Philosophy-Part I
So, I was talking to a classmate today about philosophy, and naturally, I was inspired to write a blog about it! Please, bear with me…
As we should know from our readings, philosophy during the Islamic Golden Age was divided into two different schools of thought. One of them (whose name I can’t recall) could be described by the term “Islamic Philosophy”, in the sense that at its core was Islam which was interpreted through the lens of philosophy.
The other branch (whose name I also can’t remember), focused on application of philosophy in a manner that was much less restricted than the previous one. This, I think, resembled to plat’s, socrates’ and Aristotle’s approach to philosophy. They analyzed scientific observations, and used their powers of deduction and induction to arrive at new truths. Let’s call this simply “Philosophy”.
I don’t think It is too far fetched of an idea to say that these two schools of philosophy would calash with one another. It is possible, I suppose, “Philosophy” could potentially lead to one’s rejection of the existence of God, or towheed, which is an essential concept within Islam. This, naturally, would cause a tension with “Islamic Philosophy”. I suppose you could think of this kinda like the tension between Liberals and Conservatives.
During the Islamic Empire, given the strength of the civilization, economically, intellectually, politically and militarily, there can be free dialogue; there can be freedom of self expression. There can be all those values simply because there is a lack of fear. More specifically, there is a lack of “fear of the worst” that is characteristic of all “conservative” thought. In the case of “Islamic Philosophy”, this would be fear of “misuse” of philosophy leading to atheism.
As Islamic Civilization/Empire became threatened by external forces, this internal battle between the two schools of thought intensified. However, increasing pressure from the outsiders resulted in the increase in the likelihood of actualization of the “fear of the worst”.
This resulted in a generalized dislike of philosophy as independent of religion, or any non-religious thought for that matter, which could explain, at least in part, the fall of the Civilization as one based upon the pursuit of the treath and knowledge.
What do you all think?