Rescuing Ontological Individualism

Standard defences of ontological individualism are challenged by arguments that exploit the dependence of social facts on material facts – i.e. facts that are not about human individuals. In this paper I discuss Brian Epstein’s “materialism” in The Ant Trap: granting Epstein’s strict definition of individualism, I show that his arguments depend crucially on a generous conception of social properties and social facts. Individualists however are only committed to the claim that projectible properties are individualistically realized, and materialists have not undermined this claim.

KASEKTEN PEREMPUAN DI PESANTREN: PONDOK PESULUKAN THORIQOT AGUNG TULUNGAGUNG

In Javanese Islamic discourse in general, Javanese scholars look more at the broad horizon of Sufistic teachings and practices as an important variable in the Islamization of Java. The author feels that the micro area that discusses daily spirituality, especially women's spirituality, is an area of study that is worthy of research. In the practice of spirituality, of course, it cannot be separated from magical power, it is believed to have supernatural powers. The power is obtained in practice or penijazahan. Then there are various theories about mysticism, kebatinan to sects, in fact women are also actively involved in cosmology or social facts in Java. Therefore, the author poses a research question, namely, why the position of women in the narrative of daily spirituality is considered secondary and how is the practice of kasekten in Pondok Pesulukan Tharekat Agung. This paper specifically discusses the practice of spirituality or female students at the Thoriqot Agung Islamic boarding school in Tulungagung district. Practice or education is generally known as the path that can lead a person to gain enlightenment (sakti). This study uses an ethnographic-based qualitative approach. The findings of this study explain that sociological aspects and patriarchal religious interpretations condition women's spirituality to always be at a secondary level. Women who engage in spiritual practice cannot get the same degree as men, such as becoming Murshid, even though they are already spiritually established. Thus, women are only counted as students in the Tarekat and are not as charismatic as men who hold the title of Kyai Tarekat.

The Struggle of Fiqh Reasoning in the Implementation of MUI’s Fatwa on Worship during Pandemic in the Island of Lombok

This paper discusses the implementation of MUI’s fatwa on worship during Covid-19 pandemic. Social facts show that the implementation of the fatwa has given rise to various socio-religious conflicts in Lombok island. Through a qualitative approach, the paper concludes: First, the people of Lombok Muslim community disapprove the fatwa. Second, there is a conceptual difference between the government as the beholder of the MUI’s fatwa and the community's religious traditions that have been maintained for a long time. Third, the model of fiqh law reasoning used by the government in general is a textual (normative) model that is contrary to society's use of historical meaning. Therefore, a dialogical process is needed for a solution to social problems that occur as a result of the implementation of the ulama’s fatwa which is used as government policy so that it does not appear to be coercive by involving elements of ulama, goverment, and society. The dialog conectivity of these three elements in negotiating their understandings of fiqh to place the intent and purpose of a legal product (fatwa) will encourage the realization of inclusive fiqh reasoning. Keywords: fiqh reason, MUI’s fatwa, mosque closing Tulisan ini mengkaji secara fenomenologis implementasi fatwa MUI tentang ibadah di tengah pandemi wabah Covid-19. Fakta sosial menunjukkan bahwa implementasi fatwa tersebut telah melahirkan berbagai konflik sosial keagamaan di Pulau Lombok. Melalui pendekatan kualitatif tulisan berkesimpulan: Pertama, Respon masyarakat muslim Lombok sebagai demografi dengan banyaknya masjid adalah adanya ketidakmenerimaan baik secara psikologis, sosial, dan kultural. Kedua, Terjadi pertentangan konseptual antara pemerintah selaku pemegang fatwa MUI dengan konsep tradisi keagamaan masyarakat yang telah lama ada dan menjadi pedoman mereka. Ketiga, model penalaran hukum fikih yang digunakan pemerintah secara umum adalah model pemaknaan tekstual (normatif) bertentangan dengan masyarakat yang menggunakan pemaknaan historis. Oleh karena itu, dibutuhkan proses dialogis sebagai langkah solutif atas problem sosial yang terjadi akibat implementasi fatwa ulama yang dijadikan kebijakan pemerintah agar tidak terkesan memaksa dengan melibatkan unsur ulama, umara’, dan mujtama’. Konektivitas dialog tiga unsur ini dalam menegosiasikan pemahaman fikih mereka untuk mendudukkan maksud dan tujuan suatu produk hukum (fatwa) akan mendorong terwujudnya nalar fikih yang inklusif. Kata Kunci: nalar fikih, fatwa MUI, penutupan masjid

