RESEARCH PROJECTS
Marcel Morand and the codification of le Droit Musulman Algérien (1916) A
study of the empirical and ideological constraints that issued in one of
the earliest modern Muslim codes of personal status (Marriage and Divorce,
Inheritance, Evidence, Legal Capacity).The French colonial policy of assimilation
and progress, the pervasive Malikism of Algerian Muslims, and the Hanafi
experiments in Family law in Egypt and Ottoman Turkey, are revealed as
the basic determinants of the French jurist, Marcel Morands legal orientation,
as he proceeded with the actual work of producing the Draft Code of Muslim
Algerian Law of 1916. O. Arabi.
The interdiction of the spendthrift, al-safih: a human rights debate in classical fiqh An
investigation of the semantic and juridical arguments that led to the classical
Islamic rule of interdicting the squanderer of wealth from the freedom
to dispose of his assets. A rift is disclosed among the founders of the
Hanafi school of jurisprudence around the question: is the adult sane agent,
who spends irresponsibly, subject to the restriction of his legal capacity
in financial transactions? Or is the freedom to spend ones wealth a basic
individual right to be protected by law, even if it results in the material
ruin of the agent? O. Arabi.
Literature and politics: the political critique of humanist literary theory reconsidered This
paper consists in a defense of a broadly humanist account of literary value
against the political critique of it that has become entrenched in certain
academic circles. A distinction is made between theoretical and practical
political propositions, and an argument is presented to the effect that
the imaginative and expressive properties of literary works are such as
to render them inadequate as vehicles for the communication of political
propositions of either kind. The argument depends on a distinction between
personal and political morality, defended against the objections of Eagleton
and others, and a subsidiary argument, made with reference to certain novels,
that the structure of literary thought is best suited to communicating
insights on a personal rather than a political moral dimension. The paper
does not offer a positive argument for humanist literary theory, but merely
attempts to defend it against a school of thought critical of it. O.
S. Conolly.
Literature and history: the historical critique of humanist literary theory reconsidered This
paper consists of a defense of humanist literary theory against three lines
of criticism that are all historical insofar as they posit an essential
historicity to literary value, in contrast with the continuity, indeed
permanence, of literary value that is close to the hearts of humanists.
The first criticism stresses the historicity of various kinds of literary
creativity, making plausible connections between the flourishing of certain
kinds of literary form and certain specific epochs, inferring from this
that the value of literary works should not be construed as stable throughout
history. The second line of criticism stresses the historical variability
of the capacity of audiences to appreciate certain kinds of literary works,
and makes the same inference. These two criticisms start from plausible
premises but their conclusions are unwarranted. The third criticism maintains
that the meanings, and hence the values, of literary works, change throughout
history. In this case, the premise is argued to be false. O.S. Conolly.
Budd on artistic and non-artistic value This
article consists of a critical examination of the views of the prominent
aesthetician, Malcolm Budd, on the relation between artistic and non-artistic
value, as they are set out in his book Values of Art. Budd maintains that
artistic value is autonomous, and separate from moral, cognitive and hedonic
(pleasure) values. It is argued that his view collapses, upon analysis,
into two views, the strong and weak autonomy theses, and furthermore that
the former is too strong, and the latter too weak, to provide a satisfactory
account of artistic value, some basic requirements of which are put forward.
It is argued that the above dilemma poses a problem not only for Budd,
but for all forms of aestheticism. O. S. Conolly.
Essential humanism as a theory of moral value This
paper consists of an argument for the view that moral judgements ultimately
depend for their validation on a positive account of human nature. It consists
of two inter-related arguments, one positive and one negative. The positive
argument derives from a defense of Aristotle's postulation of a functional
account of human nature on the grounds of conceptual economy. The word
'good' when applied to non-moral objects, involves the postulation of a
functional account of that object, along with the implication that the
objects fulfils its function well. It would provide continuity in our use
of the concept if such a functional account were, with appropriate refinements,
applied to objects of moral judgement. Such an argument is admitted to
be insufficient and is backed up by a negative argument, starting from
the primacy of desire as opposed to belief the evaluation of moral intention,
and the additional premise that the primary criterion for evaluating desire
is that of the natural, as opposed to that of the rational. O.S. Conolly.
