Philosophers - Research Paper Example

Philosophers Philosophers Malek Bennabi Malek Bennabi was born to a poor east Algerian family in 1905. During the French colonial rule, Bennabi witnessed the mass migration of many of his relatives from Algeria to eastern Arab countries(Benlahcene, 2013). The mass migration was in protest to French rule and dramatically changed the country’s socio-economic structure. Islam degenerated, the traditional way of life was abandoned and community life was endangered. It was under these circumstances that Bennabi realized the vital role of social circumstances both at the family and society levels. Bennabi was educated through the mosque and the madrasah where he learned Arabic grammar, poetry, theology, literature and jurisprudence. According to Bennabi, religion is important if the equation Man + Soil + Time = Civilization(Benlahcene, 2013). He argued that Man was at the center of the process of civilization and that without him, the other elements would not hold. In line with verse 13:11 of the Quran, he also argued that to change the society, Muslims must first seek to change their spiritual condition. Bennabi’s philosophy was based on a deep understanding of Islam not just as a religion, but also as a civilization. He sought to philosophically explain the origins of the decline of Islam and propose solutions. His early life in a devout Islamic family had prepared him for such a mission. Ibn Khaldun Ibn Khaldun is largely considered the most important philosopher and scholar in Muslim History(Rapoport, 2011). Ibn Khaldun was born to a wealthy family in 1332. He received a traditional education. His first teacher was his father, a scholar who avoided politics even though he came from a ruling family. Then, under different scholars, he memorized the Quran and learned Arabic grammar, Hadith, philology, rhetoric, jurisprudence and poetry. Ibn Khaldun pursued studies until the age of nineteen when a major plague struck the country. After the plague, Ibn Tafrakin, the ruler of Tunis, hired Khaldun as the seal bearer of the ruler’s captive, Sultan Abu lshaq. This appointment set the stage for Khaldun’s political career. In a work known as the Muqaddima, translated “The Introduction to History”, Khaldun offers a synthesis of the methodological and cultural knowledge that an effective historian must possess. In the book, he presents a cyclical model of how dynasties evolved in the ancient world (Rapoport, 2011). First, tribal ties were very strong and played an important role in the formation of new empires in the ancient Arab world. He posited that it was the common hardship of making a living directly from the soil that united the tribal peoples. The resultant solidarity, argued Khaldan, made the tribal community more powerful than city communities. It is by virtue of that power that the tribal groupings then conquered cities and built dynasties, but in so doing, they adopted the city’s ways of life and abandoned their social cohesion that brought them to power. After generations, having lost their cohesion and weakened, they were replaced by emerging dynasties from the desert. Plato Plato was a student of Socrates and philosopher in Classical Greece. Given limited accounts, very little is known about Platos early life. For example, the philosophers exact place and time of birth are not known. However, it is established that he came from one of the aristocratic and influential families in classical Greece. It is widely believed that Plato was instructed in grammar, music and gymnastics by some of the most accomplished teachers of his time. Prior to meeting Socrates, Plato had been a student of the philosopher Cratylus, himself a disciple of Heraclitus, one of Greece’s most prominent philosophers before Socrates. Ancient sources describe Plato as a bright yet modest boy with a quest for knowledge. Alongside Socrates and Aristotle, Plato is an essential figure in the development of Western philosophy(Tinsley, 2011). In most of his works, known as dialogs, Plato was more concerned with interrogating justice in the individual than promoting the state(Tinsley, 2011). For instance, despite its title, Plato’s work The Republic, is about moral, not political philosophy. In the dialog, Plato locates the problems of the state, be they of power or otherwise, in the individual. He posits that the individual is made of three parts: the reason, the spirit and the appetite. For the individual to be "healthy", the latter two must at all times be subordinated to reason. Otherwise, the individual is "sick" and so is the state. Franz Fanon Franz Fanon was a Martinique-born American psychiatrist, philosopher and writer. His works are influential in critical theory, Marxism and post-colonial studies(Parris, 2011). Fanon’s family was well-off and as a result, he attended the Lycée Schoelcher, the most prestigious high school in Martinique then. There, he had the writer Aimé Césaire as one of his teachers. When France fell into the hands of Nazis in 1940, the French government lost its control over the Caribbean island of Martinique. Consequently, the French Navy took control of the island’s government. The sailors’ regime was oppressive and cases of sexual harassment were rampant. The abuses influenced Fanon and fueled his disgust with colonial racism. Fanon’s best-known work is the book The Wretched of the Earth. In it, Fanon analyzes the parts played by class, race, national culture and violence in the fight for independence by Third World countries. Many theorists consider The Wretched of the Earth the most authoritative work on Third World Liberation(Parris, 