A Truth-minimalist Reading of Foucault

That we have culturally acquired certain concepts and beliefs, that many concepts that refer to or impose social or cultural classifications have their origin in intended or unintended declarative speech acts, that the institutional facts they intentionally and unintentionally create have a contingent existence and that it is not always fully transparent to us that the facts so created are institutional facts, were Foucault's key insights in his early work. I argue that these insights can be fully articulated, explored and discussed with a minimalist conception of truth in mind. His observations anticipate current "rediscoveries" of those insights by analytic philosophers. A minimalist about truth holds that these insights do not require a revision of our ordinary concept of truth. The flip side of my argument is that Foucault and his followers should not have grounded his views in a substantial revision of the concept of truth. Truth is and has always been "a thing of this world"; his idiosyncratic reconceptualizations of truth are not needed to explore social dimensions of belief systems, the way social facts emerge and the relevance of genealogies.

THE OBLIGATION TO OBEY THE LAW IN THE LIGHT OF THE DEBATE BETWEEN FINNIS AND RAZ

The recent debate between John Finnis and Joseph Raz on the existence of a general prima facie moral obligation to obey positive laws is a major contribution to a classical topic in legal and political philosophy. In this paper, I argue that Raz’s normal justification thesis and Finnis’s doctrine of “determinatio,” inherited from Aquinas, complement each other, shedding light on how norms grounded in social facts can give rise to particular moral obligations independently of their content. However, I argue that this on its own does not explain the possibility of a general moral obligation to obey the law, that is, the notion that everyone has a prima facie moral obligation to obey every law that applies to them.

Vulnerability of Religious Minority in Indonesia due to the Implementation of the Blasphemy Law

The establishment and application of blasphemy law in Indonesia is generally under the justification of maintaining public order, preventing violent-conflict, and protecting the enjoyment of the right to freedom of religion. However, when the blasphemy law should be applied to adjudicate an internal religious conflict among the sects then the debate arises on whose interpretation and how it will be referred by the State authorities as demarcation or exclusionary standard to distinguish between the deviant religion and legally valid ones. Issues on the fragility of fair and impartial trial as protection to the existence of religious minority group therefore becomes very central due to the implementation and application of blasphemy law will be always influenced by power relation among the involved parties. This paper is intended to explore Tajul Muluk case that has been exhaustively ruled by all level of Indonesian courts in order to reveal complex roles of judiciary in applying service-conception of blasphemy law into first-order reason of person’s faith. Source-based legal reason of the court which merely refers to the historical or social facts as texted in the blasphemy law with prejudice to human rights’ moral test has been paradoxically widen penumbra of legal rule to uncertainty that undermines access to justice for religious minority group especially when addressing social conflict.

Waarheid en interpretatie in etnografie (deel 1)

Truth and interpretation in ethnography (part 1): Tracking clues with marginalized groups and uniformed professions This essay is the first part of a reaction to Beuving’s discussion on evidence and truth in ethnography (KWALON 74). Gigengack stresses that ethnography is inferential and involves interpretation work. Whereas social scientists may shy away from “truth,” and prefer “reality,” philosophies of truth illuminate empirical ethnography. Taking the Goffman/Mead controversies as histories of truth, Gigengack discusses created, relative, powerful, and holistic truths on the basis of these ethnographies. It brings Gigengack to a critique of functionalist-empiricist ethnography, and to point out the subjectivist and objectivist fallacies in the ethnographic practice of making truths through social facts.