What exemplified Islam for him, he said, was the decision by one early Muslim ruler to ransom Christian prisoners in exchange for works of Greek philosophy, medicine and mathematics.

ECONOMIST: Naguib Mahfouz | The

The first crisis came at the turn of the century, when he was commissioned to paint several murals for the Great Hall of the University of Vienna on classical themes such as Medicine and Philosophy.

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The civil unrest of the previous decade had finally settled down, the student body was growing larger and more diverse, the university had changed its applications process to a double-blind procedure with no special consideration for gender, race, or ethnicity, and research in medicine and the physical sciences shared space in the curriculum with philosophy and art.

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Having studied for five years under top Chinese professors, he now co-writes learned papers on Eastern medicine in Mandarin, drawing on a deep knowledge of ancient Chinese philosophy and cosmology.

ECONOMIST: The Greeks and the Chinese