A theory of scientific evidence The
central thesis defended is that all of the apparently diverse forms of
evidence invoked in science, e.g. predictive success, explanatory power,
coherence with background theory, and the like, can he seen from a global
prospective to be special cases of a single underlying epistemic principle,
viz., that true theories will always exhibit a simpler fit with the data
provided that conditions of inquiry are optimal in relevant respects. K.
Ferguson.
The argument from failure A
critique of the view that scientific realism is inconsistent with the frequency
with which well accepted theories in the history of science have later
been displaced by radically different and conflicting theories. K. Ferguson.
Intellectualism versus relativism The
aim of this paper is to show that, by comparison with intellectualism,
relativism fails to provide any genuine explanation of many features of
traditional belief systems, and that relativist interpretations can thus
be disposed of perfectly well without recourse to the highly contentious
philosophical doctrines, e.g., the principle of charity, which underpin
the standard Davidsonian-inspired critiques of relativism. K. Ferguson.
Is there a coherent anti-realist interpretation of quantum theory? The
main thesis defended is that the development of quantum theory not only
fails to vindicate anti-realist views of science, but that, contrary to
the assumption almost universally made in the literature, there is no coherent
line of argument from the success of quantum theory to any interesting,
genuinely anti-realist conclusions about science. K. Ferguson.
What did the milesians do that was new? After
rejecting a number of popular answers to this question, e.g., that they
were the first to employ scientific methods of inquiry, or to defend naturalistic
explanations, or to adopt critical attitudes toward basic beliefs, a rather
different analysis of the charges that were involved in the emergence of
Greek science is proposed. It is then argued that this analysis points
unambiguously to the hypothesis that these changes came about largely through
the discovery of a second-order theory about the nature of belief formation,
and that the origin of science can thus be seen as an instance of theoretical
development of the sort that has occurred periodically throughout the history
of science. K. Ferguson.
Durkheim intellectualized The
aim of this paper is to adapt and develop the Durkheimian insight that
traditional peoples lacked a perspicuous grasp of the social origin of
many of their beliefs and experiences in such a way as to explain why it
was so natural for them, from the very earliest stages of belief formation,
to conceive of nature in social and moral terms. K. Ferguson.
Explaining supernatural explanation This
paper begins from a puzzle about the epistemic practices of traditional
peoples, viz., why they relied on a single explanatory framework-positing
supernatural beings and forces to account for such a wide range of natural
phenomena. After rejecting attempts to dissolve the puzzle along relativist
lines, it is argued that their practices can only be explained adequately
if we suppose that they were confusing an epistemic category with an ontological
category. This confusion in turn is best explained by a failure on their
part to acquire second order theory about the process of belief formation.
In this way the puzzle can be used to arrive at a deeper understanding
of pre-scientific thought structures. K. Ferguson.
Consequentialist moral theory This
project examines two central moral claims and the relation between them.
The first of these claims is expressed in what I call 'the Ranking Principle'.
According to this principle, it is always morally better to perform the
act that would result in more overall good. The Ranking Principle, it might
be claimed, constitutes the core of consequentialist (or utilitarian) moral
outlooks. The second principle is what I call 'the Maximizing Principle'.
According to the latter Principle an agent is always morally required to
perform an act that will result in the most overall good (i.e. is required
to perform the optimal act). B. Haydar.
Deontological constraints This
project investigate the claim that a moral view which rejects deontological
constraints and endorses the validity of granting permissions for non-optimal
behavior is objectionable because it would permit the forcing of supererogatory
behavior, i.e. would not rule out situations where one person is permitted
(or required) to force another person to do what the latter person is not
morally required to do. The project explores the possibility that the phenomenon
of forced supererogation provides us with a good ground making sense of
deontological) constraints. B. Haydar.
