In this provocative 2025 lecture, Professor Jiang Xueqin (founder of the Predictive History series) dismantles the long-standing assumption that the "Modern World" was a purely European invention. Rather than viewing the Islamic Golden Age as a mere "preserver" of Greek texts, Jiang traces a sophisticated civilizational story shaped by Islamic institutions, legal scholarship, and standardized knowledge systems. He argues that the modern world did not emerge from a vacuum, but inherited a "Proto-Modern" structure meticulously engineered by Islamic thinkers and administrators centuries before the Enlightenment.
Key Intellectual Pillars Explored:
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Institutionalized Rational Inquiry: How the Abbasid world organized science, trade, and translation at a scale that allowed ideas to circulate and improve across generations.
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The Proto-Modern State: A deep dive into how Islamic law, standardized education, and global scholarly networks from Spain to Central Asia created the structural precursors to modern globalism.
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The Bridge to Modernity: Why reframing Islam as a Historical System—rather than just a religious tradition—is essential to understanding the intellectual foundations of contemporary law, medicine, and mathematics.
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Predictive History Insights: Jiang uses his signature historical lens to explore why civilizational progress is a cumulative "Secret History" of shared intelligence, rather than an isolated western miracle.
Why This Story Matters Today:
Understanding Proto-Modern societies changes how we tell the story of human progress. This lecture is an essential watch for those interested in Geopolitics, World History, and Education Reform, offering a play-by-play preview of how civilizational systems build lasting power.
🎓 Lecturer: Professor Jiang Xueqin
đź“… Recorded: 2025
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