Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Intersecting Philosophy of Religion with Islamic Thought, Dubai, Birleşik Arap Emirlikleri, 17 - 18 Aralık 2022, ss.5
This paper shall connect the debate on scientific realism to al-Māturīdī’s views on the laws of nature. The connection is hoped to help clarify his position on our assertions about the real existence and character of agents and objects by referring to his endorsement of natures and the causal networks within which they act. Here, we highlight the respective comments he makes on the concepts of essence, on the one hand, (māhiyya or māʾiyya) and nature (ṭabīʿa), on the other. For it appears that al-Māturīdī adopts a sceptical view, based on empiricist premises in regard to essences, often denying knowledge of them, while he considers knowledge of natures as possible and, indeed, necessary. In this paper, we claim that to present a modern understanding of scientific claims that fits in with Islamic theology, al-Māturīdī provides theoretical resources to forge a nuanced position. Here we shall have recourse to discuss his view of natural laws as a central pillar of his approach toward natural phenomena. However, al-Māturīdī’s view on natural laws have been subject to disagreement. In this regard, it appears that he upholds a type of secondary causation, that is, a theory of the genuine, if partial, effectiveness of worldly agents and objects in realising events, while sometimes he also seems to state that God alone determines and realizes creation. Accordingly, disagreement consists in opposed occasionalist and concurrentist readings of his thought. In this paper, a middle position that combines aspects of both readings is defended. By specifying how al-Māturīdī appears to adopt an occasionalist alongside a concurrentist theory we hope to reach a position regarding scientific realism that makes it possible to show how scientific knowledge, about natures for example, can be used to reach and justify metaphysical assertions by including the later within the scope of scientific discussion.