2. An Introductory Course
On Perspectives Of
Western
And Islamic Philosophy

3. The Lectures
A total of nine lectures are anticipated to be delivered on
a monthly basis over a period of nine consecutive months
Each of the lectures shall provide a rudimentary
understanding of various philosophical concepts
Please refer to the provided handbook for further details

4. Sessions Date and Time Subject Matter
Western
Perspectives
Islamic
Perspectives
1 of 9
24th August 2014
10:15am - 1.00pm
Introduction to philosophy
What is philosophy?
Why study philosophy?
Meaning and definition
2 of 9
21st September 2014
10:15am - 1.00pm
What can we know? Knowledge
[Epistemology 1/2]
What is knowing?
What is knowledge?
Belief, truth and evidence
The sources and concepts of knowledge,
reason and experience
3 of 9
19th October 2014
10:15am - 1.00pm
What is the world like?
Perceiving the World
[Epistemology 2/2]
Realism
Idealism
Our knowledge of the physical world
4 of 9
23rd November 2014
10:15am - 1.00pm
The way the world works
Scientific Knowledge
[Philosophy of Science]
Laws of nature
Explanation
Theories
Possibility
The problem of induction
5 of 9
21st December 2014
10:15am - 1.00pm
What is and what must be?
Freedom and Necessity
[Metaphysics]
Causality
Determinism and freedom
6 of 9
18th January 2015
10:15am - 1.00pm
What am I?
Mind and Body
[Philosophy of Mind]
The physical and the mental,
The relationship between the physical and the mental,
Materialism
7 of 9
15th February 2015
10:15am - 1.00pm
What else is there? [Philosophy
of Religion 1/2]
Ontological, cosmological and teleological arguments for the existence of
God
8 of 9
22th March 2015
10:15am - 1.00pm
What else is there? [Philosophy
of Religion 2/2]
The concept of God
The problem of evil
Religious concepts
9 of 9
19th April 2015
10:15am - 1.00pm
The is and the ought
[Problems in Ethics]
Meta-ethics
Theories of goodness
Theories of conduct

5. The Objective
The primary aim and overall objective, among
other subsidiary benefits, is to assist in
familiarising and acquainting its recipients with
the conceptual [and intellectual] perils,
predominantly encountered by religion in todays
society, which are propelled by [or in the name
of] philosophy.

6. Lecture 2/9
Epistemology

7. What we anticipate to cover in this
session
What is
epistemology?
What’s its
point?
What is
knowing and
knowledge?
Belief, truth
and evidence
The sources of
knowledge

8. Agenda
•Initiate session10:25
•About the lectures10:25 – 10:40
•Western perspectives10:40 – 11:25
•Break11:25 – 11:40
•Islamic perspectives11:40 – 12:25
•Questions and answers12:25 – 13:00

9. What is Epistemology?
Epistemology
[1]
It comes from the
Greek words episteme
(knowledge) and logos
(theory).
[2]
Epistemology literally
means to reason
about knowledge
[3]
Epistemology is the
branch of philosophy
which studies the
nature of knowledge
and truth.
[4]
Defined narrowly,
epistemology is the
study of knowledge
and justified belief.

10. What is Epistemology Concerned
with?
Epistemology
As the study of knowledge, epistemology
is concerned with the following questions
What are the necessary and
sufficient conditions of
knowledge?
What are its
sources?
What is its structure,
and what are its limits?

11. What’s the Point in Studying it
It is required in order to be able
to determine the true from the
false, by determining a proper
method of evaluation
It is needed in order to use and
obtain knowledge of the world
around us
Without epistemology, we could
not think
More specifically, we would have
no reason to believe our
thinking was productive or
correct, as opposed to random
images flashing before our mind

12. What is KnowledgeThedefinitioninvolvesthree
conditionsandphilosopherssay
thatwhenapersonmeetsthese
threeconditions,theycansay
theyknowsomethingtobetrue
1.The person believes the
statement to be true
2.The statement is in fact true
3.The person is justified in
believing the statement to be
true

13. The Three Conditions for Knowledge
Belief
• The epistemic attitude of holding a proposition þ to be true where there is
some degree of evidence, though not conclusive evidence, for the truth of
þ.
Truth
• Conformity with facts, agreement with reality. The proper contrast is with
falsity.
Justification
• If the seed of knowledge is belief, what turns belief into knowledge? This is
where justification comes in (some philosophers use the term “warrant” to
refer to this element). A person knows something if they’re justified in
believing it to be true (and, of course, it actually is true).

