William Chittick i tradicija
William Chittick and tradition

Summary/Abstract: William Chittick is a modern thinker whose ideas on tradition are of the utmost importance. He is of the view that the true tradition of Islam has been forgottten, and that the part it plays in scholarship is minimal. The Islamic tradition emphasizes rationality, though it is a different rationality from that of the West, which is based on quantitative values (kamiyyat). Modern science is based on the subjugation of nature, whereas the traditional concept of knowledge and science is that it seeks ways to construct itself and the generation of the necessary technology in line with that objective. Modern science, in Chittick’s view, is a contemporary myth with no aspiration to the unity of the world. God is absent in modern science, whereas the purpose of reason in the traditional perspective is in fact to draw attention to the pernicious nature of idolatry (shirk), which is without foundation; to refuse to grant lower realities the same standing as the divine (that which is worthy of worship). Chittick sees scientific methodology as the harmony between two outlooks, two eyes, reason and imagination, for with only one eye it is impossible to see things as they truly are.

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