An Introductory Course On Perspectives Of

Western And Islamic Philosophy

 

Lecture 1/9

Introduction to Philosophy

Agenda• Initiate session 10:25• About the lectures10:25 – 10:40 • Western perspectives 10:40 – 11:25 • Break11:25 – 11:40 • Islamic perspectives 11:40 – 12:25 • Questions and answers12:25 – 13:00

The Lectures

A total of nine lectures are anticipated to be delivered on a monthly basis over a period of nine consecutive months

Each of the lectures shall provide a rudimentary understanding of various philosophical concepts

Please refer to the provided handbook for further details

Sessions Date and Time Subject Matter Western

Perspectives Islamic

Perspectives

1 of 924th August 201410:15am - 1.00pm Introduction to philosophy

What is philosophy?Why study philosophy?Meaning and definition

2 of 921st September 201410:15am - 1.00pm

What can we know? Knowledge[Epistemology 1/2]

What is knowing?What is knowledge?Belief, truth and evidenceThe sources and concepts of knowledge,reason and experience

3 of 919th October 201410:15am - 1.00pm

What is the world like? Perceiving the World[Epistemology 2/2]

RealismIdealismOur knowledge of the physical world

4 of 923rd November 201410:15am - 1.00pm

The way the world works Scientific Knowledge[Philosophy of Science]

Laws of natureExplanationTheoriesPossibilityThe problem of induction

5 of 921st December 201410:15am - 1.00pm

What is and what must be? Freedom and Necessity[Metaphysics]

CausalityDeterminism and freedom

6 of 918th January 201510:15am - 1.00pm

What am I?Mind and Body[Philosophy of Mind]

The physical and the mental,The relationship between the physical and the mental,Materialism

7 of 915th February 201510:15am - 1.00pm

What else is there? [Philosophy of Religion 1/2]

Ontological, cosmological and teleological arguments for the existence of God

8 of 922th March 201510:15am - 1.00pm

What else is there? [Philosophy of Religion 2/2]

The concept of GodThe problem of evilReligious concepts

9 of 919th April 201510:15am - 1.00pm

The is and the ought[Problems in Ethics]

Meta-ethicsTheories of goodnessTheories of conduct

The Objective

The primary aim and overall objective, among other subsidiary benefits, is to assist in

familiarising and acquainting its recipients with the conceptual [and intellectual] perils,

predominantly encountered by religion in todays society, which are propelled by [or in the name

of] philosophy.

What is Philosophy?

Philosophy

[1]Philosophy is a set of views or beliefs about life and the universe, which are often held

uncritically.

[2]Philosophy is a process

of reflecting on and criticizing our most

deeply held conceptions and

beliefs.

[3]Philosophy is a rational attempt to look at the

world as a whole.

What is Philosophy?

Philosophy

[4]Philosophy is the logical analysis of language and

the clarification of the meaning of words and

concepts.

[5]Philosophy is a group of perennial problems that interest people and for

which philosophers always have sought answers.

Main Branches of Philosophy

Philosophy

Metaphysics

Epistemology

Ethics

Logic

Cosmology

Theodicy

Political Philosophy

Aesthetics

Main Branches of Philosophy• The most abstract part of philosophy, having to do

with the features of ultimate reality, what really exists and what it is that distinguishes and makes it possible.

Metaphysics

• Or the theory of knowledge, is that branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of knowledge, its possibility, scope and general basis.

Epistemology

• An investigation into the fundamental principles and basic concepts that are or ought to be found in a given field of human thought and activity.

Ethics

• The study of the structure and principles of reasoning or of sound argument. Logic

Main Branches of Philosophy• Often considered a subdivision of metaphysics, that deals with

the Universe as a totality of phenomena, attempting to combine metaphysical speculation and scientific evidence within a coherent framework.

Cosmology

• Attempts to justify the ways of God to men by solving the problem that evil presents to the theist.

Theodicy

• Evaluates social organisation, especially government, from an ethical viewpoint.

Political Philosophy

• Deals with the arts, and with other situations that involve aesthetic experience and aesthetic value.

Aesthetics

Why Study Philosophy?

It is part of the intellectual baggage that we carry with us—whether we know it or not—so

we may as well become acquainted with it!

Philosophy is to be studied, not for the sake of any definite

answers to its questions since no definite answers can, as a rule, be known to be true, but rather

for the sake of the questions themselves.

Above all because, through the greatness of the universe which philosophy contemplates, the

mind also is rendered great, and becomes capable of that union

with the universe which constitutes its highest good.

Meaning and DefinitionWhy meanings & definitions are 

important in philosophySloppy or misleading use of ordinary language can seriously

limit our ability to create and communicate correct reasoning

The achievement of human knowledge is often hampered by the use of words without fixed signification

Needless controversy is sometimes produced and perpetuated by an unacknowledged ambiguity in the

application of key terms

Definition of TruthTr

uth

Facts about the way the world is. Not the statements we make about the world or our

thoughts about it.

The best known theory for truth is the correspondence theory. On this view, a

candidate for truth is true if and only if it ‘corresponds to the facts’.

