CSS Philosophy

Complete Notes

By Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh

PAS, 50th Common
 Sources Referred
1. A Short History of Modern Philosophy by Roger Scruton
2. History of Muslim Philosophy by M. Saeed Sheikh
3. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
4. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
5. Crash Course Philosophy on YouTube by Crash Course Channel
6. Lectures Of Taimoor Rehman on History of Philosophy available on
YouTube
7. [Link]
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 2
 Philosophy CSS Syllabus

1. Introduction:
• Definition, Nature and Scope of Philosophy.

2. Philosophical Methods:
• Socratic Method (Socrates); Inductive Method (Bacon, Mill); Deductive
Method (Aristotle, Descartes); Dialectical Method (Hegel); Fallibilistic Method
(Popper)

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 3

 Philosophy CSS Syllabus
3. Epistemology:
• Rationalism (Plato, Descartes, Spinoza); Empiricism (Locke, Berkeley, Hume);
Transcendentalism (Kant); Intuitionism (Bergson)

4. Ontology:
• Idealism (Plato, Berkeley); Representative Realism (Locke); Materialism (Marx)

5. Muslim Thinkers:
• Imam Ghazali, Al-Farabi, Ibn-e- Sina, Ibn-eKhaldun, Ibn-e-Rushid, Shah Wali Ullah,
Iqbal

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 4

 Philosophy CSS Syllabus

6. Ethics:
• What is morality? The challenge of cultural relativism: Does morality depend
on religion. Psychological and ethical egoism: Virtue Ethics (Aristotle), Moral
Absolutism (Kant), Utilitarianism (Mill), Social Contract Theory.

7. Contemporary Philosophical Movements:

• Existentialism (Heidegger, Sartre); Pragmatism (Peirce, James, Dewey); Neo-
pragmatism (Rorty); Postmodernism (Lyotard, Foucault, Derrida)

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 5

Introduction
 Definition of Philosophy
• Philosophy
• Philo: To Love
• Sophia: Wisdom or Knowledge

• An activity people undertake when they seek to understand fundamental truths

about themselves, the world in which they live, and their relationships to the
world and to each other

• Philosophy once encapsulated nearly everything that counted as knowledge

• Isaac Newton: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy
• PHD: Doctorate of Philosophy Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 7
 Definition of Philosophy

• “Philosophy is the science of knowledge” – Fichte

• “Philosophy like other studies aims primarily at knowledge” – Russell

• “Philosophy aims at a knowledge of the eternal nature of things” –

Plato

• “Philosophy is a search for comprehensive view of nature, an attempt

at universal explanation of the nature of things” – Alfred Weber
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 8
 Characteristics of Philosophy

• Search for truth and reality

• Inquiry about life and existence

• A way of life

• Search for knowledge and wisdom

• Conceptual rather than practical activity

• Digs beyond the obvious

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 9
 Nature of Philosophy
• To Understand a subject, we must look at the questions it tries to answer

• Questions in Philosophy
• Is it good to spread freedom? How do we know that? And, by the way, What is freedom?
• To what extent do we have a moral obligation to people we do not know? For that matter, to
what extent do we have a moral obligation to nonhuman living things? How about the
environment? Do we have a moral obligation to it?
• Do ends justify means?
• What is time?

• Whenever we think about a topic long enough and if our thinking is the least bit
organized, we may end up engaged in Philosophy
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 10
 Nature of Philosophy

• Question
• If there is nobody around, does a tree falling in a forest make a sound?
• Science: answers by differentiating between sound-as-experience and sound-as-waves

• Philosophy: If nobody is there, is there even a forest? Is there even a universe?

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 11

 Scope (Branches) of Philosophy
• Metaphysics
• Branch of Philosophy concerned with questions related to being or existence
• What is being? what are its fundamental features and properties
• Is there a God?
• Do people have free will?

• Epistemology
• Branch of Philosophy concerned with questions of Knowledge
• What is the nature of knowledge? What are its criteria, sources, and limits?
• What is truth?
• Is it possible to know anything with certainty?
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 12
 Scope (Branches) of Philosophy
• Axiology
• Moral Philosophy (Ethics)
• Social Philosophy (Society and its institutions)
• Political Philosophy (State)
• Aesthetics (Art)

• Logic
• Seeks to investigate and establish the criteria of valid reasoning and
demonstration
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 13
 Misconceptions about Philosophy

• Philosophy never makes any progress

• As soon as progress is made in a field, it is turned over to another

field

• Philosophy is nothing but opinion

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 14

 Benefits of Philosophy
• Life favors people who have the skills philosophy students tend to have in
abundance
• Develops analytical thinking, careful reasoning, problem solving, and
communication
• Makes one good at exposition and logic, making nuanced distinctions,
recognizing subtle similarities and differences, and detecting unstated
assumptions
• Student of Philosophy won’t be prone to superficiality and dogmatism
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 15
 Relation of Philosophy with Science
• Both Science and Philosophy are engaged in the search of truth.

• Philosophy examines scientific method.

• Both are critical in nature.

• Philosophy integrates sciences and examines scientific assumptions.

• Scientific research influences philosophical progress.

• Philosophy guides the future course of scientific process.

• Philosophy provides a constructive criticism of sciences.

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 16
 Relation of Philosophy with Science

• Philosophy and Science have different scope and problems.

• The attitudes of philosophy and science are different.

• Science and Philosophy differ in their methods.

• Philosophical Conclusions are different from these of sciences.

• Philosophy and science are engaged in different activities.

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 17

 Relation of Philosophy with Science

• Metaphysics: do the objects of scientific research exist independently

of us?

• Epistemology: what is scientific knowledge?

• Logic: what is a valid scientific inference like?

• Ethics: is science value-free?

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 18

 Relation of Philosophy with Religion
• Both religion and philosophy are normative in nature.
• Religion and philosophy are complementary.
• Philosophy is helpful in the development of religion.
• Philosophy interprets assumptions of religion.
• Religion broads the scope of philosophy.
• Both make man optimistic.
• Philosophy and Religion are related as theory and Practice.
• Philosophy renders Religion more intelligible by explaining it.
• Religion provides religious data to Philosophy.
• Religion can complete the philosophical explanation of life.
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 19
 Relation of Philosophy with Religion
• The aim of Philosophy and Religion are different.

• The problems of Philosophy are different from those of Religion.

• The methods of Philosophy and Religion are different.

• The activities of Philosophy and Religion are different.

• The nature of conclusion obtained from Philosophy and Religion are different.

• The effect of philosophy and religion on the individual and society is different.

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 20

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 21
 Introduction to Philosophy (Past Paper Qs)

• Define Philosophy and explain its main branches (2018)

• What is philosophy? Discuss its relation to science. (2019)

• Define philosophy. What is its relationship with religion? (2020)

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 22

Philosophical Methods
 Philosophy CSS Syllabus

2. Philosophical Methods:
• Socratic Method (Socrates); Inductive Method (Bacon, Mill); Deductive
Method (Aristotle, Descartes); Dialectical Method (Hegel); Fallibilistic Method
(Popper)

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 24

 Socratic Method
• Search for a proper definition of a thing
• That will not permit refutation under Socratic questioning
• Raise questions and objections such that none remain at the end of
dialogue
• The process may not disclose the essence of thing in question
• But will bring those who practice it closer to the understanding of the thing
• Exchange of questions would continue until you offer an analysis with
which Socrates cannot refute
• Involves
• Proposing a definition
• Rebutting it by counterexample
• Modifying it in light of counterexample
• Rebutting the modification and so forth
• Method can be practiced by one person with his mind

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 25

 Socratic Method

• What is Knowledge
• You: Knowledge is strong belief

• Socrates: Do people who have strong belief in fairies possess knowledge of

fairies?

• You: Knowledge is strong belief that is true

• Socrates: What if the true belief is knowledge based on a lucky guess?

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 26

 Cartesian Method (Descartes' Deductive
Method)
• Descartes wanted to ground all ideas into individual experiences rather than authority
• Purpose of Descartes Method
• To achieve certainty
• Since human senses can deceive, thinking is the only way to know if we really exist
Cogito Ergo Sum
I think, Therefore I am
(Cartesian Doubt or Skepticism)
(Descartes’ fundamental belief)
• Local Doubts
• Individual sensory experiences like tasting an apple
• Global Doubts
• Everything is Fake e.g; Matrix movie
• Reason is the means to acquire clear and distinct knowledge
• Systematically doubt everything until a thing is left which you can’t doubt
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 27
 Cartesian Method (Descartes' Deductive
Method)
• Descartes arrives at the method by
• Removing Dogmas and biases
• Recognizing the deception of senses
• Dream conjecture
• The demon conjecture (Evil Genius)
• Doubting Everything
• “To doubt is to think. To think is to exist. Therefore to doubt is to exist.”

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 28

 Cartesian Method (Descartes' Deductive
Method)
• Method of Doubt
• Break Large problems into smaller understandable parts by incisive questions
• 4 Rules of Method
1. Accept nothing as true that you don’t clearly know to be true (Clear & Distinct idea)
2. Divide each problem into parts (Analysis)
3. Begin with the simplest issues and ascend to more complex ones
4. Review frequently enough to retain the whole argument at once. > make sure nothing
was omitted
• Method can only work if skepticism can stop somewhere
• i.e if there is both logical and empirical knowledge
• Must be two stopping points
• Indubitable facts
• Indubitable principles of inference
• Descartes’ indubitable facts = His thoughts (I think)

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 29

 Aristotle’s Deductive Method
• Syllogism
• Logical argument that applies deductive reasoning based on two or
more prepositions assumed to be true
• Contains
• First (major) Premise
• Second (minor) Premise
• Conclusion
• Form
• All A’s are B’s
• All B’s are C’s
• Thus, All A’s are C’s
• Example
• All cows are mammals
• All mammals are animals
• Thus, All cows are animals

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 30

 Aristotle’s Deductive Method
• Laws of Logic
1. Law of identity
• Tautology
• A=A
• What is, is (Russell)
2. Law of non-contradiction
• If A = A then A Not A
• Nothing can both be and not be (Russell)
3. Law of excluded middle
• Either (A = True) or (Not A = True)
• Everything must either be, or not be (Russell)

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 31

 Aristotle’s Deductive Method
1. Endoxa
• Study opinion of different wise men
• Literature review
2. Dialectics
• Understand the essence of argument and opposing views
3. Laws of logic (Prove through deduction)
• Law of identity
• Law of non-contradiction
• Law of excluded middle
4. Syllogistic form
• Present all arguments in this form
5. Inductive Evidence
• Verify it through sense perception
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 32
 Criticism of Aristotle’s Deductive Method
1. Formal Defects within the system
• “All Greeks are men”
• Implies that there are Greeks
• Statement won’t be true if there are no Greeks
• Right form:
• There are Greeks
• If anything is a Greek, it is a man
• “All men are mortal”
• Only probable, cannot be said with certainty
• This premise does not have “all men” as a subject (Socrates is man)

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 33

 Criticism of Aristotle’s Deductive Method
1. Overestimation of the Syllogism
• Only one kind of deductive argument
• Don’t occur in maths which is purely deductive
• Pre-eminence given to syllogism misled philosophers as to the nature of
mathematical reasoning
2. Overestimation of Deduction
• Less attention given to induction
• Premises are drawn through inductive experience
• All important inferences outside of logic come from induction
• Only Law and Theology are deductive in nature

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 34

 Deductive Method
Strengths Weaknesses

Truth of conclusions contained within the premises ( if Useless for giving us new information
they are true)

If premises are true the conclusion is impossible to Conclusion says nothing more than what is in the
deny premises

Doesn't rely on empirical evidence that can be Still have to establish the truth of premises
misinterpreted

Gives certainty of Knowledge Limited to assumptions or statements based on set

definitions

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 35

 Dialectical Method
• Dialectics
• It usually takes three stages to reach an equilibrium
• First is one extreme
• Second is another extreme
• Third is the middle of most appropriate behavior
• By moving from era to era we will find a new solution that is better than
previous one
• In Ancient Greek thought, reality was divided into 4 elements
• Earth – Air
• Fire – Water
• Pairs are in constant opposition
• When contradictory elements come together, they form reality
• Socrates uses arguments in order to make the opponent contradict himself

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 36

 Hegel’s Dialectical Method
• Reason not a static faculty
• Product of our social heritage
• Encounters contradictions and proceed by synthesizing them in the process
• Dialectical thinking is a process that seeks to do justice to moving,
living, organic existence

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 37

 Hegel’s Dialectical Method
• Hegelian dialectics
• Synthesis of opposites
• Every concept we have has limitations, and hence will pass over into its
opposite: a negation of itself
• Everything that exists contains within itself its own negation and the seeds for
its own destruction and transformation
• Dialectics is the formal structure of reality
• Dialectics is the essence of everything that exists
• Unity of being throughout the actual process of change
• Being at the end of dialectical process is the same with the being at the beginning of the
process
• For example: idea of a house in architects mind
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 38
 Hegel’s Dialectical Method
• The new must have existed somehow in the lap of the old but existed
only as a potentiality and its material realization was excluded by the
prevailing form of being
• E.g; Seed

Anti- Synthesis
Thesis (New Thesis)
thesis

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 39

 Hegel’s Dialectical Method
• Function of Synthesis
• Negation
• To Cancel the conflict between thesis and anti-thesis
• Preservation
• To preserve and retain the elements of truth in thesis and anti-thesis
• Elevation
• To transcend the opposition transferring the conflict into a higher truth

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 40

 Agenda: Existence
Contradictions
Thesis Anti-thesis
C
(Being) h
a
(Non-Being)
n
g
e

Synthesis
(Becoming)

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 41

 Agenda: Body Weight
Contradictions
Thesis Anti-thesis
C

(Fat) h
a (Skinny)
n
g
e

Synthesis
(Moderate)

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 42

 Agenda: Centralization of Power
Thesis Contradictions
Anti-thesis
(Manufactured C (Repressive
Terrorist h
a Police State)
Threat) n
g
e

Synthesis
(Removal of freedoms,
accumulation of
power)

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 43

 Agenda: French Revolution
Contradictions Anti-thesis
Thesis
(Reign of
(Tyranny of C
h Terror for
King Louis) a
n Freedom)
g
e

Synthesis
(Law and Stability
of Napolean)

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 44

Hegel’s Dialectical Method

Thesis Anti-thesis

Synthesis
Anti-thesis
(Thesis)
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh Final Synthesis = Absolute Spirit 45
 Hegel’s Dialectical Method
• When talking about left or right politics, you talk about Dialectics
• Example of Temperature
• All human history is progressing through time and will culminate in
the realization of absolute being

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 46

 Hegel’s Dialectical Method
• Characteristics of Hegel’s Method
• It is Triadic Movement
• Thesis, anti-thesis, and synthesis
• Ontological and notional
• Operates not only on thought but also tangibility of the matter world
• Terminates in a crowning notion
• Absolute mind or spirit

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 47

 Problems with Hegel’s Dialectical Method
• Gives option between 2 opposing views and neglects many other key
ideas
• Right-wing & Left-wing politics
• Why should the later part of history embody higher categories than
the earlier parts?
• Supposition that universe is learning Hegel’s Philosophy

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 48

 Mill’s Inductive Method (Method of
Experimental Inquiry)
• Causal Reasoning
• Sufficient condition
• If A, then B
• Taking a swim will cause us to cool off
• Necessary condition
• If not A, then not B
• If B, then A
• Sprinkling water on flowers will cause them to grow
• Necessary & Sufficient condition
• If A, then B and if B, then A
• An increase in voltage causes an increase in electrical current

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 49

 Mill’s Inductive Method
1. Method of Agreement
• A systematic search for a cause that is a necessary condition
• The phenomenon occurs every single time
A B C D Phenomenon
Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
No Yes Yes Yes Yes

• Only C causes P every time. Thus, it is the cause of the phenomenon

(Necessary condition)
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 50
 Mill’s Inductive Method
2. Method of Difference
• A systematic search for a cause that is sufficient condition
• Phenomenon is present once; phenomenon is absent once

A B C D Phenomenon
1 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
2 Yes Yes No Yes No

• Only C suffices and guarantees that P occurs when C occurs and P doesn’t
occur when C doesn’t occur (Sufficient condition)

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 51

 Mill’s Inductive Method
3. Joint Method
• A systematic search for a necessary and sufficient condition
• It can either give necessary or sufficient condition of both
A B C D Phenomenon
1 Yes No Yes Yes Yes
2 Yes Yes Yes No Yes
3 Yes Yes No No No
4 No Yes No Yes No
5 No Yes Yes Yes Yes

Eliminate Eliminate Retain Eliminate

• C is a necessary and sufficient condition 52

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 Mill’s Inductive Method
3. Joint Method

Detergent Soap Medicine Perfume Skin Rash

Mon Yes No Yes No Yes
Tue Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Wed Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Thurs Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Fri No Yes Yes Yes Yes

Eliminate Eliminate Retain Eliminate

Method of Agreement

Method of Difference
53
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 Mill’s Inductive Method
4. Method of Residues
• Separate from a causally connected phenomenon those strands of causal
connections that are already known
• Leaving the required connection as a residue
• Example: Enrollment is Down in Schools because:
• X% due to recession
• Y% due to high Fee
• When X & Y are factored in (30+40), Z% as a residue
• Thus, 30% enrollment down due to Covid
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 54
 Mill’s Inductive Method
5. Method of Concomitant Variations
• Identifies a causal connection between 2 conditions by matching the
variations in one condition with variations in another

• Example:
• When Ali studies, his grades go up

• When he doesn’t study, his grades go down

• There is likely some causal connection between the two

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 55

 Bacon’s Inductive Method
• Founder of modern inductive method
• Supposed to replace Aristotle’s deductive method (1620)
• Became influential in the development of scientific method and early
modern rejections of Aristotlelianism
• Bacon argues that old knowledge based on broad, ill-proven
deductions and metaphysical conjecture
• True knowledge only possible through this method
• True knowledge about God & creation can be obtained by this method
• In inductive reasoning, a conclusion is reached by observing instances
and generalizing from instances to the whole phenomenon

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 56

 Bacon’s Inductive Method
• Syllogisms consists of prepositions
• Prepositions are made of words
• Words are counter for notions
• Hence, if notions are themselves confused and abstracted, there is nothing
sound in what is built on them
• Only hope is true induction
• Start from particular observations and move up to general axioms
• Limitations
• All the evidences may not be possible to be observed
• It cannot lead beyond generalization

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 57

 Bacon’s Inductive Method
• The method consists of procedures for isolating and further
investigating the form, nature or cause of a phenomenon, including
the method of agreement, disagreement, and method of concomitant
variations
• Steps
• Draw a list of all things in which the phenomenon occurs
• Draw a list of all things in which it doesn’t occur
• Rank the lists according to the degree in which phenomenon occurs in each
one
• Deduct what factors match occurrences in one list and don’t occur in other
and what factors change in accordance with the way data had been ranked
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 58
 Bacon’s Inductive Method

• Example
• If an army is successful when commanded by Essex

• And not successful when not commanded by Essex

• And More or less successful according to the degree of involvement by Essex

• Then Essex is causally related to army’s success

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 59

 Bacon’s Inductive Method
• Example: Heat
Presences Absences Degrees
Rays of Sun Moon
Thunderbolts Stars
Fire
Boiling liquids Bubbling water
Inside bodies Dead bodies Speed/Exercise
Horse Dung Old Dung Large Animals more heat
Bright things

• Brightness, Flames, aliveness, movement

• By induction, we can eliminate the first 3
• Thus heat caused by movement
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 60
 Bacon’s Inductive Method

• David Hume’s Criticism

• It presupposes that things will remain as they have been over a period of time
• Sun rising from the East

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 61

Deductive Vs Inductive

GENERALIZATION
Deductive
(Top
down) Inductive
(Bottom
up)

Specific Instances
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 62
 Karl Popper’s Fallibilistic Method (Logical
Method)
• Fallibilism is the philosophical doctrine that absolute certainty about
knowledge is impossible, or at least all claims to knowledge could, in
principle, be mistaken
• For Popper, knowledge was about
• Probability
• We are justified in believing what is most probable given our current data
• Contingency
• Our belief should be contingent on data, i.e; revise in the face of new evidence
• Best way to get to truth is to remain open to the notion that your current
beliefs might be wrong
• Thus, this means that according to Popper’s logical method, all beliefs are
at best, fallibily justified.
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 63
 Karl Popper’s Fallibilistic Method
• Earlier thinkers considered Induction to be the distinguishing
characteristic of a scientific theory
• Logical positivists believed that a scientific theory had the property of
verification

observation theory verification

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 64

 Karl Popper’s Fallibilistic Method
• Popper rejected the classical observationist inductivist account of
science
• Scientists do not begin with observations but with problems
• All observations are selective and theory-laden
• No pure or theory-free observation
• A theory precedes observation
• Repudiates inductive method as a proper mechanism by which
scientific theories are formed
• Denied that any scientific theory can ever be verified as true
• Because of its universality

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 65

 Karl Popper’s Fallibilistic Method
• Only test of a theory being as scientific was its quality of being
“potentially falsified”
• A theory is to be considered scientific only and only if it is capable of
being falsified not verified
• A genuine scientific theory is prohibitive
• It prohibits certain observations or events, which if happen would falsify the
theory

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 66

 Karl Popper’s Fallibilistic Method
• Any theory which doesn’t contain any criteria of its falsification, and
therefore explains everything, cannot be called scientific
• Example of a doctor testing a new medicine for the treatment of a disease
• The theories which survive falsification are not true but only more fit
• There is no scientific method through which a scientific hypothesis
can be formed
• Requires originality, creativity, and imaginative

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 67

 Karl Popper’s Fallibilistic Method
• Merits
• Prominence of Scientific method
“By fallibility I mean the view or the acceptance of the fact that we may err, and the quest for
certainty is a mistaken quest.” (Popper)
• Demarcating rational science from Dogmas
• The rationale of science lies not in the habit of appealing to empirical evidence in
support of dogmas, but solely in critical approach
• Explores learning capabilities through fallibilism
• Eliminates error in Knowledge
• As we learn by refutation, by elimination of errors and by feedback.

