Blog #6

Islam had generated the most advanced science in the world between 800 and 1400. China's technological accomplishments and economic growth were unmatched anywhere after 1000.
Europe's historical development of a fragment civilization gave rise to conditions uniquely favorable to the scientific enterprise. Europeans had evolved a legal system that guaranteed a measure of independence for a variety of institutions. The development of science in the West was the autonomy of its emerging universities. Such universities became "neutral zones of intellectual autonomy" for scholars that could pursue their studies in relative freedom from the dictates of church or state authorities.
Science was patronized by a variety of local authorities in the Islamic world, but it occurred largely outside the formal system of higher education. Quranic studies and religious law held the central place while philosophy and natural science were viewed with great suspicion. The Quran held all wisdom according to the religious scholars and scientific thinking may challenge it.
Chinese education focused on preparing for a defined set of civil service examination and emphasized the humanistic and moral texts of classical Confucianism.
Western Europe was in a position to draw on the knowledge of other cultures especially the Islamic world. Arab medical texts, astronomical research, and translated Greek classics played a major role in the birth of European philosophy. Then Europeans found themselves at the center of massive new exchange of information as they became aware of lands, peoples, plants, animals, societies and religions from around the world. This new knowledge shook up older ways of thinking and opened the way to new conceptions of the world.