2011). However, it was Fanon’s earlier work Black Skin, White Masks that presents a unique application of psychiatry and philosophy to the colonial situation. The work set the stage for the philosopher’s liberationist ideology. As a political philosopher-cum-psychiatrist, Fanon was concerned with the psychology, ontology and materiality of the colonized subject. In Black Skin, White Masks, Fanon combines psychoanalysis, materialism and existentialism to analyze the way colonial subjects experienced racism. Voltaire Voltaire was an Enlightenment Age French philosopher, writer and historian. The philosopher is well-known for his advocacy for freedom of religion and the separation of church and state(Force, 2009). There exists controversy around Voltaire’s date of birth, though he consistently claimed to have been born on 20 February, 1694. Between 1704 and 1711, Voltaire was educated at the Jesuit-run Collège Louis-le-Grand. While there, he learned Latin and Greek, but later on became fluent in English, Italian and Spanish as well. By the time he finished school, Voltaire had wanted to become a writer against the wish of his father who believed his son was best suited to be a lawyer. Voltaire lived in the eighteenth century, a period dubbed the “Age of Reason” or “Enlightenment”. At this time, there was intense conflict between religion and reason(Force, 2009). Whereas religion was based on faith, reason was based on scientific observation. Voltaire entered this 18th-century discussion through his work Canndide. During the “Age of Reason”, the notion that all ideas had to be proven or provable was cherished and seemed to preclude faith-based religion. Voltaire satirized the Catholic Church itself as the institution was synonymous with Christianity then. He also satirized philosophy in equal measure. He posited that just as the Church has failed to offer any charity, so has philosophy. Consequently, Voltaire prompted his readers to think and act based on their beliefs rather than idle in religious or philosophical thought(Force, 2009). Hannah Arendt Hannah Arendt was born in 106 in Hannover, Wilhelmine, Germany and raised in Konigsberg. She was the only child of her entrepreneur parents of Russian-Jewish descent. Her father died of paresis when she was seven. Her mother remarried in 1920, bringing two older stepsisters into Hannah’s home. Arendt was an avid reader since her childhood. By the time she was aged sixteen, her interests had included Goethe and Kant. After high school, Arendt studied theology at the University of Marburg. Arendt then proceeded to study the phenomenological method. Later, she studied the existentialist Karl Jaspers at the University of Heidelberg. Arendt earned her doctorate in September 1929 and married the same year(Schaap, 2012). While many saw Arendt as a political philosopher, she did not consider herself one(Schaap, 2012). In fact, she severally criticized political philosophy on many grounds. First, political philosophy, according to Arendt, failed to recognize the "dignity" of politics. By that statement she meant that politics is an entity in its right, not just a means to an end. Secondly, philosophy failed to recognize the autonomy of politics; instead of recognizing that as an activity, politics raises its unique ontological and epistemological issues, political philosophers treated politics as an issue of morality and law. Thirdly, conventional philosophy is caught up in the formal aspects of politics and fails to recognize its fundamental character. Thus, Arendt sought to understand politics in its right(Schaap, 2012). Ibn Rushd Ibn Rushd is one of the best-known Islamic philosophers(Forcada, 2007). Ibn Rushd was born into a family of prominent religious scholars. However, besides religion, he studied astronomy and medicine. Little is known regarding his early life, but it is believed that he studied medicine in Cordova and Seville under a scholar called Ibn Jurrayū. While in Seville, he is also said to have met Abū Jaʿfar ibn Hārūn al‐Tarjālī, a court physician who was also widely knowledgeable in mathematical sciences and philosophy and Ibn Rushd became a student of his in these disciplines. In 1153, Ibn Rushd was in the service of a North African dynasty named the Almohads; the dynasty ruled over Muslim Spain for years. Ibn Rushd wrote his most important astronomical work, the Mukhtaṣar al‐Majisṭī, translated “Summary of the Almagest” early in his career, sometime between 159 and 1162. The work was written at a time when philosophers were lost in the search for those elements that were deemed necessary for the perfection of man. Thus, the astronomical work shares much in common with the philosopher’s medical writings such as the Kulliyyāt fī al‐ṭibb (meaning “Generalities on medicine”). In the latter, Ibn Rushd discusses the role of philosophy in understanding scientific materials. However, the astronomical work is less expert than the one on medicine; it seeks to provide a theoretical understanding of astronomy rather than serve as an authoritative work. Ibn Rushd’s later works were influenced more by Aristotle and less by Hellenistic and Islamic thinking. Al-Ghazali Al-Ghazali was one of the leading philosophers of Sunni Islam(Omelchenko, 2012). He was active in a period when Sunni theology had just been consolidated and was facing intense challenges from Shiite theology and falsafa, the Arabic version of Aristotelian philosophy. Al-Ghazali was born Tabarân-Tûs, a city approximately 15 miles north of Meshed, North-east of modern Iran, but his exact date of birth is unknown. Al-Ghazali and his brother Ahmad received their early education in