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Reading ?ayy Ibn-Yaq?an: A Cross-Cultural History of Autodidacticism
Avner Ben-Zaken
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Description for Reading ?ayy Ibn-Yaq?an: A Cross-Cultural History of Autodidacticism
Hardback. The first book-length intellectual history of autodidacticism, this novel, thought-provoking work will interest a wide range of historians, including scholars of the history of science, philosophy, literature, Europe, and the Middle East. Num Pages: 208 pages, 31, 30 black & white halftones, 1 black & white line drawings. BIC Classification: D; HBJD; HPDC; PDX. Category: (UP) Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly. Dimension: 235 x 162 x 18. Weight in Grams: 422.
Commonly translated as "The Self-Taught Philosopher" or "The Improvement of Human Reason," Ibn-Tufayl's story ayy Ibn-Yaq an inspired debates about autodidacticism in a range of historical fields from classical Islamic philosophy through Renaissance humanism and the European Enlightenment. Avner Ben-Zaken's account of how the text traveled demonstrates the intricate ways in which autodidacticism was contested in and adapted to diverse cultural settings. In tracing the circulation of the ayy Ibn-Yaq an, Ben-Zaken highlights its key place in four far-removed historical moments. He explains how autodidacticism intertwined with struggles over mysticism in twelfth-century Marrakesh, controversies about pedagogy in fourteenth-century Barcelona, quarrels concerning astrology in Renaissance Florence, and debates pertaining to experimentalism in seventeenth-century Oxford. In each site and period, Ben-Zaken recaptures the cultural context that stirred scholars to relate to ayy Ibn-Yaq an and demonstrates how the text moved among cultures, leaving in its wake translations, interpretations, and controversies as various as the societies themselves. Pleas for autodidacticism, Ben-Zaken shows, not only echoed within close philosophical discussions; they surfaced in struggles for control between individuals and establishments. Presented as self-contained histories, these four moments together form a historical collage of autodidacticism across cultures from the late Medieval era to early modern times. The first book-length intellectual history of autodidacticism, this novel, thought-provoking work will interest a wide range of historians, including scholars of the history of science, philosophy, literature, Europe, and the Middle East.
Product Details
Format
Hardback
Publication date
2011
Publisher
Johns Hopkins University Press United States
Number of pages
208
Condition
New
Number of Pages
208
Place of Publication
Baltimore, MD, United States
ISBN
9780801897399
SKU
V9780801897399
Shipping Time
Usually ships in 15 to 20 working days
Ref
99-50
About Avner Ben-Zaken
Avner Ben-Zaken is the chair of the humanities program at Ono College, Israel. He specializes in the cross-cultural history of science and is the author of Cross-Cultural Scientific Exchanges in the Eastern Mediterranean, 1560-1660, also published by Johns Hopkins.
Reviews for Reading ?ayy Ibn-Yaq?an: A Cross-Cultural History of Autodidacticism
This highly interesting volume can be described in three ways. First it is a historical analysis of the concept of autodidacticism. Second, it is the history of a particular book. Finally, the book is self-described as an exercise in interdisciplinarity... The method of this historiographic proposal is described as "historical sampling," whereby the appropriation of a text in various cultural contexts is displayed and compared. In all three of the abovementioned ways, the present reviewer judges the book to be a success. Moreover, it is written in such a lively style with rich detail that it is engrossing from start to finish.
M. V. Dougherty Renaissance Quarterly 2011
M. V. Dougherty Renaissance Quarterly 2011