Mohammad Arkoun (1928-2010) Muslim intellectual, offered "Islamic Criticism" projects, "Applied Islamology" and finally the "Critical Rational Future" project "Negar" with the aim of reviewing and transforming the understanding of the religious text and offering solutions to overcome the decline of Islamic civilization. His main scheme is the critique of Islamic reason, but the methodology is Applied Islamology. Arkoun projects are one of the first projects in the Islamic-Arab world, which have read the religious text based on new Western approaches. Research (...) Methods and Questions: This study uses a descriptive-analytical approach to examine the impact and application of Western approaches in religious texts reading in the thought of Mohammad Arkoun. The questions considered in this research are: What are the most important practical approaches of Arkoun in religious texts reading? What is Arkoun 's aim using different Western approaches to read religious texts? What are Arkoun 's approaches in the Applied Islamology project? The aims of this research is to study the Western approaches considered by Arkoun in the field of religious texts reading and to examine the impact and application of Western approaches in the Applied Islamology project of Arkoun. Findings: Arkoun projects in particular Applied Islamology include a set of approaches such as structuralism, genealogy, poststructuralism, hermeneutics, etc. His ultimate aim in applying various Western approaches is to provide an active and capable methodology for critical of religious texts reading, definite break from dogmatic and Orientalist perspectives and also to replace these studies with studies based on positivist methods and traditional philology. Among all practical approaches of Arkoun in the field of reading religious texts, there are three approaches that have many manifestations in his thoughts and projects: First, the linguistic-semiotic approach to the study of the foundational age, second, Foucault's paleontological approach to read contemporary Islamic-Arab modern thought and third, Historical-Sociological Analysis for the study of Islam as a social phenomenon and the Events of the history of Islam after the Prophet (PBUH). (shrink)

It is demonstrated here that despite apparent differences and their adherence to two different schools of thought, Suhrawardī's epistemology is essentially Ibn Sīnian, and even his theory of "knowledge by Presence" ('ilm al-hudurī), which is considered to be uniquely his, is at least inspired by Ibn Sīnā. I argue that Ibn Sīnā's peripatetic orientation and Suhrawardī's ishrāqī perspective have both maintained and adhered to the same epistemological framework while the philosophical languages in which their respective epistemologies are discussed are different.

Is friendship a more important value than honesty?

In this paper we track the ‘body positivity’ movement from its origins, promoting radical acceptance of marginalized bodies, to its co-optation as a push for self-love for all bodies, including those bodies belonging to socially dominant groups. We argue that the new focus on the ‘body positivity’ movement involves a single-minded emphasis on beauty and aesthetic adornment, and that this undermines the original focus of social and political equality, pandering instead to capitalism and failing to rectify unjust institutions and policies. (...) As such, we argue that the ‘body positivity’ movement ultimately marginalises further the bodies for which it initially sought justice and acceptance. (shrink)

Russell identifies the conflict between the ego of self and the greater universe causes internal strife that can only be resolved by truly open questioning. Through this, we are enriching our lives and our minds, while becoming closer to our universal truths.

Educating oneself is the act of being curious, asking questions, expanding ones knowledge base, and understanding how little is known.

The Research aims to know: How about Mehdi Golshani’s thoughts on relationship between science and religion?, and, How about relevancy Mehdi Golshani’s thoughts for developing of science and religion scientifically. So, the material object of the research is Golshani’s thoughts on relationship between science and religion that is studied with using epistimology as it’s the formal object. Results of the research that: firtsly, Golshani used terms of “the sacred sciences” and “the secular sciences” for understanding to relationship between (...) the science and the religion. Then, his idea on “the sacred sciences” developed by him becomes “Islamic Science”. He defines that the “Islamic Science” is a kind of science that has a weltanschauung which it based on the Quran values. Here, Golshani stresses on an importance to develop the Quran epistemology in Moslems society in modern era now. Secondly, to create ideal expectations in the relationship between science and religion and its benefits for humankind and harmony in the universe, Mehdi Golshani’s thoughts and implementable offers, especially for developing natural sciences in the Moslems society, are an urgent thing and properly considerable. Keywords: “the sacred sciences”, the “Islamic Science”, the Quran epistemology. (shrink)