their home town of Tus. Ahmad went on to become a Sufi scholar and famous preacher while Al-Ghazali proceeded to study with al-Juwaynî, the famous Ash’arite theologian, an association that exposed him to several philosophers, scholars and theologians. Al-Ghazali spent much of his time on the philosophy of causality. Much of his work on causality sought to defend the Sunni doctrines of the omnipotence of God and divine predetermination against Shiite criticism(Omelchenko, 2012). Al-Ghazali argued that contrary to the popular notion that humans have free will, circumstances often force them to choose the best alternative out of the few available; in certain situations, there are no options to choose from. Al-Ghazali adopted Avicennas determinist ontology: while every event in the physical world is contingent, it is determined by another event. This ontology provided Al-Ghazali with a ready explanation of pre-determination. However, there were slightdifferences in the two philosophers’ lines of argument. For instance, according to Avicenna, God causes everything to exist; by contrast, Al-Ghazali distinguishes between God and his Will. Thus, in Al-Ghazali terms, God’s Will, not God, predetermines events(Omelchenko, 2012). Socrates Socrates was born to a family of little means. His father, Sophroniscus, was a mason and sculptor in Athens. Socrates learned his fathers trade and is believed to have practiced it for many years. He fought in Peloponnesian War of 431-04 BCE; the war pitted Athenians against Spartans. Even though Athens lost the war, Socrates distinguished himself for his courage. Details of Socrates’ early life are limited(Gonzalez, 2012). However, it appears that he received basic education prior to devoting his life to philosophy. According to Socrates’ student Plato, Socrates took a keen interest in the work of natural philosophers such as Zeno of Elea. Socrates was deeply religious and this characteristic ran across his works, even though he criticized Greek myths(Gonzalez, 2012). His words and actions in Symposium, Phaedo, Crito and Apology demonstrate a deep respect for Athenian religious customs and gods. Much of Socrates’s work revolved around political philosophy. He is perhaps best-known for his idea of philosopher kings – these were kings who were well-trained in philosophy. Socrates believed that philosopher kings would end the problem of rulers wielding excessive power and becoming oppressive(Gonzalez, 2012). Unfortunately, Socrates idea is said to have failed in his hands when he unsuccessfully tried to train one of his students into a philosopher king(Gonzalez, 2012). Mohammed Iqbal Muhammad Iqbal was a philosopher, scholar, poet and politician in British India(Parray, 2011). Iqbal was born to a poor family. His father was a tailor without formal education but was deeply religious. His mother spent a significant portion of her time helping their less fortunate neighbors. Iqbal was admitted to Quran classes at the age of four. Later, he studied Arabic at the Scotch Mission College. Upon completing his Master’s degree in 1899, Iqbal started his career as a reader of Arabic the Oriental College,but was soon appointed professor of philosophy at Government College. Iqbal rejected the secular and material foundation of democracy(Parray, 2011). His rejection was based on the Islamic concept of Tawhid, the unity of Allah and life. According to him, Tawhid is the invisible force that joins the material and spiritual aspects of life into one, unified entity of life. This concept differs from the Western dualistic view of life where the physical and spiritual realms are seen as separate and distinct. Thus, in Islam, there exists no distinction between church and state; the two are unified into one entity. The unified approach to life prohibits secularism and materialism. Thus, while not rejecting democracy in its totality, Iqbal stressed the need to pick and retain only those aspects that were compatible with the Islamic law and philosophy of life(Parray, 2011). It would appear that Iqbal’s venture into political was an attempt to put to practice his ideas of Islamic democracy. References Benlahcene, B. (2013). The Socio-Intellectual Foundations of Malek Bennabis Approach to Civilization. Herndon: The International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT). Forcada, M. (2007). Ibn Rushd: Abū al‐Walīd Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Rushd al‐Ḥafīd. In T. Hockey, & (Ed.), The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers, (pp. 564-565). New York: Springer. Force, P. (2009). Voltaire and the Necessity of Modern History. Modern Intellectual History, 6.3457-484. Gonzalez, F. (2012). Socrates on Philosophy and Politics: Ancient and Contemporary Interpretations. Ideas Valores, 61.149103-123. Omelchenko, N. (2012). Al-Ghazali on the Essence of Love. Journal of Philosophical Anthropology, 9-18. Parray, T. (2011). Allama Iqbal on Islam-Democracy Discourse: An Analysis of his Views on Compatibility and Incompatibility. Islam and Muslim Societies, 4.2 1-9. Parris, L. (2011). Frantz Fanon: Existentialist, Dialectician, and Revolutionary. The Journal of Pan African Studies,4.71-23. Rapoport, Y. (2011). Gu Yanwu and Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406): The Risks of Returning the Gaze. Fragments , 188-93. Schaap, A. (2012). Hannah Arendt and the Philosophical Repression of Politics. In J.-P. Duranty, A. Ross, & (Eds.), Jacques Ranciere in the Contemporary Science: The Philosophy of Radical Equality (pp. 145-165). London: Continuum. Tinsley, P. (2011). Plato and the Spell of the State. Libertarian Papers, 3.21-52. Read More