July
19, 2017 Wednesday
Bedtime
Story
Abu Rayhan Al-Biruni (973 to 1048) and Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (1201 to 1274)
George
Boole unalike his predecessors, in his 1854 book The Laws of Thought (the
actual name is rather long) for the first time attempted to provide these
axioms of logic with mathematical foundations that involved equations.
Bertrand
Russell took these three axioms and formal logic to totally new heights with
his three landmark books that I am sure most apes would never care to even
look, forget about reading.
(a)
The Principles of Mathematics 1903
(b)
The three-volume Principia Mathematica with Alfred North Whitehead first
published in 1910
(c)
The Problems of Philosophy in 1912.
Recall
that while dealing with the liar paradox, we came across the principle of
bivalence which if you pay close attention you will notice is closely related
to the law of excluded middle.
As
I said, many wise men of various great civilizations have tried to find a way
around this liar paradox.
In
fact, perhaps the first logician to mark the liar paradox as self-referential
was the great Persian scholar Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (1201 to 1274).
The
story of the forgotten Islamic scholars is another fascinating aspect that I
might write upon some day.
There
is no doubt that the Middle East and Persia was the seat of scientific and
mathematical powerhouse prior to the scientific movement that started in Europe
somewhere around 1400s.
In
one of the several books that he had written, Tusi had come forward with a
theory of evolution of species on the planet.
I
am quoting some of the lines that have been translated into English from his
books.
I
know I am digressing from my story on logic and Tarski but origin of life and
species is something that fascinates me.
It
only confirms my stance that wise men of all civilizations understood that
there had to have been an evolutionary origin of life, irrespective of their
lack of accurate technical and biological knowledge of the basis of heredity.
The
basic knowledge of genetics had to have been there, given that humans have been
genetically modifying edible fruits, wheat and other cereals and domestic animals
since the dawn of civilization in the Fertile Crescent as early as 8000 BC.
Abu
Rayhan Al-Biruni, the great Iranian scholar and polymath from Khwarezm who
lived during the Islamic Golden Period wrote a book titled Tarikh Al-Hind (he
was an Indologist) somewhere around 1000 AD.
In
it he beautifully describes selective breeding that he had observed were
carried out by the Hindu agriculturists:
“The
agriculturist selects his corn, letting grow as much as he requires, and
tearing out the remainder.
The
forester leaves those branches which he perceives to be excellent, whilst he
cuts away all others.”
Tomorrow
night I shall quote Nasir al-Din al-Tusi.
Stay tuned to the voice of an average story storytelling
chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.in/
Good night mon ami and my fellow cousin ape.
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Another great educator and a teacher that I am aware of is
Professor Subhashish Chattopadhyay in Bangalore, India.
While I narrate stories, Professor Subhashish an electronic engineer
and a former professor at BARC, does and teaches real mathematics and physics.
He started the participation of Indian students at the
International Physics Olympiad.
Do visit him here:
All his books can be downloaded for free through this link:
For edutainment and English education of your children, I
recommend this large collection of Halloween Songs for Kids:
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