Polymathy and Interdisciplinarity in Premodern Islamic Epistemic Cultures
Welcome to the website of the research project ‘KNOW: Polymathy and Interdisciplinarity in Premodern Islamic Epistemic Cultures”
Our aim is to write a history of knowledge in premodern Islamic cultures, viewed through the lens of interdisciplinarity and polymathy. Our approach is based on the premise that knowledge is a dynamic process involving interactions between different epistemologies, and that scholarly disciplines are composite and historically contingent. The main objectives of the project are outlined on our about page. Our team seeks to understand how efforts to integrate knowledge shaped the epistemic cultures of the time.
Join Us!
We are pleased to announce the call for one PhD position on the intersections of Islamic law (fiqh) and medicine (tibb) - Apply before 15 June 2025.
We encourage you to check out our kunnāsh, the collective research journal, structured as a series of essays relevant to the project.
Call for Papers
Problem Areas, Disciplinary Boundaries, and Scholarly Practice in the Post-Formative Period (Ghent, 2-4 June 2026)
Send your abstract by 31 July 2025.
The KNOW research project has been generously funded by a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council. Further support has come from a starting grant from the Ghent Special Research Fund.
