Modernity and the Ideals of Arab-Islamic and Western-Scientific Philosophy

"This book fills a significant lack. The world of learning's paucity of detailed information about the relationships between Arab-Islamic and Western Scientific philosophy is both real and unfortunate. Professor Obiedat's instructive discussion provides an informative step towards repairing this regrettable omission." -Nicholas Rescher, Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy, University of Pittsburgh, USA

"This is the first comparative study ever to engage the impressive oeuvres of Mario Bunge and Abdurrahman Taha. Obiedat, however, has his own perspective on things, finding both philosophers lacking in some respects. This is a provocative book that has as one of its virtues the opening of crucial space for bringing Western and Islamic philosophical voices into dialogue with one another."

-Wael Hallaq, Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University, USA

"Professor Obeidat takes us in an exciting journey to the universal religious, secular, and scientific points of views. He aims at exploring their broad lines and surpassing their partial differences. Thereby, he uses a modern philosophical approach by which he attempts to eliminate the dialectical gap between the Arab-Islamic and the Western worlds. Finally, he tests the boundaries of the philosophical vision that has dominated our understanding of the world for a very long time!"

-Salah Osman, Professor of Logic and Philosophy of Science at Menoufia University, Egypt This is the first study to compare the philosophical systems of secular scientific philosopher Mario Bunge (1919-2020), and Moroccan Islamic philosopher Taha Abd al-Rahman (b.1945). In their efforts to establish the philosophical underpinnings of an ideal modernity these two great thinkers speak to the same elements of the human condition, despite their opposing secular and religious worldviews. While the differences between Bunge's critical-realist epistemology and materialist ontology on the one hand, and Taha's spiritualist ontology and revelational-mystical epistemology on the other, are fundamental, there is remarkable common ground between their scientific and Islamic versions of humanism. Both call for an ethics of prosperity combined with social justice, and both criticize postmodernism and religious conservatism. The aspiration of this book is to serve as a model for future dialogue between holders of Western and Islamic worldviews, in mutual pursuit of modernity's best-case scenario. A. Z. Obiedat is an Assistant Professor of Arabic Language and Culture at Wake Forest University, USA.

Autorentext

A. Z. Obiedat is an Assistant Professor of Arabic Language and Culture at Wake Forest University, USA.

Klappentext

This is the first study to compare the philosophical systems of secular scientific philosopher Mario Bunge (1919-2020), and Moroccan Islamic philosopher Taha Abd al-Rahman (b.1945). In their efforts to establish the philosophical underpinnings of an ideal modernity these two great thinkers speak to the same elements of the human condition, despite their opposing secular and religious worldviews. While the differences between Bunge's critical-realist epistemology and materialist ontology on the one hand, and Taha's spiritualist ontology and revelational-mystical epistemology on the other, are fundamental, there is remarkable common ground between their scientific and Islamic versions of humanism. Both call for an ethics of prosperity combined with social justice, and both criticize postmodernism and religious conservatism. The aspiration of this book is to serve as a model for future dialogue between holders of Western and Islamic worldviews, in mutual pursuit of modernity's best-case scenario.

Inhalt

1- Introduction: 1.1. Dual Misconception of Modernity1.2. Demarcating the 'Religious' from the 'Secular' and the 'Scientific'2- Islamic Philosophy Resurrected: aha's Spirit of Modernity2.1. The History of Modernizing Arabic-Islamic Philosophy2.2. aha 'Abd al-Räman's Modernity2.2.1. The Structure of the Spirit of Modernity2.2.2. Consequences of the Spirit of Modernity2.2.3. Conditions for a Genuine Application of Modernity3- Construction of Worldview: Similar Functions of Religion and Philosophy (19 pages)3.1. Mario Bunge's Works and the Meaning of 'Systemism'3.2. Mario Bunge as a Worldview Constructor: A Brief Introduction to his Life and Works3.3. Systematic Worldview as the Task of Philosophy3.4. The Place of Mario Bunge in the Tradition of System Building4- Taha's Indictment Against the Philosophy of Actual Modernity (9 pages)4.1. The Creative and Internal Implementation of Modern Criticism4.2. The Ingenious and Local Implementation of Modern Universality4.3. The Innovative and Organic Implementation of Modern Maturity5- Modern Being via Scientific Ontology: The Analytic-Synthetic Structure of Reality 5.1. Rethinking Current Ontological Assumptions5.2. Bunge's Proofs of Reality: Error, Prediction, Control, and Discovery5.3. Bunge's Systemization of the World I: The Micro Structure of Reality5.4. Bunge's Systemization of the World II: The Macro Structure of Reality5.5. Questioning the Supernatural Divine: The Psychological, Ontological, Cosmological, Teleological, Ethical Arguments and the Doxastic Turn6 - Modern Knowing via Realistic Epistemology: Bunge on the Perfectibility and Unity of Human Knowledge (15 pages)6.1. Approaching the Epistemological Problem6.2. The Nature of Knowledge6.3. The Validation of Truth Claims6.4. Reduction and Integration: The Tree of Knowledge7 - Modern Virtuousness via Social Welfare: Bunge on Knowing the Good and Doing the Right (16 pages)7.1. Scientific Humanism7.2. Naturalist Interpretation - A Quick Survey7.3. Scientific Humanism and the Structure of Ethics7.4. Values in Scientific Humanism7.4.1. Nature, Content, and Structure of Values57.4.2. The Hierarchy of Values7.5. The Supreme Good7.6. Morality and Scientific Humanism8. aha's Critique of Postmodern Family Ethics 8.1. The Human and the Ethics of Selfhood8.2. Reason and the Ethics of Commitment8.3. Inclusive Attachment to Worldliness and the Ethics of Happiness8.4. The Postmodern Family and the Inversion of Modern Ethical Values8.4.1 The Inversion of Selfhood into Non-self8.4.2 The Inversion of Commitment into Privilege8.4.3 The Inversion of Happiness into Playfulness8.4.4. aha's Observations on Ethical Inversions9- Conclusion: Bunge versus Taha on Secular and Islamic Worldviews 9.1. aha's Justification of the Spirit of Modernity9.2. Bunge's Systemism: Further ReflectionsBibliography