Reason, Authority and the Text

Abstract

Modem thought rose out of a fierce and protracted struggle in Europebetween the pre-modem religious tradition, which located ultimate truth indivine text, and a philosophical tradition which placed truth in human experienceand insisted that truth could be attained through the intellectualexamination of human reality. Enlightenment scholars succeeded indeednot only in defending the autonomy of rationality and reason, but also inusing human intellect to develop modem social sciences.Methodical and systematic approaches to understanding human experiencepropelled modem scholarship forward in its attempts to provide a betterunderstanding of human psyche and condition. This led to the developmentof elaborate theories and research methods in the areas of social studies,economics, politics, psychology, administration, and others. Whilemodem scholarship made impressive advances by using analytical reasoningto shed light on social phenomena, it hit a solid wall in its efforts to basevalue systems on an empirically defined rationality. Many modem scholarswere initially inclined to shrug off the importance of values to social knowledgeand social understanding. Some even tried to deny the transcendentalnature of values. Ultimately though, the dominant positivist school wasforced to give up its attempt to build human knowledge on a purely empiricalbasis.The failure of modem thought to develop a purely rational scholarly traditionhas emboldened postmodem writers, and encouraged them to denythe possibility of pursuing truth. Hence rationalism has been placed on anequal footing with irrationality, and morality has been equated withimmorality.Power of ReasonThe intellectual impasse we all face today may be traced back to theEnlightenment scholars' efforts to sever human values from their transcendentalbase, and to marginalize the irqportance of religious beliefs, or thelack thereof, in shaping the scholar's attitude, and in providing the transcendentalpresuppositions essential for social research. However, modem ...