Subject:
All Disciplines Arts & Humanities Biology & Life Sciences Business & Economics Chemistry & Materials Science Computer Science & Mathematics Engineering Environmental & Earth Sciences Medicine & Pharmacology Physical Sciences Public Health & Healthcare Social Sciences
Sort:
Hottest Latest Alphabetical (A-Z) Alphabetical (Z-A)
Type:
All Topic Review Biography
Biography
Alain Finkielkraut
Alain Finkielkraut (born 30 June 1949) is a French philosopher and public intellectual. He has written books and essays on a wide range of topics, many on the ideas of tradition and identitary nonviolence, including Jewish identity and antisemitism, French colonialism, the mission of the French education system in immigrant assimilation, and the Yugoslav Wars. He joined the Department of French
  • 1.1K
  • 22 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Independent Legal Reasoning in Islamic Law
Ijtihad (Arabic: اجتهاد ijtihād, [ʔidʒ.tihaːd]; lit. physical or mental effort) is an Islamic legal term referring to independent reasoning by an expert in Islamic law, or the thorough exertion of a jurist's mental faculty in finding a solution to a legal question. It is contrasted with taqlid (imitation, conformity to legal precedent). According to classical Sunni theory, ijtihad requires expertise in the Arabic language, theology, revealed texts, and principles of jurisprudence (usul al-fiqh), and is not employed where authentic and authoritative texts (Qur'an and Hadith) are considered unambiguous with regard to the question, or where there is an existing scholarly consensus (ijma). Ijtihad is considered to be a religious duty for those qualified to perform it. An Islamic scholar who is qualified to perform ijtihad is called a mujtahid. Throughout the first five Islamic centuries, the practice of ijtihad continued both theoretically and practically amongst Sunni Muslims. The controversy surrounding ijtihad and the existence of mujtahids started, in its primitive form, around the beginning of the sixth/twelfth century. By the 14th century, development of Sunni jurisprudence prompted leading Sunni jurists to state that the main legal questions had been addressed and the scope of ijtihad was gradually restricted. In the modern era, this gave rise to a perception among Western scholars and lay Muslim public that the so-called "gate of ijtihad" was closed at the start of the classical era. While recent scholarship established that the practice of Ijtihad had never ceased in Islamic history, the extent and mechanisms of legal change in the post-formative period remain a subject of debate. Differences amongst the jurists prevented Muslims from reaching any consensus(Ijma) on the issues of continuity of Ijtihad and existence of Mujtahids. Thus, Ijtihad remained a key aspect of Islamic jurisprudence throughout the centuries. Ijtihad was practiced throughout the Early modern period and claims for ijtihad and its superiority over taqlid were voiced unremittingly. Starting from the 18th century, Islamic reformers began calling for abandonment of taqlid and emphasis on ijtihad, which they saw as a return to Islamic origins. Public debates in the Muslim world surrounding ijtihad continue to the present day. The advocacy of ijtihad has been particularly associated with Islamic modernist and Salafiyya movements. Among contemporary Muslims in the West there have emerged new visions of ijtihad which emphasize substantive moral values over traditional juridical methodology. Shia jurists did not use the term ijtihad until the 12th century. With the exception of Zaydi jurisprudence, the early Imami Shia were unanimous in censuring Ijtihad in the field of law (Ahkam). After the Shiite embracal of various doctrines of Mu'tazila and classical Sunnite Fiqh (jurisprudence), this led to a change. After the victory of the Usulis who based law on principles (usul) over the Akhbaris ("traditionalists") who emphasized on reports or traditions (khabar) by the 19th century, Ijtihad would become a mainstream Shia practice.
  • 3.0K
  • 22 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Bodhi
The English term enlightenment is the western translation of the abstract noun bodhi, (/ˈboʊdi/; Sanskrit: बोधि; Pali: bodhi), the knowledge or wisdom, or awakened intellect, of a Buddha. The verbal root budh- means "to awaken," and its literal meaning is closer to "awakening." Although the term buddhi is also used in other Indian philosophies and traditions, its most common usage is in the context of Buddhism. The term "enlightenment" was popularised in the Western world through the 19th century translations of Max Müller. It has the western connotation of general insight into transcendental truth or reality. The term is also being used to translate several other Buddhist terms and concepts, which are used to denote (initial) insight (prajna (Sanskrit), wu (Chinese), kensho and satori(Japanese)); knowledge (vidhya); the "blowing out" (Nirvana) of disturbing emotions and desires and the subsequent freedom or release (vimukti); and the attainment of supreme Buddhahood (samyak sam bodhi), as exemplified by Gautama Buddha. What exactly constituted the Buddha's awakening is unknown. It may probably have involved the knowledge that liberation was attained by the combination of mindfulness and dhyāna, applied to the understanding of the arising and ceasing of craving. The relation between dhyana and insight is a core problem in the study of Buddhism, and is one of the fundamentals of Buddhist practice. In the western world the concept of (spiritual) enlightenment has taken on a romantic meaning. It has become synonymous with self-realization and the true self and false self, being regarded as a substantial essence being covered over by social conditioning.
  • 2.9K
  • 22 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Pseudophilosophy
Pseudophilosophy (or cod philosophy) is a philosophical idea or system which does not meet an expected set of standards.
