Mark Steyn: Blunt words about Muslim backwardness

National Post ^ | 6 Sep 2013 | Mark Steyn

[zeugma]

“They did great things in the Middle Ages, though.:

In fact, most of what they “did”, they borrowed from the Hindus.

Exactly. Islam has offered the world nothing but death and destruction, as would befit a religion authored by satan.

“They did great things in the Middle Ages, though.:

In fact, most of what they “did”, they borrowed from the Hindus.

[Ethan Clive Osgoode]

The 12th century philosopher and mathematician Averroes actual did a lot of good work and was a great influence on western philosophy (in a good way).

Aquinas called Averroes "the perverter" of philosophy. Also, the view that everything Aristotle ever said was unquestionably true and unsurpassable, seems to come from Averroes. That wasn't a healthy attitude for philosophy. Averroes founded the idea that there are two different kinds of truth: religious truth and truth of secular science. That's a pernicious doctrine which is seeing some revival today (think evolutionism.)

[JLS]

Mark Steyn ping.

Freepmail me, if you want on or off the Mark Steyn ping list.

Thanks for the ping twotone.

[Dr. Sivana]

Aquinas called Averroes "the perverter" of philosophy.

Well, golly. I never claimed that he was alotogether right, after all he remained in Islam.

I'm just saying he was a serious philosopher, and has no more problems than guys like Kant, Hegel and Descartes who are considered important, if flawed, thinkers.

[Madame Dufarge]

What Arab Civilization

[Hildy]

Don’t be jealous, but I am going to a dinner next month at the Goldwater Institute with guest speakers.. Ready... Mark Steyn and Laura Ingraham.

[TheOldLady]

Thank you for the ping to this very interesting article.

The thread also contains a wealth of information.

[MrsEmmaPeel]

One of the earliest mathematical systems was developed by the Assyrians, who in turn taught the Babylonians, who passed it onto the Persians, the Greeks, the Egyptians and the Romans. Mathematically speaking, some of the greatest inventions came from the Greeks - for it was the Greeks who taught that a thing was not knowable unless it could be proved to be so. Also, the Greeks gave us the concept of the infinite and the infinitesimal. Babylonians gave us quadradic equations and Romans used the Babylonian/Greek discovery of PI and converted it into an architectural wonder with the arch.

The Assyrians and Babylonians had a number for "0". Centuries later the west adopted the Hindu symbol for "0". The Romans did not use "0". (MMII = 2002), but they had fractions. "0" is not as important in the evolution of society as fractions are.

Muslim contributions don't scompare on this scale.

[1010RD]

The Muslims who are celebrated for preserving or transmitting and in some cases improving this knowledge were, IIRC, heretics who’d be killed by todays radicals.

[Pining_4_TX]

Were there comments after this? I couldn’t find them, if there were. I am curious to see what people said about Steyn’s column.

[FredZarguna]

[FredZarguna]

Perhaps you prefer the more debonaire look:

[FredZarguna]

Every true revolutionary has a graphic [with beret, natch!]

Viva Steyn, indeed.

[Gene Eric]

And to wrap it up with “zero”. Seriously?

[Gene Eric]

No, the Hindus gave formal recognition to zero, but integers were establish long before that.

[Gene Eric]

That’s right. The Arabs salvaged the remains of Alexandria, and later published the copy as the “Great Works”.

Islam was focused on war, not mathematics.

[Ethan Clive Osgoode]

Well, golly. I never claimed that he was alotogether right, after all he remained in Islam. I'm just saying he was a serious philosopher,

Nah, you said he was a great and good influence on western philosophy. Actually we were better off without Averroes. And we would be even better off if we can bury the myth that moslems contributed something significant to western thought.

[Dr. Sivana]

Nah, you said he was a great and good influence on western philosophy.

Yup. He created contention points that allowed the Catholic scholastics like Aquinas and Scotus to play off of. Moreover, his philosophy was tending towards pantheism (as often happens with radical monotheists, check Spinosa a few centuries later) and pretty much shows what happens to Islam if you follow it through. Perhaps I have a broader definition of words like contribute. Few of the famous philosophers, particularly in the modern era, REALLY particularly from Germany, made things any better, and yet they are worthy of study. I wouldn't include Averroes in an intro to philosophy class, but he was no dunce.