Classical Wisdom in Arabic Garb

This course falls within those related to or supplementary to the bachelor degree 'Ancient Civilizations for the Contemporary World' and belongs to the literary-linguistic area. It aims to provide the student with the first methodological tools in the historical-literary field concerning medieval, scientific and philosophical literature in Arabic. In fact, the Arab culture and society of the Abbasid period and its main characteristics as well as the interest of the Abbasid caliphs and rulers in science and philosophy allowed the development of the so-called "Arabic scientific literature". The course, therefore, aims to introduce the student to this disciplinary area and to offer him the necessary knowledge in order to understand the importance of translating philosophy and sciences of the ancient worlds, Greek and Persian, into Arabic, their development by Arab scholars and their transmission in the Latin world through Spain (Andalusia). Furthermore, the course aims to develop the ability of the student to read primary sources (in translation) and to use critically the bibliography concerning the dealt-with topics during the course, so he\she can reach an autonomous idea or position concerning various issues through exposing clearly different questions and integrating the knowledge he\she learned from this course and the other courses offered by the degree program.

1.Knowledge and understanding: knowledge of the periods, lines of development of the history of the Arab medieval civilization; Knowledge of the fundamental lines of development of the philosophical and scientific thought of the Arab medieval civilization.
2.Ability to apply knowledge and understanding: ability to critically use the main bibliographic tools; Ability to read Arabic sources of philosophy and various sciences (in translation) and try to understand them in their context; Ability to discuss issues related to cultural heritage taking into consideration the relationship between, from one side, some cultural phenomena and expressions of Arab civilization, and from the other, their historical context in which they were developed; Ability to recognize the value of the complexity and multiplicity of interpretations of the philosophical and scientific sources of the medieval Arab world; Ability to understand, analyze and compare the various hypotheses in the scientific literature related to the development of the philosophical and scientific thought in the medieval Arab world.
3.Critical judgement and expression of opiniones: ability to form an autonomous, reasoned idea regarding the medieval Arab civilization without any influence of preconceived theories; Ability to critically intervene in a debate on the value and the role of medieval Arab civilization in the development and transmission of knowledge in order to understand the present world.
4.Communication skills: ability to logically expose and explain in written and/or oral form (in English) the knowledge and skills learned during the course.
5.Learning skills: ability to consult with autonomy the resources and tools necessary for obtaining knowledge concerning the historical and philosophical areas of the medieval Arab world; Development of the capacity for approaching a problem related to the history of medieval Arab civilization and its scientific literature with interdisciplinary and collaborative way; Autonomous ability to interpret the sources of medieval Arabic philosophy and to link them to their historical and religious context; Ability to develop questions in a clear and articulated way in order to deepen, complete and integrate the knowledge and skills learned in both this course and other courses of the degree.