> > formation of the Madh'hab legal schools. To obtain a doctorate, a
> > student "had to study in a guild school of law, usually four years for
> > the basic undergraduate course" and ten or more years for a
> > post-graduate course. The "doctorate was obtained after an oral
> > examination to determine the originality of the candidate's theses,"
> > and to test the student's "ability to defend them against all
> > objections, in disputations set up for the purpose" which were
> > scholarly exercises practiced throughout the student's "career as a
> > graduate student of law." After students completed their post-graduate
> > education, they were awarded doctorates giving them the status of
> > faqih (meaning "master of law"), mufti (meaning "professor of legal
> > opinions") and mudarris (meaning "teacher"), which were later
> > translated into Latin as magister, professor and doctor respectively.
> > The term doctorate comes from the Latin docere, meaning "to teach",
> > shortened from the full Latin title licentia docendi meaning "license
> > to teach." This was translated from the Arabic term ijazat attadris,
> > which means the same thing and was awarded to Islamic scholars who
> > were qualified to teach. Similarly, the Latin term doctor, meaning
> > "teacher", was translated from the Arabic term mudarris, which also
> > means the same thing and was awarded to qualified Islamic teachers.
> > The Latin term baccalaureus may have also been transliterated from the
> > equivalent Arabic qualification bi haqq al-riwaya ("the right to teach
> > on the authority of another").
> > According to Professor George Makdisi and Hugh Goddard, some of the
> > terms and concepts now used in modern universities which have Islamic
> > origins include "the fact that we still talk of professors holding the
> > 'Chair' of their subject" being based on the "traditional Islamic
> > pattern of teaching where the professor sits on a chair and the
> > students sit around him", the term 'academic circles' being derived
> > from the way in which Islamic students "sat in a circle around their
> > professor", and terms such as "having 'fellows', 'reading' a subject,
> > and obtaining 'degrees', can all be traced back" to the Islamic
> > concepts of Ashab ("companions, as of the prophet Muhammad"), Qara'a
> > ("reading aloud the Qur'an") and Ijazah ("license to teach")
> > respectively. Makdisi has listed eighteen such parallels in
> > terminology which can be traced back to their roots in Islamic
> > education. Some of the practices now common in modern universities
> > which Makdisi and Goddard trace back to an Islamic root include
> > "practices such as delivering inaugural lectures, wearing academic
> > robes, obtaining doctorates by defending a thesis, and even the idea
> > of academic freedom are also modelled on Islamic custom." The Islamic
> > scholarly system of fatwa and ijma, meaning opinion and consensus
> > respectively, formed the basis of the "scholarly system the West has
> > practised in university scholarship from the Middle Ages down to the
> > present day."[102] According to Makdisi and Goddard, "the idea of
> > academic freedom" in universities was "modelled on Islamic custom" as
> > practiced in the medieval Madrasah system from the 9th century.
> > Islamic influence was "certainly discernible in the foundation of the
> > first delibrately-planned university" in Europe, the University of
> > Naples Federico II founded by Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor in
> > 1224".
> > (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_contributions_to_Medieval_Europe)
> >
> > G. Sarton, the well-known Harvard historian of science, wrote, in his
> > 'Introduction to the History of Science' : "The scientific advances of
> > the West would have been impossible had scientists continued to depend
> > upon the Roman numerals and been deprived of the simplicity and
> > flexibility of the decimal system and its main glory, the zero. Though
> > the Arab numerals were originally a Hindu invention, it was the Arabs
> > who turned them into a workable system; the earliest Arab zero on
> > record dates from the year 873, whereas the earliest Hindu zero is
> > dated 876. For the subsequent four hundred years, Europe laughed at a
> > method that depended upon the use of zero, "a meaningless nothing."
> > Had the Arabs given us nothing but the decimal system, their
> > contribution to progress would have been considerable. In actual fact,
> > they gave us infinitely more. While religion is often thought to be an
> > impediment to scientific progress, we can see, in a study of Arab
> > mathematics, how religious beliefs actually inspired scientific
> > discovery."
> >
> > As P. Berlinghoff and F.Q. Gouvea put in 'Math through the Ages', "Of
> > the knowledge which these sages [the Eastern ones] imparted to Western
> > man, the elements of mathematics were an integral part. Hence, to
> > trace the impress of mathematics on modern culture, we must turn to
> > the major Near Eastern civilizations."
