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Sociology: an Infirm Science?

By Way of Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2024

Giovanni Busino  and
Josef van Ess
Giovanni Busino
Affiliation:
Université de Lausanne
Josef van Ess
Affiliation:
University of Tübingen

Extract

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A discipline with mythical origins, an almost legendary genesis, with indefinite and unde finable boundaries, with uncertain and controversial results, sociology has always claimed for itself the right to be the science of society, the only scientific discipline entrusted with the study of the entire set of intersubjective relationships and the magnetic field they constitute.

Type
Research Article
Information
Diogenes , Volume 38 , Issue 150 , June 1990 , pp. 37 - 76
Copyright
Copyright © 1990 Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie / International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP)

References

The most complete study of the subject is that of Makdisi, Georges, The Rise of Colleges. Institutions of Learning in Islam and the West, Edinburgh, 1981. This publication was preceded by a certain number of articles written by the same author; the first of them was the inspiration for additional remarks by A.L. Tibawi, Origin and Character of al-Madrasah, in Bull. School of Oriental and African Studies 25/1962/225-238. Still useful for its wealth of documentation and the sobriety with which it is presented, is A.S. Tritton, Materials of Muslim Education in the Middle Ages, London, 1957. An independent approach concerning the Iranian origins of the madrasa was developed by Heinz Halm, ‘‘Die Anfänge der Madrasa’’, in Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, Supp. III = Actes XIX Deutscher Orientalistentag 1977, pp. 438-448. The educational system used in Damascus in the Middle Ages has recently been analyzed by Louis Pouzet, Damas au VII/XIII siècle. Vie et structures religieuses dans une métropole islamique, Beirut, 1988, p. 149 sq. For a brief synthesis of the secondary literature, see Encyclopédie de l'Islam (EI), second edition, article “Madrasa” (J. Pedersen and G. Makdisi). The latest ideas of G. Makdisi on the subject are summarised in his lecture “Scholasticism and Humanism in Classical Islam and the Christian West”, in Journal of the American Oriental Society 109/1989/175-182.Google Scholar
On the libraries see Eche, Youssef, Les Bibliothèques arabes publiques et semi-publiques en Mésopotamie, en Syrie et en Egypte au Moyen Age. Damascus, 1967. A brief survey can also be found in EP, article “Maktaba” (W. Heffening and J.D. Pearson).Google Scholar
For the “universities” mentioned, see EI2, article “al-Azhar” (J. Jomier) and “al-Karawiyyin”, (G. Deverdun). The modern universities of the Muslim world are dealt with by Waardenburg, Jacques, Les Universités dans le monde arabe actuel, 1–2, Paris/La Haye, 1966.Google Scholar
The transmission of texts in the early centuries of Islam and the role of oral tradition have been widely discussed in Western Islamology in recent years, especially in German. For an analysis of the status quaestionis see several articles by Gregor Schoeler: “Die Frage der schriftlichen oder mündlichen Überlieferung der Wissenschaften im frühen Islam”, in Der Islam 62/1985/201-230; “Weiteres zur Frage der schriftlichen oder mündlichen Überlieferung der Wissenschaften im Islam, ib. 66/1989/38-67; and “Mündliche Thora und Hadit: Überlieferung, Schreibverbot, Redaktion”, ib. 66/1989/213-251.Google Scholar
The era of Nizām al-Mulk was analysed recently by Glassen, Erika, Der mittlere Weg. Studien zur Religionspolitik und Religiosität der späteren Abbasiden-Zeit, Wiesbaden, 1981.Google Scholar
For the ideas of the mystics on education see Meier, Fritz, ‘‘Hurâsân und das Ende der klassischen Sufik’’, in Atti del Convegno Internazionale sul Tema: La Persia nel Medioevo, Rome, 1971, pp. 545–570.Google Scholar
The traditional educational system in Iran and the symbiosis of jurisprudence with mysticism are described by Roy Mottahedeh, The Mantle of the Prophet, London, 1985.Google Scholar