Being, Consciousness and the Self: Events with Muhammad U. Faruque
Please join us for events with Muhammad U. Faruque (University of Cincinnati) in Eaton Humanities next week on April 15th and 16th!
The Problem of Being: Ontology in Contemporary Islamic Philosophy
HUMN 230听触听Monday, 15 April 2024, 11:00 am 鈥 12:30 pm
搁别驳颈蝉迟别谤听
Mull膩 峁dr膩 (d. 1640) is one of the greatest of all Islamic philosophers matched only by the likes of Ibn听士Arab墨 (d. 1240), Avicenna (d. 1037) and Suhraward墨 (d. 1191). A wide-ranging thinker and philosopher, 峁dr膩 left a great body of work spanning a vast array of fields from logic,philosophical Sufism (士颈谤蹿腻苍), ethics (补办丑濒腻辩) to natural philosophy/physics (峁璦产墨士颈测测腻迟), ontology, and metaphysics (颈濒腻丑颈测测腻迟). 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膩 峁dr膩 is, above all, a philosopher of听飞耻箩奴岣听(being/existence). Hence, my focus in this workshop on听Bid膩yat al-岣kmawill be the Ontology part of the book. Following 峁dr膩,听士All膩ma听峁琣b膩峁璦b膩示墨 defends the primacy of being (a峁Ｄ乴at al-飞耻箩奴诲) in the debate between being and essence (飞耻箩奴诲 wa m膩hiyya), which is one of the central issues in Islamic philosophy. Bid膩ya also explains the unique doctrine of the gradation of being (tashk墨k al-飞耻箩奴诲). For 峁dr膩 and his commentators, the problem of 鈥渂eing鈥 (飞耻箩奴诲)听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 (尘补士腻诲), and the science of soul.
Opening Pandora鈥檚 Box: AI, ChatGPT, and the Mystery of Consciousness
HUMN 250听触听Tuesday, 16 April 2024, 11:00 am 鈥 12:15 pm
搁别驳颈蝉迟别谤听
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 Turing鈥檚 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 鈥渆piphenomenon鈥 or 鈥減sychologize鈥 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听触听Tuesday, 16 April 2024, 5:00 pm 鈥 6:30 pm
搁别驳颈蝉迟别谤听
Sculpting the Self听addresses 鈥渨hat it means to be human鈥 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. Faruque鈥檚 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 University of California, Berkeley, and served as Exchange Scholar at Harvard University and as George Ames Postdoctoral Fellow at Fordham University. His highly acclaimed book听Sculpting the Self听(University of Michigan Press, 2021) addresses 鈥渨hat it means to be human鈥 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听Philosophy East and West,听Arabic Sciences and Philosophy听(Cambridge),听Brill Journal of Sufi Studies,听Religious Studies (Cambridge),听Brill Journal of Islamic Ethics, and听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.听
搁别驳颈蝉迟别谤听听for 鈥鈥 (15 April)
搁别驳颈蝉迟别谤听听for 鈥鈥 (16 April)
搁别驳颈蝉迟别谤听听for 鈥鈥 (16 April)
This event is hosted and sponsored by the 欧美口爆视频 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茅e Crown Wellness Institute, Center for Humanities and the Arts, and the Center for Asian Studies.
For more information and programming go to听.
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We hope to see you there! Please let us know if you have any questions.
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