An Arab neo-Kantian philosophy of culture: Constantine Zurayk on culture, reason and ethics This
paper is a critical discussion of Constantine Zurayk's philosophy of culture
elaborated by him in his book entitled In the Battle for Culture, published
in Arabic in Beirut in 1964. Zurayk is a one of the most important Arab
thinkers of the 20th century, who reflected on its main political events
and analyzed its cultural crises. The paper aims on the one hand at relating
the main theses of his philosophy to those of the German thinkers of the
turn of the century, elaborated under the discipline known as Kulturphilosophie,
in particular to the philosophy of life of Dilthey, Nietzsche and Simmel
and to the neo-Kantian thought of Ernst Cassirer. On the other hand, it
discusses the virtues and shortcomings of Zurayk's philosophy of culture,
especially in the Arab context, and it does this by focusing mainly on
his distinction between, and elaboration on, the descriptive and normative
approaches to culture. Accepted for publication in Philosophy East and
West, 50, 2000. Supported by URB, summer 1997 at Columbia University,
New York City. E.S. Kassab.
Western and Arab philosophies of culture in the second half of the 20th century: a comparative-critical reading This
project aims at comparing and contrasting Western and Arab philosophies
of culture of the second half of the 20th century, with the view of establishing
their respective preoccupations and approaches concerning the issues of
tradition and modernity. Its purpose is to examine their conceptions of
reason and authority, of critique and emancipation, of truth and validity.
It is to compare and contrast the assessments of rationalization and modernization
presented in their debates. Finally, it is to discuss the ethical and political
implications expressed in their views regarding culture and modernity.
The research will be carried out with the support of a Fulbright award
granted in May 99 for the academic year 1999-2000 at the New School for
Social Research, NYC. E.S. Kassab.
Is Europe an essence? Lévinas, Husserl and Derrida on cultural identity and ethics Do
discourses on cultural identity say what one is or do they say what one
ought to be? On what basis are these claims made in each case? More precisely,
are statements about cultural identity descriptive in nature or normative?
If descriptive, what do they describe: an essence or a set of empirical
data? And if normative, what kind of ethical activity do they call upon?
Do they argue in terms of notions such as piety and treason or do they
allow for freedom and creativity? Do they present cultural identity as
a given, a fact of nature, a fact of history, an essence, i.e., a fixed,
determining and determined being with an unchanging and unchangeable nature?
Or, do they present it as a conscious, deliberate and selective construction?
Is cultural identity seen in them as a deterministically inherited legacy
or as a dynamic project of invention? This paper addresses these questions
and these implications by examining three discourses on Europe: those of
Lévinas, Husserl and Derand suggests Foucault's genealogy as an
ethically and politically better approach to cultural self-identification.
E.S.
Kassab.
Two phenomenologies of culture and ethics: Ernst Cassirer and Alfred Schutz This
paper compares and contrasts the two phenomenologies of culture worked
out by Ernst Cassirer and Alfred Schutz respectively. Both of these phenomenologies
were accused of being a-moral, i.e., lacking an ethical dimension. I argue
that this charge does not apply to Cassirer's philosophy of culture and
then examine the legitimization problems connected with the presence of
such a dimension. E.S. Kassab.
Explanation in sociobiology This
project investigates the research program of sociobiology from a philosophical
point of view in order to ascertain whether adaptationist explanations
of human behavior measure up to the standards of scientific explanation.
In particular, attention will be paid in such explanations to references
to innate human capacities and the proper philosophical analysis of such
capacities. The debate between innatists and non-innatists raises a number
of delicate philosophical questions concerning the nature of an innate
disposition, the difference between learning and mere prompting or triggering,
and so on. Supported by URB. M. A. Khalidi.
Crosscutting categories in science This
project investigates the nature of scientific taxonomy and the construction
of crosscutting categories in scientific classification systems. It has
sometimes been claimed that crosscutting classifications are incommensurable
with one another and replace one another in a wholesale fashion. But a
more plausible view is that such categories can coexist in the way that
taxonomies from different disciplines can coexist. Supported by Center
for Behavioral Research, AUB. M.A. Khalidi.
