The World of Books:
And if Europe was not to his knowledge of Islam? April 4, 2008
Roger-Pol Droit
Historian Sylvain Gouguenheim rejects the idea that Greek science was transmitted to the West by the Muslim world. Amazing correct the prejudices of the time, the work of Sylvain Gouguenheim will spark debate and controversy. Its theme: the cultural lineage Western world-Muslim world. On this subject, the ideological and political issues loom large. Yet this most serious academic, professor of medieval history at the Ecole Normale Superieure de Lyon, undermines a series of beliefs became dominant.
Presentation Editor
is generally considered that the West has discovered knowledge Greek Middle Ages through Arabic translations. Sylvain Gouguenheim undermines such an idea by showing that Europe has always maintained his contacts with the Greek world. Le Mont-Saint-Michel, in particular, is the center of an active work of translating the texts of Aristotle in particular, from the twelfth century. We discover at the same time as the other side of the Mediterranean, the Hellenization of the Islamic world, more limited than what is believed, was mainly the work of Christian Arabs. Even the field of Islamic philosophy (Avicenna, Averroes) remained in part outside the Greek spirit. Thus, it appears that the Hellenization of Christian Europe was primarily the result of the desire of Europeans themselves. If the term "roots" has a meaning for civilization, the roots of the European world are Greek, those of the Islamic world are not.
About the Author Professor of Medieval History at the ENS in Lyon, Sylvain Gouguenheim currently working on the history of the Crusades. He recently published The Teutonic Knights (Tallandier, 2008). Interview with Sylvain
Gougenheim on Canal Academy about his book on the Teutonic Knights and the book "Aristotle at Mont Saint Michel"
http://www.canalacademie.com/Les-chevaliers-teutoniques.html ? var_recherche Sylvain =% 20Gougenheim
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