Necessary and Contingent Statements

Necessary

• A proposition is said to be necessarily true, or to express a logically necessary truth, iff the denial of that proposition would involve a self-contradiction.

Contingent

• A proposition which happens to be contingently true, or express a logically contingent truth, is one which could nevertheless be denied, or asserted, without self-contradiction.

Examples of Necessary and Contingent Statements

• All triangles are three sided• All Bachelors are unmarried • All grandmothers are mothers

Necessary Statements

• It is not raining• George Washington was the first President of the US• It often rains in the United Kingdom

Contingent Statements

Application of Necessity to the Existence of God

Does God Exist 

Necessarily?

YESIts denial should then result in a

self-contradiction

NOIt divests God of

His essential attributes

BREAK[15 Minutes]

Islamic Perspective

What is Philosophy

Philosophy

Geometry and Arithmetic

Logic

Ontology

Physiology

The Schools of Philosophers According toImām al-Ghazālī [ra]

Materialists[Dahrīyūn]

• They deny the Creator and Disposer of the world, Omniscient and Omnipotent, and consider that the world has everlastingly existed just as it is, of itself without a creator.

Naturalists[Ṭabī’yūn]

• They see the sufficient wonders of God’s creation and the inventions of His Wisdom to compel them to acknowledge a Wise Creator. However, it is their view that the soul dies and does not return to life, and they deny the future life, heaven, hell, resurrection, and judgement.

Theists[Ilāhīyūn]

• They refuted the systems of the two others, i.e. the Materialists and the Naturalists; but in exposing their mistaken and perverse beliefs, they made use of arguments which they should have refrained from.

View of the Scholars of Islam on Philosophy

• “My ruling regarding the people of theological rhetoric is that they should be beaten with palm leaves and shoes and be paraded amongst the kinsfolk and the tribes with it being announced, ‘This is the reward of the one who abandons the Book and the Sunnah and turns to theological rhetoric (kalaam).”

Imām ash-Shā’fī [ra]

• “There is nothing more despised by me than 'ilmul-kalaam (philosophy and rhetoric).”

Imām ad-Dāraqutnī  [ra]

• “Know that the Imaams of Ahlus-Sunnah have persistently been writing works censuring `Ilm al-Kalaam (rhetoric and philosophy) , and censuring those who pursue it.”

Imām as-Sūyūtī [ra]

Why Study Philosophy?

[a]• “This has come to be needed for because of the new

innovations”

[b]

• “Convinced that to dream of refuting a doctrine before having thoroughly comprehended it was like shooting at an object in the dark, I devoted myself zealously to the study of philosophy”

[c]

• “Had the innovator left his nonsense, there would have been no need for anything more than what was familiar during the age of the holy companions “Allah be pleased with them”

Why Study Philosophy?

“I was convinced that a man cannot grasp what is defective in any of the sciences unless he has so complete a grasp of the science in question that he equals its most learned exponents in the appreciation of its fundamental principles . . . Then and only then is it

possible that what he has to assert about its defects is true.”

Definition of Knowledge & Truth

Eternal Knowledge: An attribute of the Creator, the Exalted, inherent in His essence and connected

to the infinitude of things known.

Necessary Knowledge:Is contingent knowledge that is associated with

either harm or need and over which the servant

has no power.

Self-Evident Knowledge: 

Is like the necessary except it is not associated with harm or need.

Acquired Knowledge: Is contingent

knowledge that is dependant on

contingent power.

Temporally Produced Knowledge

Limitations of the Application of ‘Necessity’

Abstract Metal Objects: Concepts/Meanings

Necessary Truths

Perceivable Physical Reality

Human Mind/Cognitive Ability

MetaphysicalReality

Influence/ability to govern

Limitations of the Application of ‘Necessity’

Human Mind

“Possible”

“Impossible”“Necessary”

Metaphysical Reality M

etaphysical Reality

Application of Necessity to the Existence of God

Predicates such as “possible”, “impossible”, and “necessary” do not apply to objects outside of our mind. This thought may appear to be exactly what we mean by necessary truths being a priori, where they are free from observation or experience. It’s not as such actually, since this line of thought would entail that it’s not something in reality which confers necessity on the statements but rather necessary truths cannot be about the world nor have they the potential to explain any real existence or real event, but can only reveal features of, or relations among, abstract or mental objects such as concepts or meanings. They don’t possess the potential to govern reality in any way but can only determine how we think, infer, make judgments, or speak about reality.

Application of Necessity to the Existence of God

“If, on the other hand, it is a necessary truth that God exists, this must be a necessary truth that explains a real existence (God’s); indeed it provides the ultimate explanation of all real existence, since God is the creator of everything else that really exists. Thus if God’s existence follows from his essence in such a way as to be necessary, his essence is no mere logicians’ plaything but a supremely powerful cause. This is a scandal for the view that necessary truths cannot determine or explain reality”.

Adams (1983)

NEXT LECTUREEPISTEMOLOGY

What can we know? Knowledge

DATE: 21/09/2014TIME: 10:15—13:00

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