Rationality and autonomy from the Enlightenment and Islamic perspectives

Rationality and autonomy are foundational concepts in anglophone or ‘Western’ countries that originated primarily from the Enlightenment period. When compared with ‘Western’ ideologies, non-Western belief systems such as Islam may not appear, at first glance, to place as much emphasis on the value a...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Tan, Charlene (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Routledge 2014
In: Journal of beliefs and values
Year: 2014, Volume: 35, Issue: 3, Pages: 327-339
Further subjects:B Liberal Democracy
B Islam
B Enlightenment
B Rationality
B Autonomy
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:Rationality and autonomy are foundational concepts in anglophone or ‘Western’ countries that originated primarily from the Enlightenment period. When compared with ‘Western’ ideologies, non-Western belief systems such as Islam may not appear, at first glance, to place as much emphasis on the value and attainment of rationality and autonomy. This may lead some people to conclude that Islam necessarily marginalises or even suppresses its believers’ development of rationality and autonomy. This article compares the concepts of rationality and autonomy from the Enlightenment and Islamic perspectives. It is argued that there exist Islamic traditions that promote the inculcation of ‘normal rationality’ and ‘normal autonomy’ within a convictional community from which beliefs develop. However, the extent to which Muslims are encouraged to cultivate and exercise their rationality and autonomy would depend, among other factors, on the specific interpretations of rationality and autonomy privileged by the Islamic tradition they belong to.
ISSN:1469-9362
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal of beliefs and values
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1080/13617672.2014.980119