Ghazali and the Question of the Decline of Science in the Muslim World
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.56976/rjsi.v5i1.388Keywords:
Al-Ghazali, Islamic Science, Muslim Philosophy, Causality, DoubtAbstract
The claim that al-Ghazali was responsible for the decline of science in the Muslim world continues to appear in discussions of Islamic intellectual history. This article examines that claim by considering the complex relationship between science and religion in Muslim societies and by studying al-Ghazali’s views on doubt, the limits of reason, and causality. It argues that The Incoherence of the Philosophers was directed at particular metaphysical claims and at the certainty philosophers attached to them. Al-Ghazali did not reject mathematics, natural science, or rational inquiry in general. Comparisons with Descartes and Hume also show that similar questions concerning inherited knowledge and necessary causation have received different treatment in histories of Western philosophy. His influence on Islamic thought was considerable, but one philosophical critique cannot explain changes that occurred unevenly across different disciplines, institutions, and regions. His role in the decline of science has therefore been greatly exaggerated.
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Copyright (c) 2023 Shahram Sarwar, Ahmed Hussain Bukhari
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