Being, Consciousness and the Self: Events with Muhammad U. Faruque
Please join us for events with Muhammad U. Faruque (勛圖厙 of Cincinnati) in Eaton Humanities next week on April 15th and 16th!
The Problem of Being: Ontology in Contemporary Islamic Philosophy
HUMN 230泭揖泭Monday, 15 April 2024, 11:00 am 12:30 pm
賊梗眶勳莽喧梗娶泭
Mull 廜糎dr (d. 1640) is one of the greatest of all Islamic philosophers matched only by the likes of Ibn泭尪Arab蘋 (d. 1240), Avicenna (d. 1037) and Suhraward蘋 (d. 1191). A wide-ranging thinker and philosopher, 廜糎dr left a great body of work spanning a vast array of fields from logic,philosophical Sufism (尪勳娶款櫻紳), ethics (硃域堯梭櫻梁) to natural philosophy/physics (廜苔莉蘋尪勳聆聆櫻喧), ontology, and metaphysics (勳梭櫻堯勳聆聆櫻喧). His oeuvre comprises over forty-five works (some in several volumes) that draw on practically every field of Islamic intellectual learning from its inception until his own day. Mull 廜糎dr is, above all, a philosopher of泭滄喝轍贖廎泭(being/existence). Hence, my focus in this workshop on泭Bidyat al-廎可kmawill be the Ontology part of the book. Following 廜糎dr,泭尪Allma泭廜柑b廜苔b尨蘋 defends the primacy of being (a廜lat al-滄喝轍贖餃) in the debate between being and essence (滄喝轍贖餃 wa mhiyya), which is one of the central issues in Islamic philosophy. Bidya also explains the unique doctrine of the gradation of being (tashk蘋k al-滄喝轍贖餃). For 廜糎dr and his commentators, the problem of being (滄喝轍贖餃)泭is the foundation of all philosophical principles, the basis of metaphysical inquiries, and the pole around which rotates the science of unity, the science of the return (鳥硃尪櫻餃), and the science of soul.
Opening Pandoras Box: AI, ChatGPT, and the Mystery of Consciousness
HUMN 250泭揖泭Tuesday, 16 April 2024, 11:00 am 12:15 pm
賊梗眶勳莽喧梗娶泭
In light of the emergence of ChatGPT and the hysteria around it, it would not be an understatement to suggest that we are getting close to Alan Turings dream of creating an intelligent machine. Yet, one wonders if it would ever be possible to develop an AI with a human-level consciousness, as proclaimed by such AI enthusiasts as Kurzweil, Bostrom, Harari, and others. In this talk, I argue that this is an impossible dream which rests on a fundamental misunderstanding concerning the nature of consciousness. In contrast to most contemporary theories of consciousness that either treat it as an epiphenomenon or psychologize it in terms of qualia and subjective feel, I argue that consciousness is always fundamental, at once self-luminous and self-cognizant. I also argue that the problem of AI ultimately hinges on how we define our values, which ultimately determine what it means to be human in a technocentric world.
Sculpting the Self: Islam, Selfhood, and Human Flourishing
HUMN 250泭揖泭Tuesday, 16 April 2024, 5:00 pm 6:30 pm
賊梗眶勳莽喧梗娶泭
Sculpting the Self泭addresses what it means to be human in a secular, post-Enlightenment world by exploring notions of selfhood and subjectivity in Islamic and non-Islamic literatures, including modern philosophy and neuroscience. Alongside detailed analyses of three major Islamic thinkers, this study also situates their writings on selfhood within the wider constellation of related discussions in late modern and contemporary thought, which 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.
Muhammad U. Faruques research lies at the intersection of philosophy, science, and environmental studies, especially in relation to the Islamic intellectual tradition. He earned his PhD (with distinction) from the 勛圖厙 of California, Berkeley, and served as Exchange Scholar at Harvard 勛圖厙 and as George Ames Postdoctoral Fellow at Fordham 勛圖厙. His highly acclaimed book泭Sculpting the Self泭(勛圖厙 of Michigan Press, 2021) addresses what it means to be human in a secular, post-Enlightenment world by exploring notions of selfhood and subjectivity in Islamic and non-Islamic philosophical literatures, including modern philosophy and neuroscience. Dr. Faruque is the author of three books and over forty-five academic articles, which have appeared (or are forthcoming) in numerous peer-reviewed journals such as泭Philosophy East and West,泭Arabic Sciences and Philosophy泭(Cambridge),泭Brill Journal of Sufi Studies,泭Religious Studies (Cambridge),泭Brill Journal of Islamic Ethics, and泭Ancient Philosophy. He has delivered lectures in many North American, European, Asian, and Middle Eastern universities. He gives public lectures on a wide of range of topics such as climate change, spirituality, meditation, A.I., Islamic psychology, and Islam and the West. He is also a recipient of numerous awards, grants, and fellowships, including the prestigious Templeton Foundation Global Philosophy of Religion grant and the Title IV Grant, U.S. Dept. of Education.泭
賊梗眶勳莽喧梗娶泭泭for (15 April)
賊梗眶勳莽喧梗娶泭泭for (16 April)
賊梗眶勳莽喧梗娶泭泭for (16 April)
This event is hosted and sponsored by the CU Mediterranean Studies Group, an interdisciplinary collaborative group which promotes teaching and research in Mediterranean Studies as most broadly construed. This event is made possible by the generous support of Religious Studies, Jewish Studies, Humanities, the Benson Center for the Study of Western Civilization, Classics, History, French & Italian, Asian Languages and Civilizations, Spanish and Portuguese, Philosophy, Art and Art History, the Ren矇e Crown Wellness Institute, Center for Humanities and the Arts, and the Center for Asian Studies.
For more information and programming go to泭.
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We hope to see you there! Please let us know if you have any questions.
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