> >
> > "The Babylonians used a special symbol to separate the 5 and 3 in the
> > former case but failed (sic) to recognize that this symbol could also
> > be treated as a number, that is, they failed (re-sic) to see that zero
> > indicates quantity and can be added, subtracted and used generally
> > like other numbers." (ibidem) In other words, zero was still used as a
> > mere placeholder by the Babylonians.
> >
> > "In around 500AD [in India] Aryabhata devised a number system which
> > has no zero yet was a positional system. He used the word "kha" for
> > position and it would be used later as the name for zero. There is
> > evidence that a dot had been used in earlier Indian manuscripts to
> > denote an empty place in positional notation. It is interesting that
> > the same documents sometimes also used a dot to denote an unknown
> > where we might use x. Later Indian mathematicians had names for zero
> > in positional numbers yet had no symbol for it. The first record of
> > the Indian use of zero which is dated and agreed by all to be genuine
> > was written in 876."
> > (http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/HistTopics/Zero.html).
> >
> > "It is quite possible that the zero originated in the Greek world,
> > perhaps at Alexandria, and that it was transmitted to India after the
> > decimal positional system has been established there. (...). With the
> > introduction, in the Hindu notation, of the tenth numeral (...), the
> > modern system of numeration for integers was completed. Although the
> > Medieval Hindu forms of the ten numerals differ considerably from
> > those in use today, the principles of the system were established. The
> > new numeration, which we generally call the Hindu system, is merely a
> > new combination of three basic principles, all of ancient origin : (1)
> > a decimal base ; (2) a positional notation ; and (3) a ciphered form
> > for each of the ten numerals. NOT ONE OF THESE THREE WAS DUE
> > ORIGINALLY TO THE HINDUS, but it presumably is due to them that the
> > three were first linked to form the modern system of numeration."
> > ('History of Mathematics', C.B. Boyer). As a matter of fact, according
> > to D. Smeltzer ('Man and Number', Adam and Charles Black, London,
> > 1953), "They [The Hindus] did not, it would seem, think of it [the
> > zero] as denoting a number but as indicating an empty space. The idea
> > of regarding nothingness or emptiness as a number is at least as
> > difficult as the idea of representing emptiness by a symbol."
> >
> > "We now come to considering the first appearance of zero as a number.
> > Let us first note that it is not in any sense a natural candidate for
> > a number. From early times numbers are words which refer to
> > collections of objects. Certainly the idea of number became more and
> > more abstract and this abstraction then makes possible the
> > consideration of zero and negative numbers which do not arise as
> > properties of collections of objects. Of course the problem which
> > arises when one tries to consider zero and negatives as numbers is how
> > they interact in regard to the operations of arithmetic, addition,
> > subtraction, multiplication and division. In three important books the
> > Indian mathematicians Brahmagupta, Mahavira and Bhaskara tried to
> > answer these questions."
> > (http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/HistTopics/Zero.html)
> > Their answers turn out to be either clumsy or bluntly wrong. Errors
> > pile up. Obviously, they were not quite in their element.
> >
> > The ninth century Arab scholar Muhammad Ibn Musa Al-Khwarizmi, on the
> > other hand, was in his element, when he wrote 'On the Hindu Art of
> > Reckoning', which describes the Indian place-value system of numerals
> > based on 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 0, and is the first work to
> > use zero as a place holder in positional base notation. He wrote two
> > books, that one - on arithmetic - and the other on solving equations,
> > which, we are told, were translated into Latin in the twelfth century
> > and circulated throughout Europe. The Latin translations often began
> > with "Dixit Algorizmi", meaning "Al-Khwarizmi said". Many Europeans
> > learned about the decimal place system and the essential role of the
> > zero from these translations. The popularity of this book as an
> > arithmetic text gradually led its title to be identified with the
> > methods in it, giving us the word 'algorithm'. In Al-Khwarizmi, many
> > historians of science, who, for most of them, are not mathematicians,
> > like to think that zero is "not yet thought of as a number ; it is
> > just a place holder." As remarkably well seen by an Arab scholar, "The
> > ancient mathematicians, including the Greeks, considered the number to
> > be a pure magnitude. It was only when al-Khwarizmi (…) conceived of
> > the number as a pure relation [as a 'function'] in the modern sense
> > that the science of algebra could take its origin." This recognition
> > of numbers as 'pure relation' was the key for unlocking the door of
> > algebra. The absence of quantity (0) was acknowledged as a quantity in
> > its own right.
