Ibn Khaldun's Perception of Sufis and Sufism: The Discipline of Tasawwuf in Umran

2008 ◽  
Vol 36 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 483-515 ◽  
Author(s):  
Semih Ceyhan
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
Historical Experience ◽  
Ibn Khaldun

AbstractThe purpose of this study is to analyse, against the backdrop of historical, social and political philosophy, Ibn Khaldun's perception of tasawwuf, a discipline he enumerates among the sharia sciences to emerge in umran, and notwithstanding his commending of the first phases of the incipience of tasawwuf rooted in ascetic ethics, his general criticisms of the Sufi thought of muhaqqiqs, i.e., investigative post-Ghazzalian Sufis, lead by Ibn al-Arabi. The analysis will seek to accentuate two determining problems of Ibn Khaldun's connected outlook: first, the identity of the religious-political authority; and second, how tasawwuf ought to be in umran. Historical experience illustrates, Ibn Khaldun holds, that the attempts of saints in seizing religious-worldly authority have been futile, as attested by the upheavals of Ibn al-Qasi and other Sufis, a failure which accordingly is occasioned by their deprivation of the support of tribalism, more precisely, their inefficiency in garnering social agreement on their ideas. Proceeding from this sociohistorical perspective, Ibn Khaldun has urged tasawwuf to abide by interpreting the spiritual states of pre-Ghazzalian Sufis, at the detriment of ruing the notion of tasawwuf espoused by muhaqqiq Sufis.

From Intuitions to Anarchism?

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Gordon
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Present Article ◽  
Common Sense ◽  
Ethical Theory ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
Individual Rights ◽  
Common View ◽  
Libertarian Theory

AbstractWhen libertarian political philosophy attracted wide public notice in the 1970s, a common view was that the distinctive individual rights advocated in libertarian theory required grounding in a theory of ethics. Recently, this view has come under challenge. It has been argued that resort to such grounding in ethical theory is unneeded. An appeal to common sense intuitions suffices to justify libertarianism. First, a brief account of libertarianism will be presented. Then, some examples of the older, pro-grounding position will be discussed. Then, the principal defense of the newer view, Michael Huemer’s The Problem of Political Authority, will be examined. This discussion constitutes the substance of the present paper. The principal contention of the present article will be that the argument to libertarianism from intuitions does not succeed. In conclusion, it will be suggested that a return to the earlier, grounding view is indicated for philosophers who wish to defend libertarianism.

Locke and the Nature of Political Authority

2015 ◽  
Vol 77 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shannon Hoff
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Free Will ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
Capacity To Consent ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Will

AbstractThis paper aims to illuminate the ongoing significance of Locke's political philosophy. It argues that the legitimacy of political authority lies, according to Locke, in the extent to which it collaborates with individuals so as to allow them to be themselves more effectively, and in its answerability to the consent such individuals should thereby give it. The first section discusses how the free will inevitably asserts its authority; the second shows the inevitability of the will's incorporation of authority as a kind of prosthesis, which in turn transforms the operation of the will; and the third treats the issue of consent, arguing that Locke is less interested in explicit acts of consent than in the norm of consent, in answerability to which structures of authority should be shaped so as to honor the beings whose capacity to consent is definitive for them.

Restoring Catharine Macaulay’s Enlightenment Republicanism?

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 39-57
Author(s):  
Karen Green ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
Natural Law ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Tragedy Of The Commons ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Moral Law ◽  
Moral Principles ◽  
The Commons

Can Catharine Macaulay’s enlightenment democratic republicanism be justified from the point of view of contemporary naturalism? Naturalist accounts of political authority tend to be realist and pessimistic, foreclosing the possibility of enlightenment. Macaulay’s utopian political philosophy relies on belief in a good God, whose existence underpins the possibility of moral and political progress. This paper attempts a restoration of her optimistic utopianism in a reconciliation, grounded in a revision of natural law, of naturalist and utopian attitudes to political theory. It is proposed that the coevolution of language, moral law, and conscience (the disposition to judge one’s own actions in the light of moral principles) can be explained as solutions to the kinds of tragedy of the commons situations facing our ancestors. Moral dispositions evolved, but, in the light of its function, law is subject to rational critique. Liberal democracy plausibly offers the best prospect for developing rationally justifiable law.

AN ESSAY ON STUDYING POWER AT THE INTERFACE OF POLITICS AND BIOLOGY

METOD ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 196-211
Author(s):  
Kirill Fokin ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
Cartesian Dualism ◽  
Democratic Authority ◽  
Mind And Body ◽  
Mind Theory

The article addresses the problem of Cartesian dualism, understood as an attempt to separate and interconnect «mind» and «body» and related to the idea of continuity between biological and social, as well as between animal and human. As an example of how complex research of human sociality can help us to find a «bridge» between «mind» and «body», and to highlight their interplay, we describe an experience of the biopolitical research and the reconceptualization of Political Authority. The results and outputs of the research can be put in use in the field of political science: «body»-verifications are giving us new arguments to support the traditional normative «mind»-theory of Democratic Authority, we can empirically clarify the terminology and concepts, and also bring on a template to research other classical «problems» of political philosophy, testing them with the new data.

