IIS Hosts International Conference on Science and Philosophy

The SIHSPAI was founded in 1989 to promote advanced academic research on science and philosophy in Islamic civilisations. It is also the scholarly international society that publishes the distinguished Cambridge University Press journal, Arabic Sciences and Philosophy.

The conference was organised by Dr Nader El-Bizri, formerly a Research Associate at the IIS and currently Principal Lecturer at The University of Lincoln’s Faculty of Architecture, Art and Design. It brought to the Institute fifty internationally renowned authorities and scholars from many parts of the world including Paris, Berlin, Sydney, Tangiers, Amsterdam, Washington DC, Napoli and Rabat. The presentations over the course of the three-day event covered various topics in the history of philosophy, metaphysics, medicine, geometry, astronomy, arithmetic and algebra.

Scholars affiliated with the IIS also participated in the conference. Dr Toby Mayer delivered a presentation on Time in Shahrastani’s Philosophical System, while Professor Carmela Baffioni, from the University of Napoli, delivered a paper on her new book comprising the Arabic edition and annotated English translation of the epistles On Logic from the Rasa’il Ikhwan al-Safa’, which was recently published by Oxford University Press in association with the IIS as part of the Epistles of the Brethren of Purity series.

The three-day conference was well-attended by scholars, academics and students. Further details on the organisations involved with this conference may be obtained by visiting the following websites:

Société Internationale d’Histoire des Sciences et de la Philosophie Arabes et Islamiques (SIHSPAI): http://www.sihspai.umd.edu/

Centre d'Histoire des Sciences et des Philosophies Arabes et Médiévales (CHSPAM): http://www.chspam.univ-paris-diderot.fr/spip.php?rubrique2