Abstract
The subject of this study is the contemporary Arabic discourse on the legitimacy and nature of metaphysics. With the growing influence of science, metaphysical questions were sidelined or even deem wrong altogether. The study presents and discusses three of the most important contributions to this debate in their own right and with regard to their corresponding references to one another: The debate in question started in the 1950s with neo-positivist Zaki Naguib Mahmoud (1905–1993) rejecting it bluntly in his widely read contribution Khurāfat al-mītāfīzīqā (The Fable of Metaphysics, 1953). The central thesis of this work is that metaphysical hypotheses have no connection and relevance for the knowledge of reality and that they are void of meaning and, hence, have to be abolished. Neo-Thomist Youssef Karam (1886–1959) criticized this position and gave a different account of metaphysics in his works al-ʿAql wal-wujūd (Reason and Being, 1956) and al-Ṭabīʿa wa-mā baʿd al-ṭabīʿa (Physics and Metaphysics, 1959). He posits that metaphysics is the most abstract and most comprehensive science that deals with being as such, including God, and it is necessary in order to gain a correct knowledge of reality. Yet another contribution to the debate has been presented by Popperian Yumna Tarief El-Kholy (1955–) in her book al-ʿIlm wal-ightirāb wal-ḥurriyya (Science, Alienation, and Freedom, 1987). El-Kholy also holds metaphysics to be necessary by the sheer fact that all scientific theories include a metaphysical theory. The metaphysical theory that she considers most suitable for present scientific research is indeterminism, which is both an account of the epistemological access to reality as well as the ontological structure of reality itself. El-Kholy values the scientific approach to reality without denying the possibility of metaphysical knowledge and without entering the field of the knowledge of God. The discussion of these contributions demonstrates the range of solutions that Arab philosophers offer to the crisis of metaphysics and where they locate the controversial issues.
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Notes
- 1.
Arabic names are rendered in their most common Latinized version in order to facilitate readability. In the references, however, as well as for the Arabic terminology, the scientific transliteration is applied, for example Maḥmūd for Mahmoud and al-Khūlī for El-Kholy.
- 2.
As a student of Alexandre Koyré in Cairo, Badawi was mostly influenced by Heidegger, Bergson, and Kierkegaard, as well as the Muslim mystic Kumushkhānawī (cf. Yasargil, 2019).
- 3.
Several of these Arab philosophers and their reactions to the crisis of metaphysics have received some attention in philosophy and Islamic studies: Mahmoud’s contribution has been studied in the context of his overall oeuvre (Jansen, 1977; Scheffold, 1996), in the context of a stage in Arabic philosophy characterized by the adoption of other philosophical traditions, whereas Karam is said to draw upon the Greek and Arab-Islamic tradition (Fakhry, 1970, p. 399; Ṣalībā, 1962, p. 407), and most importantly, from the point of view of metaphysics itself (ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, 2006, pp. 222–9; Nakhlé, 2017). Karam has received considerably less attention, most exclusively in specialist circles (Aḥmad, 2010; Anawati, 1958, 1993; Avon, 2015; Fakhry, 1970, p. 399; Ṣalībā, 1962, pp. 406–7; Waqīdī, 1983). To my knowledge, El-Kholy has not been studied yet however, her book on Popper was reviewed (Bin Sāsī, 1992). An overall picture of these contributions as well as their evaluation as interconnected contributions to a discourse on the legitimacy of metaphysics and its rightful place in philosophy and science is still lacking and deserves further consideration. Recently, I hinted at the possible connection between Zaki Naguib Mahmoud and Yousef Karam, however, I did not substantiate it (cf. Moser, 2021).
- 4.
Khurāfat al-Mītāfīzīqa is the second of three books from Mahmoud that pursue this same goal, Positivist Logic (al-Manṭiq al-waḍʿī) (1951), Fable of Metaphysics (Khurāfat al-Mītāfīzīqā) (1953) and Towards a Scientific Philosophy (Naḥwa falsafa ʿilmiyya) (1958). For the last title, Mahmoud earned the State Encouragement Prize in 1959 in Egypt (cf. Jansen, 1977, p. 299).
- 5.
Due to limited space, this study does not cover all the contributions to the subject. Future studies could include most importantly also ʿĀṭif Aḥmad’s Critique or positivist reason (naqd al-ʿaql al waḍʿī) (1980).
