Michael E. Marmura Lectures in Arabic Studies 2025-26: Zeyad El Nabolsy

Rifa‘a al-Tahtawi's Reception of Modern Science

Abstract:
Rifa‘a al-Tahtawi (1801 – 1873) is widely seen as the father of the Nahda [or Renaissance] in the Arab world. The Nahda was an intellectual movement aimed at reform in the Arab world during the nineteenth century with the goal of catching up to the West. Despite Tahtawi’s importance for understanding the philosophical reception of modern science in the Arab world, not much attention has been paid to his views on science. The work of the historian John W. Livingston forms an exception. In this paper, I argue that while Livingston is to be commended for taking Tahtawi’s views on science seriously, his reading of Tahtawi as an instrumentalist about scientific theories is incorrect. Using the case study of Copernican astronomy, I show that Tahtawi held a realist view of scientific theories, and that it this realist view that explains why he ultimately rejected Copernican astronomy. Understanding Tahtawi’s philosophy of science helps us understand the subsequent lasting reception of modern science in the Arab world.

Bio:
Zeyad El Nabolsy is an assistant professor in the Department of Philosophy at York University. He specializes in the history of African philosophy broadly construed. His latest book is Paulin Hountondji and the Science Question in Africa (Springer 2025). He is currently finishing a book on nineteenth-century African philosophy. He has previously published on Amílcar Cabral’s philosophy of culture, methodological debates about racism and ideology in the historiography of philosophy, and James Africanus Beale Horton, among other topics. 

For zoom registration: https://utoronto.zoom.us/meeting/register/-HqxYnzKTbymjd4j0G2m5w

*See the event poster: Marmura_January 30-Zeyad El Nabolsy.pdf