> >
> > "historians believe that al-Khwarizmi was born in the city of Baghdad
> > in present day Iraq (Calinger, 199). While little is known about his
> > private life, al-Khwarizmi's work and contributions to mathematics
> > have largely survived the ages relatively intact. The exception is a
> > book of arithmetic in which the original cannot be found; there is,
> > however, a Latin translation of this work as well as other Arab
> > references that cite the missing treatise. Al-Khwarizmi was a member
> > of the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, a society established by the caliph
> > for the study of science (Al-Daffa, 23). According to Al-Daffa, during
> > al-Khwarizmi's life, much of the area between the Mediterranean and
> > India was ruled by al-Mamun, an Islamic caliph who had consolidated
> > his position in a protracted civil war. After pacifying the area under
> > his control, al-Mamun became a patron of the sciences. He instituted
> > the House of Wisdom to both translate the works of Byzantine and Greek
> > scientists as well as to conduct research into various realms of
> > science. Al-Mamun also built a library in Baghdad to house these
> > works; this was the first large collection of scientific information
> > constructed since the Library of Alexandria's erection several
> > centuries before. Finally, al-Mamun constructed a lavish astronomical
> > observatory in Baghdad for the use of Muslim astronomers. Within a
> > short period of time, Baghdad became the new center for learning in
> > the Mediterranean world (Al-Daffa, 23-34). This interest in Greek
> > Hellenistic thought represented a tremendous change from previous
> > Islamic ideology. This might lead one to ask why such seemingly
> > sensible steps represent such a rapid departure from Islamic thought
> > as well as what was the impetus for such a dramatic change ?
> > The first idea to consider is that there had always been a fundamental
> > difference from Greek and Islamic thought. The most important
> > difference was a matter of religion. The classical Greeks and Romans
> > believed in many Gods and the later, after Rome had Christianized the
> > Mediterranean, they believed in a Holy Trinity (Smith, 340). These
> > ideas directly conflicted with the Islamic belief of the one true God,
> > Allah (Smith, 222). As a result, in the seventh century CE, when the
> > disciples of Mohammed began their conquest of the Middle East, North
> > Africa and Spain, the Muslims destroyed much of the work and knowledge
> > of those that they conquered (Smith, 230). Their extreme Islamic
> > fundamentalism blinded the Arabs to the advanced scientific
> > contributions of their neighbors. The initial conquests of Islam
> > lasted well into the eighth century CE, just a generation or two prior
> > to the birth of al-Khwarizmi and al-Mamun. Therefore, as a matter of
> > time, al-Khwarizmi and al-Mamun are not far removed from the zealous
> > invaders of the past.
> > The drastic change in Islamic attitudes toward western science might
> > be a byproduct of the religion itself. Muslims live their lives
> > according to the rules and precepts set forth in the Qu'ran (Koran).
> > This book dictates all aspects of a Muslim's life and death. For
> > example, the Qu'ran dictates that Muslims must pray several times a
> > day toward the city of Mecca as well as giving precise rules of
> > inheritance when one dies (Smith, 236). Both of these tasks require
> > advanced knowledge of mathematics. Mathematics are used in the study
> > of cartography, astronomy and geography. Knowledge of astronomy would
> > have been critical for determining which direction to pray or for
> > ascertaining the beginning of Ramadan (which is based largely on the
> > phases of the moon). Other, less concrete, applications of math would
> > have been required in order to properly divide up estates (Berggren,
> > 63). In a sense, after the zeal of Islam aided in the destruction of
> > knowledge, it realized just how useful that knowledge might have been
> > for its own purposes. As a result, al-Mamun created the House of
> > Wisdom to restore and research the answers to the scientific questions
> > that plagued the administration of his empire."