Anarchism

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marshall Shatz
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
French Revolution ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
The State ◽  
Individual Autonomy ◽  
William Godwin ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
The Enlightenment

Anarchism rejects the state as an inherently despotic institution that must be abolished in order for human nature to flower. This does not mean the absence of social order, however, for anarchism also contains a positive vision of the kind of community it expects to arise when political authority is eliminated. Although it shares liberalism's commitment to individual autonomy and Marxism's commitment to social justice, anarchism claims that it can implement those principles more fully and effectively without utilizing the mechanism of the state. Anarchism as a secular political philosophy originated as a product of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution, and anarchist thought was the cumulative product of a number of different individuals in different countries who elaborated its basic principles. This article examines the views of several thinkers on anarchism, including William Godwin, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Michael Bakunin, and Prince Peter Kropotkin. It also considers the link between anarchism and terrorism.

scholarly journals It's About Liberty

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 33-42
Author(s):  
Steven J. Brust ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Theory ◽  
American Culture ◽  
Simple Expression ◽  
Historical Experience ◽  
American Society ◽  
Orestes Brownson ◽  
John Courtney Murray

While there are legitimate concerns about the sweeping character of Deneen’s indictment of liberalism’s anthropology and political theory and its impact on American society—in particular, his tendency to make the story of creation and instantiation of liberalism simpler than it actually is, to reduce the Constitution to a simple expression of liberal political philosophy, and not be specific about the actual accomplishments of liberalism—his overarching argument about liberalism and its trajectory is ultimately convincing, as is his critique of its understanding of liberty. The historical experience of American Catholics and the thought of two of its leading thinkers—Orestes Brownson and John Courtney Murray—support Deneen’s argument that a false understanding of liberty has been part of our American culture and provide guidance as to how a true understanding might be articulated and instantiated.

Ibn Khaldun's Critique of the Theory of al-Siyâsah al-Madaniyyah

2008 ◽  
Vol 36 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 547-570 ◽  
Author(s):  
Şenol Korkut
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Social Model ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
Ibn Khaldun ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
Social Fields ◽  
Style Of Thought

AbstractIn this paper the method proposed by Ibn Khaldun in the political and social fields, will be examined in its original dimensions. The political philosophy that started with al-Farabi as a systematic style of thought in Islamic thought used deduction as a mandatory part of the tradition belonging to the philosopher. In one sense, this is a journey from 'description' to 'depiction'. Ibn Khaldun stated that this method remains insufficient in order to explain social phenomena and events, and widening this perspective indicated that political philosophy, in one sense, is compelled to present a utopian social model, and departing from this point criticised al-Farabi as not being a philosophical realist. At this point, the accusations made against the philosophers and his approach to the criticism of al-Siyasah al-Madaniyyah are investigated as to whether or not Ibn Khaldun approached political philosophy from a universal point of view, and if, while making these accusations, the theories of the philosophers were taken into account. Accordingly, Ibn Khaldun's theory of prophethood and happiness and the falasifa's influences on Ibn Khaldun are investigated.

scholarly journals Ideology, Rhetoric and Argument

1993 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Weiler
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Rhetorical Criticism ◽  
Political Authority

Rhetorical criticism examines ideology as a form of strategic argumentation that functions to legitimize political authority. Ideology presents itself as political philosophy in a way that calls attention to its argumentation. Ideological arguments support claims (1) that those who wield political power represent the interests of all, and (2) that the existing social order is natural and inevitable in light of human nature. Functionally, ideology is indispensible, but perverse. Formally, ideology is argumentation that obscures its partiality under claims to universality.

scholarly journals The Theory of Social Contract and Legitimacy Today

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 19-28
Author(s):  
Neophitos Economides
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Ancient Greece ◽  
Political Authority ◽  
The Political ◽  
Renaissance Period ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
Modern Era

Abstract The theory of social contract has played - and still plays - an important role in the central stage of political philosophy. The social contract answers the question of the origin of the society. The history of the theory originates in the ancient Greece political philosophy and extends to the recent years. However, the foundation of the theory resulted in the Renaissance period through the treatises of classical contractarians Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau. The manuscript describes the main arguments regarding the theory of social contract and suggests the main similarities and differences among them. Finally, the manuscript, according to the main description of the theories, suggests the main categorization of their results in legitimizing the political authority. In the final section, the article proposes the contribution of the theory of the social contract to the modern era and summarizes the positive aspects of its arguments to the legitimization of the political authority of modern states.

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