Description
Book SynopsisThe first book on the topic in English in over sixty years, Science among the Ottomans contends that, contrary to the generally accepted belief that the Ottomans lost interest in science, science was a valued, dynamic, and sustaining force throughout the
Trade Review"Timely...Shefer-Mossensohn consistently avoids the emphasis on technical development that long characterized the literature on science in Islamic contexts, limiting its readership to specialists...
Science among the Ottomans opens an important conversation." * H-Net Reviews *
"By offering us a new synthesis that represents the current state of the field, Shefer-Mossensohn’s book addresses the perennial question of what happened to Islamic science and medicine after the Middle Ages. It offers a starting point for further discussions." * Early Science & Medicine *
"
Science among the Ottomans is a remarkable achievement…Shefer-Mossensohn has produced a landmark study with which many of us will train the next generation of historians of science." * Turkish Historical Review *
Table of Contents
- Preface
- A Note on Transliteration
- Introduction: What Is the History of Science?
- The History of Science and Technology
- The History of Islamic Science and Technology
- The History of Ottoman Science and Technology History
- Toward a History of Ottoman Scientific Experiences
- On Inventiveness: An Ottoman Lesson
- Chapter 1. Framing “Knowledge” in the Ottoman Empire
- A Eurasian Matrix: The Multiple Cultural Sources of Knowledge in the Ottoman Empire
- The Ottoman Concept and Epistemology of Knowledge: The Term cIlm
- Classification of Knowledge in Muslim Societies
- Amalgamation of Bodies of Knowledge in Muslim Societies
- Tensions due to Fusion of Bodies of Knowledge: The Dispute regarding the Status of Pre-Islamic Sciences
- Mediating Mechanisms of Reception
- Chapter 2. Where and How Does Learning Take Place?
- Pedagogy
- New Educational Institutions and a New Type of Education in the Long Nineteenth Century
- Chapter 3. Transfer of Knowledge to, from, and within the Ottoman Empire
- Ottoman Literacy
- Translations and Translators among the Ottoman Elite
- Marginal Groups as Agents of Knowledge
- The Passage of Travelers and Knowledge to and from the Empire
- Chapter 4. State in Science: On Empire, Power, Infrastructures, and Finance
- The Patron and the Scholar: Intisap and Waqf/Vakıf
- Science and Technology and the Ottoman State Infrastructure
- Science, State, and the State above It: The (Semi)Colonial Connection
- Conclusion: Ottoman Science
- A Teacher and a Student: Murtaḍá al-Zabīdī and cAbd al-Raḥmān al-Jabartī as Ottoman Scientists
- Ottoman Patterns of Scientific Activity
- Ottoman Innovation
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
