Islamic medical ethics in the twentieth century

prominent topic, with further contributions in physics, astronomy, mechanics, cosmology, and psychology. The questions addressed largely consist of the puzzles of the curious layman (e.g. why is the sky sometimes red, how do flies stick to walls, etc.), presented in the style of the Greek problemata literature. The arguments offered in response are, as one would expect, essentially Aristotelian; but they often set forth new formulations or deal with problems not to be found in the Aristotelian corpus. Daiber's commentaries are especially useful for the way in which they place Ibn al-'Amid's essays within the context of the development of Aristotelianism in medieval Islam, with the philosopher al-Kindi (d. c. 252/866) proving to be an important source of influence. The transition from Greek to Arabic is also pursued by Daiber; he draws attention to numerous points of translation, and observes, inter alia, that Ibn al-'Amid seems to have access to an Arabic translation of the Parva naturalia which does not agree with the extant Greek text. There is also a detailed Arabic-German glossary which will be of considerable value to researchers interested in the technical and specialized vocabulary of the medieval Arabic natural sciences. In his introduction and commentaries, Daiber repeatedly compares his author to Leonardo da Vinci. The comparison was first made by Khalil Mardam Bey in 1931, and more recently has been reiterated by several other scholars, but seems both unnecessary and misleading. Both Ibn al-'Amid and Leonardo displayed formidable talents in many fields, but their cultural backgrounds, the focal points of their contributions, and their influence on later cultural and scientific developments were so different as to render a comparison highly problematic. Beyond that, such corhparisons tend to obfuscate an important feature of Islamic science illustrated by Daiber's volume. In matters of culture, such scholars as al-Jahiz (d. 255/868), Abu Hayyan al-Tawhidi (d. 414/1023), and Ibn al-'Amid were primarily literary figures, but represented a tradition which encouraged very broad learning and denigrated narrow specialization.) The result was the appropriation into literary culture of much of the philosophical, medical, and other scientific learning of the day, and the side of Ibn al-'Amid's career presented by Daiber in this volume may perhaps best be seen as an example of the ways in which this process encouraged not just the assimilation, but also the expansion of scientific knowledge.