MODERNITY AND THE IDEALS OF ARAB-ISLAMIC AND WESTERN-SCIENTIFIC PHILOSOPHY : the worldviews... of mario bunge and taha abd al-rahman

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 Bunges critical-realist epistemology and materialist ontology on the one hand, and Tahas 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 modernitys best-case scenario. A. Z. Obiedat is an Assistant Professor of Arabic Language and Culture at Wake Forest University, USA Dedication Acknowledgments A Note on Transcription and Transliteration Contents 1 Introduction 2 Modernity 3 Religious, Secular, Scientific 4 An Introduction to Mario Bunge, and to the Philosophical Endeavor 5 Taha Abd al-Rahman’s Islamic Worldview and the Spirit of Modernity 6 A Modern View of the Nature of Reality and a Premodern Counterpoint: The Scientific Ontology of Mario Bunge and Five Religious Counter-arguments for the Existence of a Deity 7 Modern Knowing via Realistic Epistemology: Mario Bunge on the Perfectibility and Unity of Modern Human Knowledge 8 Modern Virtuous Ethics: Knowing the Good and Doing the Right in Scientific Humanism 9 Taha Abd al-Rahman on Modern and Postmodern Family Ethics 10 Taha’s Attempt at Surpassing Current Islamic Movements: A Mystical Perspective on Ethics and Politics 11 Comparative Evaluation: The Paths to Philosophical Modernity of Taha and Bunge 12 Epilogue: Of Surprises and Gaps, or the Future of Philosophical System Building and the Philosophy of Religion Bibliography Author Index Subject Index