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 68

 Karl Popper’s Fallibilistic Method

• Demerits
• Fallibilistic method rejects scientific induction
• Criterion of truth is impossible in this method
• Falsible statements or theory therefore must have at least one falsifier

• Verification is impossible
• Verifiability criterion of meaning

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 69

 Philosophical Methods Past Paper Qs
• Differentiate between Deductive and Inductive methods (2016)
• Note on Socratic Method (2016)
• What do you understand by Dialectics? Critically evaluate Hegel’s
Dialectical Method (2017)
• Discuss key points of Popper’s Fallibilism (2018)
• Work out the weaknesses and strengths of Deductive method.
• Discuss Popper’s logical method, its merits and demerits (2019)
• ‘Doubt’ is the key point of Cartesian Method. Illuminate (2020)
• Critically evaluate Mill’s Method of Experimental Inquiry (2021)

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 70

 Philosophical Methods Past Paper Qs
• Differentiate between Deductive and Inductive methods (2016)
• Note on Socratic Method (2016)
• What do you understand by Dialectics? Critically evaluate Hegel’s
Dialectical Method (2017)
• Discuss key points of Popper’s Fallibilism (2018)
• Work out the weaknesses and strengths of Deductive method.
• Discuss Popper’s logical method, its merits and demerits (2019)
• ‘Doubt’ is the key point of Cartesian Method. Illuminate (2020)
• Critically evaluate Mill’s Method of Experimental Inquiry (2021)

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 71

Epistemology
 Philosophy CSS Syllabus

3. Epistemology:

• Rationalism (Plato, Descartes, Spinoza); Empiricism (Locke, Berkeley, Hume);

Transcendentalism (Kant); Intuitionism (Bergson)

4. Ontology:
• Idealism (Plato, Berkeley); Representative Realism (Locke); Materialism (Marx)

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 73

Rationalism
 Essentials to Rationalism
• The intuition/deduction thesis
• Some propositions in a particular subject area are knowable to us by intuition
only, while others are knowable by being deducted from intuited propositions
• Innate Knowledge Thesis
• Asserts the existence of knowledge whose source is our own nature: we are
born with this knowledge; it doesn't depend, for its justification, on our
accessing it via particular experiences.
• Innate Concept Thesis
• Asserts that we have a priori knowledge, that is knowledge independent, for
its justification, of sense experience, as part of our rational nature. Experience
may trigger our awareness of this knowledge, but it does not provide us with
it. The knowledge is already there.
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 75
 Rationalism

• Experience cannot provide what we gain from reason

• Reason is superior to experience as a source of knowledge

• What we know a priori is certain

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 76

 Rene Descartes (1596-1650)

• French Philosopher, Scientist, Mathematician

• Influence
• Impressed by the certitude of logic and mathematics

• Sought to give Philosophy the certitude of Science

• Use of Shovel of Doubt to clear the effects of Scholastic Philosophy

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 77

 Rene Descartes (1596-1650)
• Cartesian Doubt
• Doubted Everything
• Reasons for Doubt
• Dreams
• Hallucinations
• Perceptual Illusions

• He is doubting
• Senses
• Reason
• Laws of mathematics
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 78
 Rene Descartes (1596-1650)

• Cogito Ergo Sum

• In the act of doubting, cannot deny the existence of thought

• “For if I doubt, I think, and if I think, I am”

• I think, Therefore I am (Clear & Distinct truth)

• Cogito is Descartes firm point

• Everything he perceives clearly and distinctly is true

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 79

 Rene Descartes (1596-1650)

• Ontological Argument
• Clear & Distinct idea of a “Supremely Perfect Being” in our minds

• Conceiving a supremely perfect being who lacks existence is akin to

conceiving a triangle whose interior angles do not sum to 180 degrees

• Since we do conceive a supremely perfect being

• Thus, God exists

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 80

 Rene Descartes (1596-1650)

• Proving the Existence of the External World

• God is perfect

• Deception a result of Imperfection

• External World is real because God doesn’t deceive

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 81

 Rene Descartes (1596-1650)

• Dualism (two substances apart from God)

• Mind
• Only in humans

• Body/Matter
• Matter, characterized by extension

• Both are parallel

• Change in one affects the other

• 2 clocks
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 82
 Rene Descartes (1596-1650)

• Criticism
• Word “I” is logically illegitimate
• Unproven assumption of ‘I’ being a thing

• Should have been: There are thoughts

• Fails to apply skepticism to his own philosophy

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 83

 Rene Descartes (1596-1650)

• Kant’s Criticism in “Critique of Pure Reason”

• Existence cannot be a characteristic of something. If a thing exists, it
necessarily has the quality of existence. If a thing doesn’t exist, it cannot have
any existence

• Absurd to think existence as a perfection of something

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 84

 Rene Descartes (1596-1650)
• Russell’s Criticism in “On Denoting”
• Existence of God is implicitly assumed as an initial premise of the argument
• “The Most perfect being has all the perfections; existence is a perfection;
therefore, the most perfect being exists”
• It must be such that
• There is one and only one entity X which is most perfect; that one has all the
perfections”
• But that is exactly what we want to prove

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 85

 Spinoza (1632 – 1677)

• Treatise on Religion and State

• Religious scriptures should not be interpreted literally. They only serve to
provide lessons to the people

• False notion that God is at work only when nature is abrogated

• Spinoza sees the obtaining of true knowledge to be the sole avenue

for liberating oneself from the limits and fallibility of an average
human existence.
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 86
 Spinoza’s Metaphysics
• Monism
• Substance & Mode (temporary expression of substance)
• Substance is an indivisible entity of which everything is a modification
• Attributes are the essence of substance (absolute and indivisible)
• we know only two of these attributes: thought and extension
• Thought is an infinite power of thinking that is God’s idea of himself, while we, our minds
and all our thoughts, are so many ways God modifies himself by constitutively expressing
himself through an indefinite amount of finite thoughts.
• Extension is an infinite power of acting that is God’s infinite and self-causal body, while
we, our bodies and all the bodies that compose and affect us, are so many ways God
modifies himself by constitutively expressing himself through an indefinite amount of
finite bodies.
• Temporal & Eternal Order
• Natura Naturata Vs Natura Naturans (Double aspect of nature)
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 87
 Spinoza’s Metaphysics
• Mind and Matter attributes of God
• Thought & extension
• No Anthropomorphic Concept of God
• Determinism
• No free will
• Man aware of his actions but not of their causes
• Good Vs Evil
• No such thing as good or evil
• Time is meaningless
• Freedom
• Self-knowledge
• See things from the perspective of eternity
• Self-Preservation
• Unity with the whole
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 88
 Spinoza’s Ethics
• Moral anti-realism
• No good or bad
• The attribution of qualities like goodness or perfection as an error that is
based upon the false belief that nature was designed by God with humanity in
mind
• Produced by the imagination rather than reason
• Ethical egoist
• Reason demands nothing contrary to Nature.
• It is contrary to Nature for someone not to seek his own advantage.
• So, reason demands that everyone seek his own advantage.
• Ethics concerned about human conduct in the full realization of the
narrow limits of human power
• Proponent of Pantheism
• God’s will = nature’s laws 89
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 Spinoza’s Epistemology
• Spinoza believes that knowledge occurs in the following three levels.
• Obscure and Inadequate ideas.
• Arise from sensations and imaginations
• Incapable of providing adequate knowledge.
• Clear and distinct ideas.
• Arise out of rational knowledge.
• Knowledge of this kind is self-evident, and its criteria are its inherent clarity.
• Intuitive knowledge.
• The highest knowledge.
• Does not differ from direct rational knowledge and hence it can be called rational insight.
• It shows that all things have their being in God, all things emerge from God.

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 90

 Spinoza’s Epistemology
There are three types of knowledge-
1. The First Kind of Knowledge
• Imagination
• Natural way humans have knowledge
• Humanity’s perspective on reality
• Through the imagination, a singular mind and body is defined solely by how other bodies
determine its existence
• An inadequate knowledge—a knowledge that merely posits as presently existing externally
affective bodies and one’s own passively affected body—is a weak knowledge and, for
Spinoza, is thus the very definition of falsity.
• Prejudice and Superstition
• Free Will
• Miracles, Prophecy, and Revelation
• Imagining a substantial interruption in the natural order of things
91
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 Spinoza’s Epistemology
2. The Second Kind of Knowledge
• The second kind of knowledge supplies us with the adequate idea that all
singular things must be unified into something immediately caused by God
(the infinite in kind and immediate modes) and that all singular things are
modes of certain attributes of God (thought and extension).
• Intellection/Reason
• aims to establish the ways in which we can overcome our falsity and weakness and come
to have an adequate and active knowledge
• To infer cause from any action.
• To infer general from particular.

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 92

 Spinoza’s Epistemology

3. The Third Kind of Knowledge

• With the third kind of knowledge, knowledge is solely sub specie aeternitatis
(from the perspective of eternity)

• Intuition
• The absolutely self-reflexive identification and knowledge of God and his modes through
oneself

• Intuition allows us to know all the attributes as the ways God is one indivisible and
absolutely immanent entity
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 93
 Criticism
• How can attitudes be changed if everything is determined (Freedom)

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 94

 Plato
• Theory of Forms
• Truly real is not the objects we encounter in sensory experience but rather
Forms and these can be grasped intellectually
• Property of circularity (ideal)
• Beautiful Horse
• Features of theory
• Forms are ageless and eternal
• Forms are unchanging
• Forms are unmoving and indivisible
• Plato equates forms with true reality
• A thing is beautiful because it participates in the Form ‘beauty’
• Sensible objects are what they are if the sufficiently participate in the corresponding
form
• Objects we touch and see are real but they have lesser reality because they approximate
their forms Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
95
 Plato
• Two-Realms Concept
• Allegory of the cave
• Realm of particular, changing, sense-perceptible things
• Source of error, illusion, and ignorance
• Realm of Forms
• Eternal, fixed, and perfect
• Source of all reality and true knowledge
• For Plato, some forms are of higher order than others
• Truth
• Beauty
• Goodness

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 96

 Plato
• Theory of knowledge
• Against the idea that knowledge is equitable with sense-perception
• Knowledge clearly involves more than sense-perception
• A straight stick stuck in water is not actually bent

• You can retain knowledge even after you are no longer sensing a thing

• True knowledge is knowledge of what “is” and objects of sense-perception are always
changing

• True knowledge must be concerned with what is truly real. This means that objects of
true knowledge are Forms
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 97
 Rationalism (Past Paper Qs)

• Three types of Knowledge by Spinoza. (2017-Short Note)

• Define and Explain Rationalism (2021-Short Note)

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 98

Empiricism
 Empiricism

• All our concepts come through experience and we are born blank

• Sense-perception is the most reliable source of knowledge

• Influenced by science and its stress on observation and

experimentation

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 100

 John Locke (1632 – 1704)

• Founder of Empiricism

• Initiator of Eighteenth century Liberalism

• Advocated Democracy, Religious tolerance, Economic Freedom, and

Educational Progress

• Among the three Philosophers who gave their separate social contract
theories
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 101
 John Locke (1632 – 1704)

• Ideas
• All objects of knowledge and contents of understanding
• Sensory images

• Thoughts and memories

• Hopes and desires

• Political and moral views

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 102

 John Locke (1632 – 1704)

• Refutation of innate ideas

• Source of Ideas
• Where do these ideas come from?

• No innate ideas
• Wide diversity of human views on various ideas

• Just innate faculties

• Mind can perceive, remember, and combine ideas

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 103

 John Locke (1632 – 1704)
• Locke’s argument about innate ideas
• Tabula Rasa
• Blank slate

• Means of acquiring ideas

• Sensations
• Perception of external objects
• Soft, green, sour, hot etc.

• Reflections
• Concerned with the internal operations of mind

Nihil in intellectu nisi prius in sensu

(Nothing is in the intellect that was not first in the senses)
(Guiding Principle of Empiricism) 104
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 John Locke (1632 – 1704)

• Simple Ideas
• What we perceive directly are simple ideas
• Apple

• All knowledge comes through simple ideas and all knowledge is reducible to
simple ideas

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 105

 John Locke (1632 – 1704)

• Objection to Simple Ideas

• Complex Ideas
• Combination of simple ideas

• Non-existent ideas
• Combination of existing ideas

• Unicorns

• Mermaids

• God
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 106
 John Locke (1632 – 1704)
• Classification of Primary and Secondary Qualities
• Primary Qualities
• Intrinsic features
• They are fixed
• Accurate pictures
• Mass, Figures, Motion, Volume, Number

• Secondary Qualities
• Vary from person to person
• Color, sound, smell etc.

• Example: Basketball
• Ability of basketball to produce in us ideas of color, taste, and so on (Secondary qualities)
107
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 John Locke (1632 – 1704)

• Origin of State
• Self-evident Laws of Nature

• We are party to the contract

• Contract can be revoked

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 108

 John Locke (1632 – 1704)
• Realism
• External objects exist independently of human mind
• What one perceives is real
• Aristotle
• Idealism
• External objects exist in our mind
• What one perceives is not real
• Plato
• Representative Realism
• We perceive external objects indirectly by means of our “representations” or
ideas or perceptions of them, some of which are accurate copies or
‘representations’ or reflections of the real properties of external objects
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 109
 George Berkeley (1685 – 1753)

• Idealism
• Physical objects are mind dependent and have no existence outside the mind
that contemplates them

• Berkeley and Empirical Idealism (Matter doesn’t exist)

• Viewed materialism as the cause of skepticism and atheism

• To disprove materialism

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 110

 George Berkeley (1685 – 1753)
• Strongly criticized the notion of ‘abstract ideas’
• Triangle and horse

• Uses the confusion created by Locke in his interpretation of ‘ideas’

• Whatever mind perceives VS content of knowledge

• He accepts the principle laid down by Locke that all knowledge comes from
senses and experience

• But he disagreed with Locke and said that both secondary and primary
qualities of objects are subjective 111
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 George Berkeley (1685 – 1753)
• Berkeley’s Criticism of Locke’s Theory
• Ideas are conveyed to the mind through senses (sense perception)
• Perceived by the mind when the mind reflects on its own
• Compounded or divided by the mind with the help of memory and
imagination
• Thus, ideas exist and the minds that have them but not the objects
“light and colors, heat and cold, extension and figures- in a word the things we see and feel- what
are they but so many sensations, notions, ideas, or impressions on the senses?”
“For what are the aforementioned objects but things we perceive by senses?”
“And what do we perceive besides our own ideas or sensations? And is it not plainly contradictory
that any of these or any combination of them, should exist unperceived?”

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 112

 George Berkeley (1685 – 1753)

• To be is to perceive and to be is to be perceived

• In essence, there are no material objects

• Criticism: When Sleeping?

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 113

 George Berkeley (1685 – 1753)

• No Distinction between Primary and Secondary Qualities

• Primary qualities are only ideas existing in the mind and consequently cannot
exist in an unperceiving substance

• Primary qualities are relative to the observe too

• Bent stick in water

• Talking about unperceived size is non-sense like talking about an unfelt pain

• Size, shape, texture are ideas and it is silly to assume that ideas could exist in
unthinking things Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 114
 George Berkeley (1685 – 1753)
• Existence of sensible things and refutation of material objects
• Not denying the existence of sensible things

• They are not material objects but ideas present in the mind

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 115

 George Berkeley (1685 – 1753)

• God: Ultimate Perceiver

• Things will continue to exist as long as someone is there to perceive them

• All things are permanently present in God’s mind

• So they exist independently of our perception

• Hence, materialism was defeated and belief in God was restored

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 116

 David Hume (1711 – 1776)
• He developed empirical philosophy to its zenith and challenged
traditional philosophical beliefs in such a way that the world was
shocked

• “There are only two attitudes towards Hume’s argument: to accept

them or to ignore them” – Russell

• Treatise of Human Nature (ignored)

• A Treatise inquiry into human understanding

• Awoke Kant from his dogmatic slumber 117
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 David Hume (1711 – 1776)

• Distinction between Mental Contents

• Impressions
• Direct, clear, and forceful result of immediate experience

• Ideas
• Faint and faded copies of these impressions

• Example: Reading a book

• Every simple idea has a simple impression and every simple impression has a
corresponding simple idea
118
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 David Hume (1711 – 1776)

• Method of Linking Ideas

• Resemblance
• Adam looks like James

• Contiguity
• You are sitting on the Chair

• Cause & effect

• A moving marble striking a stationary marble causes the latter to move

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 119

 David Hume (1711 – 1776)

• Distinguishing between two sorts of beliefs

• Relation of Ideas
• Association of ideas within the mind by logic & maths

• Matters of Facts
• Concerns the Nature of existing things Hume’s Focus

• Contains analysis of their origin

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 120

 David Hume (1711 – 1776)

• Negation of Principle of Causation

• In a causal event we see
• Contiguity

• Priority

• Constant conjunction

• Example: Moving Marble

• No impression of “causation”

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 121

 David Hume (1711 – 1776)

• Doctrine
• No causality
• Principe of induction not valid
• Gives probability not certainty
• Will all stones fall towards Earth?
• If B follows A in all our observations then
• A does not cause B
• It is not necessary that B will always follow A

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 122

 David Hume (1711 – 1776)
• Refutation of external world
• We have only experienced ideas and impressions

• Attack on Self (Berkeley and Descartes emphasized on Self)

• No impression of ‘self’
• We never experienced “I”
• Self is nothing but a bundle or collection of different perceptions which succeed one
another with inconceivable rapidity

• Causality drawn from habit & custom

• We believe in causality because of our feelings not reason 123
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 Philosophy CSS Syllabus

3. Epistemology:

• Rationalism (Plato, Descartes, Spinoza); Empiricism (Locke, Berkeley, Hume);

Transcendentalism (Kant); Intuitionism (Bergson)

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 124

 Empiricism (Past Paper Qs)
• Critically evaluate Representative Realism of John Locke (2016)
• Discuss the Skepticism of Hume in-depth; how has it affected his ideas
regarding Cause and Self ? (2017)
• Discuss Berkeley’s critique of Locke’s representative realism (2018)
• Discuss Berkely’s view of reality in detail. (2019)
• Define and explain empiricism (2019, 2021-Short Note)
• Hume’s Skepticism (2019- Short Note)
• Illustrate main characteristics of subjective idealism of Berkeley. (2020)
• Explain Simple and Complex ideas with special reference to Locke. (2021)

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 125

 Transcendentalism,
Intuitionism, Materialism
 Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804)

• Rationalism
• Certainty of knowledge, doubts about practical contents

• Empiricism
• Certainty of practical contents, doubt about knowledge

• Kant
• Knowledge is indisputable. Even the denial of knowledge is knowledge itself

• We do possess judgments
127
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 Analytic A priori
(Always true)
(Innate)
(Necessary)
(2+2=4)
(All old men are men)

Judgments

Synthetic A Posteriori
(Contingent)
(Experience)
(All old men love to play with their
(Columbus discovered America)
children)

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 128

 Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804)
• Analytic a posteriori judgments do not arise
• Need not learn from experience what is necessarily true

• Synthetic a posteriori judgments are derived from experience

• Analytic a priori judgments are necessarily true

• Synthetic a priori judgments are true independent of experience

• How are these possible? Kant answers in Critique of Pure Reason
• They have a basis in the inherent structure of mind; the natural manner in which
thinking operates
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 129
 Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804)

• Kant concerned about knowing instead of being

• How do we know?