Political self-determination and the question of territory Various
attempts have recently been made to formulate and justify the right of
political self-determination. Many authors who have engaged in this effort
take the right to be justified along ethnic or nationalist grounds; and
many also ignore the importance of determining whether the group in question
has a valid claim to the territory in which self-determination is sought.
Both tendencies may be criticized and are, in any case, in need of closer
examination. M.A. Khalidi.
Teaching biomedical ethics The
enormous advances in technology and the extensive applications of these
new technologies (particularly medical technology) make it imperative that
important ethical questions be confronted and dealt with. The attempt to
explore systematically these ethical questions have led professional philosophers
to pay considerable attention to practical ethics. I am particularly interested
in Biomedical Ethics. I have begun a research project which aims at establishing
the extent to which philosophy, as a discipline and a tradition, may contribute
to the success and effectiveness of courses on Biomedical Ethics. W.N.
Nasr.
Attempts to provide philosophical justifications for the concept of general education Some
philosophers (such as John Stuart Mill) have argued that it should not
be the function of the university to prepare students for the various professions.
The proper function of the University, Mill argued, is to produce an educated
person. Mill's conception of the sort of education that may produce an
'educated' person is close to the conception of a 'Liberal Education' as
we have come to know it. With the proliferation of specialties, many have
become skeptical about the suitability of a Liberal Arts Education. I believe
that these issues cannot be resolved rationally without agreement as to
what are the aims of education; in particular, the aims of a Liberal Arts
Education. I have begun a systematic exploration of some of the major attempts
to offer justifications for a 'Liberal Arts Education', with emphasis on
recent attempts that have been produced in two contemporary philosophical
'schools': the Analytical and the Hermeneutical. W.N. Nasr.
Arabi, O. Contract stipulations (Shurut) in Islamic law: the Ottoman Majalla and Ibn Taymiyya. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 30 (1), 29-50, 1998. , Early Muslim legal philosophy. Monograph by the Von Grunebaum Center for Near Eastern Studies. Los Angeles: University of California at Los Angeles, 1999. Conolly, O. S., Pity, tragedy and the pathos of distance. European Journal of Philosophy, 6 (3) 1998. Khalidi, M. A., Natural kinds and crosscutting categories. Journal of Philosophy 95, 33-50, 1998. , Incommensurability in cognitive guise. Philosophical Psychology 11, 29-43, 1998. ,
Averroes' method of re-interpretation. International Philosophical Quarterly,
38, 175-185, 1998.
ABSTRACTS,
PRESENTATIONS AND PROCEEDINGS
Kassab, E.S.
Two phenomenologies of culture: Ernst Cassirer and Alfred Schutz.
International
Conference Celebrating the Centennial of Alfred Schutz, Germany, University
of Konstanz, May 1999.
,
An Arab Neo-Kantian philosophy of culture: Constantine Zurayk on culture,
reason and ethics. Twentieth World Congress of Philosophy, Boston.
August 1998.
, European and Arab cultural self-identification: from anti-essentialism to ethical thinking. Philosophy Symposium, American University of Beirut, June 1998. , Cultural identity and intercultural communication. Institut für Philosophie, Humboldt Universität, Berlin, May 1998. , Europe in Constantine Zurayk's thought. Workshop on Europe seenby the Lebanese during the Ottoman Period, The German Orient-Institut, Beirut, April 1998. Khalidi, M. A., Two models of innateness. Twenty Fifth Anniversary Meeting of the Society for Philosophy and Psychology, Stanford University, USA, June 1999. , Taxonomic incommensurability or crosscutting categories? Conference on Incommensurability, University of Hanover, Germany, June 1999. ,
The ethics of political self-determination., American Philosophical
Association, Eastern Division Meeting, Philadelphia, USA, December
1997.
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