14. Descartes’ Analysis
Descartes decided that it would be sufficient to subject the foundations of
his belief system to doubt and the rest of the structure will "crumble of its
own accord."
He first considers the things he came to believe by way of the five senses.
For most of us these are pretty stable items but Descartes found that it
was rather easy to doubt their truth. The biggest problem is that
sometimes the senses can be deceptive.
Next he looked at mathematics. If certainly is to be found, it must be
here. However, suppose there is an evil genius, he thought, that is
“supremely powerful and clever” and was bent upon deceiving Descartes
and developed mathematics as a device to carry out his evil deceptions
He found that he could be sceptical about everything and was unable to
find a certain foundation for knowledge. But then he hit upon something
that changed modern epistemology. He discovered that there was one
thing he couldn’t doubt: the fact that he was a thinking thing.

15. Question

16. BREAK
[15 Minutes]

17. Islamic
Perspective

18. What is Knowledge?
Knowledge
[1]
Knowledge is the
recognition if the
thing known as it
really is
[2]
knowledge is what
causes the one who
has it to be
knowledgeable [3]
knowledge is what
permits the one
characterized as having
knowledge to do an
act masterfully and
perfectly

19. Defining Knowledge
[1]
• What is intended is
that discerning be
ascribed to the
apprehending of the
knowable after having
ignored or disregarded
it because, at that
point, the one who
comes to know what
he did not says, “I can
now discern it.”
[2]
• We disapprove defining
knowledge as that
which causes its
subjects to be
knowledgeable. He
purpose in a definition
is to distinguish
precisely the object to
be defined, whereas
this is a generality
since its applications
and examples cover
every expression that a
person might want to
define.
[3]
• It is not correct as well
to define knowledge as
that through which the
person so described
achieves mastery
because knowing
impossibilities and the
eternal and enduring
existences do not
entitle the person
described as knowing
these things to any sort
of mastery.

20. Imām al – Ghazālī’s Analysis of
Knowledge
Sense
Data
• Sense
Perception
Rational
Data
• Intellect or
Reason
Reason
Judge
• Intuition
Revelation

21. Sources of Knowledge
• The visual sense can be so untrustworthy, thus, how can we trust the
authority of other senses.
Sense
Perception
• While sleeping a man sees and imagines a number of things and
circumstances which he believes to be stable and enduring and he has no
doubt in them so far as he is in a dream-condition.
• When he awakens, he realises his beliefs to be unfounded.
Intellect or
Reason
• Then the reason-judge came along and gave me the lie. But were it not for
the reason-judge, you would still accept me as true. So there may be, beyond
the perception of reason, another judge. And if the latter revealed itself, it
would give the lie to the judgments of reason, just as the reason-judge
revealed itself and gave the lie to the judgments of sense.
Intuition

22. Infallible Knowledge
This did not come about by systematic demonstration or marshalled argument, but by
a light which God most high cast into my breast. That light is the key to the greater
part of knowledge. Whoever thinks that the understanding of things Divine rests upon
strict proofs has in his thought narrowed down the wideness of God’s mercy. When
the Messenger of God (peace be upon him) was asked about `enlarging’ (sharh) and its
meaning in the verse, `Whenever God wills to guide a man, He enlarges his breast for
Islam (i.e. surrender to God)’ (Q. 6, 125), he said, `It is a light which God most high
casts into the heart’. When asked, `What is the sign of it?’, he said, `Withdrawal from
the mansion of deception and return to the mansion of eternity.’ It was about this light
that Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, `God created the creatures in darkness,
and then sprinkled upon them some of His light.’ From that light must be sought an
intuitive understanding of things Divine. That light at certain times gushes from the
spring of Divine generosity, and for it one must watch and wait as Muhammad (peace
be upon him) said: `In the days of your age your Lord has gusts of favour; then place
yourselves in the way of them’.

23. NEXT LECTURE
What is the world like?
Perceiving the World
[Epistemology 2/2]
19/10/2014
10:15—13:00

24. You will be invited to participate
via email post the event.
or
alternatively email:
info@jkn.org.uk