> >
(http://209.85.135.104/search?q=cache:NRiM8OVXxwYJ:www.math.ohio-state.edu/~czor\
n/work_and_research/hist_algebra.pdf+khwarizmi+zero&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=uk)
> >
> > It appears that al-Khwarizmi's work was influenced by Greek,
> > neo-Babylonian and Indian sources with the Indians supplying the
> > number system, the Babylonians supplying the numerical processes and
> > the Greeks supplying the tradition of rigorous proof. He assimilated
> > and systematised these three elements in a synthesis which was
> > congruent with the Arabic view on mathematics, and he did it with
> > other contemporary Arab mathematicians, of whom Abd al Hamid ibn Turk.
> > What is interesting, incidentally, is the criterion which is used by
> > some Arab scholars themselves to impugn his title of "Father of
> > algebra" : "(…) according to ibn Al Nadim, "Al-Khwârazmî's Algebra
> > contains a very short section on commercial transactions", whereas
> > "Abd al Hamîd ibn Turk wrote an independent book devoted to this
> > subject. It seems quite certain that in the field of algebra itself
> > too, just as in the field of commercial transactions, it was Abd al
> > Hamîd ibn Turk who wrote the longer and more detailed treatise."
> >
http://www.muslimheritage.com/topics/default.cfm?TaxonomyTypeID=12&TaxonomySubTy\
peID=62&TaxonomyThirdLevelID=-1&ArticleID=657).
> >
> > "In Europe, the introduction of the new system met with considerable
> > resistance and there was antagonism between the algorists using the
> > "art of al-Khowarazmi" [those who promoted the Hindu-Arabic numeral
> > system and the algorithms for written calculations and, thus
> > calculated with a zero ; also called Gerbecists, in honour of Gerbert
> > d'Aurillac, who became pope Sylvester II in the end of the tenth
> > century, and who is the first European scholar known to have taught
> > using the Hindu-Arabic numeration system] and the abacists [those who
> > wrote in Roman numerals and used an abacus for calculation, as well as
> > duodecimal Roman fractions] who continued to use the methods of the
> > counting board."
> >
> > "In 1299 the bankers of Florence were forbidden to use Arabic numerals
> > and were obliged instead of using Roman numerals. (...) Although the
> > Hindu-Arabic system of numeration "had been rejected by some, Italian
> > merchants of the twelfth century recognized its superiority for
> > computational purposes. These merchants became noted for their
> > knowledge of arithmetic operations and developed methods of
> > double-entry bookkeeping [completely unknown until then, and even more
> > so, in ancient Rome]. (...) the forms of the Hindu numerals were not
> > fixed, and the variety of forms gave rise to ambiguity and fraud
> > (...). Outside of Italy, most European merchants kept accounts in
> > Roman numerals until at least 1550 (and most colleges and monasteries
> > until 1650!) ('Sherlock Holmes in Babylon and Other Tales of
> > Mathematical History', M. Anderson, V.J. Katz, R.J. Wilson)
> > "(...) the result is this prolonged struggle [between abacists and
> > algorists] was inevitable. The [Arabic] numerals became a kind of
> > secret code (yes, a cipher), used by merchants and by businesspeople
> > who were willing to evade the laws and the secret arts – after all,
> > the numbers were there, and they were fast and easy to use. Finally,
> > by about the beginning of the sixteenth century, they were here to
> > stay, though there were still those who double-checked their
> > computations on an abacus just to be sure (there are still many places
> > where the abacus is preferred to the computer or calculator because
> > the work done on either of those isn't visible, while the computations
> > worked out on an abacus can be seen by anyone who cares to watch.)"
