Arabic science in East Germany. A history of atheistic materialism

In Germany, the end of World War II was a time of heated controversy about the value of science and technology. In the 1950s, the Marxist-Leninist philosopher Herman Ley engaged in an extensive historical work. His revisionist aim was to write a different history of science, Enlightenment and social progress from those produced in the West from the nineteenth century onwards. In this undertaking, medieval Arabic science was positively re-evaluated and constituted a materialist starting point for the history of modern scientific progress. Middle Eastern, especially Syrian, offshoots of this intellectual enterprise offered a critique of Western Eurocentrism that preceded twenty-first century injunctions to provincialize Europe.