The Ulama & Science: Some Engagements in 19th Century India

This lecture explores how traditional Muslim scholars of the early modern period conceived of science and how they responded to the spread of modern scientific methods and discoveries. Four modes of interrelated intellectual engagements with the scientific enterprise will be highlighted. These comprise a philosophical response to the problems posed by traditional Ptolemaic astronomy, a refutation of the Copernican system as internally inconsistent, skepticism towards the completeness of definitions and the epistemological worth of the scientific method, and the challenge the scientific enterprise posed to the Islamic worldview.
The lecture was delivered by Prof. Iraj Asad Ahmed at the University of California, Berkeley, on Apr. 4, 2013.