Greek Legacy in Value System of Abbasid Caliphs in the Eighth and Ninth Centuries

Abstract

The article focuses on the socioeconomic and political context to examine the absorption of Greek science and philosophy in the Abbasid Caliphate (8th–9th centuries). The research is relevant due to the fact that many Western and Russian scientists believe that the reason of the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in recent decades is the immunity of Muslims community to achievements of the west civilization. The author stresses that it is important to take into account political, ideological and cultural preferences of those in power who commissioned in the Abbasid Caliphate in the 8th–9th centuries the translations of ancient philosophical and scientific texts from Greek, Syriac and Pahlevi into Arabic. The author argues that dominance of imperial worldview, submission to autocracy and domination of theocentrism in the Islamic East prevented Abbasid rulers and Muslims theologians from grasping the ancient philosophical ideas adequately. An approach, which the author proposes here, is to assert that Greek science and philosophy nevertheless contributed immensely to the formation and further prosperity of Muslim culture. The author argues that an analysis of impact of social and political factors on the reception of Greek-Hellenistic philosophy and science in the Islamic world will help to overcome the widespread stereotype that the Islamic East was just a transmitter of Greek Legacy to Medieval Europe