Philosophy - Articles List

What follows is an attempt to see Otto the phenomenologist within wider developments in the field, and to take account of some recent criticisms. Everything that is said falls under ... Read More

Research Paper

Reconceptualising Religion : A Philosophical Critique of Religious Studies as Cultural Studies

Tim Fitzgerald

Volume 7, Issue 2 , December 2009, Pages 21-36

Abstract

The aim of my argument (1) is to reconceptualise what is now called religious studies as the study of institutionalised values, and the relation between values and the legitimation ... Read More

Research Paper

Sufism in the Western History : A Primary Outline

Andrew Rawlinson

Volume 7, Issue 2 , December 2009, Pages 37-64

Abstract

The phenomenon of Western Sufi teachers is unique, not just because of the individuals themselves, though they are certainly fascinating, but because of what they represent: the flowering ... Read More

Research Paper

Isma’ili Thesis on the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy

Simonetta Calderini

Volume 7, Issue 2 , December 2009, Pages 65-76

Abstract

Though it is widely assumed that Sunni Islam does not have an equivalent to the Christian ecclesiastical hierarchy, Shii groups such as the Medieval Ismailis did have an organised teaching, ... Read More Though it is widely assumed that Sunni Islam does not have an equivalent to the Christian ecclesiastical hierarchy, Shii groups such as the Medieval Ismailis did have an organised teaching, spiritual, and temporal hierarchy. Evidence gathered from primary sources shows that this Ismaili 'ecclesiastical' hierarchy is strictly intertwined with the Ismaili interpretation of Neoplatonic cosmology as well as with the political authority of prominent medieval Ismaili dynasties. It is widely accepted by scholars in Islamic studies that there is no ecclesiastical hierarchy in Islam or, in other words, that there is not one hierarchical body which can legislate in matters of religion and the authority of which is undisputed among Muslims. There are experts in religious matters, the 'ulama`, with their theological and legal specializations. However, these are only individuals, and no matter how highly esteemed they are, they do not represent a full body. Even when Muslim scholars have presented elaborations of Islamic creeds, it is understood that they are no more than individual formulations of belief, not official ones. This assumption perpetuates a myth: the myth of one, static, uniform and united Islam. This is the Islam that many Sunnis would like to believe exists, and the Islam that several Western scholars find more convenient to study. Recent introductory books on Islam have just started to include chapters which reflect a more accurate story: there is not one Islam, there are several Islams, or to put it more moderately, there are several interpretations of Islam. There is the mystical way, with its hierarchy of spiritual masters and angels, there is popular Islam with its hierarchy of saints, and there is Shii Islam. Even though Shiism represents only 10% of the total Muslim population, it is nevertheless very active, articulated and in itself composite. This paper examines the authority of the "ecclesiastical" hierarchy, that is the teaching, spiritual and temporal hierarchy, in Medieval Ismailism. My aim is to establish a relationship between this hierarchy and the cosmological doctrines of Medieval Ismailism. Even though Ismailism is not the only Shi'i group in Islam to exibit both an ecclesiastical hierarchy and a related cosmological structure (medieval Druze and Nusayri groups are two further examples), it has been chosen here because of the high degree of sophistication and the clarity in which these doctrines have been expressed.

Research Paper

Contemporary Debates in the Philosophy of Biology : A Historical Review

Paul Griffiths

Volume 7, Issue 2 , December 2009, Pages 77-91

Abstract

The philosophy of biology has existed as a distinct sub-discipline within the philosophy of science for about thirty years. The rapid growth of the field has mirrored that of the biological ... Read More

Research Paper

Ecological Thought : Some New Implications Of Whitehead’s Philosophy

Pete Gunter

Volume 7, Issue 2 , December 2009, Pages 93-106

Abstract

This paper will discuss some new implications of Whitehead’s philosophy for environmental thought.[i] They fall under three headings: 1. The interrelations between three ways ... Read More

Research Paper

Intrinsic Value: Towards A Pragmatic Theory

Volume 7, Issue 2 , December 2009, Pages 107-123

Abstract

Intrinsic value is a concept central to the environmentalist movement. Whether one believes that natural objects have intrinsic value is supposed to determine whether one takes a ecocentric ... Read More

Research Paper

Book Review

Charles Taliaferro

Volume 7, Issue 2 , December 2009, Pages 145-147

Abstract

Research Paper

Book Review:Ricoeur Paul, La mémoire, l’histoire, l’oubli, (L’ordre philosophique), Paris: Seuil, 2003

Theo L. Hettema

Volume 7, Issue 2 , December 2009, Pages 157-161

Abstract

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Volume & Issue: Volume 7, Issue 2 - Serial Number 14, December 2009, Pages 1-170

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