Islam and Epistemology

Abstract

On February 27, 1999, the International Institute of Islamic Thought
0 hosted a symposium titled “Islam and Epistemology.” The seminar
invited many scholars and philosophers to discuss Mehdi Ha’iri Yazdi’s
book, The Principles of Epistemology in Islamic Philosophy.‘ The mpe of
the presentation and discussion was not limited to the contents of the book.
Indeed, the book was used as 8 launching pad for discussions on issues
related to epistemology, Islamic sciences, Islamic philosophy, the tensions
between reason and nxelation, and the differences between the legalistic
approach and the philosophical approach. It also raised interesting debates
about the similarities and differences between Westem-secular and humanist-
social sciences and the theocentric discourses of Muslims.
The seminar also doubled as the Second Conference of the Contemporary
Islamic Philosophers. Two doctoml students, myself from Georgetown
University and Ejaz Akram from Catholic University, organized the first
conference in May 1998, at which time we called for a new discourse? We
argued that contemporary Islamic philosophy had become too engaged
with writing and rewriting the history of medieval Islamic philosophy without
actually doing philosophy. So we invited Muslim intellectuals and
philosophers to reflect on the present and advance discourses that will
enlighten and improve the present human condition. We argued that
Islamic philosophers should play the role of social critics and public intellectuals
and assist in thinking of old ideas in new terms and new ideas in
old terms. This seminar, in a similar vein, was designed to point the attention
of Islamic thinkers toward the need for an empowering and transformative
epistemology for contemporary Muslims?
At the seminar, five speakem, each from a different backgmund, made
formal presentations. Over 35 students of Islamic philosophy came to the
seminar from Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, New York &
and California. Each presentation sought to explore the relationship ...