• Transcendentalism
• Transcends sense-experience

• Systematic exposition of all that is a priori in knowledge

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 130

 Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804)

• ‘a priori’ ideas
• Time

• Space
• They don’t belong to the external world

• They are modes of expression or forms of perceptions

• They are necessary condition of all perceptions

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 131

 Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804)
• Sensations
• Awareness of a stimulus
• Taste, noise etc.
• Perceptions
• Mind groups sensations about a thing in space and time and then we become
aware of the object as perception
• The part caused by the object is sensation but the part due to our
subjective apparatus is called forms of perception
• Since it is not a part of sensation, it is not part of the material world

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 132

 Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804)
• Two stages to convert raw sensations into finished product of thought
• Coordination of sensations by the application of forms of perception (space &
time) Transcendental Aesthetic
• Uses intuition

• Coordination of perceptions into conceptions

• Using a priori concepts (categories) Transcendental Logic

• Mind is not Tabula Rasa

• Receives sensations but perceives objects
• Active, coordinative, and directive organ
133
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804)
• ‘A priori’ concepts used to convert perceptions into conceptions
• Of Quantity
• Unity, Plurality, Totality

• Of Quality
• Reality, Limitation, Negation

• Of Relation
• Substance & Accident, Cause & Effect, Action & Reaction

• Of Modality
• Possibility, Existence, Necessity

• He calls them categories and they are applicable to phenomena

134
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804)
• Differentiation between
• Phenomena
• Objects as they appear to us

• Noumena (Ding an sich)

• Object in-itself
• Cause of sensations
• Unknowable because not in space and time

• Mathematics can be applied to everything we perceive but can’t be applied

to the external world independently of our perception
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 135
 Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804)
• Antinomies
• When science tries to explain the thing-in-itself, it finds itself confronting antinomies
• Insoluble problems
• World had a beginning in time? > what was before time?
• World has existed since eternity? > can we think of eternity?
• Space is limited or unlimited?

• Trying to apply reason where it can’t be applied

• Space and time are modes of perception; can’t be applied to the external world

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 136

 Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804)

• Deontologist
• Deon ~ duty

• It is a duty to be moral

• Morality demands highest good

• Not achieved in phenomenal life

• Soul lives on

• Highest good achieved after death

• God exists
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 137
 Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804)
• Proves existence of God
• Proves Existence of Hereafter

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 138

 Immanuel Kant (1724 – 1804)

• Copernican Revolution
• Copernicus changed the center of our universe from Earth to Sun

• Kant relocated the basic principles and categories of reality, as studied by

science, from the external world to the mind.

• Kant's revolutionary claim was that we have a priori knowledge of both space
and time because they are the forms of our perception
• Space is the organization of experience in the outer world

• Time is the organization of experience in the inner world.

139
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 Henri Louis Bergson (1859 – 1941)
• Intuitionism
• His philosophy is a revolt against materialism
• Advocates the idea of creative evolution
• World is divided into 2 antagonistic forces
• Life
• A force, an impetus, a vital impulse
• Matter
• A resistance and inertia to be overcome by life
• The two forces are caught up in each other, chained and intermingled
• They are prisoners of each other and forever trying to break-free
• The conflict between the two results in evolution

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 140

 Henri Louis Bergson (1859 – 1941)

• Evolution is the growth and progress of the impulse of life

• Darwin’s mechanical evolution maintains that future is determined by past
conditions

• Bergson’s evolution is truly creative like the work of an artist

• Novelty in evolution; can’t be predicted

• Life innovates and creates at every step of evolution

• Future is created by the life’s impulse to new creation (Elan Vital)

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 141

 Henri Louis Bergson (1859 – 1941)
• Life first divided itself into plants and animals
• Later there was a dichotomy of intellect and instinct in animals
• Instinct works in ants and honeybees, allowing them to create anthills and beehives
• Instinct at its best is Intuition

• Consciousness binds all life in the current of ‘living time’ or ‘duration’

• At the top of chain of evolution is man
• Intelligence is dominant
• Instinct has been suppressed
• Nevertheless exists in man, hiding in consciousness
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 142
 Henri Louis Bergson (1859 – 1941)

• Intellect
• Developed by life to understand the matter

• It can only think in terms of separateness and discontinuity

• It was not designed to understand life

• Hence, unable to comprehend the reality of life

• It can’t grasp the continuous flow of things, the becoming of life

• Thus, we must rely on intuition to perceive the nature of life

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 143
 Henri Louis Bergson (1859 – 1941)

• Concept of Time
• Time is a continuous growth in which future is unpredicted

• Not an abstract mathematical concept

• Deeply connected with life and human self

• Better called ‘living time’

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 144

 Henri Louis Bergson (1859 – 1941)
• Concept of duration
• Duration is the process of succession of states which we undergo in our
consciousness.
• It is neither quantitative nor homogenous – that which contains elements of the same
kind – as space.
• it has a qualitative nature which is wholly heterogeneous – consisting of elements which
are different from each other – and cannot be measured.
• Bergson’s idea of freedom depends entirely upon the notion of duration
• Misinterpretation of the nature of time inevitably leads to a misinterpretation of
duration, which in turn may result in an incorrect understanding of freedom.
• This duration cannot be understood by reason
• Should be perceived by an introspected and concentrated consciousness
which turns inwards towards its origin
• Evolution takes place in this living time
• Creativity appears and free will manifests itself in this living time
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 145
 Henri Louis Bergson (1859 – 1941)
• Bergson’s Critique of Kant’s Philosophy (Time and Free Will)
• Kant maintained that freedom belongs to a realm outside of space and time
• Bergson thinks that Kant has confused space and time in a mixture, with the result that
we must conceive human action as determined by natural causality
• Bergson offers a twofold response
• In order to define consciousness and therefore freedom, Bergson proposes to
differentiate between time and space, “to un-mix” them
• Through the differentiation, he defines the immediate data of consciousness as being
temporal, in other words, as the duration. In the duration, there is no juxtaposition of
events; therefore there is no mechanistic causality.
• Opposed Kant on his views of determinism
• Asserts that absolute free will exists
• Confusion exists due to misconception about the nature of time

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 146

 Henri Louis Bergson (1859 – 1941)
• Quantitative multiplicity
• enumerates things or states of consciousness by means of externalizing one from
another in a homogeneous space
• Example of a flock of sheep
• One ignores the fact that the pasture in which they are feeding is beautiful and the fact that
the sheep are not strictly identical to one another. One focuses on what they have in
common. What one is interested in is the total number of sheep.
• We are able to enumerate them because each sheep occupies a discernable location within
the field, because they are juxtaposed to one another. Of course, the enumeration of the
sheep is represented by a symbol, a number.
147
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 Henri Louis Bergson (1859 – 1941)
• Qualitative multiplicity
• Consists in a temporal heterogeneity, in which “several conscious states are
organized into a whole, permeate one another, and gradually gain a richer
content

• Normally, we would think that if there is heterogeneity, there has to be

juxtaposition. But, in qualitative multiplicities, there is heterogeneity and no
juxtaposition. Qualitative multiplicities are temporal

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 148

 Henri Louis Bergson (1859 – 1941)
• Qualitative multiplicity
• Example: Feeling of Sympathy
• It consists in a “transition from repugnance to fear, from fear to sympathy, and from sympathy
itself to humility.”
• There is a heterogeneity of feelings here. The feelings are continuous with one another; they
interpenetrate one another.
• If we tried to juxtapose the feelings, that is, separate them spatially, the feelings would have a
different nature than when they interpenetrate. There would be no progress from one to the
other. They would be isolated psychic states.
• Therefore, for Bergson, a qualitative multiplicity is heterogeneous (or differentiated),
continuous (or unifying), and, most importantly, temporal or progressive (an irreversible
flow).
• Bergson also calls the last characteristic of temporal progress mobility; this characteristic truly
distinguishes duration from space.
• Finally, because a qualitative multiplicity is heterogeneous and yet interpenetrating, it is
inexpressible. The continuous and heterogeneous multiplicity of consciousness is given
immediately, that is, without the mediation of symbols

• For Bergson, we must understand the duration as a qualitative multiplicity

— as opposed to a quantitative multiplicity.
149
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 Henri Louis Bergson (1859 – 1941)
• Kant makes two mistakes regarding the nature of time and
consciousness which ultimately lead him to an incorrect conclusion
about freedom as far as Bergson is concerned.
• By placing time on the same domain as space, Kant expresses time in space
and rids the former of its heterogeneous and qualitative attributes, a serious
threat to the meaning of duration and conception of freedom which derives
from it.
• When real duration acquires a homogeneous form, it ceases to be duration
and becomes space. By doing so, he positions the inner sense on the same
level as the external, outside world.
• Kant understands that the only way in which consciousness could perceive
psychic states was by juxtaposition, failing to notice that there is no way
states can be juxtaposed in duration.
150
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 Henri Louis Bergson (1859 – 1941)

• Thus we are presented with two of his mistakes that leave us with the
following picture
• A homogeneous, quantifiable time and a perception of psychic states by
consciousness outside duration, in space.
• Bergson criticizes this, as such mistakes nullify the qualities of duration which
are fundamental to free will and lead Kant to believe that the same states can
occur various times in the consciousness the same way physical phenomena
may be repeated in space.
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 151
 Karl Marx (1818 – 1883)
• Hegel
• driving force of history is Spirit
• Marx
• driving force of history is matter
• Marx was a materialist
• Man’s interaction with matter as a driving force in history
• That interaction is a mutual process
• When man alters nature, he himself is altered
• When man transforms matter, he himself is transformed
• 3 aspects of Marx’s Philosophy
• Metaphysics
• Dialectical Materialism
• Economic Theory
• Communist over Capitalist
• Ethical Theory
• Effect of communism over relationship of men 152
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 Karl Marx (1818 – 1883)
• Marx was a believer of ‘historical necessity’
• History was deterministic
• History is a movement caused by conflicts in the material world
• Prophesized the advent of communism in Europe
“A spectre is haunting Europe- The spectre of Communism” (Marx)
• Dialectical Materialism (Economic law of motion)
• Existence of social classes bound up with particular historic phases in the
development of production
• Class struggle necessarily leads towards the dictatorship of the proletariat
• Dictatorship constitutes a transition to the establishment of classless society
• A dialectical movement of history
“The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point,
however, is to change it” (Marx)
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 153
 Karl Marx (1818 – 1883)

• The 5 Epochs of History: Marx’s dialectics

• The Primitive Communal Living
• Kings (rulers and slaves)
• Feudalistic (Feudal and Serfs)
• Capitalist (Bourgeoisie and Proletariat)
• Communist (Classless society)

• Each stage is ethically superior to the previous one

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 154
 Karl Marx (1818 – 1883)
• Change: Quantitative & Qualitative
• A ceaseless state of motion and change
• Cause of change
• Quantitative alteration of things
• Leads to something qualitatively new
• Example: Change of temperature and state of water
• Certain quantitative elements in the economic order force a qualitative change in the
arrangements of society
• This is what moved history from primitive communal to capitalist epoch
• Capitalism will be destroyed by quantitative factors
• Increase in mass of poverty, enslavement, degeneration, and exploitation
• Quantitative Leap
• The leap to a new aggressive state
• Where quantity is transformed into quality

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 155

 Karl Marx (1818 – 1883)

• Determinism or inexorable law

• Change can only be speed up or slowed down

• Capitalism would fail and socialism would come

• The end of history

• History would end when all forces are in perpetual equilibrium
• When all inner contradictions have been resolved

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 156

 Karl Marx (1818 – 1883)
• The substructure/Base
• Material, social, economic order
• Factors of production (raw material)
• means of production (methods)
• Distribution of production (division of labor)
• Bourgeoisie
• Proletariat
• It is the material order containing the energizing force that moves history
• The superstructure
• Art, religion, philosophy. Politics
• Outcome of Base
• It reflects people’s ideas and configuration of the material order
“The mode of production in material life determines the general character of the social and
political processes of life” (Max)
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 157
 Karl Marx (1818 – 1883)
• Alienation of Labor (Ethics start from here)
• Work gives man identity so it is important
• But in Capitalism, work is external to the laborer and he losses essence of
work
• Fetishism
• Worship of the product of labor
• Capitalism depersonalizes the relationship between men. Isolating them from
each other.
• Making men as machines and machines as men
“… Morality based on human values, not a morality that sacrifices human values for machines…”
(Marx)
“Capital is dead labor, which, vampire-like, lives only by sucking living labor, and lives the more
the more labor it sucks” (Marx)
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 158
 Karl Marx (1818 – 1883)

• Religion as Opium of Masses

• Religion invented as a response to alienation

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 159

 Karl Marx (1818 – 1883)
• On Human Consciousness
• Marx conceptualizes consciousness and reality as an internally related unity of
opposites.
• Reality is conceptualized dynamically, as the sensuous, active experience of human beings in
the material world.
• Consciousness is comprised of thoughts that arise from each human being’s sensuous activity.
• The consciousness of any human being will also include thoughts that have arisen external to the
individual’s own sensuous activity, i.e., from other people’s sensuous activity both historically and
contemporaneously.
• However, individuals’ only integrate these external sources of consciousness through actively
engaging with them.
• Consciousness and sensuous human experience, are inseparable
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 160
 Karl Marx (1818 – 1883)
• On Human Consciousness
• Because human beings’ sensuous activity takes place within historically
specific social relations, e.g., capitalist social relations of production, the
general characteristics of consciousness are also historically specific.
• The consciousness of people living within capitalist social relations will have general
characteristics that are different from the characteristics of consciousness that prevailed,
for example, in feudal societies and thus feudal social relations.

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 161

 Past Paper Qs
• What are the salient features of Kant’s Transcendentalism? (2016)
• What is Historical Materialism? Elaborate Karl Marx’s contribution in its
development. (2017)
• Introduce Kant (2019-Short Note)
• Introduce Bergson (2019-Short Note)
• Bergson rejects any kind of ‘teleological’ explanation of evolution. Give
your own opinion. (2020)
• Transcendentalism (2020-Short Note)
• Explain Kant’s Copernican Revolution in Philosophy. (2021)
• Examine Marx’s view on human consciousness. (2022)
• Discuss Bergson’s critique of Kant’s Philosophy. (2022)
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 162
Aristotlenism and
Neoplatonism
Extra Topics for Understanding
 Aristotle (384 – 322 BC)

• Lyceum

• Teacher to Alexander the Great

• His logic is key to understanding his teachings

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 164

 Aristotle (384 – 322 BC)
• Aristotle’s “Organon,”
• The Categories
• On Interpretation
• Prior Analytics
• Posterior Analytics
• Sophistical Refutations
• Topics
• Rhetoric
• Poetics
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 165
 Aristotle (384 – 322 BC)
• The Third Man Argument: Critique on Plato
• Plato said there are forms and objects
• Forms are universal while objects are particular
• Aristotle criticizes and says that there must be a form to bridge the difference
between the two
• As there should be a form to show how different forms interrelate to produce the
objects
• Example: ball and red color
• If a man is a man because he partakes in the form of man, then a third form
would be required to explain how man and the form of man are both man,
and so on
• Thus, we’ll need infinite number of universals to explain particular objects
• Material world is the real world (as opposed to Plato)
• We recognize categories of particular objects by contemplating on common properties
• Example: Horse

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 166

 Aristotle (384 – 322 BC)
• Man has no innate ideas
• We gain knowledge through observation
• Form categories as per their specific properties
• Substance
• The underlying formless matter in an object
• Has the potentiality to become one form or the other
• Example: plastic
• Form
• The essence, idea, and shape of the object
• How does substance takes a specific form?
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 167
 Aristotle (384 – 322 BC)
• Aristotle’s natural philosophy aims for theoretical knowledge about
things that are subject to change
• Four Causes of Change
• Material Cause
• Determined by the material of which the object is made
• Formal Cause
• Determined by the form, arrangement, shape and essence the thing is made of
• Efficient Cause
• Determined by an external agent or force working on the substance
• Final Cause
• Determined by the final aim or purpose that the thing is serving
• Example: Seed
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 168
 Aristotle (384 – 322 BC)

• Essentialism
• Believed in teleology
• Purpose behind everything in nature

• Every object recognized by the purpose

• Example: different seeds

• Essence of being human: being rational

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 169

 Aristotle (384 – 322 BC)

• Proving the Existence of God

• The Unmoved Mover
• First Cause

• Material, Formal, Efficient, and Final cause of everything

• A natural force

• Doesn’t intervene in natural laws

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 170

 Aristotle (384 – 322 BC)

• Hylomorphism
• Natural objects are made of matter and form

• Matter and form are mind-independent features of the world

• Potentiality and Actuality

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 171

 Neoplatonism
• Work of Plotinus (529 CE)
• ‘Mystical’ or religious in nature
• Synthesis of progressive Christian ideas with the traditional Platonic
philosophy
• Neoplatonic philosophy is a strict form of principle-monism that
strives to understand everything on the basis of a single cause that
they considered divine, and indiscriminately referred to as “the First”,
“the One”, or “the Good”.
• Reality emerged from “the First” in coherent stages, in such a way
that one stage functions as creative principle of the next.
• Principle of Emanation
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 172
 Neoplatonism
• Every activity in the world is in some sense double insofar as it possesses
both an inner and an outer aspect.
• Example: Sun
• Inner activity of the sun (nuclear fusion)
• Outer effect (activity) of heat and light
• Example: Tree
• Inner activity of a tree that is determined by the kind of tree it is (its genetic code)
• Outer activity in the bearing of a particular kind of fruit
• Example: Humans
• thoughts and feelings internal to human beings
• Outer activity in speech and actions
• The outer effect is not the purpose or end of the inner activity; rather, it is
simply the case that one falls out of the other and is concomitant with it.
173
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 Neoplatonism
• Outer activities will typically be productive of yet other outer
activities that are ontologically more remote and derivative
• Fruit serves as nourishment or poison for other individual life forms
• Human speech and action constitute, over time, a person’s biography or a
society’s history
• Outer activity is something intimately connected with the inner
activity
• The Neoplatonists insisted that there is nothing on the lower
ontological levels within the chains of causality that is not somehow
prefigured on the corresponding higher levels

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 174

 Neoplatonism

• God is absolute Unity.

