On Close-Mindedness

In the 20th century humanity saw the greatest flourishing of the rational pursuit of knowledge. This movement began in the 1400s with the Renaissance when Europeans once again recognized the genius of Classical antiquities achievements. Looking primarily at Classical Greek culture intellectuals of the Renaissance began to pursue art, philosophy, literature and inquire into nature from the human perspective. Which is to say that these intellectuals asked questions and observed, created and inspired from the humanistic perspective, focusing once more on what it means to be human. This is differentiated from the Medieval European culture where all intellectual pursuits were encapsulated in the service of God and the Church. Good science was that which corroborated the Bible, philosophy applied reason to the Divine Order, art was simply and depicted religious imagery only. In the Renaissance the perspective shifted from the heavens back humanity. It is also worth noting that much knowledge from Greek antiquity was saved by intellectuals in the Ottoman Empire which is was is now considered the Middle East. Indeed, while the pursuit of knowledge was in the service of God in Europe art, philosophy, medical science flourished in the Ottoman Empire which has become known as the Islamic Golden Age. For example Ali Kuscu ( 1403-1474) separated the study of astronomy from natural philosophy, pursuing it as an empirical science as well as through mathematical methods. He also rejected the model of the universe set forth by Aristotelian physics which was unquestioned in Europe at the time and which located the Earth as the center of the solar system. Kuscu proposed the idea of a heliocentric solar system before Copernicus' revolution in European science. Perhaps the most well known thinker of the Islamic Golden Age is Avicenna or Ibn Sina who contributed to philosophy, medicine, astronomy, geography and geology, psychology, logic, mathematics, physics, poetry, and Islamic theology. His encyclopedic work The Canon of Medicine was the standard medical text for centuries after his death in the Ottoman Empire and Europe.

I mention this because as I said in the beginning during the Renaissance the search for knowledge and the pursuit of intellectual endeavors shifted from continually trying to establish the world view condoned by the Catholic Church to a freer spirit of inquiry. This laid the foundation for the Enlightenment movement where rational science bloomed into the form we now know and practice. Many thinkers and ideas from the Enlightenment and Renaissance periods have shaped and continue to influence the world of today. Indeed, I shall explore many of these thinkers and ideas in my studies which is why I shall not mention them now. Going back to my mention of science in the 20th century; a time period where civilization made unprecedented strides in knowledge advancement we can see how the explosion of discovery and invention was built upon centuries of inquiry. The Renaissance contributed to the Enlightenment which was the springboard for the 19th and 20th century science being so fruitful. In the 20th century many more people had access to education than at any other time in history. not only this but the opportunity to explore and set upon research has never been so bountiful. The result? Spectacular technology and the greatest depth of understanding of the natural world and insight into humanity. the precursor to which, we may say, was the Renaissance; which in turn was inspired by Classical Greece.

Now what is my point in all this? Well between the Classical era and the Renaissance there is a gap. The Middle Ages when thinkers sought to reinforce their beliefs rather than follow the spirit of inquiry. Sound familiar? It seems that throughout history humanity has gone through periods of great discovery and intellectual endeavors only to become suspicious of these activities and shun rational inquiry for a period. At the time of the decline of the Roman Empire religious fanatics burned schools and libraries for being pagan, because it was not in line with their doctrine. The library of Alexandria held the greatest collection of knowledge in the ancient world, a center of science and rational inquiry was burned to the ground. Hypatia headed the library at the time of its demise, who was she? A woman philosopher and scientist considered the greatest intellect in Alexandria in her time. Well she was murdered, dragged by a group of Christian fanatics who took her to the center of town and burned her alive, Why? Because a woman intellectual did not accord with the view of the bishop of Alexandria. Today we see the same strains of religious radicalism from conflict in the Middle East to fundamentalism infiltrating America politics.But this is a symptom of a far greater illness---the closing of the mind to questioning the world and our beliefs. We see it in the culture of today, in the echo-chambers of the internet and those who preach open-mindness but who won't listen to views that oppose their own. Let us not slip, let us not lose the spirit of rational inquiry, especially after all we have achieved. Now more than ever we must be open to question, to be logical, to avoid bias and prejudice. For now more than ever the world needs to step away from ignorance and toward wholeness.

#Philosophy #Knowledge