Science, Technology, and Learning in the Ottoman Empire (review)

In the twelve essays collected in this volume, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu addresses some large questions regarding the encounter between the Islamic tradition of science and modern science and technology in Europe from the sixteenth century onward. Why did the Ottomans lag behind Europe in scientific and technological development despite their close economic, diplomatic, and cultural contacts with European societies? What role did Islamic culture play in this situation?

These essays challenge the view that stresses the role of medieval Islamic culture in stifling both scientific progress and technology transfer from Europe. They also provide rich material for building an alternative account of Muslim encounters with modern Western science and technology. The culturalist approach that blames "Oriental dogmatism" and "Islamic mentality" for the Ottoman neglect of the scientific and technological revolutions of Europe has predominated in earlier scholarship—in the works, for example, of Adnan Adivar, Aydin Sayili, and Bernard Lewis. Ihsanoglu offers a sociological agenda that rejects the argument that the Islamic faith was the prime reason why the Ottoman world lagged behind Western European societies, but does not deny the role of culture in the history of Ottoman science and technology.

Ihsanoglu's essays involve two parallel scholarly agendas. The first aims to expand our knowledge of Islamic scientific manuscripts, scientists, and technological transfer between the sixteenth century and the twentieth. Chapter 2, for example, provides a detailed account of the introduction of modern astronomy to the Ottoman world between 1660 and 1860, demonstrating both the awareness and acceptance of new astronomical theories from Europe by Ottoman scientists. In chapter 4, Ihsanoglu describes the achievements of a traditionally educated Ottoman scientist, Ishak Efendi, as an agent and promoter of the transfer of European science in the first half of the nineteenth century. Similarly, chapter 11 tells of the Ottoman fascination with new aviation technology in the first two decades of the twentieth century. Throughout the book, Ihsanoglu portrays Ottoman scientists as active agents who are knowledgeable about developments in Europe, not as victims of their cultural and religious mentality.

Ihsanoglu's second agenda is to clarify the relationship between Islamic culture and Ottoman underdevelopment in the production of science and technology compared to Europe. He reveals that there was no apparent conflict between science and Islamic faith either during the classical period of Ottoman history or during the period when European science and technology was being transferred. For example, while accepting Copernican astronomy, Ottoman astronomers did not find the new theory of the universe relevant to their religious beliefs. Having disqualified the Islamic faith as the main reason for the Ottomans lagging behind the Europeans in scientific production, Ihsanoglu presents a sociological, political, and sometimes sociocultural contextualization to clarify what went wrong in the process of transfer. For example, privileges enjoyed by the graduates of European-style schools engendered grudges among the graduates of traditional Islamic schools. Chapter 7 offers a detailed analysis of the fiscal and bureaucratic constraints that caused the establishment of a university in Istanbul to be postponed.

Ihsanoglu engages in revisionist critiques of the earlier historiography to explain why and how an essentialist notion of the conflict between science and Islamic culture has dominated the literature. While all of the essays touch on historiography, chapter 6 specifically focuses on the modernist and nationalist roots of the mythology regarding scientific and technical education in traditional education institutions, the madrasas. Ihsanoglu clearly demonstrates that research on the relationship between Muslim cultures and the history of science and technology needs to involve both social history and sociology of knowledge to avoid the essentialism which often blames Islam for the backwardness of Muslim science or praises a notion of pure Islam as the religion most compatible with modern science. He acknowledges that culture still matters as a set of socially significant values; culture influences the activities of scientific communities and the social reception of science. Yet he also demonstrates that we need to approach different periods, locales, and practices of...