• We know empirically of its effect, the entire universe, and we must therefore
suppose that the One is the carrier of, or rather identical with, a boundless
sort of singular activity or energy.

• Since it is counterintuitive to suppose that the material universe leapt into

being in its present form directly from God, the question arises: what
precisely is the first and primary outer activity of the inner activity of the
One?
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 175
 Neoplatonism
• The outer activity and effect of the First is “Intellect”.
• A pure and absolute “Consciousness”.

• The One is “alone with itself”

• The One does not act to produce a cosmos or a spiritual order, but simply
generates from itself, effortlessly, a power which is at once the Intellect and
the object of contemplation of this Intellect.

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 176

 Neoplatonism
• What, then, is the inner activity of Consciousness?
• The inherent task of consciousness is to understand
• understanding entails the cognition of causes.
• In trying to understand itself, Consciousness can only turn towards its origin and thus
posit or behold the First as the transcendent principle of its own reality.
• As the Neoplatonists would put it, having emerged from the First,
Consciousness “turns back” towards it in order to understand the pre-
condition of its own existence.
• Becoming thus aware of another entity
• the originary unity of Consciousness breaks up into duality, and with it emerge the
categories of identity and difference, of greater and smaller, of number, of change and of
rest.
• In fact, the entire ideal world of Platonic forms and ideas emerges effortlessly in the
course of Consciousness’ effort to understand itself.
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 177
 Neoplatonism
• What, then, is the outer activity of Consciousness?
• Soul
• Whose outer activity is the emergence of the living material universe

• The general idea is that Soul, looks back at its cause in order to understand
itself so as to truly be what it is.
• Gazing thus at the forms and ideas eternally present in Consciousness, it becomes
“informed” by them
• carries forward images of the eternal forms into the lower realm of Being.
• Giving birth to the entire universe
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 178
 Neoplatonism

• According to Neoplatonic theory, then, the world as we know and

experience it in its formal and structural characteristics is the outer
effect of the activity and life of Consciousness, an activity that was
thought to be mediated by another, intermediate metaphysical entity,
Soul.

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 179

 Neoplatonism
Emanationist view of creation
• The One subsists by thinking itself as itself
• the Intellect subsists through thinking itself as other, and therefore becomes divided
within itself
• At this point, the thinking or contemplation of the Intellect is divided up and ordered into
thoughts, each of them subsisting in and for themselves, as autonomous reflections of
the One.
• These are the Forms and out of their inert unity there arises the Soul, whose task it is to
think these Forms discursively and creatively, and to thereby produce or create a
concrete, living expression of the divine Intellect.
• This activity of the Soul results in the production of numerous individual souls: living
actualizations of the possibilities inherent in the Forms.
• Whereas the Intellect became divided within itself through contemplation, the Soul
becomes divided outside of itself, through action
• This division constitutes the Cosmos, which is the expressive or creative act of the Soul,
also referred to as Nature.
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 180
 Plato’s Ideal State
• Division of society
• Philosopher King (Guardian class)
• Govern the state
• Soldiers (Auxiliary class)
• Defend the state
• Producers (Professional class)
• Farmers, artisans
• Totalitarian in nature
• Repressive laws
• Censorship or art and literature
• Women and children be common to all
• Communism
• Wealth and poverty not permitted

• Justice
• Well-planned education system
• State control
• Right of all boys and girls
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 181
 Plato’s Ideal State

• Criticism
• Education system only to produce Guardians

• Illogical division of society

• Utopian

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 182

Muslim Philosophy
 Philosophy CSS Syllabus

5. Muslim Thinkers:
• Imam Ghazali, Al-Farabi, Ibn-e- Sina, Ibn-e-Khaldun, Ibn-e-Rushd, Shah Wali
Ullah, Iqbal

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 184

 Al-Farabi (870 – 950 CE)
“Al-Farabi was the very base of the pyramid of Muslim Philosophy”
(Mcdonald)
• A creative synthesis of Platonism, Aristotlenism, and Sufism
• Aristotle: logic is a method to arrive at truth
• Al-Farabi: logic is a method as well as truth itself
• There is an inseparability between logic and Ontology
• The Second Teacher

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 185

 Al-Farabi (870 – 950 CE)
• Ontology
• Being
• Can’t be defined
• Precedes Everything
• Definition needs analyzing contents but it has the least content
• Division of Being into
• Necessary
• Exists in itself
• Non-existence of it is unthinkable (God)
• Contingent
• Receives its existence from another
• Non-existence of which is thinkable (our world)
• Differentiates between
• Potentiality
• Capability to exist
• That which is in potentiality is imperfect
• Actuality
• Which exists in fact
• That which is in actuality is perfect

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 186

 Al-Farabi (870 – 950 CE)
• Ontology
• Differentiates between
• Substance
• Which exists in itself and not in another
• Accident
• Which needs a substance in which and by which it may exist
• Differentiates between
• Essence
• Reason why a thing is
• Existence
• The actuality of essence
• For Necessary being > Essence = Existence
• For Contingent/created beings > Essence ≠ Existence

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 187

 Al-Farabi (870 – 950 CE)
• Ontology
• Differentiates between
• Matter
• A substratum which is indeterminate
• Has the aptitude to become y virtue of form this or that body
• Form
• The principle that determines matter to be actually such and such a body
• Both co-exist, one can’t without the other
• The First Principles (Laws of Thought)
• If the concept of being is true, FP are true
• Principle of non-contradiction
• Principle of excluded middle
• Principle of causality
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 188
 Al-Farabi (870 – 950 CE)
• Metaphysical Theology
• Can God be Known?
• Knowable and unknowable

• Evident and hidden

• Infinite perfection bewilders the mind

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 189

 Al-Farabi (870 – 950 CE)
• Metaphysical Theology
• Proofs of the Existence of God
• The Proof from Motion
• All things that move must have a mover
• But there cannot be infinite movers
• There must be an immovable mover that is God
• The Proof from Efficient Causation
• In the series of efficient causes, an infinite regress of causes is unthinkable
• An uncaused efficient cause has to be there and that is God
• The Proof from Contingency
• As a matter of fact, this world does exist
• There must be another being which is the cause of the existence of this world
• That being can’t be contingent which would lead to infinite regress
• Therefore that being is necessary and that is God
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 190
 Al-Farabi (870 – 950 CE)
• Metaphysical Theology
• Attributes of God
• How to acquire Knowledge about God?
• Firstly, remove whatever implies defect
• Secondly, attribute all perfections possible
i. Simplicity of God
• Free from substantial and accidental composition
• Because it would mean that God results from the union of finite parts
ii. Unity of God
• Two would be partly alike, partly different
iii. Infinity of God
• Uncaused being is infinite because otherwise it would be limited and had to be caused
iv. Immutability of God
• Pure actuality, No change

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 191

 Al-Farabi (870 – 950 CE)

• Cosmology
• Principle of Emanation of Neoplatonists
• To describe the relation of God with the world

• World emanates from God not directly but through intermediary agencies of the
intellects and souls of the heavenly spheres of the various planets

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 192

 Al-Farabi (870 – 950 CE)
• Theory of Emanation (Theory of Ten Intelligencies)
• God is necessary by Himself
• Capable of knowing Himself
• First emanation from the necessary being is the First Intelligence
• It has a two-fold existence
• Possible in itself
• Necessary through the first being
• It has three kinds of knowledge
• Of the first being
• Of its own essence in so far as it is necessary
• And of its being as possible
• From First Intelligence emanates three things
• The Second Intelligence
• The first Soul
• The First Sphere of the fixed stars
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 193
 Al-Farabi (870 – 950 CE)

• According to the Ptolemaic system, besides the sphere of the fixed

stars, there are 8 planetary spheres
• Emanations proceed till the last one or 10th intelligence, called active intellect
• Active intellect produces first (Prime) matter: Hyle
• First matter is the basis of four elements

• They are the cause of generation and dissolution of all bodies

• Active intellect is also the dispenser of forms

• Active intellect is also the cause of existence of human soul

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 194
 Al-Farabi (870 – 950 CE)
• Intelligences and Souls are hierarchal
• First intelligence is the most transcendent
• Lower intelligences desire the higher and all desire the One

• Human soul yearns for the First Being

• Starts journey back through various stages of the intelligences of the spheres

• Theory of emanation solves the problem of reconciling the creation of

multiplicity through absolute unity

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 195

 Al-Farabi (870 – 950 CE)
• Rational Psychology
• Man composed of two principles
• Body
• A product of the created world
• Limited by space
• Measurable, divisible
• Soul
• Belongs to the last separate intellect of supersensible world
• Soul is immortal
• Four faculties in humans/soul
• Appetitive
• Sensitive
• Imaginative
• Rational
• Most important as it survives death
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 196
 Al-Farabi (870 – 950 CE)

• Theory of intellect
• Practical intellect
• Deduces what should be done

• Theoretical intellect
• 3 types

• Helps the soul to attain perfection

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 197

 Al-Farabi (870 – 950 CE)
• Theoretical Intellect
• Material Intellect
• Intellect in potency
• Receiver of sensible forms
• Part of soul having the power of abstracting and apprehending beings
• Intelligible exists in potentiality in sensible things, when it is abstracted from the senses, it exists in mind
in actuality
• Perception and abstraction (operations of mind) bring the intelligibles from potentiality into actuality
• Habitual Intellect
• Intellect in action
• One of the levels of ascension of mind is acquisition of a no. of intelligibles
• When intelligible are conveyed to the mind, the intellect is transformed from an intellect in potency to
an intellect in action
• Mind is capable of comprehending all intelligibles
• Intellect in potency with regard to what it has not yet perceived
• Intellect in action with regard to what it perceives
• Once man has attained the level of intellect in action, he can comprehend himself
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 198
 Al-Farabi (870 – 950 CE)
• Theoretical intellect
• Acquired intellect
• Once the intellect becomes capable of comprehending abstractions, it is raised to this level
• To conceive abstract forms that have no connection with matter
• Hidden in unveiled and come in direct communication with the world of the separate
intelligences
• Intellect is capable of rising gradually
• Intellect in potency > intellect in action > acquired intellect
• Lower serves as a prelude to higher
• Conceptions
• Intelligibles in potency, existing in matter
• Intelligibles in action after being abstracted from matter
• Abstract forms which can never exist in matter
• Like we need light from sun to see things, we need illumination from Agent
Intelligence to unveil intellect and conceptions
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 199
 Ibn-e-Sina (980 – 1037)

• Avicenna

• Al- Shaykh al-Rais (The Shaykh and Prince of the learned)

• Philosophical Views
• Logic

• Psychology

• Metaphysics

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 200

 Ibn-e-Sina (980 – 1037)
• Logic
• Divides into 9 parts> corresponding to 8 books of Aristotle preceded by Prophyr’s Isagoge

1. Introduction: General philosophy of language dealing with terms of speech and their abstract elements
2. Categories (Al-Maqulat): Deals with simple and complex ideas applicable to all beings
3. Hermeneutics (Al-Ibarah): deals with combination of simple ideas to form propositions
4. First Analytics (Al-Qiyas): combines propositions in different forms of syllogism
5. Second Analytics (Al-Burhan): Deals with conditions to be fulfilled by the premises from which the
subsequent chain of reasoning proceeds
6. Topics (Al-Jadl): Considers the nature and limitations of probable reasoning
7. Sophistici (Al-Maghalit): deals with fallacies of logical reasoning
8. Rhetoric (Al-Khatabah): deals with the art of persuading through oratorical devices
9. Poetics (Al-Shi’r): Explains the art of stirring the soul and imagination through words

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 201

 Ibn-e-Sina (980 – 1037)
• Logic is merely a formal system
• Aim of logic
• Safeguard us against falling into errors of reasoning by following rules

• Logic does not discover new truths but helps us make the best use of those
we already possess
• Logic is neither true nor false
• Truth-content of that system comes not from within but from without

• He recognizes the limitations of logic

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 202
 Ibn-e-Sina (980 – 1037)
• Descriptions and definitions are from direct experiences
• Experience and reason both have a share in the data of scientist
• They have objects, questions, premises
• Categories of thought are primarily subjective in nature (Like Kant)
• Recognizes four causes that may appear together in definition
• Material
• Formal
• Efficient
• Final
• Difference between
• Logic
• Exist in pure intellection
• Math
• Represented by senses and constructed by imagination

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 203

 Ibn-e-Sina (980 – 1037)
• Psychology

Mind
Three Kinds

Vegetable Reasonable or
Animal Mind
Mind Human Mind
Possess Three Faculties Possess Two Faculties Posses Reason
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 204
 Ibn-e-Sina (980 – 1037)
• Psychology
Vegetable
Mind
Possess Three Faculties

Nutritive Power of Power of

Power Growth Reproduction
Changes other body Body increases Draws a part similar in
inside the body without change potentiality and capable of
producing other bodies
similar to it in actuality
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 205
 Ibn-e-Sina (980 – 1037)
Animal
• Psychology Mind
Posses Two Faculties

Motive
Faculties

Appetitive Efficient
Powers Powers
Bodily
movements

Repulsive Attractive
Pain Pleasure
206
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 Ibn-e-Sina (980 – 1037)
Animal Mind
Possess Two Faculties
• Psychology
Perceptive or
Cognitive Faculties

External

Five senses

Sight Hearing Touch Taste Smell

207
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 Ibn-e-Sina (980 – 1037)
Animal Mind
Possess Two Faculties
• Psychology
Perceptive or
Cognitive Faculties

Internal

Common Sense Imgainative Cognitive Estimative Memory

208
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 Ibn-e-Sina (980 – 1037)
• Psychology Reasonable or
Human Mind
Possess Reason

Theoretical Practical
Reason Reason
Abstract thinking Morality
209
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 Ibn-e-Sina (980 – 1037)
• Metaphysics
• A number of intelligences and the souls of planetary spheres emanating from God in
a hierarchal order
• The Theory of Emanation
• Works under two governing principles
• God is pure unity so it is unthinkable that anything should proceed from him that is not unity
• Will implies deficiency in the being of God
• The notion of creation necessarily implies change in the being of God
• How to reconcile that with God’s Perfection and Absoluteness
• Theory helps to show world as a necessary outflow from the being of God like the rays of light
from Sun
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 210
 Ibn-e-Sina (980 – 1037)
• World is both eternal and created
• Bodies are divisible in potentia to infinity
• First causeless cause is God
• World is both possible and necessary

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 211

 Ibn-e-Sina (980 – 1037)
• Three modalities of Being
• Impossible
• No essence of existence
• Contingent
• Essence and existence combined and actualized through agent-cause or God
• Necessary
• Essence and existence are the same
• Soul
• We have innate knowledge of soul
• Floating man argument

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 212

 Ibn-e-Sina (980 – 1037)
• Theory of Knowledge
• Perceptions
• Primary
• Being subjective or the state of percipient’s mind
• Secondary
• Being that of the external world
• Perceptions
• Internal
• Five faculties
• Common Sense
• Imaginative faculty
• Cognitive faculty
• Estimative faculty
• Memory
• External
• Operation of Five senses

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 213

 Ibn-e-Sina (980 – 1037)
• Theory of Knowledge
• Intellect
• Potential intellect
• In a man
• Active intellect
• Outside man
• Influences and guides the potential intellect
• Intellect is indivisible, immaterial, and indestructible
• Task of man
• Reflect upon the particulars of sense-experience
• It prepares the mind for the reception of Universals from the active intellect by an act of
direct intuition
• All knowledge involves intuition and occur to man
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 214
 Al-Ghazali (1058 – 1111)
• A Mujadid
“Ghazali is equal to St. Augustine in Philosophical and theological disciplines” (Mcdonald)

• He was inquisitive about nature and truth

• Truth can be found in things which carry evidence in themselves
• In sense perception and in infallible and necessary principles of thought

• He also believed that sense perception often deceive us

• Sensory data can be falsified by the verdict of reason

• On the other hand, he also scrutinized necessary principles of thought

• Axioms of maths and laws of logic cannot be absolutely true
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 215
 Al-Ghazali (1058 – 1111)
• Doubt about sense perception made him hesitant to accept the infallibility
of reason
• There is another judge above reason which is not yet apparent but it does not follow
that he does not exist

• Life after death would be a true though a different existence

• He owed his deliverance to mystic experience

• Tahafut-al-Falsifah (The Incoherence of the Philosophers)

• Proves the impossibility of building metaphysics upon reason
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 216
 Al-Ghazali (1058 – 1111)
• Dispute between Al-Ghazali and the Philosophers
• In Tahafut, Ghazali challenges almost all doctrines of Aristotle, Plotinus, as well as
that of Al-Farabi and Ibn-e-Sina
• Everlasting and eternity of the world, emanation from God of intelligences
• They were positively false and baseless

• Al-Ghazali charges 3 doctrines with infidelity because they cut the very grounds of
religion
i. Eternity of the World
ii. Denial of God’s Knowledge of the particulars
iii. Denial of bodily resurrection
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 217
 Al-Ghazali (1058 – 1111)

1. Eternity of the World

• Al-Farabi and Ibn-e-Sina proved the eternity of the world based on 3
assumptions
i. Nothing comes out of nothing, effect has a cause

ii. When a cause comes into operation, effect is produced immediately

iii. A cause is something other than the effect

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 218

 Al-Ghazali (1058 – 1111)
1. Eternity of the World
• According to Ghazali none of these assumptions has any Logical Necessity

• God’s will is free and self-initiated

• Its possible to think that God’s will may have a delayed effect

• Ghazali maintains the possibility of the eternity of God’s will and temporality and
originatedness of the world
• God eternally willed that world should come into existence at some specific period in time

• The world is created, yet it is eternal is a logical impossibility

• The notion of eternal creation is a self-contradictory one
219
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 Al-Ghazali (1058 – 1111)
1. Eternity of the World
• According to the Philosophers, the world
i. Could not have been impossible for it would never have come into existence

ii. Nor could have been necessary because then it would be impossible to think of its
non-existence

iii. It always have been possible before its origination otherwise it would never have
come into existence

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 220

 Al-Ghazali (1058 – 1111)
1. Eternity of the World
• They said that Possibility cannot subsist itself
• Matter serves as a substratum for possibility (Matter is eternal)

• According to the Philosophers, Matter cannot be considered to have

originated
• Possibility of existence would have preceded its existence
• Possibility would have existed in itself

• unintelligible

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 221

 Al-Ghazali (1058 – 1111)
1. Eternity of the World
• According to Ghazali, possibility like impossibility is merely a conceptual notion
• Nothing need to correspond to it in reality

• There is a wide gulf between the conceptual assumption of the substratum the
actual existence of it which cannot be bridged over through any philosophical jump
• If possibility requires an existent to correspond to it, so would impossibility require something
to correspond to
• There is no such thing because they are just concepts

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 222

 Al-Ghazali (1058 – 1111)
1. Eternity of the World
• Theory of emanation says one emanates from one, three things may emanate
from three kinds of knowledge possessed by first intelligence
• Ghazali questions through what kind of Plotinian magic three kinds of actual existents
come out of three kinds of knowledge?