- 6.
Mahmoud earned his PhD in philosophy at Kings College 1947 in London, where he was deeply influenced by Alfred Ayer’s inaugural lecture on “Thinking and Meaning” (cf. Jansen, 1977, p. 299). Furthermore, he positively refers to G.E. Moore, Bertrand Russell, and Rudolph Carnap, but also Ludwig Wittgenstein and Alfred Ayer.
- 7.
- 8.
The book consists in seven chapters. The last three chapters do not add to the general line of arguments. They introduce G.E. Moore, Bertrand Russell, and Rudolph Carnap in order to provide further examples of the neo-positivist way of thinking and to confirm the call to eliminate metaphysics.
- 9.
Mahmoud understands propositional logic and the analysis of sentences according to this logic to be the core of his philosophy: “philosophy is analysis” (al-falsafa taḥlīl) (Mahmoud, 1993, p. 1). With this understanding of philosophy, Mahmoud draws on Carnap and Wittgenstein, but also Ayer (cf. Mahmoud, 1993, pp. 201–203).
- 10.
- 11.
Sadiq al-Azm, the author of the widely acclaimed Naqd al-ʿaql al-dīnī (Critique of Religious Reason) sees the fight against religious superstition as a goal he shares with Zaki Naguib Mahmoud – without naming him explicitly. However, he adopts a different philosophical method (cf. al-Azm, 2015, p. 10).
- 12.
The first three sentences illustrate what contemporary philosophers call “category mistakes”.
- 13.
In her review of the second edition of Khurāfat al-Mītāfīzīqa, Fātina Ḥamdī laments the point that Mahmoud takes metaphysical notions and sentences out of context (cf. Ḥamdī, 1994, p. 15).
- 14.
Research on Mahmoud contests whether or not he departed from his neo-positivist position later on, notably since the publication of his Tajdīd al-fikr al-ʿarabī, i.e. Renewal of Arab Thought, in 1971; and even Mahmoud himself gave different interpretations of his own intellectual journey (cf. Scheffold, 1996, pp. 102–6, 113–5). For the present study, this question does not bear any relevance, since the focus is on the book and its impact, not on the author’s intellectual development (cf. the presentation of the method at the end of this section).
- 15.
Mahmoud does not consider Zeitgeist to be clearly definable (Maḥmūd, 1998, p. 135). In order to do so, the various forms of activities and behavior needed to be reduced to its inner principles. Mahmoud observes that there are many competing suggestions of such first principles that would need to be traced back to one common source, which would be the Zeitgeist of the century (ibid., p. 136). However, Mahmoud does not propose any concrete Zeitgeist.
- 16.
Mahmoud’s rejection of metaphysics based on its reliance on intuition seems to be directed especially against the existentialist metaphysics that gained momentum in Egypt in the 1940s thanks to Abdurrahman Badawi. Badawi considers the logic of intuition as an important source of knowledge about the existential constitution of being and as an approach that is more comprehensive than rational logic alone (Yasargil, 2019, p. 104).
- 17.
Youssef Karam received his philosophical education in France under the supervision of Jacques Maritain and became a member of the Neo-Thomist circle in Cairo after his return to Cairo in 1919 (cf. Anawati, 1993, p. 210–4).
- 18.
al-ʿAql wa-l-wujūd has been translated as „L’intelligence et l’Être“ (Baladi, 1958, p. 465; Anawati 1993, p. 211), and al-Ṭabīʿa wa-mā baʿd al-ṭabīʿa as „La physique et la métaphysique“ (Baladi, 1958, p. 465), “Physics and Metaphysics” (Fakhry, 1970, p. 399), but also “une philosophie de la nature et une Théodicée” (Anawati, 1993, p. 211) and “la philosophie de la nature et la métaphysique” (Wahba, 1958, p. 479).
- 19.
In order to highlight the specific nature of human beings, Karam planned to write a third book that focused on ethics (ibid., p. 10); however, he did not realize this book before his death. In addition, the manuscripts were lost when his house collapsed (Anawati, 1993, p. 211).
- 20.
