Reading ?ayy Ibn-Yaq?an: A Cross-Cultural History of Autodidacticism
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Reading ?ayy Ibn-Yaq?an: A Cross-Cultural History of Autodidacticism

Reading ?ayy Ibn-Yaq?an: A Cross-Cultural History of Autodidacticism

By
Avner Ben-Zaken (Author)  

Hardback

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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. 1 Line drawings, black and white; 30 Halftones, black and white CPSIA choking or other US hazard warning - No California Proposition 65 hazard warning necessary
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.
  • Contributor: Avner Ben-Zaken
  • Imprint: Johns Hopkins University Press
  • ISBN13: 9780801897399
  • Number of Pages: 208
  • Packaged Dimensions: 152x229x19mm
  • Packaged Weight: 431
  • Format: Hardback
  • Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
  • Release Date: 2011-02-01
  • Binding: Hardback
  • Biography: 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.

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