Sculpting the Self
The University of Michigan Press (Verlag)
978-0-472-13262-1 (ISBN)
Sculpting the Self addresses “what it means to be human” in a secular, post-Enlightenment world by exploring notions of self and subjectivity in Islamic and non-Islamic philosophical and mystical thought. Alongside detailed analyses of three major Islamic thinkers (Mullā Ṣadrā, Shāh Walī Allāh, and Muhammad Iqbal), this study also situates their writings on selfhood within the wider constellation of related discussions in late modern and contemporary thought, engaging the seminal theoretical insights on the self by William James, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Michel Foucault. This allows the book to develop its inquiry within a spectrum theory of selfhood, incorporating bio-physiological, socio-cultural, and ethico-spiritual modes of discourse and meaning-construction. Weaving together insights from several disciplines such as religious studies, philosophy, anthropology, critical theory, and neuroscience, and arguing against views that narrowly restrict the self to a set of cognitive functions and abilities, this study proposes a multidimensional account of the self that offers new options for addressing central issues in the contemporary world, including spirituality, human flourishing, and meaning in life.
This is the first book-length treatment of selfhood in Islamic thought that draws on a wealth of primary source texts in Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Greek, and other languages. Muhammad U. Faruque’s interdisciplinary approach makes a significant contribution to the growing field of cross-cultural dialogue, as it opens up the way for engaging premodern and modern Islamic sources from a contemporary perspective by going beyond the exegesis of historical materials. He initiates a critical conversation between new insights into human nature as developed in neuroscience and modern philosophical literature and millennia-old Islamic perspectives on the self, consciousness, and human flourishing as developed in Islamic philosophical, mystical, and literary traditions.
Muhammad U. Faruque is Inayat Malik Assistant Professor at the University of Cincinnati
Contents
Preface and Acknowledgements
Introduction
Part I
I. The Problematic of the Self Is the Self a Modern Invention?
The Opacity of the Self
Degrees and Dimensions of Selfhood
First-person vs. Third-person Perspective
Descriptive vs. Normative Approaches
A Multi-dimensional Model
Overcoming the Terminological Fray
Summary II. The View from and beyond the “I” The Paradox of Self-knowledge
Non-reflective Self-knowledge
Self-knowledge as Abiding Presence
The Varieties of Non-reflective Self-knowledge
The Kantian Dilemma
Summary III. Self-knowledge and the Levels of Consciousness The Humean Challenge and the Referentiality of the “I”
Onto-phenomenological Structure of Consciousness
What is It Like to Be a Self?
Unity of Self and Consciousness
Summary Part II
IV. Self, Body, and Consciousness Consciousness in Neuroscience
Neurobiological Theories of Consciousness
The Center of the Self: Neurons or Consciousness?
The Nerve Impulse and the Structure of Consciousness
Graeco-Islamic-Indian Conversations
Deciphering the Self through the Subtle Bodies
Emotion and Subjectivity
Summary V. Sculpting the Self Philosophy, Spirituality, and Self-knowledge
Self-cultivation and Human Flourishing
Self-perfection and the Ideal Self
Meditation and Self-transparency
Self-transcendence and Transformation
Self, Freedom, Being-toward-beyond-death
Summary VI. Consummation: “I” or “I and I”
Bibliography
Index Locorum
Index of Names
Index of Subjects
| Erscheinungsdatum | 01.09.2021 |
|---|---|
| Zusatzinfo | 6 charts |
| Verlagsort | Ann Arbor |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Maße | 152 x 229 mm |
| Themenwelt | Geisteswissenschaften ► Philosophie ► Östliche Philosophie |
| Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie ► Spezielle Soziologien | |
| ISBN-10 | 0-472-13262-8 / 0472132628 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-0-472-13262-1 / 9780472132621 |
| Zustand | Neuware |
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