> > "In the end, B. Crumpacker goes on with the self-satisfied stupidity
> > of a shareholder who knows his shares are skyrocketing ('Perfect
> > Figures'), the numerals were irresistible. (...). Those numbers are
> > elegant in their simplicity and versatility. There are only ten of
> > them, but those ten can make billions". One specific work was
> > instrumental in communicating the Hindu-Arabic numerals to a wider
> > audience in the Latin world : that of Leonardo Pisano, "known to
> > history as Fibonacci, [who] studied the works of Kāmil and other
> > Arabic mathematicians as a boy while accompanying his father's trade
> > mission to North Africa on behalf of the merchants of Pisa. In 1202,
> > soon after his return to Italy, Fibonacci wrote Liber Abbaci ('Book of
> > the Abacus'). Although it contained no specific innovations, and
> > although it strictly followed the Islamic tradition of formulating and
> > solving problems in purely rhetorical fashion, it was instrumental in
> > communicating the Hindu- Arabic numerals to a wider audience in the
> > Latin world"
> >
(http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/14885/algebra/231066/Commerce-and-aba\
cists-in-the-European-Renaissance)
> >
> > "Even though it would take centuries for the world to accept zero,
> > al-Khwarizmi had produced a number system similar to the one used
> > worldwide today (Mathematics and Astronomy). The main differences were
> > al-Khwarizmi's skepticism of the existence negative numbers and the
> > difference between al-Khwarizmi's symbols and the modern Arabic
> > numbers (it would take several centuries of evolution before numerals
> > began to take a form familiar to the twenty-first century reader)."
> > Basically, much of the House of Wisdom's work and research was
> > directed toward a practical end. "Al-Khwarizmi did not set out to
> > found a new branch of mathematics when he wrote Al-Jabr wal Muqabala.
> > In the introduction to the work, he declares his intent in very
> > practical terms (...) : "A short work on Calculating by (the rules of)
> > Completion and Reduction confining it to what is easiest and most
> > useful in arithmetic, such as men constantly require in cases of
> > inheritance, legacies, partition, law-suits, and trade, and in all
> > their dealings with one another, or where the measuring of lands, the
> > digging of canals, geometrical computation, and other objects of
> > various sorts and kinds are concerned." Al-Khwarizmi wanted his work
> > to help people solve mathematical dilemnas in their everyday lives."
> > ('Al Khwarizmi', C. Brezina). "Even today, many of the inheritance
> > laws in Arab countries are based on the inheritance laws outline in
> > the Qu'ran. This calls for an official to divide up the deceased
> > person's possessions according to certain proportions based on the
> > relationship of the beneficiary to the deceased (Mathematics and
> > Astronomy). Using al-Khwarizmi's new methods of calculation and
> > geometric representation, the local governments were better able to
> > handle the affairs of the deceased. According to The Free Arab Voice:
> > Because of the Qur'an's very concrete prescriptions regarding the
> > division of an estate among children of a deceased person, it was
> > incumbent upon the Arabs to find the means for very precise
> > delineation of lands. For example, let us say a father left an
> > irregularly shaped piece of land-seventeen acres large-to his six
> > sons, each OAA of whom had to receive precisely one-sixth of his
> > legacy. The mathematics that the Arabs had inherited from the Greeks
> > made such a division extremely complicated, if not impossible. It was
> > the search for a more accurate, more comprehensive, and more flexible
> > method that led Khawarazmi to the invention of algebra. (Mathematics
> > and Astronomy)"
> >
(http://209.85.135.104/search?q=cache:NRiM8OVXxwYJ:www.math.ohio-state.edu/~czor\
n/work_and_research/hist_algebra.pdf+khwarizmi+zero&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=uk)
> >
> >
> > At this point, the fundamental difference between mathematics in the
> > Greek world and mathematics in the Arab world and, more generally,
> > between the Greek scientific spirit and the Arab scientific spirit
> > should be clear. The following considerations will make it even clearer.
> >
> > "The Egyptians and Babylonians made numerous practical applications of
> > their mathematics. Their papyri and clay tablets show promissory
> > notes, letters of credit, mortgages, deferred payments, and the proper
> > apportionment of business profits." "But it is a mistake – no matter
> > how often it is repeated - to believe that mathematics in Egypt and
> > Babylonia was confined just to the solution of practical problems.
> > (...) Instead we find, upon closer investigation, that the exact
> > expression of man's thoughts and emotions, whether artistic,
> > religious, scientific, or philosophical, involved then, as today, some
> > aspects of mathematics. In Babylonia and Egypt the association of
> > mathematics with painting, architecture, religion, and the
> > investigation of nature was no less intimate and vital than its use in
> > commerce, agriculture, and construction."
