KNOW aims to develop a history of knowledge that investigates the interactions among scholarly disciplines. The project focuses on the post-formative period of Islamic intellectual history (1200–1800 CE), a time characterised by the emergence of new educational institutions, the expansion of libraries, the establishment and integration of academic disciplines, and a surge in scholarly travel. These developments spurred interdisciplinary collaboration, competition, and conflict, profoundly shaping the epistemic cultures of the time.
By employing the concepts of polymathy and interdisciplinarity, we seek to better understand the intellectual dynamics of this period. Interdisciplinarity refers to the interaction and exchange between different disciplines, while polymathy encompasses the qualities of breadth, depth, and synthesis that characterised scholars involved in interdisciplinary work. Our research explores how scholars adopted and adapted concepts and tools from other fields, the scholarly practices and textual forms that facilitated such interactions, and the qualities required to achieve polymathic status.
The project is conducted by an interdisciplinary team of researchers who investigate the intersections among fields such as philology, theology, exegesis, law, medicine, logic, algebra, and geometry within premodern Islamic epistemic cultures.
Through this work, we aim to establish and advance a new research paradigm for studying the history of knowledge prior to the period of European colonial influence.