Jung/Orientalists, 5. “Islam as a Problem”

Discussing the formation of Islamic studies as a distinct academic discipline, this chapter will focus on the life and work of four scholars who were crucial for the construction and dissemination of modern knowledge on Islam. The emergence of Islamic studies as a distinct academic discipline is one particular element in the general rise of modern science as a societal sub-system. From the theoretical perspective of world society, the formation of Islamic studies represents an instance in the global spread of functional differentiation, more precisely, in the establishment of science as a global system of communication and social action