> >
> > On the other hand, "Arithmetic, said Plato, should be pursued for
> > knowledge and not for trade. Moreover, he declared the trade of a
> > shopkeeper to be a degradation for a freeman and wished the pursuit of
> > it to be punished as a crime. Aristotle declared that in a perfect
> > state no citizen should practice any mechanical art. Even Archimedes,
> > who contributed extraordinary practical inventions, cherished his
> > discoveries in pure science and considered every kind of skill
> > connected with daily needs ignoble and vulgar. Among the Boeotians
> > there was a decided contempt for work. Those who defiled themselves
> > with commerce were excluded from state office for ten years."
> >
> > "A second contribution of the Greeks consisted in their having made
> > mathematics abstract. (...) The Greek eliminated the physical
> > substance from mathematical concepts and left mere husks. They removed
> > the Cheshire cat and left the grin. Why did they do it ? Surely, it is
> > far more difficult to think about abstractions than about concrete
> > things. One advantage is immediately apparent – the gain in
> > generality. A theorem proved about the abstract triangle applies to
> > the figure formed by three match sticks, the triangular boundary of a
> > piece of land, and the triangle formed by the earth, sun, and moon at
> > any instant. The Greeks preferred the abstract concept because it was,
> > to them, permanent, ideal, and perfect, whereas physical objects are
> > short-lived, imperfect, and corruptible."
> >
> > "The Greeks put their stamp on mathematics in still another way that
> > has had a market effect on its development, namely, by their emphasis
> > on geometry. Plane and solid geometry were thoroughly explored. A
> > convenient method of representing quantities, however, was never
> > developed nor were efficient methods of reckoning with numbers.
> > Indeed, in computational work they even failed (sic) to utilize
> > techniques the Babylonian had created. Algebra in our present sense of
> > a highly efficient symbolism and numerous established procedures for
> > the solution of problems was not even envisioned. So marked was this
> > disparity of emphasis that we are impelled to seek the reasons for it.
> > There are several(...) in the classical period industry, commerce, and
> > finance were conducted by slaves. Hence the educated people, who might
> > have produced new ideas and new methods for handling numbers, did not
> > concern themselves with such problems. Why worry about the use of
> > numbers in measurement if one doesn't measure, or in trading if one
> > dislikes trade ? Nor do philosophers need the numerical dimensions of
> > even one rectangle to speculate about the properties of all rectangles.
> >
> > Like most philosophers the Greeks were star-gazers. They studied the
> > heavens to penetrate the mysteries of the universe. But the use of
> > astronomy in navigation and calendar reckoning hardly concerned the
> > Greeks of the classical period. For their purposes, shapes and forms
> > were more relevant than measurements and calculations, and so geometry
> > was favored.
> >
> > The twentieth century seeks reality by breaking matter down – witness
> > our atomic theories. The Greeks preferred to build matter up. For
> > Aristotle and other Greek philosophers the form of an object is the
> > reality to be found in it. Matter as such is primitive and shapeless ;
> > it is significant only when it has a shape."
> >
> > We repeat, both for those who are interested in Evola's 'influences'
> > and for those who haven't read him for a while : "Matter as such is
> > primitive and shapeless ; it is significant only when it has shape."
> >
> > "Because the Greeks converted arithmetical ideas into geometrical ones
> > and because they devoted themselves to the study of geometry, that
> > subject dominated mathematics until the nineteenth century, when the
> > difficulties in treating irrational numbers on an exact, purely
> > arithmetical basis were finally resolved. In view of the clumsiness
> > (sic) and complexity of arithmetical operations geometrically
> > performed, this conversion was, from a practical standpoint, a highly
> > unfortunate one. The Greeks not only failed (sic) to develop the
> > number system and algebra which industry, commerce, finance, and
> > science must have, but they also hindered the progress of later
> > generations by influencing them to adopt the more awkward geometrical
> > approach. Europeans became so habituated to Greek forms and fashions
> > that Western civilization had to wait for the Arabs to bring a number
> > system from far-off India."
> >
> > As far as Romans are concerned, many histories of mathematics, whether
> > ancient or modern ones, do not even mention them. In 'A Short Account
> > of the History of mathematics', W.W. Rouse Ball wrote : "There is
> > (...) very little to say on the subject. (...) There were, no doubt
> > professor who could teach the results of Greek science, but there was
> > no demand for a school of mathematics. Italians who wished to learn
> > more than the elements of the science went to Alexandria or to places
> > which drew their inspiration from Alexandria.