• Ghazali believed in God creating this world but said that it is not for us to
comprehend or explain the nature of God’s creative activity

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 223

 Al-Ghazali (1058 – 1111)
2. God’s Knowledge of the Particulars
• He accuses that Philosophers restricted God’s knowledge merely to that of universals or
things in general
• Ghazal’s allegations in this regard not completely justified
• Ibn-e-Sina said God’s knowledge encompasses the knowledge of all particulars, not even a particle of
dust remains hidden
• He says God’s way of knowing particulars is not perceptual but rational and conceptual

• The Muslim Philosopher’s uncompromising position on the unity of God made them
subscribe to Aristotelian conception of God
• His knowledge includes knowledge of all things. He is the ultimate source and ground of all
that exists

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 224

 Al-Ghazali (1058 – 1111)
2. God’s Knowledge of the Particulars
• Ghazali’s criticism centers around the consideration of time
• The Philosophers say God knows the particular events before they occur
• In a sense, God lives in an unchanging, immutable, inexorable realm of eternity while
man lives in ever-changing realm of transience
• There is no counterpart of such a time in the being of God
• If this is so, philosophers question the relation between humans and God.
They say relation becomes meaningless
• God’s knowledge of all particulars in one single manifestation means events
are strung like the beads of a rosary
• Pattern is fixed which is unalterable
• No possibility is left for the exercise of free will and creative activity not for God himself
• In the Philosopher’s universe, past becomes linked with present and present
with future
• Impossible to have an effect without a cause
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 225
 Al-Ghazali (1058 – 1111)
3. Bodily Resurrection
• Ghazali said that they had blinkers of Greek Philosophy on them and things had gone
so far that they were emboldened to deny even the bodily resurrection in the
hereafter
• The Philosophers were staunch believers in the spirituality, unity, and immortality of human
soul
• However, they were skeptical about Physical resurrection which implied primarily denial of
i. Revivification of bodies
ii. Physical pains and pleasures
iii. Existence of paradise and hell in physical terms
• They said language of Quranic text in this matter is symbolic and metaphorical
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 226
 Al-Ghazali (1058 – 1111)
3. Bodily Resurrection
• They said that Quran speaks about spiritualistic conception of resurrection by
saying:
“Hereafter is much superior in respect of degree and much superior in respect of excellence”
(Al-Quran)

• They argue that body of man in grave is reduced to dust or eaten by worms
and birds and then into blood and vapours

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 227

 Al-Ghazali (1058 – 1111)
3. Bodily Resurrection
• Ghazali accused them of deception and duplicity and said that they select
verses to serve their purpose

• In fact, their denial was grounded in Plotinian dichotomy of soul and body

• Ghazali said that their arguments fail to prove their point as they adhere to a
deterministic worldview due to which they seek naturalistic explanations of
all things i.e; in terms of cause and effect

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 228

 Al-Ghazali (1058 – 1111)
3. Bodily Resurrection
• Ghazali made a critical analysis of the notion of causality
• Previously it was believed that
i. The relation between cause and effect is a relation of necessity, where there is a cause,
there is effect and vice versa

• God is the First and Final cause > domino effect > Natural laws in motion > cause and
effect is a necessary relation

ii. It is the relation of one to one, the same cause, the same effect and vice versa

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 229

 Al-Ghazali (1058 – 1111)
3. Bodily Resurrection
• Ghazali made a critical analysis of the notion of causality
• To the First argument, Ghazal responds that there is no compelling necessity in this relation

• The mind is not coerced to move by any imperative necessity

• Existence of one does not necessarily presuppose that of other

• Two events may be considered cause and effect, but there may be no necessary connection.

• Causal relation is a natural relation not a logically necessary relation

• Cause co-exists or precedes but is never the producer of effect

• The only will is the will of God

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 230

 Al-Ghazali (1058 – 1111)
3. Bodily Resurrection
• Ghazali made a critical analysis of the notion of causality
• To the Second argument, Ghazal responds that Philosophers assumed this because of
their prepossession with Plotinian Emanationism

• Cause is certainly not a unitary event.

• It is the result of plurality of causes

• We can’t observe all since our observation is limited and circumscribed

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 231

 Al-Ghazali (1058 – 1111)
3. Bodily Resurrection
• Ghazali made a critical analysis of the notion of causality
• Cause and effect belong to the realm of nature

• Causes are complex phenomenon due to their plurality

• This analysis of Ghazali is one of the most original contributions to the history of human
thought
• For the purpose of proving the possibility of the extraordinary and miraculous

• The will of God in unconstrained, for Him nothing is impossible except the logically
impossible
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 232
 Al-Ghazali (1058 – 1111)
3. Bodily Resurrection
• The arguments of Philosophers are improbable

• Ghazali quotes Quran:

“What when we shall have become bones and decayed particles, shall we then be indeed
raised up into a new creation? Do they not consider that God, Who created the Heavens and
the Earth, is able to create their likes?” (Al-Quran)

• There are other such verses in Quran too

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 233

 Al-Ghazali (1058 – 1111)
3. Bodily Resurrection
• It makes clear to Ghazali that Philosophers denial is connected with their
affirmation of eternity of the world, that of Prime Matter
• The difficulty w.r.t these problems is Philosopher’s great confidence in the
theory of causation
• Necessary and one to one relation

• These unfounded notions make Philosophers to presuppose in

• Existence of material world
• Impossibility of bodily resurrection
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 234
 Al-Ghazali (1058 – 1111)
3. Bodily Resurrection
• Causal theory is baseless which they adhered to in blindly following
Aristotelian tradition, otherwise they would have found no logical
impossibility in creation ex nihilo

• Ghazali, said that they were however not wrong in their Plotinian insistence
upon greater perfection and superior excellence of the life hereafter

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 235

 Al-Ghazali (1058 – 1111)
• To reconcile religion & philosophy
• Do not reject a religious truth till it is proved that the acceptance of it is a
logical impossibility

• Do not accept a philosophical truth till it is proved that the rejection of it is a

logical impossibility

• Religious experiences are positive facts

• Philosophical truths are merely assumptions, hypothesis, speculations, and

conjecture
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 236
 Al-Ghazali (1058 – 1111)
• Occasionalism (Asharism)
• No free will
• Universe made of quality-less atoms
• Accidental properties given to atoms on account of which they become such and such object
• God intervenes at each moment
• Bridges the gulf between cause and effect

• Al-Ghazali:
i. No necessary connection between cause and effect
ii. Effect can exist without the cause
iii. The connection between cause and effect is through taqdir (God’s intervention)
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 237
 Al-Ghazali (1058 – 1111)
• The Revival of Religious Sciences
• Al-Ghazali believed that the Islamic spiritual tradition had become moribund
and that the spiritual sciences taught by the first generation of Muslims had
been forgotten.
• This belief led him to write his magnum opus entitled Iḥyā’ ‘ulūm ad-dīn ("The
Revival of the Religious Sciences").
• One of the most read books in Muslim World
• Had a huge impact on future Muslim intellectual thought
• A summary of principles and practices of Islam
• A guide to live a reflective, pious and spiritual life
• Synthesized Islamic theological doctrines with practices and ideas of Sufism
• Responsible for general acceptance and flourishing of Sufism
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 238
 Al-Ghazali (1058 – 1111)
• Al-Ghazali severely criticizes the coveting of worldly matters and reminds
his readers that human life is a path towards Judgment Day and the reward
or punishment gained through it.
• Compared with the eternity of the next life, this life is almost insignificant,
yet it seals our fate in the world to come.
• Ghazali writes that reading Sufi literature made him realize that our
theological convictions are by themselves irrelevant for gaining redemption
in the afterlife.
• Not our good beliefs or intentions count; only our good and virtuous actions will
determine our life in the world to come.
• In the Revival he composed a book about human actions that wishes to
steer clear of any deeper discussion of theological insights.
• Rather, it aims at guiding people towards ethical behavior that God will reward in this
world and the next
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 239
 Al-Ghazali (1058 – 1111)
• In the Revival he teaches ethics that are based on the development of
character traits
• Performing praiseworthy deeds is an effect of praiseworthy character traits
that warrant salvation in the next life
• He criticizes the more traditional concept of Sunni ethics that is
limited to compliance with the ordinances of the religious law (sharia)
and following the example of the Prophet Muhammad.
• Traditional Sunni ethics are closely linked to jurisprudence (fiqh) and limit
itself to determining and teaching the rules of sharia.
• Traditional Sunni jurisprudents are mere “scholars of this world” who
cannot guide Muslims on the best way to gain the afterlife

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 240

 Al-Ghazali (1058 – 1111)
• Al-Ghazali stresses that the Prophet—and no other teacher—should be the one
person a Muslim emulates.
• He supplements this key Sunni notion with the concept of “disciplining the soul”
• At birth the essence of the human is deficient and ignoble and only strict efforts
and patient treatment can lead it towards developing virtuous character traits.
• The human soul’s temperament becomes imbalanced through the influence of
other people and needs to undergo constant disciplining (riyada) and training
(tarbiya) in order to keep these character traits at equilibrium.
• Al-Ghazâlî rejected the notion that one should try to give up potentially harmful
affections like anger or sexual desire.
• These character traits are part of human nature and cannot be given up.
• Rather, disciplining the soul means controlling these potentially harmful traits through one’s
rationality.
• The human soul has to undergo constant training and needs to be disciplined
similar to a young horse that needs to be broken in, schooled, and treated well.
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 241
 Ibn Rushd (1126 – 1198)
• Averroes

• Greatest Philosopher of the Muslim West in the middle ages

• Greatest commentator of Aristotle’s works

• For him, Aristotle was the greatest thinker of all times

• Had a purer and more thorough understanding of Aristotle

• An admirer of his logic

“Without it one cannot be happy and it is a pity that Plato and Socrates were ignorant of it” (Ibn
Rushd)

• Attacked by orthodoxy for his efforts of reconciling Islam (dogmas) and Aristotle together

• Tahafut-al-Tahafut (The Incoherence of the Incoherence)

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 242
 Ibn Rushd (1126 – 1198)

• Three main doctrines (Brought the charge of heresy on him)

i. Eternity of the world

ii. Knowledge of God

iii. Immortality of human Soul

• Reinterprets to bring them in conformity with Philosophy

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 243

 Ibn Rushd (1126 – 1198)
1. Eternity of the World
• Does not deny principle of creation
• He says there are two kinds of eternities
• With cause
• The world is eternal with cause > an external agent working on it

• Without cause
• God is eternal without cause

• God’s priority to the world not in terms of time but in being its cause and that from all
eternity
• Only motion can be the cause of a change from rest to motion > eternal
• If the world had a beginning, a vacuum would precede the world > impossible
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 244
 Ibn Rushd (1126 – 1198)
2. The Knowledge of God
• God apprehends his own being only, for if he recognizes multiplicity of things, he
won’t retain his unity

• God in his essence knows all things for he is the ultimate source

• His knowledge is one of higher kind and cannot be same as that of humans for he
will have sharers in knowledge

• God does not derive knowledge from things like humans

• Rather, things derive their being from God

• God’s knowledge cannot be called universal or particular, it is illegitimate to do so

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 245
 Ibn Rushd (1126 – 1198)
3. Immortality of Human Soul
• Distinction between human intellect and soul

Human Intellect
Active Intellect Active Intellect
(temporary)

• Immortality of the intellect is not individual but corporate

• Whereas human soul is immortal

• Soul is the Elan Vital of the body
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 246
 Ibn Rushd (1126 – 1198)

3. Immortality of Human Soul

• Soul is a driving force
• Sustains life and growth of organic bodies

• Is closely associated with matter but is independent of the body

• May continue to exist independently after death of body in individual capacity

• Its immortality cannot be given merely through philosophical argument

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 247

 Ibn Rushd (1126 – 1198)
3. Immortality of Human Soul
• Individual souls after death pass into universal soul

• What Rushd said about souls merely applies to intellect

• It is the faculty through which man knows eternal truths without the media of sense-
organs such as axioms of maths, and fundamental laws of thought

• These come to us through active intellect from which our intellect is separated during its
temporary abode in the body but after death, it goes back to be merged in active
intellect and live there in eternity

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 248

 Ibn Rushd (1126 – 1198)

3. Immortality of Human Soul

• Nature of Bodily Resurrection
• Body in the next world won’t be the same as now

• Just as soul grows from one stage to another, body grows and acquire new attributes

• The life in hereafter will be of higher kind with more perfect bodies than at Earth

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 249

 Ibn Rushd (1126 – 1198)
• Relationship between Philosophy and Religion
• Truth cannot contradict the truth
• Philosophy helps to understand religion
• No conflict between the two
• Both are different paths to the same truth
• Reason helps to understand revelation
• Double truth theory

• He put forward a formula of Two-Truths

• Philosophical Truth
• Religious Truth
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 250
 Ibn Rushd (1126 – 1198)
• Relationship between Philosophy and Religion
• The prophets use allegories, parables, metaphors
• The philosophers use higher and less material form
• A distinction has to be made between literal and allegorical sense with regard
to the language of scripture
• For example: God is the Heaven
• God cannot be represented as a physical entity in space
• More justifiable to be said that ‘space is in God’ than to say ‘God is in space’

• He said that Philosophy must agree with religion’

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 251
 Ibn Rushd (1126 – 1198)
• Categories of People
• To avoid confusion and misleading people, rather than enlightening and guiding them, a
practice of not communicating interpretations of dogmas to masses should be carried
• He insisted that dogmas be explained to people variously according to the level of their
intellectual caliber
• Makes three categories of people
i. The common people
ii. Scholastics and Theologians
iii. Philosophers

• Grading system shows his psychological insight

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 252

 Ibn Khaldun (1332 – 1406)
• Father of the Philosophy of history
• Founder of Sociology
• Struck quite an independent and original note in Muslim Philosophy
by doing away with all the Aristotelian and Neoplatonic borrowings
• Against Al-Farabi, Ibn-e-Sina and Ibn Rushd
• More similar to Al-Ghazali
• Both had a critical attitude towards Philosophy
• Muqadimmah (Prolegomena) > formulates a philosophy of history
• Beneficial to both student of history and philosophy
• Not through reason alone but through religious experience that we
can reach ultimate reality
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 253
 Ibn Khaldun (1332 – 1406)
• Methods of History
• Discusses purpose or value of history and its kinds
• Purpose of history is to analyze past in order to understand present and
future
• History is essentially the record of human society, its growth and decay under
different conditions
• Identifies various pitfalls which historians do which researching history
• Biases
• Mal observations
• Poetic exaggeration
• Winning favor of royalty
• Inability to contextualize
• He wants historians to know laws governing structure of human society
• A scientific approach towards the understanding of historical changes
254
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 Ibn Khaldun (1332 – 1406)
• Methods of History
• Events should not be explained as accidents of nature and great changes not
as divine intervention
• Base your conclusions on strictly empirical evidence, observations and
experiences
• While looking for causes of historical changes
• Look into different social and cultural conditions of people under study

• Study of sociology prelude to the study of history

• There are sociological laws that govern the course of history
255
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 Ibn Khaldun (1332 – 1406)
• Laws of Sociology
• Social phenomena seem to obey laws which cause social changes
• A grasp of these laws helps to understand social processes
• These laws operate in terms of masses not individuals
• They are conditioned by the social environment in which they are placed
• These laws can be determined by gathering social data
• It is gathered from two sources
• Faithful records of past events
• Careful observation of present ones
• Same laws operate in societies with similar structures
• Even if they may be separated in space and time
• Societies are dynamic
• Social forms evolve and change
• Change is due to the contact of different people, cultures and groups
• These laws have their own unique nature
• They are specifically sociological laws

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 256

 Ibn Khaldun (1332 – 1406)
• Dangers of Philosophy and its Limitations
i. Logic
• Ibn Rushd had given logic the highest place in the domain of knowledge

• Khaldun puts logic down from this high place and calls it merely and auxiliary device

• Logic at its best sharpens the mind of a student

• Feels sorry that so much time in educational institutions is given to study of logic

• Logic only helps in knowing what is not true but not what is true

• It does not give positive knowledge about any particular branch of study
• For that we have to resort to observations and experiences

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 257

 Ibn Khaldun (1332 – 1406)
• Dangers of Philosophy and its Limitations
ii. Dialectics
• Use of reason and rhetoric to establish the truth of religious dogmas

• Like logic, it is an instrumental science and performs merely a negative function

• Ilm-al-Kalam was only a weapon of defense against atheists and non-muslims who attached
doctrines of Islam
• It can disprove arguments against these doctrines but cannot establish truth of these doctrines

• It should not be supposed to prove the truths of religion for that is beyond the scope of
logical argumentation

• Dialecticians show mastery in words and skills rather than seeking the truth
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 258
 Ibn Khaldun (1332 – 1406)
• Dangers of Philosophy and its Limitations
iii. Dangers and Fallacies of Philosophy
• In Prolegomena, Khaldun declares Philosophy to be dangerous to religion
• These dangers are mainly due to various presumptions and prepossessions of
Philosophers , which are indeed false:
i. Reconciling Philosophy and Religion
• It has been the hope of all Muslim Philosophers
• Both Religion and Philosophy give us the same truth with difference in terms of
language
• Stating that Philosophers are competent to understand the truths of religion is highly
presumtous
• Khaldun warns Philosohers to be aware of the limitations of their methods which is
nothing but concept formation and abstract reasoning
• These methods can never reach the ultimate truth independently of religion
• They can’t fully understand religious truth which is a matter of inner intuition i.e. living
experience than abstract conceptualization
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 259
 Ibn Khaldun (1332 – 1406)
• Dangers of Philosophy and its Limitations
iii. Dangers and Fallacies of Philosophy
• In Prolegomena, Khaldun declares Philosophy to be dangerous to religion
• These dangers are mainly due to various presumptions and prepossessions of Philosophers , which are
indeed false:
ii. Salvation of Human Soul is possible merely through abstract Philosophical cogitation
• Like Greek masters, Muslim Philosophers opined that true happiness and salvation of soul lies in abstract
philosophical contemplation
• Khaldun says it is contrary to actual experience
• Philosophical quest leads nowhere, it creates confusion and takes us away from religion
• Criticizes those who study Ibn Sina for healing and deliverance
• Many waste their time in studying Ibn Rushd which entangles them in an impossible task of disentangling
the knots of philosophy

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 260

 Ibn Khaldun (1332 – 1406)
• Dangers of Philosophy and its Limitations
iii. Dangers and Fallacies of Philosophy
• In Prolegomena, Khaldun declares Philosophy to be dangerous to religion
• These dangers are mainly due to various presumptions and prepossessions of Philosophers ,
which are indeed false:
iii. In the graded series of emanations, God is directly related to first item of series (First Intelligence)
• Khaldun suspects it to be without any logical or empirical base
• Relating God directly to first item of series and world to the last item of series creates a gulf
between God and the world
• The advocates a curious brand of materialism
• It is to say that world has evolved from primal matter rather than God’s act of creation

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 261

 Ibn Khaldun (1332 – 1406)
• Dangers of Philosophy and its Limitations
iv. Metaphysics
• Khaldun believes metaphysics to be an impossibility
• Knowledge of phenomenal world is based upon perceptual experiences
• Knowledge gained through this way is limited because of capacity of sense-organs
• The deaf and blind would deny the reality of these experiences

• The range of our perceptual experiences is limited

• There may exist beings who are better equipped for knowledge of things, both in range and
quality
• The possibility of existence of such beings can be due to biological evolution in view of
Khaldun Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 262
 Ibn Khaldun (1332 – 1406)
• Dangers of Philosophy and its Limitations
iv. Metaphysics
• Through reasoning we form concepts out of a number of precepts
• This also involves the process of analysis and synthesis

• Finally when we reach the most general and simplest of concepts, essence and substance,
human reason comes to limit
• It can’t go beyond and explain this mystery

• Through reasoning we find causal connections between things and trace a chain of causes
and effects
• These connections increase due to higher intelligence of a particular person
• For example game of Chess
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 263
 Ibn Khaldun (1332 – 1406)
• Dangers of Philosophy and its Limitations
iv. Metaphysics
• In this whole universe, things are bound by causes and effects

• At the first cause, Reason comes to its limits, Philosophers identify first cause with God

• Incompetence becomes apparent when they try to explain nature and attributes of God
• This is like trying to weigh a whole mountain with the help of goldsmith’s pair of scales

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 264

 Shah Waliullah (1703 – 1762)

• Qutb al-Din Ahmad

• Hujjat Allah al-Balighah

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 265

 Shah Waliullah (1703 – 1762)
• Socio-Economic and Political Thought
• Attempted to find out the relationship between social, ethical, and economic
systems.
• Spirituality has two aspects
• First, it is a personal relation of man to God,
• Secondly, it is man’s relation to his fellow-beings.
• No man is fully spiritual who seeks only his own personal salvation in isolation
from society.
• It is only in the social setup that the spirituality of an individual is expressed.
• Islam, therefore, seldom deals with the individual as an individual; it always
envisages him as a member of a family or a community.
• Thus, the achievement of social justice is a prerequisite for the development
of the individual.
• How this ideal of social justice can be formulated and realized is a question that Shah
Wali Allah has taken up in great detail in Hujjat Allah al-Balighah.
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 266
 Shah Waliullah (1703 – 1762)
• Socio-Economic and Political Thought
• Man has innumerable wants that urge him to action.
• The satisfaction of human wants leads to the origination of a society and its
values.
• When human beings join hands for collective safety and security, the government is
formed
• When they come into contact with one another for the satisfaction of their material
needs, the economic system is established.
• The basic quality of a sound system, be it social, economic, or political, is the
balanced relationship amongst the different members of a social group.
• This balanced relationship is a reflection of inward peace and of a sound relationship
with the Creator.

