... according to UNESCO. Who knew?
(Plus, from the comments, "Maimonides is not their monides.")
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Monday, July 25, 2011
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James Hannam
I am a historian of the relationship between science and religion, and also write on the UK tax system. My first book was published as God's Philosophers: How the Medieval World Laid the Foundations of Modern Science in the UK and The Genesis of Science: How the Christian Middle Ages Launched the Scientific Revolution in the US. My apologetics website is Bede's Library. I am also the author What Everyone Needs to Know about Tax and write about tax at my other blog. I can be found on Twitter as @DrJamesHannam.
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I have a Ph.D. in Philosophy and Master's degrees in Philosophy and Theology. I'm a generalist, my areas of expertise being epistemology, logic, philosophy of mind, philosophy of religion, and science and religion. I did my philosophical studies in Continental Europe, and currently reside in the Pacific Northwest. I also write the Agent Intellect blog. In my mid-20s I decided to refute Christianity to set my conscience at ease. Two subjects I turned to in particular were science and philosophy. I accidentally argued myself into it.
I am a historian of the relationship between science and religion, and also write on the UK tax system. My first book was published as God's Philosophers: How the Medieval World Laid the Foundations of Modern Science in the UK and The Genesis of Science: How the Christian Middle Ages Launched the Scientific Revolution in the US. My apologetics website is Bede's Library. I am also the author What Everyone Needs to Know about Tax and write about tax at my other blog. I can be found on Twitter as @DrJamesHannam.
Humphrey Clarke
I am a historian of a very middling and amateurish sort. Having taken a Masters in Modern History at the University of St Andrews (2004), I completed a law conversion course at Nottingham Law School and embarked upon what has been an exciting career in legal technology. My chief interests are in Twentieth Century History, Colonial America, Historiography and, most recently, the History of Science. I also write a satirical blog at The Diary of Humphrey Clarke. I hope my contributions to Quodlibeta capture something of the pleasure I get from trawling my dusty collection of second hand history books.
Jim S
I have a Ph.D. in Philosophy and Master's degrees in Philosophy and Theology. I'm a generalist, my areas of expertise being epistemology, logic, philosophy of mind, philosophy of religion, and science and religion. I did my philosophical studies in Continental Europe, and currently reside in the Pacific Northwest. I also write the Agent Intellect blog. In my mid-20s I decided to refute Christianity to set my conscience at ease. Two subjects I turned to in particular were science and philosophy. I accidentally argued myself into it.
5 comments:
the link didn't work, but I did searching and couldn't find a UNESCO link on the ynetnews site, but I did find this UNESCO document:
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0007/000704/070484eo.pdf
that describes Maimonides was a Jewish thinker, though his family had to pretend they converted to Islam.
Hmmm. The link works for me. Here's the IP address: http://pajamasmedia.com/tatler/2011/07/24/unesco-now-rewrites-history-its-own-way-great-jews-are-suddenly-great-muslims/
It's getting the pajamas media logo, but nothing else.
But either way I dug a little deeper and found that the document I linked to was from 1986.
Also, the UNESCO document in question that lists Maimonides as a Muslim thinker was in one paragraph in a French paper:
http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/SC/pdf/sc_usr05_arab_fr.pdf
The paragraph in question is translated here:
After the recovery of Toledo from the Moors by the Crusaders in 1085, European scholars flocked there to translate the ancient classical texts from the Greek (which Europe had forgotten) to Arabic and Hebrew and Latin, making it the first part of the European Middle Ages (1100-1543), the names of some European scholars appeared in scientific literature next to a large number of Muslim scholars, including Ibn Rushd (Averroes), Maimouna Ibn Moussa (Maimonides), Tousi and Ibn Nafis.
It could just as easily have been a simple error. Considering the much longer essay from 1986 detailing Maimonides' life as a Jewish thinker, and the more recent document where his name is listed among several others, an error seems to be the most plausible explanation.
Hanlon's razor is tragically absent from today's discourse.
The claim is that they've listed him as a Muslim under the name Musa
Bin Memoun. I assume it was just sloppy of them. Here's a link to the UNESCO report, with Musa Bin Memoun appearing in a short list of "Muslim scientists" on the bottom of the second page:
http://www.unesco.org/new/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/SC/pdf/sc_usr05_arab_en.pdf
I haven't read the whole thing, but it looks like it's repeating the whole Dark Ages canard.
Thanks for thiis blog post
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