  • 1.8K
  • 22 Nov 2022
Biography
Nasir Al-Din Al-Tusi
Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Hasan al-Tūsī (Persian: محمد ابن محمد ابن حسن طوسی‎ 18 February 1201 – 26 June 1274), better known as Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (Persian: نصیر الدین طوسی‎; or simply Tusi /ˈtuːsi/[1] in the West), was a Persian polymath, architect, philosopher, physician, scientist, and theologian.[2] Nasir al-Din al-Tusi was a well published a
  • 3.0K
  • 22 Nov 2022
Biography
Dan Sperber
Dan Sperber (born 20 June 1942 in Cagnes-sur-Mer) is a French social and cognitive scientist and philosopher. His most influential work has been in the fields of cognitive anthropology, linguistic pragmatics, psychology of reasoning, and philosophy of the social sciences. He has developed: an approach to cultural evolution known as the epidemiology of representations (or cultural attraction theo
  • 646
  • 22 Nov 2022
Biography
Alfredo Co
Alfredo Pimentel Co 许培堆 (born November 30, 1949) is the foremost Sinologist and one of the most sought-after lecturers in the Philippines.[1][2][3]He was the founding president of the Philosophy Circle of the Philippines and is currently the President of the Philippine Academy of Philosophical Research, chairman of the Commission on Higher Education's Technical Committee on Philosophy, and
  • 1.3K
  • 22 Nov 2022
Biography
Jaggi Vasudev
Jagadish "Jaggi" Vasudev[1] (born 3 September 1957), venerated as Sadhguru,[2][3] is an Indian yoga guru and author.[4][5][6][7] Jaggi Vasudev earned a Bachelor's degree in English from the University of Mysore and has been teaching yoga in southern India since 1982. In 1992 he established the Isha Foundation near Coimbatore, which operates an ashram and yoga centre and is involved in various a
  • 12.2K
  • 22 Nov 2022
Topic Review
New Christian
New Christian (Spanish: cristiano nuevo; Portuguese: cristão-novo; Catalan: cristià nou) was a law-effective and social category developed from the 15th century onwards, and used in what is today Spain and Portugal as well as their New World colonies, to refer to Sephardi Jews and Muslims ("Moors") who had converted to the Catholic Church, often by force or coercion. It was developed and employed after the Reconquista of the Iberian Peninsula by the Catholic Monarchs. By law, the category of New Christian included not only recent converts, but also all their known baptized descendants with any fraction or quantum of New Christian blood up to the fourth generation, and then in Phillip II's reign it included any person with any fraction of New Christian blood "from time immemorial". In Portugal, it was only in 1772 that Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquess of Pombal, finally decreed an end to the legal distinction between New Christians and Old Christians.
  • 633
  • 21 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Jews
Jews (Hebrew: יְהוּדִים‎ ISO 259-2 Yehudim, Israeli pronunciation [jehuˈdim]) or Jewish people are members of an ethnoreligious group and a nation originating from the Israelites and Hebrews of historical Israel and Judah. Jewish ethnicity, nationhood, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the ethnic religion of the Jewish people, although its observance varies from strict to none. Jews originated as an ethnic and religious group in the Middle East during the second millennium BCE, in the part of the Levant known as the Land of Israel. The Merneptah Stele appears to confirm the existence of a people of Israel somewhere in Canaan as far back as the 13th century BCE (Late Bronze Age). The Israelites, as an outgrowth of the Canaanite population, consolidated their hold with the emergence of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Some consider that these Canaanite sedentary Israelites melded with incoming nomadic groups known as 'Hebrews'. Though few sources mention the exilic periods in detail, the experience of diaspora life, from the Babylonian captivity and exile to the Roman occupation and exile, and the historical relations between Jews and their homeland thereafter, became a major feature of Jewish history, identity and memory. In the millennia following, Jewish diaspora communities coalesced into three, major ethnic subdivisions according to where their ancestors settled: Ashkenazim (Central and Eastern Europe), Sephardim (initially in the Iberian Peninsula), and Mizrahim (Middle East and North Africa). Prior to World War II, the worldwide Jewish population reached a peak of 16.7 million, representing around 0.7 percent of the world population at that time. Approximately 6 million Jews were systematically murdered during the Holocaust. Since then the population has slowly risen again, and (As of 2018) was estimated at 14.6–17.8 million by the Berman Jewish DataBank, less than 0.2 percent of the total world population.[note 1] The modern State of Israel is the only country where Jews form a majority of the population. It defines itself as a Jewish and democratic state in the Basic Laws, Human Dignity and Liberty in particular, which is based on the Declaration of Independence. Israel's Law of Return grants the right of citizenship to Jews who have expressed their desire to settle in Israel. Despite their small percentage of the world's population, Jews have significantly influenced and contributed to human progress in many fields, both historically and in modern times, including philosophy, ethics, literature, politics, business, fine arts and architecture, music, theatre and cinema, medicine, and science and technology, as well as religion; Jews authored the Bible, founded Early Christianity and had a profound influence on Islam. Jews have also played a significant role in the development of Western Civilization.
  • 2.8K
  • 21 Nov 2022
  • Page
  • of
  • 134
Featured Entry Collections
>>

Featured Books

>>
Encyclopedia of Social Sciences
Encyclopedia of COVID-19
Encyclopedia of Fungi
Encyclopedia of Digital Society, Industry 5.0 and Smart City
Video Production Service
Feedback