06 - Grasping the Invisible

Analogies have been used throughout history as a means of explaining the world, and of grasping phenomena that could not otherwise be understood. In this episode of the "Science Social" podcast series, host Stephanie Hood and Postdoctoral Fellow Hannah Erlwein visit the "Islamic Golden Age," a period of cultural, theological, and scientific flourishing where analogies were central to understanding how the world was made and how science and religion connected. From the art of debating to Newton's shoot for the moon, from Aristotle to Avicenna, from mind-boggling "What Ifs?" to current advances in artificial intelligence, we explore how people are, and always have been, analogical beings. Learn more about Analogies in Premodern Islamic Theology: http://bit.ly/knowing-the-unobservable Listen to Hannah Erlwein's Podcast Kalamopod: https://anchor.fm/kalamopod About Hannah Erlwein: https://www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/users/herlwein This podcast is produced by the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de Follow us on https://twitter.com/MPIWG Host: Stephanie Hood Concept and sound editing by Verena Braun Theme song by Podington Bear, CC NY-NC 3.0