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 267

 Shah Waliullah (1703 – 1762)
• Socio-Economic and Political Thought
• Social system is a dynamic process.
• For example: Language
• It is not only a vehicle of expression, but is also an important factor for the development of culture
and civilization.
• For Example: Agriculture
• Provides food for the people. In this process man learns the art of irrigation; he also domesticates
the animals and is benefited by them in hundred and one ways.
• For Example: Houses
• Built in order to safeguard the human race against the inclemency of weather and seasons.
• All further development depends on the establishment of a State. The more
uncultured a social group is, the more does it stand in need of a coercive power to
exercise a proper check.
• State should not restrict the sphere of its activities only to the safety and security of the
individuals,
• Should also devise ways and means for the happiness and progress of society as a whole.
• It is, therefore, within the functions of the State to eradicate all sorts of social evils, e.g.,
gambling, adultery, usury, bribery, etc.

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 268

 Shah Waliullah (1703 – 1762)
• Socio-Economic and Political Thought
• In this connection Shah Wali Allah points out also a great misconception that
is common among the Muslims.
• Most of them believe that poverty is loved by God and hence no good Muslim should
make an effort to become rich.

• Such a view is erroneous. The simple living that comes from self-contentment is
fundamentally different from the abject poverty to which the weaker groups are often
subjected by the ruling classes.

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 269

 Shah Waliullah (1703 – 1762)
• Philosophy of History
• History is not a series of mere accidents
• there is always a purpose behind them.
• The essential task of a historian is to study that inner process of thought, that underlying
motive of action, which works behind the social change.
• Humanity is ever-growing and, thus, faces new problems at every step.
• There is a developing design in the universe and not simply an endless repetition of
the same old pattern.
• Though there is a complete agreement of prophets with regard to the basic import of
the divine revelation, yet they differ with one another in the matter of the special
codes which they presented in the forms that suited the needs of their times.
“Every nation is accustomed to a certain mode of worship, and has a political and social pattern of
its own. When a prophet is sent to the people by God, he does not replace the old order by an
absolutely new one. He, on the other hand, allows those customs to continue which do not
contravene the will of God and effects necessary changes in all those patterns where these
alterations are essential.”

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 270

 Shah Waliullah (1703 – 1762)
• Metaphysics
• Doctrines of Wahdat al-Wujud and Wahdat al-Shahood
• He tried to reconcile the views of ibn Arabi and those of Mujaddid Alf Thani.
Ibn Arabi: (Wahdat-ul-Wajood)
• There are two different senses in which the term “Being” may be
understood.
• First, it may be taken epistemologically as the cognized form or idea of existence
• Secondly, it may be taken ontologically to stand for that which exists or subsists and
not for the idea of it.
• Tauhid or the unity of Being may, therefore, mean either the unity of the
mystically cognized existence or existence per se.
• When he says that all existence is one, he means that all existence is at
source one, that is to say, that God is the one source and cause of all that
has being.
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 271
 Shah Waliullah (1703 – 1762)
• There is an identity of God and universe on the basis of the identity of His
“existence and essence” or substance and attribute, the world being only
a tajalli or manifestation of His attributes.
• In other words, the creation of the world is a form of emanation.
• Ibn Arabi believes that the act of creation by the word “Be” (kun) is nothing
but the descent of the Creator into the being of things.
• Ontologically there is only one reality. It has two aspects:
• (1) a reality transcending the phenomenal world
• (2) a multiplicity of subjectivities that find their ultimate ground and explanation in
the essential unity of the Real.
• We can, thus, sum up ibn Arabi’s whole philosophical thought in the two
propositions
• (1) in God existence and essence or being and attributes are identical
• (2) the world is nothing but a reflection or emanation, or mode of His attributes only.
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 272
 Shah Waliullah (1703 – 1762)
Sheikh Ahmed Sirhind: (Wahdat-ul-Shahood)
• Unity of God & the World is only subjective (in the mind)
• God and creation are not identical; rather, the latter is a shadow or
reflection of the Divine’s Name and Attributes
• Shaikh Ahmad also bitterly criticizes the doctrine of determinism that is a
natural corollary of the doctrine of wahdat al-wujud.
• He believes that man has been afforded opportunity by God to exercise his
freedom in a sphere of life where he may accept or reject a certain line of
action according to his own choice.
• Should he be a mere puppet, as he is according to the inherent logic of ibn Arabi’s
pantheism, he cannot be justifiably rewarded or punished for his good and evil
deeds.
• The idea of reward and punishment presupposes a world of free and
responsible moral agents who can adopt or reject a certain course of
action.
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 273
 Shah Waliullah (1703 – 1762)
• According to Shah Wali Allah, there is no substantial difference between
the philosophy of wahdat al-wujud and that of wahdat al-shuhud
• The difference is nothing but an illusion.
• The world is not an attribute or emanation of attributes but consists of
non-emanative modes of attributes.
• These modes look real, but in truth their reality lies only in Being.
• Example:
• Let us make a horse, a donkey, and a man out of wax. This wax is common to all of them
although their forms differ from one another. We call these forms, moulded out of wax, a
horse, a donkey, and a man. If we reflect deeply we find that these forms are only modes of
their being and their being is nothing but the wax.
• There is no essential difference between the doctrines of ibn Arabi and
those of the Mujaddid.
• To say that the essence of the contingent beings are the names and attributes of the
necessary being differentiated in the conceptual, as ibn Arabi holds, or to say that
the contingent beings are the attributes of the Necessary Being reflected in their
existence as the Mujaddid maintains, is practically the same.

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 274

 Shah Waliullah (1703 – 1762)
• Criticism of Taqlid
• There is a consensus of opinion amongst the majority of ‘ulama’ that taqlid is
essential.
• No one can have any objection to the concept of taqlid; but I neither look upon any Imam as
infallible, nor do I believe that his judgments were revealed to him by God Himself and so are
obligatory for us.

• When we follow a certain Imam we do so on the explicit understanding that he was

possessed of a deep insight into the teachings of the Quran and the Sunnah and his
findings were drawn from the Quran and the Sunnah
• Had it not been so, we would not have attached any importance to them.
• It would be the height of misfortune to give priority to the reasoning of man over the
command of the God.
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 275
 Shah Waliullah (1703 – 1762)
• Criticism of Taqlid
• Shah Wali Allah was fully aware of the gap between the pattern of life as enunciated
in the Quran and the Sunnah and the one which the Muslims had devised for
themselves,
• The gap between the social and political institutions the framework of which had been
supplied by Islam and the institutions which the Muslims had developed and set up for
themselves in the course of history.

• Nevertheless, Shah Wali Allah keenly realized that it unwise to think that the
Muslims could afford to live usefully on the pattern of life accepted as valid in the
past, under the illusion that it would remain valid for all times to come.
276
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Philosophy
• Suspects all authority

• Critical free thinking

• Religion
• Faith
• Faith is more than feeling

• Has a cognitive content

• Religious experience
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 277
 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)

• Religion is in need of rational foundations

• Not to give Philosophy a superiority over religion

• Religion is an expression of whole man

• Philosophy can evaluate religion

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 278

 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Thought
• Grasps reality piecemeal
• Temporal aspect of reality

• Intuition
• Grasps reality as a whole
• Eternal aspect of reality

• Thought and Intuition not opposed to each other

• Intuition is only a higher kind of intellect
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 279
 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Greek Philosophy obscured vision of Muslims regarding Quran
• Socrates & Plato > opposed to sense-experience
• Quran recommends it
• Ghazali revolted and based religion on philosophical skepticism
• Not justified by Quran
• Ibn Rushd gave immortality of active intellect
• Opposed to Quranic view of value and destiny of human ego
• Asharite Movement
• Defended orthodox opinion through Greek dialectics
• Mutazilites
• Reduced religion to a mere system of logical concepts ending in purely negative attitude
• They did not consider non-conceptual modes of approaching reality
• Complete independence of thought from concrete experience not possible
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 280
 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Equates Ghazali with Kant
• German rationalism
• Rationalism appeared an ally of religion

• Dogma of religion not capable of demonstration

• Eliminate dogma from sacred record

• Gave rise to utilitarian view of morality

• Rationalism’s reign of unbelief

• State of theological thought in Germany before Kant

• Kant showed the limitations of Human reason
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 281
 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Equates Ghazali with Kant
• Ghazali did the same work by breaking the shackles of rationalism
• But he moved to mystic experience to find knowledge of God
• Secured right of religion to exist independently of science and metaphysics

• Revelation of total infinite in mystic experience

• Convinced him of finitude and inconclusiveness of thought

• Made him differentiate between though and intuition

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 282

 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Ghazali failed to see the organic relationship between the two
• Thought necessarily must stimulate finitude and inconclusiveness due to
existence in serial time
• Mistaken notion about movement of thought in knowledge
• Thought is finite and unable to capture infinite
• Fault in logic
• Logical understanding finds no prospect for the reduction of
multiplicity of mutually repellant individualities into a unity
• Makes us skeptical of conclusiveness of thought
• Cannot see multiplicity as a coherent universe

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 283

 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Thought is capable of reaching infinite
• In the self-unfolding movement of infinite, various finite concepts are merely
moments
• Thought is not static but dynamic
• Unfolds its internal infinitude in time

• Thought is the whole in its dynamic self-expression

• Appears to the temporal vision as a series of definite specifications which can be
understood by a reciprocal reference
• Their meaning lies not in their self-identity but in the large whole of which they are the
specific aspects Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 284
 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• The whole is a kind of preserved tablet (Loh-e-Qalam)
• Holds up the entire undetermined possibilities of knowledge as a present
reality
• Revealing itself in serial time as a succession of finite concepts appearing to
reach a unity which is already present in them
• Presence of total infinite in the movement of knowledge that makes
finite thinking possible
• Both Kant and Ghazali failed to see that thought, in the very act of knowledge,
passes beyond its own finitude
• Finitudes of thought cannot remain restricted to its own individuality
• Progressive participation in the life of alien
• Demolishes finitude and enjoys infinitude
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 285
 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Modern times
• Intellect of man is outgrowing its own most fundamental categories – time,
space, causality
• Due to scientific advancements

• Desire in Muslims to reorient Islam

• Need to study European thought and learn

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 286

 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)

• Purpose of Quran
• Awaken in man the higher consciousness of his manifold relations with God
and the universe

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 287

 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
“Do not vilify time, for time is God” (Hadith)
• Immensity of time and space
• Carries in it the promise of complete subjugation by man
• Whose duty is to reflect on the signs of God
• Discover the means of realizing his conquest of nature as an actual fact
• Man is a creative activity
• In an onward march
• If he does not take initiative, he will be reduced to a dead matter
• Quran: universe has a serious end

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 288

 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Religious Experience
• Historically considered a better source of divine knowledge than other experiences

• Quran emphasizes equal value of all experiences to gain knowledge of ultimate

reality
• Reveals its symbols both within and without

• Indirect way
• Reflective observation and control of symbols as they reveal themselves to sense-perception

• Direct way
• Direct association as it reveals itself within

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 289

 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Complete vision of reality = Sense-perception + perception of heart (inner
intuition)

• In mystic experience, the dichotomy between subject and object ceases to exist
• Mystic experience more like feeling than thought
• Inarticulate feeling

• Two parts of inner experience: Feeling (non-temporal) & idea (temporal)

• Quran regards experience within and without as symbolic of a reality described

by it

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 290

 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)

• How to know the veracity of religious experience

• Intellectual test
• Critical interpretation

• Does interpretation leads to the reality revealed by religious experience?

• Done by Philosopher

• Pragmatic test
• Judge by its fruits

• Done by Prophet
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 291
 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)

• The Philosophical Test

• The 3 arguments for the existence of God
• These arguments look at thought as an agency working on things from without

• It is possible to take thought as a potency which is formative of the very being of its material

• Thought or idea is not alien to the original nature of things

• Ultimate ground and constitutes the very essence of their being

• Infusing itself in them from the beginning

• Inspiring their onward march to a self-determined end

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 292

 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Every act of human knowledge bifurcates a unity into
• A self that knows
• A confronting other that is known
• We regard this object as external to and independent of the self whose act of knowledge
makes no difference to the object known

• Experience unfolding itself in time presents 3 main levels

• Level of matter > Physics
• Level of Life > Biology
• Level of mind & consciousness > Psychology
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 293
 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Matter
• Physics deals with facts of experience > sense-perception
• Physicists study the material perceivable world
• Mental processes involved in this study are excluded from the scope of the study
• They are part of total range of experiences
• We perceive qualities of things through sense data
• Putting an interpretation on the evidence of our senses
• Distinguishing between a thing and its qualities
• Theory of matter
• Relation of sense-data with perceiver
• Matter has real qualities which cause the formation of sense objects
• Berkeley refuted theory of matter
• Perceptions are illusions

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 294

 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)

• Traditional theory of matter must be rejected

• Reduces the evidence of our senses to the impressions of observer’s mind

• Creates a gulf between Nature and Observer

• Bridged by the physicist by hypothesizing an imperceptible entity, occupying an absolute
space and causing sensation by some kind of impact

• Theory reduces one-half of nature to a dream (impressions) and the other

half to conjecture (nature of matter)

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 295

 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Objects are not subjective states but genuine phenomena
• Constitute the very substance of nature

• Theory of relativity done the greatest harm to the notion of matter

• Matter not a persistent thing but a system of inter-related events

• Nature is not a static fact situated in an a-dynamic void

• A structure of events possessing the character of a continuous creative flow
• Thought cuts it up into isolated immobilities
• Out of their mutual correlation arise the concepts of Space and time
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 296
 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Materiality arose out of Newtonian Physics
• Today science has shown that pure materiality is unworkable

• Zeno
• No motion in universe
• Reduction to the absurd
• Mathematical infinity
• Space is infinitely divisible
• Movement is a deceptive appearance
• Reality is one and immutable
• Unreality of movement = unreality of independent space
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 297
 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Cantor’s theory of mathematical continuity
• Space and time are continuous
• Not infinite number of points and instants as assumed by Zeno
• Between 2 points in space, there are infinite points
• But no 2 points are next to each other in infinite series
• Compactness of points in series
• No Gap

• Reality of movement = Independent reality of space

• Objectivity of nature
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 298
 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Mathematical conception of continuity as infinite series applies not to
the movement but rather to the picture of movement as viewed from
the outside
• Act of movement (lived not thought) does not admit of any divisibility
• Einstein
• Space is real but relative to observer
• Space, mass, size change with observer’s position and speed
• Movement and rest too are relative to observer
• No self-subsistent materiality
• Space-time frame does not depend on observer’s mind
• Depends on the point of the material universe to which his body is attached
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 299
 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Ultimate character of reality is spiritual
• Theory of relativity only deals with structure of things and give no explanation for ultimate
nature of things which possess that structure

• Philosophical value of the theory

• Destroys materialism but not the objectivity of nature
• Substance is a system of inter-related events

• Makes space dependent on matter

• Not infinite space
• Finite but boundless
• No empty space
• Absence of matter = space would shrink to a point
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 300
 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Theory gives unreality of time
• Takes time as 4th dimension
• Future already given
• No free creative movement of time
• Events do not happen, we meet them
• Theory neglects certain characteristics of time as experienced by us
• Einstein’s time is not equal to Bergson’s pure duration
• Einstein’s time is not equal to Kant’s serial time
• If mathematical time is serial time then effect can precede cause
• Time regarded as 4th dimension ceases to be time
301
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Ouspensky in Tertium Organum
• 4th dimension is the movement of 3-dim figure in a direction not contained in itself
• Time is the distance separating events in order of succession and binding them in different wholes
• Time is a distance lying in a direction not contained in 3-dim space
• That distance is incommensurable with the dimensions of 3-dim space
• It is perpendicular to all directions of 3-dim space & not parallel to any of them
• One-, two-, and three-dimensional beings would always see the higher dimension as succession in time
• Time is an imperfectly sensed space-dimension which in its own nature does not differ from the
perfectly sensed dimensions of Euclidean space
• Time is not a genuine creative movement
• Future already given

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 302

 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Ouspensky in Tertium Organum
• But Ouspensky needs a serial time for a fresh direction
• He treats time as succession in one argument and a dimension in another

• Because of serial character, he was able to regard time as a new direction in space

• If that is illusion, how can it fulfill the requirement of original dimension

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 303

 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Life & Consciousness
• Consciousness = Deflection from Life
• Provides light to enlighten the forward rush of life

• A state of self-concentration by means of which life manages to shut out all memories
and associations which have no bearing on a present action

• Not a by-product of brain activity

• An independent activity

• Knowledge is systematized expression of consciousness

• Spiritual energy reveals itself through it

304
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)

• Previous belief
• All problems were problems of Physics
• Energy and atoms could explain everything (Life, thought, Will, Feeling)

• Newton & Darwin

• Concept of Mechanism
• A purely physical concept

• An all-embracing explanation of nature

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 305

 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Question
• Whether the passage of reality through the revelations of sense-perception
necessarily leads to a view of reality essentially opposed to the view that
religion takes of its ultimate character?
• Science is not a single systematic view of reality
• Sectional views of reality
• Fragments of total experience
• No answer to how matter, life, and mind are related to each other
• Total human experience excluded as a subject of science
• Religion not concerned with sectional views of reality
• Demands whole of reality
• Natural science cannot set up its theory as a complete view of reality
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 306
 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Concepts we use in the organization of knowledge are sectional in
character
• Their application is relative to the level of experience to which they are applied
• Concept of cause
• Essential feature: priority to effect
• It is relative to the subject-matter of physical science which studies one special kind of activity
to the exclusion of other forms of activity observed by others

