section_path: Decline/Cultural factors
section_name: Cultural factors
paragraph_text: Cultural factors
  
  Economic historian Joel Mokyr has argued that Islamic philosopher al-Ghazali (1058–1111), the author of The Incoherence of the Philosophers, "was a key figure in the decline in Islamic science" and that this led to a cultural shift shunning away from scientific thinking. However, it is argued that al-Ghazali was instead an admirer and adherent of philosophy but was criticizing the use of philosophy in religious matters only. Additionally, Saliba (2007) has pointed out that the golden age did not slow down after al-Ghazali, who lived in the 11th century, while others extend the golden age to around the 16th to 17th centuries.