> > The subject as taught in the mathematical schools at Rome seems to
> > have been confined in arithmetic to the art of calculation (no doubt
> > by the aid of the abacus) and perhaps some of the easier parts of the
> > work of Nicomachus, and in geometry to a few practical rules ; though
> > some of the arts founded on a knowledge of mathematics (especially
> > that of surveying) were carried to a high pitch of excellence." In
> > 'Mathematical Thought from Ancient to Modern Times', M. Kline wrote :
> > "Roman mathematics hardly warrants mention. The period during which
> > the Romans figured in history extends from 750 B.C. to A.D. 476,
> > roughly the same period during which the Greek civilisation
> > flourished. Moreover (...), from at least 200 B.C. onward, the Romans
> > were in close contact with the Greeks. Yet in all of the eleven
> > hundred years there was not one Roman mathematician ; apart from a few
> > details this fact in itself tells us virtually the whole story of
> > Roman mathematics." According to F. Cajori, for whom the fact that a
> > people is not interested in the slightest in mathematics is beyond
> > mathematical logic and imagination ('A History of Mathematics'),
> > "Nowhere is the contrast between the Greek and Roman mind shown forth
> > more distinctly than in their attitude toward the mathematical
> > science. The sway of the Greek was a flowering time for mathematics,
> > but that of the Romans a period of sterility. In philosophy, poetry,
> > and art, the Roman was an imitator (sic). But in mathematics he did
> > not even rise to the desire for imitation. The mathematical fruits of
> > Greek genius lay before him untasted. In him, F. Cajori goes on -
> > without asking himself how come it never occurred to such a "practical
> > people" as the Romans to apply the mathematical knowledge they had
> > received from other peoples to solve everyday life, practical
> > problems, as did the Arabs later - a science which had no direct
> > bearing on practical life could awake no interest. As a consequence,
> > not only the higher geometry of Archimedes and Apollonius, but even
> > the Elements of Euclides, were neglected. What little mathematics the
> > Romans possessed did not come altogether from the Greeks, but came in
> > part from more ancient sources", of which the Etruscan ones. The same
> > thing goes for what is typically described as 'Roman technology'.
> >
> > The mathematical and, more generally, scientific spirit which
> > resurfaced in the Middle Ages through the so-called 'rediscovery' of
> > Greco-Roman texts by European scholars was, unsurprisingly, not the
> > Greek one, not the Roman one, but the practical Asian one, and, just
> > as unsurprisingly, those who popularised 'algorism' in the thirteenth
> > century either belonged to the bourgeois stratum or were churchmen.
> > The emphasis was so much on the practical applications of knowledge
> > that a shift occurred from experience to experimentation and,
> > ultimately, to experiments of laboratory, into which science has been
> > sinking since the late Middle Ages. Even someone who, like Eeves in
> > 'Foundations and Fundamental Concepts of Mathematics', is convinced
> > that "the ancient Greeks found in deductive reasoning the vital
> > element of the modern mathematical method" cannot but acknowledge that
> > they "transformed the subject [mathematics] into something vastly
> > different from the set of empirical conclusions worked out by their
> > predecessors. The Greeks insisted that mathematical facts must be
> > established, not by empirical procedures, but by deductive reasoning ;
> > mathematical conclusions must be assured by logical demonstration
> > rather than by laboratory experimentation."
> >
> > The Arabs introduced and developed the experimental method. In 'The
> > Making of Humanity', Briffault stressed that : "The debt of our
> > science to that of the Arabs does not consist in any startling
> > discoveries of revolutionary theories. Science owes a great deal more
> > to Arab culture, it owes its existence... The Greeks systematised,
> > generalised and theorised, but the patient ways of investigation, the
> > accumulation of positive knowledge, the minute methods of science,
> > detailed and prolonged observation and experimental enquiry, were
> > altogether alien to the Greeks temperament… What we call science arose
> > in Europe as a result of a new spirit of inquiry, of new methods of
> > investigation, of the methods of experiment, observation and
> > measurement, of the development of mathematics in a form unknown to
> > the Greeks. That spirit and those methods were introduced into the
> > European world by the Arabs". In the meantime, from the fall of the
> > Roman Empire to the early Middle Ages, the Church did its best to
> > conceal the Greek scientific spirit by preventing the works that
> > embodied it from acting as a basis and as an axis for western science.