• When we rise to the level of life and mind

• Concept of cause fail us
• Need of concepts of a different order of thought
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 307
 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Action of living organisms is totally different to causal actions
• Former are initiated and planned in view of an end

• Need to review the concepts of end and purpose

• Act from within, while cause acts from without

• Behavior of the organism is essentially a matter of inheritance

• Incapable of sufficient explanation in terms of molecular physics

• Concept of mechanism has been applied to life

• Some phenomenon within living body cannot be explained by mechanics such as self-
maintenance and reproduction
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 308
 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Stating an event in mechanical terms mean
• A necessary result of simple properties of separate interacting parts
• Interacting parts have definite properties and they always react in the same way under
same conditions
• For a mechanical explanation, reacting parts must first be given
• Self-reproducing or self-maintaining mechanism is meaningless
• No mechanism in the process of reproduction
• Reconstituted at each generation
• Parent organism reproduced from tiny speck of its own body
• No parts that interact to make the mechanism of reproduction
• Life is a unique phenomenon
• Concept of mechanism inadequate for analysis
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 309
 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Life possesses a career
• Purposive processes of growth and adaptation to its environment
• Adaptation in the form of fresh or modification of old habits

• Unthinkable in the case of a machine

• Possession of a career implies that sources of its activity can be explained

in reference to a remote past
• Origin of that past must be sought in a spiritual reality revealable, but non-
discoverable by, any analysis of spatial experience
• Life is foundational and earlier than the routine of physical and chemical processes
• physical and chemical processes are fixed behavior formed through evolution
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 310
 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Application of mechanistic concepts to life leads to the view that intellect is
a product of evolution
• Intellect = mode of comprehending reality

• If intellect is evolution of life

• Concept of life must be a more concrete activity rather than an abstract mechanical
movement
• Intellect would not be absolute rather relative to the activity of that which has
evolved it
• How can science exclude subjective aspect of knowing and build on the objective
presentation as an absolute?
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 311
 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• How to define ultimate nature of existence
• Conscious experience is that case of existence in which we are in absolute contact with
reality
• Analyze that case

• Existence divided into set of changes

• Nothing static in inner life
• Unceasing flux of states
• No halt
• But constant change unthinkable without time
• Conscious experience = life in time

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 312

 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Conscious experience has two sides
• Efficient side
• Self enters into a relation with space > outward

• Practical self of daily life

• Self lives outside of itself

• Discloses itself as a series of specific & numerable states

• Time of this self is like a straight line composed of spatial points

• Not true time (Bergson)

• Existence is specialized time is spurious existence

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 313

 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Conscious experience has two sides
• Appreciative side (ego)
• Difficult to catch a glimpse
• Only in profound meditation
• Efficient self is absent
• Sink into deeper self and reach inner center of experience
• In the life-process of this deeper ego, states of consciousness melt into each other
• Qualitative states
• Change and movement indivisible
• Non-serial
• Time: single ‘Now’
• Pure duration unadulterated by Space
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 314
 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Language is shaped on serial time of efficient self
• Impossible to express inner experience of pure duration

• Pure time is an organic whole

• Past is not left behind but moves along with present
• Future is given to it in the sense that it is present in its nature as an open possibility

• Quarnic ‘Taqdir (Destiny)’ = Time as organic whole

• Time regarded as prior to the disclosure of its possibilities
• Time freed from causal sequences
• Time as self and not as thought and calculated
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 315
 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Nature of reality
• Infinite possibilities of becoming
• Two possibilities known as the lives of Humayun and Pasha should realize themselves
together (Destiny)

• Time regarded as Destiny form the essence of things

• It is not an unrelenting fate working from without
• Realizable possibilities
• Serially actualize themselves without any feeling of external compulsion
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 316
 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Organic wholeness of Duration does not mean fixed events
• Every moment in the life of reality is original
• Novel and unforeseeable
• Creative activity is free activity
• Creation opposed to repetition (mechanical action)
• Impossible to explain creative activity of life in terms of mechanism
• Science cannot comprehend life

• Universe is a free creative movement

• Universe is not a solid stuff occupying a void
• Not a thing but an act
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 317
 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Thought has a deeper movement also
• Appears to breakup reality into fragments
• Real function: Synthesize the elements of experience by employing categories
suitable to the various levels of experience
• Thought also organic
• Movement of life as an organic growth
• Progressive synthesis of various stages
• Determined by ends
• Permeated by intelligence
• In conscious experience life and though permeate each other (unity)
• Thought identical with life
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 318
 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Unity of consciousness has a forward aspect
• Life is a series of acts of attention
• Act of attention inexplicable without reference to a purpose
• Notion of purpose cannot be understood except in reference to the future
• Purpose reveals future direction
• Anticipate and influence the states that are yet to be

• Past and future operate in the present state of consciousness

• Reality is teleological
• Progressive formation of fresh purposes and values as the process of life grows and
expands
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 319
 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• We become by ceasing to be what we are
• Movement of universe in time devoid of a foreseen end
• Gives originality and creativeness
• Its ends are terminations of a career
• A time-process = A line in the drawing
• Actualization of open possibilities
• According to Quran
• Universe is liable to increase
• Ultimate reality is a pure duration in which thought, life, and purpose
interpenetrate to form an organic unity
• Nature is organic to the ultimate self (God)
• Nature is to the Divine self as character is to the human self
• Knowledge of nature is knowledge of God’s behavior
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 320
 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Perfect Man VS Superman
• Nietzsche’s concept of superman is independent of the concept of god
• Iqbal adds spirituality to the idea
• Iqbal wanted the perfect man to be the union of eastern and western values
• Perfect man is the realization of highest possibility of being and the spiritual
element makes him the crown of the universe
• The perfect man revealed himself in prophetic grace and Iqbal’s view of
perfect man (superman) was a combination of Nietzsche and the prophet of
Islam.
• Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH) is a complete and perfect man who inspired
history, culture and entire humanity
• The perfect man’s arm is really god’s arm, dominant and angle like in
disposition, a servant with the master’s attributes
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 321
 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Perfect Man VS Superman
• Iqbal’s perfect man unlike Nietzsche’s superman is not a master over lesser man.
• He is in essence a spiritual being realizing himself in space and time and can be apprehended
as a living force, possessing rights and duties in the social organism to which he belongs

• He is the average man who fortifies his ego by a self-imposed physical and spiritual
discipline
• Thereby rises above his present state creating a new world infinitely in meaning and
possibilities

• Iqbal’s perfect man is thus a developed personality who has earned complete and
true freedom as well as immortality
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 322
 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Idea of Ijtihad
• Iqbal did not regard any independent judgment to be ijtihad
• He believed that it must be exercised by those who have knowledge and whose character can
be fully relied upon

• Certain qualifications as follows;

• 1. Knowledge of Islam, deep understanding of the ultimate aims of its ideology, institutions
and politics.
• 2. Understanding of the modern problems that beset the Muslim world.
• 3. Closeness to the Prophet’s way and understanding of his methods and approach.
• 4. Reliable moral character so that decisions may be looked upon with respect.
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 323
 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Idea of Ijtihad
• A committee of people should be formed which includes Islamic scholars as
well as those who have a good knowledge of contemporary problems and
possess true Islamic character.
• Through their combined efforts, they will be able to make some contributions
to the reconstruction of the Islamic law as well as fulfilling on an important
need of society
• Proposed the idea of transforming the right of ijtihad from individuals to a
legislative assembly
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 324
 Allama Iqbal (1877 – 1938)
• Idea of Ijtihad
• Four sources of ijtihad; Quran, hadith, ijma’, and qiyas

• All those sources contain within them the potentialities of evolution when
meeting new situations

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 325

 Muslim Philosophy (Past Paper Questions)
• Al-Farabi (2018- Short Note)
• Write an essay on Ibn-e-Sina’s theory of knowledge (2020)
• How did Ghazali refute the Philosophers’ argument about Eternity of the Universe?
(2017)
• Al-Ghazali (2018-Short Note)
• Ghazali’s criticism of the Philosophers (2019-Short Note)
• Al Ghazali’s views on religious sciences (2022-Short Note)
• Ibn Rushid (2017-Short Note)
• Shah Walliullah as a Reformer (2016-Short Note)
• Ibn Khaldun (2017-Short Note)
• Shah Walliullah’s criticism of Taqlid (2022-Short Note)
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 326
Ethics
 Philosophy CSS Syllabus

6. Ethics:
• What is morality? The challenge of cultural relativism: Does morality depend
on religion. Psychological and ethical egoism: Virtue Ethics (Aristotle), Moral
Absolutism (Kant), Utilitarianism (Mill), Social Contract Theory.

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 328

 Ethics

• Branch of Philosophy that studies morality, or right and wrong

behavior

• Metaethics
• Ask questions like
• What is morality?
• What is its nature?
• Is it just opinion?
• How do we get values?
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 329
 Ethics

Metaethics

Moral Moral Anti-

Realism Realism
Moral Facts exist Moral Facts don’t exist

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 330

 Moral Realism
• The belief that there are moral facts in the same way that there are
scientific facts
• Any moral proposition can only be true or false

• Grounding Problem
• Search for a foundation for our moral values

• Something solid that would make them true in a way that is clear, objective
and unmoving

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 331

 Moral Realism
1. Moral Absolutism
• There are absolute standards against which moral questions can be judged

2. Moral Relativism
• More than one moral position on a given topic can be correct

3. Cultural Relativism
• People’s moral beliefs and/or moral facts differ from culture to culture
• Were the Nazi right?
• Does moral progress exist?
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 332
 Moral Anti-Realism
• The belief that moral propositions don’t refer to objective features of
the world at all
• There are no moral facts

• Moral Subjectivism
• Moral statements can be true or false, right or wrong, but they refer only to
people’s attitudes, rather than their actions
• Example: Capital Punishment
• Neither right nor wrong but depends on people’s preferences
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 333
 Ethical Theories

Natural Law Kant’s Moral

Utilitarianism Virtue Ethics
Theory Absolutism

Divine Command
Theory Contractarianism

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 334

 The Divine Command Theory
• The belief that what’s moral and immoral is commanded by the divine
• Oldest and most widely held ethical theory
• It solves the grounding problem
• Every ethical system needs some kind of foundation and with the divine
command theory it is God
• Dilemma : Plato’s Euthyphro Problem
• Are right actions right because God commands them?
• Makes morality arbitrary
• Are right actions commanded by God because they are right
• Values not given by God
• How do we know what God commands?
335
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 Natural Law Theory
• Thomas Acquinas argued that God created the world according to natural
laws
• Predictable, goal-oriented systems whereby life is sustained and everything functions
smoothly
“Morality is important for everyone and being a good person is a vital part of
God’s plans” (Acquinas)
• Basic goods according to Acquinas
• Life
• Educate one’s offspring
• Reproduction
• Seek God
• Avoid offense
• Shun ignorance
• Live in society
• Grounding
• Morality grounded in God who gave the moral order
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 336
 Natural Law Theory
• Right acts are those in accordance with natural law
• My life valuable > Your life is like mine > Your life valuable> I shouldn’t
kill you
• Do not kill is a natural law

Prohibition The Basic Good Positive injunction

Do not kill Life Promote Life
Don’t prevent Reproduction Procreate

• People violate natural law due to emotions and ignorance

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 337

 Natural Law Theory
• Criticism
• Not valid for atheists

• David Hume’s “Is-Ought Problem”

• It is fallacious to assume that just because something is a certain way, it ought to be that
way

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 338

 Kant’s Moral Absolutism
• There are absolute standards against which moral questions can be judged

• Right action is the one guided by reason

• Morals are universal and not dependent on different religious injunctions

• Morality was constant in a mathematical sense

• Actions are inherently moral or immoral regardless of the beliefs and goals of the individual,
society or culture that engages in actions

• Deontological
• Actions are morally right because of the intentions which must be derived from the sense of duty
• Moral worth exists only when an action is done from a sense of duty and not out of inclination or any other
reason

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 339

 Kant’s Moral Absolutism

• Hypothetical Imperatives
• They are the commands that you should follow if you want something
• Want an A > ought to study

• Don’t want an A > shouldn’t study

• Morality is not guided by hypothetical imperatives

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 340

 Kant’s Moral Absolutism

• Categorical Imperatives
• Morality is guided by categorical imperatives

• These are the commands you must follow regardless of your desire

• Moral obligations are derived from pure reason

• Moral law is binding on all of us

• Categorical imperative is ‘a priori’ as well as ‘synthetic’

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 341

 Kant’s Moral Absolutism

• Categorical Imperatives
• It has 3 formulations

i. The Universalizability Principle

• Act only according to that maxim (general rule) which you can at the same time will that
it should become a universal law without contradiction

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 342

 Kant’s Moral Absolutism

• Categorical Imperatives
ii. The Formula for Humanity
• Act so that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or in that of another, always
as an end and never as a mere means
• Humans are ‘end in themselves’
• We are not mere objects that exist to be used by others
• We are our own ends
• We are rational and autonomous
• We have the ability to set our own goals and work towards them
• This imbues us with an absolute moral worth which means we shouldn’t be manipulated
or manipulate other autonomous agents for our own benefit
• Example: lying is not okay because we don’t remain autonomous to make decisions using
right information
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 343
 Kant’s Moral Absolutism

• Categorical Imperatives
iii. The Kingdom of Ends
• Therefore, every rational being must act as if he were through his maxim always a
legislating member in a universal kingdom of ends

• Imaginary state where laws protect individual autonomy

• Everyone should act as if everyone else was following the categorical imperatives

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 344

 Kant’s Moral Absolutism

• Criticism
• How we come to know what absolute morals are?

• For morals to be truly absolute they would have to have a universally

unquestioned source, interpretation and authority

• Sheer diversity of moral opinions that exists among societies

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 345

 Utilitarianism
• JS Mill & Jeremy Bentham
• A moral theory that focuses on the results or consequences of our actions
• Treats intentions as irrelevant
• Actions should be measured in terms of the happiness or pleasure that they
produce
• Ethical worth of an action measured in terms of its utility value or usefulness
• Utilitarian agree that a moral theory should apply equally to everyone
• Grounding
• Desire to seek pleasure and avoid pain
• Hedonistic theory
• Good = Pleasure
• Not egoistic which says that everyone ought to pursue their own good
• Utilitarianism is other-regarding
• Pursue pleasure for as many as possible
346
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 Utilitarianism
• Principle of Utility
• We should act always so as to produce the greatest good for the greatest
number
• Two types
• Act Utilitarianism
• In any given situation, you should choose the action that produces the greatest good for
the greatest number
• Rule Utilitarianism
• We ought to live by rules that, in general, are likely to lead to the greatest good for the
greatest number
• Allows to refrain from acts that might maximize utility in the short run. Instead follow
rules that will maximize utility for the majority of time

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 347

 Virtue Ethics

• Aristotle

• Emphasizes an individual’s character rather than following a set of rules

• If we can just focus on being good people, the right actions will follow

• Having virtue means doing the right thing, at the right time, in the right
way, in the right amount, toward the right people

• Virtue is a practical wisdom

• A skill, a way of living that can only be learned through experience
348
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 Virtue Ethics
• Question is not what ought to be but what kind of a person one ought
to be

• Through this theory man gets Eudaimonia

• A life well lived. Human flourishing

• A life of striving, pushing yourself to limits to find success

Vice Virtue Vice

Deficiency Golden Mean Excess
Cowardice Courage Recklessness
349
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 Virtue Ethics
• What is best for human beings?
• We are asking what the good for human beings is not simply because we want to
have knowledge, but because we will be better able to achieve our good if we
develop a fuller understanding of what it is to flourish.
• In essence, we need to know what is the good?
• A list can be compiled rather easily
• It is good to have friends, to experience pleasure, to be healthy, to be honored, and to have such
virtues as courage at least to some degree.

• The difficult and controversial question arises when we ask whether certain of these
goods are more desirable than others.
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 350
 Virtue Ethics
• Aristotle’s search for the good is a search for the highest good

• He assumes that the highest good, whatever it turns out to be, has three characteristics:
• It is desirable for itself
• It is not desirable for the sake of some other good
• All other goods are desirable for its sake.

• Aristotle thinks everyone will agree that the terms (eudaimonia) “happiness” and “living well”
designate such an end
• No one tries to live well for the sake of some further goal
• Being eudaimon is the highest end, and all subordinate goals—health, wealth, and other such resources—are
sought because they promote well-being, not because they are what well-being consists in

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 351

 Virtue Ethics
• But unless we can determine which good or goods happiness consists in, it is of little use to
acknowledge that it is the highest end
• To resolve this issue, Aristotle asks what the “function”, “task”, or “work” of a human being is
• It consists in activity of the rational part of the soul in accordance with virtue

• Human beings are the only species that has a rational soul

• The good of a human being must have something to do with being human; and what sets
humanity off from other species is our capacity to guide ourselves by using reason.

• If we use reason well, we live well as human beings

• Using reason well over the course of a full life is what happiness consists in.

• Doing anything well requires virtue or excellence

• Living well consists in activities caused by the rational soul in accordance with virtue or excellence.

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 352

 Virtue Ethics
• He says, not that happiness is virtue, but that it is virtuous activity.

• Living well consists in doing something, not just being in a certain state or
condition.
• It consists in those lifelong activities that actualize the virtues of the rational part of the soul

• He thinks that no reason can be given for being just, generous, and courageous.
• These are qualities one learns to love when one is a child, and having been properly
habituated, one no longer looks for or needs a reason to exercise them.

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 353

 Virtue Ethics
• In ethics, as in any other study, we cannot make progress towards understanding why
things are as they are unless we begin with certain assumptions about what is the case.
• Neither theoretical nor practical inquiry starts from scratch.

• Someone who has made no observations of astronomical or biological phenomena is not

yet equipped with sufficient data to develop an understanding of these sciences.

• To make progress in Ethics, we must already have come to enjoy doing what is just,
courageous, generous and the like.

• We must experience these activities not as burdensome constraints, but as noble,

worthwhile, and enjoyable in themselves.
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 354
 Virtue Ethics
• Then, when we engage in ethical inquiry, we can ask what it is about these activities that
makes them worthwhile.

• We can also compare these goods with other things that are desirable in themselves—
pleasure, friendship, honor, and so on—and ask whether any of them is more desirable
than the others.

• We approach ethical theory with a disorganized bundle of likes and dislikes based on
habit and experience
• But what is not inevitable is that our early experience will be rich enough to provide an adequate
basis for worthwhile ethical reflection; that is why we need to have been brought up well.

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 355

 Virtue Ethics
• Two kinds of virtues
• Intellectual virtue
• To exercise actively our reasoning abilities

• Moral virtue
• Exercise our rational capacity by moderating our impulses and appetites

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 356

 Contractarianism
• Thomas Hobbes, John Rawls, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau

• When you get free, self-interested, rational individuals living together,

morality will emerge

• A person’s moral and/or political obligations are dependent upon a

contract or agreement among them to form the society in which they
live

• Explicit contracts Vs Implicit contracts

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 357
 Social Contract Theory (Hobbes)
• All men pursue only what they perceive to be in their own individually considered best interests

• Human beings are reasonable. They have in them the rational capacity to pursue their desires as
efficiently and maximally as possible.

• Imagine a persons in a situation prior to the establishment of society, the State of Nature.

• State of nature = No rules (All against all) > purely hypothetical

• Because men are reasonable, they can see their way out of such a state by recognizing the laws of nature,
which show them the means by which to escape the State of Nature and create a civil society.

