Quranic Foundations And Structure Of Muslim Society
Chapter 2
STRUCTURAL LOGIC, PRINCIPLE OF INTEGRATION, SCOPE AND IDEAL OF GUIDANCE
A. STRUCTURAL LOGIC:
As a system of Knowledge, the Qur’anic Guidance is thoroughly grounded in the Logic of Knowledge, wherein the different knowledge-domains emerge inter-related in a logical sequence that manifests itself thus, starting objectively: Metaphysics, with its function of providing the world-view and consequently the system of values, stands at the base. Out of it emerges Moral Philosophy which, in its practical aspects, assumes the form of the Moral Code. Expanding into the dimensions of organised society, Moral Philosophy gives rise to Social Philosophy which, for practical purposes, crystallises into the different Social Sciences like Politics, Economics, and Law. Then, from the side of the subject, Psychology and Aesthetics shoot off to constitute organically-related complimentaries for the ‘tree of knowledge’ whose roots are in Metaphysics.
Just by way of illustration:
When we consider the relationship of Metaphysics to Moral Philosophy, we find that different metaphysical views lead to different ethical theories under a logical compulsion. Thus, for instance:
Pantheism leads to Perfectionism, Philosophical Materialism to simple Hedonism, Bio-ism or Vitalism to Evolutionary Hedonism, and Pragmatism to what might be termed as Opportunism.
Similarly, as regards the relationship of Philosophy and Culture: Rationalism, which consists in the principle that Reason is the avenue of the knowledge of Reality and that the rational alone is real, affirms reality only in the conceptual, the universal, the eternal, the abstract, the necessary, the absolute and the permanent; and, as such, gives rise to Ideational Culture. As opposed to it, Empiricism, which consists in the principle that Sense-experience is the avenue of the knowledge of Reality and that the empirical alone is real, attributes reality only to the ‘existent’, the particular, the spatio-temporal, the concrete, the contingent, the relative and the changing; and, as such, leads, through skepticism, to Sensate Culture.
A proper understanding of this natural and inherent relationship and the resultant balanced and comprehensive journey into the realm of Knowledge leads to a systematic and unitary view of Reality, wherein the fragmentary and partial view-points are modified in mutual adjustments, and a comprehensive and balanced understanding of the human destiny becomes possible.
Then, the higher the point of thought which the human mind may acquire through its exercise in respect of the struggle for knowledge the larger in scope is the Unity grasped, and the larger the Unity the higher is the Principle of Integration acquired, and the higher that principle the nearer towards the Truth moves the human mind.
In this connection, the human difficulty—as it has manifested itself in human thought—seems to reside basically in the fact that, left to itself, the human approach is very naturally ‘from below upwards’, wherein human reason as well as sense-experience find themselves confronted with Diversity, and consequently become captives of fragmentary and reactionary views of Reality, to the detriment of human life in respect of the realisation of human yearnings,—as has happened often with the modern so-called ‘scientific’ thought.
As opposed to this, the view of Reality in terms of Unity is possible only in Revealed Guidance which originates ‘Above’—in the realm of Unity—and thus projects the Whole in its organic relatedness. That possibility is realised by the Holy Qur’an in its Structural Logic, wherein Reality is centred in The One (112:l), Who is the Living, the Eternal, and from where dimensions shoot off in organic ‘wholeness’ with the base as also among themselves.
to be continued . . . . .
Quranic Foundation & Structure Of Muslim Society In The End Times
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