Optics, Astronomy and Logic: Studies in Arabic Science and Philosophy

ISBN-13: 9780860784357 / Angielski / Twarda / 1994 / 337 str.

A. I. Sabra

Opis

Discusses the appropriation of Greek science by scholars in the world of medieval Islam. This volume focuses on Ibn al-Haytham, one of the most influential figures of the 11th century, and on his contribution to the science of optics and the psychology of vision.

Spis treści

Contents: Preface; The appropriation and subsequent naturalization of Greek science in medieval Islam: a preliminary statement; Ibn al-Haytham; Explanation of optical reflection and refraction: Ibn al-Haytham, Descartes, Newton; Ibn al-Haytham’s criticisms of Ptolemy’s Optics; The authorship of the Liber de crepusculis: an 11th-century work on atmospheric refraction; The astronomical origin of Ibn al-Haytham’s concept of experiment; The physical and the mathematical in Ibn al-Haytham’s theory of light and vision; Ibn al-Haytham’s Lemmas for solving ’Alhazen’s problem’; Psychology versus mathematics: Ptolemy and Alhazen on the moon illusion; Sensation and inference in Alhazen’s theory of visual perception; Form in Ibn al-Haytham’s theory of vision; Thabit ibn Qurra on Euclid’s parallels postulate; Simplicius’s proof of Euclid’s parallels postulate; An 11th-century refutation of Ptolemy’s planetary theory; The Andalusian revolt against Ptolemaic astronomy: Averroes and al-Bitruji; A 12th-century defence of the fourth figure of the syllogism; Avicenna on the subject matter of logic; Index.