Islam and Epistemology

Abstract

On February 27, 1999, the International Institute of Islamic Thought0 hosted a symposium titled “Islam and Epistemology.” The seminarinvited many scholars and philosophers to discuss Mehdi Ha’iri Yazdi’sbook, The Principles of Epistemology in Islamic Philosophy.‘ The mpe ofthe presentation and discussion was not limited to the contents of the book.Indeed, the book was used as 8 launching pad for discussions on issuesrelated to epistemology, Islamic sciences, Islamic philosophy, the tensionsbetween reason and nxelation, and the differences between the legalisticapproach and the philosophical approach. It also raised interesting debatesabout 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 ContemporaryIslamic Philosophers. Two doctoml students, myself from GeorgetownUniversity and Ejaz Akram from Catholic University, organized the firstconference in May 1998, at which time we called for a new discourse? Weargued that contemporary Islamic philosophy had become too engagedwith writing and rewriting the history of medieval Islamic philosophy withoutactually doing philosophy. So we invited Muslim intellectuals andphilosophers to reflect on the present and advance discourses that willenlighten and improve the present human condition. We argued thatIslamic philosophers should play the role of social critics and public intellectualsand assist in thinking of old ideas in new terms and new ideas inold terms. This seminar, in a similar vein, was designed to point the attentionof Islamic thinkers toward the need for an empowering and transformativeepistemology for contemporary Muslims?At the seminar, five speakem, each from a different backgmund, madeformal presentations. Over 35 students of Islamic philosophy came to theseminar from Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, New York &and California. Each presentation sought to explore the relationship ...