> > For example, under pope Gregory the Great, all scientific studies were
> > not allowed in Rome ; the study of ancient original works from Greece
> > and Rome were forbidden and the Palatine library founded by Augustus
> > Caesar was burnt down.
> >
> > In that context, it's no wonder that "During the Renaissance, there
> > was a dramatic change among Christian intellectuals from one that
> > focused on the contemplation of God;s work to one that focused on the
> > responsibility of the Christian for caring for his fellow humans. The
> > active life of service to mankind, rather than the contemplative life
> > of reflection on God's character and works, now became the Christian
> > ideal for many. As a consequence of this new focus on the active life,
> > Renaissance intellectuals turned away from the then-dominant
> > Aristotelian view of science, which saw the inability of theoretical
> > sciences to change the world as a positive virtue. They replaced this
> > understanding with a new view of natural knowledge, promoted in the
> > writings of such men as Johann Andreae in Germany and Francis Bacon
> > [who became acquainted with alchemy from Latin translations of Arabic
> > writings] in England, which viewed natural knowledge as significant
> > only because it gave mankind the ability to manipulate the world to
> > improve the quality of life. Natural knowledge would henceforth be
> > prized by many because it conferred power over the natural world."
> > ('Science and Islam') The asianisation of the European scientific
> > spirit was completed.
> >
> > It is also extremely interesting that the one credited for introducing
> > the experimental method in alchemy is the Muslim alchemist,
> > astrologer, astronomer, chemist, engineer, geologist, philosopher,
> > physician and physicist Abu Musa Jābir ibn Hayyān, known in Europe
as
> > Geber, and whose writings and treatises on alchemy are quoted by Evola
> > in 'The Hermetic Doctrine' (the research of the most celebrated
> > nineteenth century historian of chemistry M. Berthelot would tend to
> > show that not all works held to have been written by Jabir are
> > actually his, but a contemporary European alchemist's]. Note that he
> > was also deeply interested in mysticism. "The first essential in
> > chemistry", he stated, "is that you should perform practical work and
> > conduct experiments, for he who performs not practical work nor makes
> > experiments will never attain the least degree of mastery." He stated
> > this almost 500 years before, almost in the same terms, Descartes did.
> >
> > "The Arabs, of course, started out with the chemical knowledge of the
> > Egyptians, Chaldeans, Persians, and Greeks, which was made up more of
> > the occult, the magical, and superstitions (sic) than of chemical
> > science as we know it. Arabic chemistry, however, was not content with
> > those borrowed crudities (sic), but initiated experimentation in a
> > primitive form. It attempted to find a way for the prolonging of life
> > to which the word 'elixir' testifies. Arab chemists, also,
> > experimented with the transmutation of the baser metals into the
> > precious ones." ('The Contribution of the Arabs to Education', K.A.
> > Totah)
> >
> > In the light of what has just been exposed, another typical excerpt
> > from 'The Crisis of the Modern World' is worth quoting : "it is not
> > for its own sake that Westerners in general cultivate science as they
> > understand it; their primary aim is not knowledge, even of an inferior
> > order, but practical applications, as may be inferred from the ease
> > with which the majority of our contemporaries confuse science and
> > industry, so that by many the engineer is looked upon as a typical man
> > of science."
> >
> > In the light of the considerations we have made in previous posts on
> > Islam as a typically and essentially lunar religion, it may not be a
> > luxury to have a look at 'The Mathematical Miracle of the Koran':
> > http://www.submission.org/miracle/moon.html
> >
> >
> > P.s. : it is commonly taught and, therefore, believed, taken as
> > granted that, from the sixth to the tenth century, many of the works
> > of classical Greco-Roman authors were translated into Syriac by Arab
> > scholars and translated back into Latin (from Arabic) from the tenth
> > to the thirteenth century (by that century, there were many variants –
> > Arabic to Spanish, Arabic to Hebrew, Greek to Latin, or combinations
> > such as Arabic to Hebrew to Latin), during which they were
> > reintroduced in the West. As to exactly how those Arab scholars got
> > hold of those manuscripts, no one seems to know. Basically, no one
> > seems to possess the 'originals'.
> >
>