The Classification of Religious Knowledge
According to a common classification of religious knowledge, the teachings of religion fall into three categories:
- Beliefs: These deal with what one ought to hold as true.
- Ethics: This concerns the commendable and blameworthy inner traits of human beings.
- Juridical rulings (fiqh): By contrast, these address outward prescriptions and are primarily concerned with external actions and conduct, whereas ethics is more closely related to inner norms and dispositions.
Descriptive and Prescriptive Dimensions
There is also another classification. Religion consists of two parts:
- General statements about what is and is not.
- General prescriptions of what ought and ought not to be.
Accordingly, religion contains a set of theoretical and descriptive propositions that are not directly related to practical action, alongside a set of prescriptive propositions that are directly connected to practice. For the deepening of religious knowledge, the discovery of its hidden dimensions, and a rational defense against doubts and objections, it is necessary to acquire certain prior foundations.
Jurisprudence, Politics, and Law
In the classification of the religious sciences, jurisprudential matters occupy a broad domain. Among the important branches of jurisprudence are law and politics. The subject of politics is governance and the administration of social affairs. No society is possible without government. Politics concerns the relationship between the governing authority and the people.
But what does law concern? Law is concerned with relationships among human beings and between human beings and the environment. Thus, in all these fields we are dealing with prescriptions and prohibitions, all of which pertain to the realm of action and behavior. If we reflect carefully on these sciences and on their normative claims, we will realize that they are based on a set of prior propositions such that, if those prior assumptions change, the prescriptions and prohibitions will also change. How does this occur?
Political Philosophy and the Legitimacy of Governance
Let us begin with political science. Political science concerns the relationship between government and the people. Before one arrives at prescriptions and prohibitions governing the relationship between ruler and people, a more fundamental question arises:
- Is government necessary or not?
The next question is this: if we assume that government is necessary, who has the right to govern? Who should issue commands?
- Some maintain that whoever prevails has the right to rule.
- Others argue that no one has an inherent right to rule over another, and that the only legitimate path is for the people to delegate the right of governance to certain individuals.
Thus, before we regulate political relations, there exist important questions that dominate the entire field of political knowledge. These questions are examined in a discipline known as political philosophy.
Moral Philosophy and the Objectivity of Ethics
Similarly, there are issues that are prior to the discipline of law and are examined in the philosophy of law. Likewise, in ethics, certain character traits are presented as virtuous forms of conduct, while others are presented as blameworthy. Here, fundamental questions arise:
- Are these moral prescriptions and prohibitions merely conventional constructs, or do they possess an objective reality?
- For example, when we say “justice is good,” does this goodness correspond to a real fact, or not? And if it is real, where does this reality lie?
- Moreover, are these moral claims absolute or relative?
- Are moral judgments fixed and universal, or are they dependent on public opinion?
These are not ethical questions in the narrow sense; rather, they are questions that govern the entire discipline of ethics, and the answers to them cast their shadow over the whole of ethical theory. Such questions are addressed in the discipline of moral philosophy.
Anthropology as the Foundation of Practical Philosophies
Therefore, prior to the examination of law, politics, and ethics, we must first engage with three disciplines: the philosophy of law, the philosophy of politics, and the philosophy of ethics. It must be noted that in ethics, law, and politics, we are speaking of practical prescriptions and prohibitions, all of which are oriented toward the human being.
Consequently, in order to define ethics, law, and politics for the human being, we must possess a body of knowledge about the human being himself.
- If one considers the human being to be purely material, one will formulate a particular conception of law, politics, and ethics.
- If, however, one regards the human being as possessing both material and spiritual dimensions, one will formulate a different conception of law, politics, and ethics.
Thus, in order to have a precise account of law, politics, and ethics, we must have the philosophy of law, the philosophy of politics, and the philosophy of ethics; and in order for these philosophies to be precise, we must have an anthropology.
Theology and Epistemology: The Ultimate Foundations
One of the most important issues in anthropology is the question of where the human being comes from and where he is headed. Hence, anthropology ultimately depends on theology, or knowledge of God.
In all of these five domains—namely, the philosophy of law, the philosophy of politics, the philosophy of ethics, anthropology, and theology—we are seeking knowledge. Before examining theology and related fields, however, we must first turn to knowledge itself. Within the study of knowledge, there are issues such that adopting a particular position on them affects all of our sciences. For example, is knowledge itself possible or not?
An excerpt from the materials presented in the first session of the course “Epistemology.”
