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Libra Esoterica

The occult sciences in pre-modern Islamic cultures

by Nader El-Bizri & Eva Orthmann

  • First published:
  • 21st century
  • Language: English

Description

Description from Harvard LibraryCloud (opens in a new tab)

In pre-modern Islamic cultures, a number of arts and practices that are associated with the occult sciences were seen as epistemic expansions of the field of scientific knowledge in its various branches. The sciences of the occult dealt with what was taken to be of the order of non-observable realities that were studied by pre-modern natural scientists. This included all phenomena that could not be explained on the basis of the four classical elements. The sciences of the occult were situated between natural philosophy and metaphysics, and at times blended with these in more direct forms as was the case with astronomia ('ilm al-nujum), which combined mathematical astronomy with astrology, or the bent on arithmology and numerology that accompanied the sciences of arithmetic and number theory. An examination of these pre-modern forms of knowledge can itself further enrich our modern understanding of what constitutes the limits of science and its epistemological bearings in the deliberations of philosophy of science. --

Provenance

Why this book is in the catalog

Included because retained bibliographic metadata links this work to Astrology, Consciousness, mysticism, and metaphysics, Divination and oracles, and Occultism and esotericism.

  • Occultism and esotericism

    Controlled discovery queries from harvard matched “occultism”. Retained metadata contains “occult” in the title, “Occult sciences” in the title, “occult” in the description, and 4 additional metadata match(es).

    • “occultism”· via Harvard LibraryCloud
    • “occult”· in title
    • “Occult sciences”· in title
    • “occult”· in description
    • “Occult sciences”· in description
    • “Occultism”· in subject
  • Astrology

    Retained metadata contains “Astrology” in the description.

    • “Astrology”· in description
  • Divination and oracles

    Retained metadata contains “Numerology” in the description.

    • “Numerology”· in description
  • Consciousness, mysticism, and metaphysics

    Retained metadata contains “Metaphysics” in the description.

    • “Metaphysics”· in description

Membership records how this book met the catalog’s discovery criteria — relevance to a tradition, not a judgment of the book’s claims.

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Editions

One edition cataloged here.

Harvard LibraryCloud bibliographic record

264 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

2018Orient-Institut BeirutEnglish
  • 9783956502910
  • 3956502914
Catalog record

Subjects

9 subject headings

Identifiers & provenance

How this record was assembled, and the authority identifiers it carries.

Cataloged from

Catalog id
harvard:99153696243703941
Edition coverage
Harvard source record
Retrieved