Cairo University

Cultural Salon at Cairo University Discusses Sciences in Egypt throughout the 19th Century

Date :2015-04-21 20:22:24

On April 15, 2015, at 12 p.m., in cooperation with the New Central Library, Science Heritage Center – Cairo University has inaugurated its second cultural salon, entitled “Sciences in Egypt at the 19th Century”, at Enlightenment Hall, Third Floor, The New Central Library.

The salon is operated by Hamed Eid, Manager of the Center. The seminar has been delivered by Dr.\ Mustafa El-Nashar, Professor of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, Cairo University, and Dr.\ Sabry El-Adl, Professor of Modern History, Misr International University. It has been attended by elite of professors and specialists in philosophy and history field.

In his speech, Hamed has reviewed that the meeting revolves around the 19th century, and how the Egyptians committed themselves and cared for science since the departure of the French campaign in Egypt. He illustrated how Mohamed Ali Pasha is the beginning of modern Egyptian renaissance.

Dr.\ Mustafa El-Nashar, Professor of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, Cairo University, has illustrated in his speech how Egypt benefitted from the huge civilization shock it exposed to with the entrance of the French campaign. He pointed out that there are some opinions say that there are harms and negatives for the campaign; most important of which is a philosophical issue offered by the French campaign, namely; authenticity and modernity. There are two teams, first of which calls upon returning to heritage and civilization, while the second calls upon modernity and keeping up with the current era. Thus, a third team, which is common nowadays, has shown up calling upon harmonizing between authenticity and modernity. El-Nashar added that we should get rid of this problem.

Dr.\ Sabry El-Adl, Professor of Modern History, Misr International University, has confirmed that the beginning of coming in close contact with modern science in Egypt was through the era of Mohammed Ali who made massive reforms that target establishing strong European-style army. El-Adl has also added that one of the most prominent scientific phenomena of modern Egypt is founding scientific schools, such as; schools of medicine and engineering, the most important two schools, for having the biggest influence on the Egyptian society.