Interdisciplinary Study of Religions Program and Dean of the College Present

Medieval Islamic Cosmology and the Role of the Soul in Apprehending Musical Beauty

How did medieval Muslims conceptualize science? What kind of a relationship did they envisage between science and other bodies of knowledge, chief among them Islam? This talk will provide some preliminary responses to these questions through a brief examination of a discussion within the science of music pertaining to the apprehension of musical beauty. First, a brief introduction to the cosmology of the medieval Islamic world will be provided. This will be followed by an examination of the question of musical beauty and the growing importance of the human soul in the discussions pertaining to this question. Inheriting the works of Classical Greek philosophers, scholars of music in the medieval Islamic world set about the task of explaining the mechanisms of apprehension of musical beauty according to mathematical rules. In this process, the role of the soul – a metaphysical being – as the link between humanity and the cosmos – with its mathematical underpinnings – grew in importance. Through this analysis we can see how medieval Muslims understood the world around them and how they conceptualized the bodies of knowledge that were tasked with studying the universe.

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For more information, call 845-758-6822, or e-mail [email protected].

Time: 5:00 pm EST/GMT-5

Location: Olin 102

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