Fakhry raises the awareness of the fact that Karam’s “argument is conducted in both works against the background of empiricism and rationalism, which he dismisses as equally untenable” (Fakhry, 1970, 399). Fakhry does not mention Mahmoud’s name here. However, he attests earlier to a strong emphasis on empirical data, and thus probably alludes to him here. Karam dissociates himself from sensualists (ḥissiyyūn), nominalists (ismiyyūn), and linguistic philosophers (lafẓiyyūn), but also from idealists (taṣawwuriyyūn) (Karam, 2014, p. 9). He considers Mahmoud most probably to be a nominalist (cf. Karam’s letter to Anawati cited above, Sect. 9.2).
- 21.
A definition of reason as opposed to feeling (wijdān) can be found in other works of Mahmoud. For example Qiṣṣat ʿaql, i.e. Story of reason (1982), 87. This book is an intellectual auto-biography rather than a philosophical contribution to the question of reason (cf. ibid., p. 9).
- 22.
The translation of al-maʿānī al-mujarrada as ‘concept’ follows Karam’s philosophical dictionary (cf. Karam, 1966, p. 162).
- 23.
In addition, Karam mentions the principle of non-contradiction (mabdaʾ ʿadam al-tanāquḍ); the law of the excluded middle (mabdaʾ al-thālith al-marfūʿ aw al-wasaṭ al-marfūʿ), the principle of sufficient reason (mabdaʾ al-sabab al-kāfī), and the principle of finality (mabdaʾ al-ghāʾiyya) (Karam, 2014, pp. 121–122).
- 24.
In addition, Karam mentions oneness (al-wāḥid), the good (al-khayr) (and it’s contrary, the bad, al-sharr), and beauty (al-jamāl) (cf. Karam, 2014, p. 105).
- 25.
In addition, Karam mentions essence and existence (al-māhiyya wa-l-wujūd), cause and effect (al-ʿilla wa-l-maʿlūl), and aim and means (al-ghāya wa-l-wasīla) (cf. Karam, 2014, pp. 8, 129).
- 26.
In comparison to Karam, Mahmoud employs khaṭaʾ – Karam’s term for ‘fault’ and ‘error’ in mental activities – also in those cases in which Karam uses bāṭil – Karam’s term for ‘false’ correspondences – side by side with other terms such as ‘void’ (fārigh) and ‘meaningless’ (lā maʿnā), but he refrains from using bāṭil at all. Mahmoud’s term for ‘truth’ is ṣawāb (as an adjective he uses ṣaḥīḥ), without any distinction between merely intellectual activities and the intellectual activity that connects the dimension of knowledge with the dimension of being (cf. Mahmoud’s examples in Maḥmūd, 1993, pp. 1–36).
- 27.
Another interpretation of the quote could be that the primary truth is the correspondence between the knowledge of the creator (artist or God) and the object, because the knowledge of the object precedes its existence and, hence, the truth exists before the correspondence; whereas acquired truth would be the truth based on perception through which the correspondence between knowledge and its object is established. This variant, however, does not change the presented interpretation of the second part of the quote where Karam explains the relation between primary truth and acquired truth.
- 28.
The other two branches of metaphysics deal with the principles of knowledge (this branch is called ‘wisdom’, ḥikma) and the general aspects of being (this branch is called ‘first philosophy’, al-falsafa al-ūlā) (cf. Karam, 2012, p. 117).
- 29.
Yumna Tarief El-Kholy studied philosophy at Cairo University (although not under the supervision of Mahmoud who was teaching there only until his retirement in 1968) with Amira Hilmi Matar (cf. al-Khūlī, 2020, p. 10). In her M.A.-thesis (1981) she studied Karl Popper, and her Book al-ʿIlm wal-ightirāb wal-ḥurriyya (1987) is actually her PhD. Both projects have been supervised by Matar.
- 30.
El-Kholy interestingly departs from Karl Popper, according to whom metaphysical ideas define scientific knowledge and provide its framework. For El-Kholy, the metaphysical conception is conversely a result of scientific research (Cf. on Popper Gadenne, 2019, p. 439).
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Moser, K. (2022). “Superstition” or “Crown of Science”? Zaki Naguib Mahmoud, Youssef Karam, and Yumna Tarief El-Kholy on Metaphysics. In: Chatti, S. (eds) Women's Contemporary Readings of Medieval (and Modern) Arabic Philosophy. Logic, Argumentation & Reasoning, vol 28. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-05629-1_9
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