• Given that men are naturally self-interested, yet they are rational, they will choose to submit to
the authority of a Sovereign in order to be able to live in a civil society, which is conducive to their
own interests.

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 358

 Social Contract Theory (Hobbes)
• Nothing is fundamentally real about morality but it becomes real as soon as we agree to it
• Right acts are those that do not violate the free, rational agreements that we have made

• Rights imply obligations

• Contracts save people from war of all against all

• The contract is between the subjects not the subjects and the Sovereign because the latter is all powerful and
it can break the contract

• Morality can change as per this theory

• Defection
• When you break the contract you are in – whether you agreed to be in it or not – and you decide to look after
your own interest, instead of cooperating (Prisoner’s Dilemma)

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 359

 Social Contract Theory (Locke)
• The State of Nature, the natural condition of mankind, is a state of perfect and complete
liberty to conduct one’s life as one best sees fit, free from the interference of others.

• Persons are assumed to be equal to one another in such a state, and therefore equally
capable of discovering and being bound by the Law of Nature.

• The Law of Nature, which is on Locke’s view the basis of all morality, and given to us by
God, commands that we not harm others with regards to their “life, health, liberty, or
possessions”

• The State of Nature is a state of liberty where persons are free to pursue their own
interests and plans, free from interference, and, because of the Law of Nature and the
restrictions that it imposes upon persons, it is relatively peaceful.
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 360
 Social Contract Theory (Locke)
• By making a compact to leave the State of Nature and form society,
people make “one body politic under one government”
• They submit themselves to the will of that body.

• One joins such a body, either from its beginnings, or after it has
already been established by others, only by explicit consent.

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 361

 Social Contract Theory (Rousseau)
• the State of Nature was a peaceful and quixotic time. People lived solitary, uncomplicated lives.
Their few needs were easily satisfied by nature.
• Because of the abundance of nature and the small size of the population, competition was non-existent, and
people had no reason for conflict or fear.
• As the overall population increased, the means by which people could satisfy their needs had to change.
People slowly began to live together in small families, and then in small communities.
• Divisions of labor were introduced and discoveries and inventions made life easier, giving rise to leisure time.
• Such leisure time inevitably led people to make comparisons between themselves and others, resulting in public values, leading
to shame and envy, pride and contempt.
• Most important was the invention of private property, which constituted the pivotal moment in humanity’s evolution out of a
simple, pure state into one characterized by greed, competition, vanity, inequality, and vice.

• For Rousseau the invention of property constitutes humanity’s ‘fall from grace’ out of the State of
Nature.

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 362

 Social Contract Theory (Rousseau)
• Having introduced private property, initial conditions of inequality became more pronounced.
• Some have property and others are forced to work for them, and the development of social classes begins.
• Eventually, those who have property notice that it would be in their interests to create a government that
would protect private property from those who do not have it but can see that they might be able to acquire
it by force.
• So, government gets established, through a contract, which purports to guarantee equality and protection for
all.

• In other words, the contract, which claims to be in the interests of everyone equally, is really in
the interests of the few who have become stronger and richer as a result of the developments of
private property.

• This is the naturalized social contract, which Rousseau views as responsible for the conflict and
competition from which modern society suffers.
363
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 Social Contract Theory (Rousseau)
• Humans are essentially free, and were free in the State of Nature,
• The ‘progress’ of civilization has substituted subservience to others for that freedom, through dependence,
economic and social inequalities, and the extent to which we judge ourselves through comparisons with
others.
• Since a return to the State of Nature is neither feasible nor desirable, the purpose of politics is to restore
freedom to us, thereby reconciling who we truly and essentially are with how we live together.
• So, we live together by submitting our individual, particular wills to the collective or general will, created
through agreement with other free and equal persons.

• All men are made by nature to be equals, therefore no one has a natural right to govern others,
and therefore the only justified authority is the authority that is generated out of agreements or
covenants.

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 364

 Social Contract Theory (Rawls)
• Veil of Ignorance
• One is denied any particular knowledge of one’s circumstances, such as one’s gender, race, particular talents or disabilities,
one’s age, social status, one’s particular conception of what makes for a good life, or the particular state of the society in
which one lives

• Original Position
• A hypothetical situation characterized by the limitation of the Veil of Ignorance
• Rawls’ original position is his highly abstracted version of the State of Nature.
• It is the position from which we can discover the nature of justice and what it requires of us as individual persons and of the
social institutions through which we will live together cooperatively.
• When put under veil of ignorance, one can choose principles for a just society which are themselves chosen from initial
conditions that are inherently fair.
• Because no one has any of the particular knowledge he or she could use to develop principles that favor his or her own
particular circumstances, in other words the knowledge that makes for and sustains prejudices, the principles chosen from
such a perspective are necessarily fair.
365
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 Social Contract Theory (Rawls)
• Hence Rawls describes his theory as “justice as fairness.”
• Because the conditions under which the principles of justice are discovered are basically fair,
justice proceeds out of fairness.

• In Original Position, behind such a veil, everyone is in the same situation, and everyone is
presumed to be equally rational.
• Since everyone adopts the same method for choosing the basic principles for society, everyone
will occupy the same standpoint: that of the disembodied, rational, universal human.
• Therefore all who consider justice from the point of view of the original position would agree
upon the same principles of justice generated out of such a thought experiment.
• Any one person would reach the same conclusion as any other person concerning the most basic
principles that must regulate a just society.
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 366
 Social Contract Theory (Rawls)
• Principles of Justice
• The principles that persons in the Original Position, behind the Veil of Ignorance, would choose to
regulate a society at the most basic level
• The Two Principles of Justice.
• The first principle states that each person in a society is to have as much basic liberty as possible, as long as
everyone is granted the same liberties.
• That is, there is to be as much civil liberty as possible as long as these goods are distributed equally.

• The second principle states that while social and economic inequalities can be just, they must be available to
everyone equally
• That is, no one is to be on principle denied access to greater economic advantage

• Any rational person inhabiting the original position and placing him or herself behind the
veil of ignorance can discover the two principles of justice
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 367
 Egoism
• Everyone should pursue their own self-interest in moral decision-
making

Egoism

Ethical Psychological
Egoism Egoism

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 368

 Ethical Egoism
• Ethical egoism claims I morally ought to perform some action if and only if
performing that action maximizes my self-interest.

• We should only feel obligated to do things for ourselves, regardless of the

effect it may have on others
• Interest of others don’t matter

• Example
• I might, for example, profit more from helping the local Opera society refurbish its
hall than I would from giving to famine relief in Africa, but standard moral theories
would rank famine relief as more important than Opera hall improvements.
369
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 Psychological Egoism
• Psychological egoism is the idea that all men are selfish, and that we only do
things for our own self-interests.
• Each person has but one ultimate aim: her own welfare.

• Deep down everything we do, even the most selfless things, are deep down
pleasing for us in some way
• Psychological egoism is merely an empirical claim about what kinds of motives we
have, not what they ought to be
• While the ethical egoist claims that being self-interested is moral, the psychological egoist
merely holds that this is how we are.

• Phoebe and Joey: Is there a selfless good deed?

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 370
 Ethics (Past Paper Qs)

• Critically evaluate Utilitarianism with special reference to J. S. Mill. (2016)

• Kant’s Categorical Imperative (2017-Short Note)

• Utilitarianism (2019- Short Note)

• Main idea of Kant’s ethics is ‘duty for the sake of duty’. Is it justified? Give
your own statement. (2020)

• Define Utilitarianism. Discuss how a utilitarian decides whether or not an

act is morally right. (2021)
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 371
 Ethics (Past Paper Qs)

• Ethical Egoism (2016-Short Note)

• Critically evaluate Rawls’ notion of Original Position (2018)

• Discuss the Idea of the Good as an Ethical theory (2019)

• Psychological and ethical egoism (2020-Short Note)

• Social Contract Theory (2021-Short Note)

• How does Aristotle derive virtue ethics? (2022)

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 372
Modern Philosophical
Movements
 Philosophy CSS Syllabus

7. Contemporary Philosophical Movements:

• Existentialism (Heidegger, Sartre); Pragmatism (Peirce, James, Dewey); Neo-
pragmatism (Rorty); Postmodernism (Lyotard, Foucault, Derrida)

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 374

Existentialism
Heidegger & Sartre
 Martin Heidegger (1889 – 1976)
• German Philosopher
• Being and Time (1927)
• Work on Phenomenology
• The study of the way things appear or presented to us
• Example: Tree
• A concept must be defined without using itself as a reference
• Example: Humans
• What does it mean to exist as a human being and what are its
implications on life
• Reluctant father of Existentialism
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 376
 Martin Heidegger (1889 – 1976)
• Being
• Ultimate source

• Continuously manifesting itself in things but Being itself is forgotten

• Being has been reduced to the world of objects

• Manipulated and dominated by human subjects through a series of human-made logics

• We are living in an intellectually impoverished time due to assumption that man has
absolute power

• We are ignorant about the thing that matters the most: the true nature of being

• Need: Consciousness of the Priority of Being

377
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 Martin Heidegger (1889 – 1976)
• Human Being
• Not human beings or human individuals but Being as an abstract noun
• Comprises of four components
i. Concern
• Ability to care about oneself and one’s existence
• Innermost nature of human being is caring
ii. Being-toward-death
• The understanding of existence requires the understanding and acceptance of death
• By facing death we can see and delineate the limits of our being
• Begin to see the limited amount of time yet available and realize that we must not waste it
“We are beings-unto-death” (Heidegger)
i. Existence
• Knowing that one exists and is not static; rather changing with time
ii. Moods
• Reactions to other beings; further allows a person to define himself

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 378

 Martin Heidegger (1889 – 1976)
• Meaning of Being
• Does the table that I think I see before me exist?
• Does God exist?
• Does mind, conceived as an entity distinct from body, exist?
• These questions have the following form:
• does x (where x = some particular kind of thing) exist?
• Questions of this form presuppose that we already know what ‘to exist’
means.
• Heidegger: what does ‘to exist’ mean?
• The question of the meaning of Being is concerned with what it is
that makes beings intelligible as beings
• Whatever that factor (Being) is, it is seemingly not itself simply another being
among beings.
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 379
 Martin Heidegger (1889 – 1976)

• Dasein
• Da-sein or “being-there”, which simply means existence, it is the experience
of the human being.

• The world is full of beings, but human beings are the only ones who care
about what it means to be themselves.

“A human being is the entity which in its Being has this very Being as an issue.”
(Heidegger)

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 380

 Martin Heidegger (1889 – 1976)

• Dasein
• Act of being there in essence
• Dasein and human beings are interrelated, without one another, there is no
being and no meaning.
• Existence only exists within our being, and the reality without our being is irrelevant.
• If a volcano were to erupt without us being there, would it actually have happened?
• Heidegger would tell us that it would simply be irrelevant.

“We are ourselves the entities to be analysed.” (Heidegger)

• Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 381
 Martin Heidegger (1889 – 1976)
• Dasein
• Not a disembodied, transcendent being, but rather the experience of being
that is peculiar to human beings

• Not a Being that can be observed

• how can we then understand it?
• By studying beings, and especially what it is like to be a human being.

• We need to look at what is unique about our situation as human beings.

• What makes Dasein different from all other beings: rocks, plants, and animals?
• Need to look at various features of Dasein.
382
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 Martin Heidegger (1889 – 1976)
• Features of Dasein
• Feature 1. Being as an issue
• It takes its own being as an issue.
• It asks questions about its own existence
• It is always confronted with the question “what shall I be today, tomorrow or next year?”.

• Feature 2. Care or Concern

• We care about the world as Being-in-the-world.
• We engage with the world for various purposes.
• To be a Dasein is to always be doing something and pointing towards something
• To be a being that is constantly engaged in doing tasks that we care about.
• Therefore, the essence of Dasein is its existence.
• We are instantly turned into the structures of everydayness and being-in the-world.
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 383
 Martin Heidegger (1889 – 1976)
• Dasein (Being There)
• It is Heidegger's label for the distinctive mode of Being realized by human beings
• It is not to be understood as ‘the biological human being’.
• Nor is it to be understood as ‘the person’.
• Dasein is “a way of life shared by the members of some community”
• what, according to Heidegger, is so special about human beings?
• If we look around at beings in general—from particles to planets, ants to apes—it
is human beings alone who are able to encounter the question of what it means to be
• E.g; in moments of anxiety in which the world can appear meaning-less
• It is human beings alone who
• (a) operate in their everyday activities with an understanding of Being
• (b) are able to reflect upon what it means to be.
• Dasein is distinguished by the fact that, in its very Being, that Being is an issue for it”
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 384
 Martin Heidegger (1889 – 1976)
• Modes of existence
• Authenticity
• Choice of self when you yourself decide what you want to be

• Understand oneself in totality

• Aunthetic existence is only when one understands oneself in totality

• Inauthenticity
• When you let others define who you are or when you work to fit in the definitions
prepared by other people

• They make very little effort to extend their comprehension

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 385
 Martin Heidegger (1889 – 1976)
• Human is thrown into the world
• Experiences fear and dread due to the forces that are beyond comprehension
• Better part of life should be spent in “Headbreaking”
• Discover what appearances mean
• Humans make too little effort to comprehend things due to
everydayness and chatter
• Leads to inauthentic existence
• Everydayness: a kind of primitive being > fail to fulfill true potential
• Chatter: inauthentic mode of communication
• Speech is reduced to a meaningless flood of words that camouflages fear, prevents
understanding and precludes any meaningful communication
• Nothing meaningful is ever said or allowed to be said

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 386

 Jean-Paul Sartre (1905 – 1980)
• Existence precedes Essence
• First principle of existentialism
• Aristotle: essence of man is to be rational
• Sartre: No essence
• Rejected the notion of God creating a man like an artisan creates a paper knife
• No determinism
• Example: Knife
“We mean that man first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up in the world,
and defines himself afterwards” (Sartre)
• First step of existentialism
• Show every man to be in control of what he is and to make him assume total
responsibility of his existence
387
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 Jean-Paul Sartre (1905 – 1980)
• Being & Nothingness
• What is it like to be a human?
• Being-in-itself (etre-en-soi)
• Mere existence

• Rocks and fleas

• Being-for-itself (etre-pour-soi)
• Involves consciousness

• Humans are both

• We are self aware and conscious subjects creating our own future
388
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 Jean-Paul Sartre (1905 – 1980)

• Nausea
• One does not know what to choose because the world is experienced as
absurd

• Contingency of the existence

• No God > No necessity for the world to be this or that way

• Thus, world is experienced as fundamentally senseless, unreasonable, illogical

• Example: Picnic Dinner

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 389
 Jean-Paul Sartre (1905 – 1980)

• Freedom and Responsibility

• Unlimited Freedom puts enormous responsibility

“There are no excuses for what I choose to make of myself” (Sartre)

“What we choose is always the better, and nothing can be better for us unless it
can be better for all… in fashioning myself, I fashion man” (Sartre)

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 390

 Jean-Paul Sartre (1905 – 1980)

• Anguish
• Man is in anguish

• Profound awareness of one’s own responsibility

• Man realizes that it is not only himself that he chooses but that he is also a
lawgiver choosing at the same time for all mankind

• Many men hide their anguish because they are fleeing it

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 391

 Jean-Paul Sartre (1905 – 1980)

• Abandonment
• Goes with anguish

• No help from god implies

• We ourselves choose our being

• We must invent our own values

• We must function as universal legislators of right & wrong

“Man is condemned to be free” (Sartre)

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 392

 Jean-Paul Sartre (1905 – 1980)

• Despair
• I realize that my own powers and capabilities are inadequate for the purpose

• No Universal Human nature

• No objective Standard of Values

• Moral choice is like a work of art
• You have to make your own painting on the canvas of life

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 393

 Jean-Paul Sartre (1905 – 1980)
• Bad Faith
• Not being true to oneself
• Self deception
• Only through acceptance of our profound responsibilities can we live
authentically
• Example: Waiter
• Living authentically
• Intentionally making choices about one’s life and one’s future
• These choices are made efficaciously by becoming “engaged: in the world
• Selecting a fundamental project that can mobilize and direct all of one’s life
energies and permit one to make spontaneous choices
• Through this project, the individual creates a world that does not yet exists and thus
gives meaning to his life
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 394
 Jean-Paul Sartre (1905 – 1980)

• Metaphysics
• Opposed to belief in God

• Opposed to determinism

• Opposed to necessity

• Opposed to objectivity of values

• Humans are left in an absurd situation

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 395

 Jean-Paul Sartre (1905 – 1980)
• Non-existence of God has 4 Philosophical implications
• No human nature
• Existence precedes Essence

• Humans are active, conscious and self aware subjects

• Etre-en-soi and etre-pour-soi

• No determinism
• Man is condemned to be free

• No objective standard of values

• Create your own values
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 396
 Existentialism (Past Paper Qs)

• Elucidate Heidegger’s Theory of Being with special reference to

Dasien. (2017)

• Stare’s Bad Faith. (2017-Short Note)

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 397

Pragmatism
Peirce, James, & Dewey
 Pragmatism
• To bridge two divergent theories
• Empiricism, Science
• Rejected rationalistic and idealistic philosophy for lacking evidence
• Rationalism, Idealism
• Challenged assumptions of science
• Empirical evidence could be coupled with human volition of belief and values
• Treat Philosophical issues in a scientific manner
• America’s first major contribution to Philosophy
• Concerned more with real problems of life
• What works in actual practice rather than what idle, metaphysical speculation leads us to
believe
• “Cash-value” of ideas rather than abstract, absolute philosophical issues
• Pragmatism is a way to clarify ideas
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 399
 Charles Sanders Peirce (1839 – 1914)
• Wanted to clarify many ideas, such as belief, truth, inquiry
• Ideas are only clear and distinct if we are able to translate them into
some mode of operation
• Our ideas of anything is our idea of its sensible effects
• Criticized Descartes
• Descartes had firmly fixed his theories of knowledge
• Mind was a purely theoretical instrument that could operate independent of
environment
• Pierce argued that thinking always occur in a context
• Meanings are derived not by intuition but by experience or experiment

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 400

 Charles Sanders Peirce (1839 – 1914)
• Role of Belief
• Occupies a middle position between thought and action
• Basis/habit of action
• To say that a person believes in something is to say that he has a habit of acting in a
particular way under certain circumstances
• Inverted position of truth and Inquiry
• Previously it was believed that it was the purpose of inquiry to discover the
truth
• Pierce said that truth is something which is an outcome of inquiry conducted
in a proper scientific manner

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 401

 Charles Sanders Peirce (1839 – 1914)
• Inquiry
• The process of fixing beliefs
• There are four methods of inquiry
i. Tenacity
ii. Invoking an authority
iii. Agreeable to reason
iv. Scientific method
• Based on the assumption that there are real things, the characters of which are entirely
independent of our opinions
• Would overcome and avoid individual prejudice
• A highly self-critical method
• Involves high degree of cooperation among all members of the community

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 402

 Charles Sanders Peirce (1839 – 1914)

• Truth
• The opinion at which the scientific community arrives at after proper inquiry
i.e; Scientific method

• Reality
• The object of that opinion

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 403

 Charles Sanders Peirce (1839 – 1914)
Doubt Thought Belief Action

• Criticism of • Four
Descartes: Methods of
-Thinking Fixing
requires Beliefs:
content.
-Meaning is 1. Tenacity
derived not 2. Invoking
through an authority
intuition but 3. Agreeable
experience to reason
-An Idea is 4. Scientific
clear and method
distinct only
if it is
translatable
to a mode of
operation

404
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh
 William James (1842 – 1910)
• He was influenced by religion & Science
• Works
• Principles of Psychology
• The Will to believe
• The varieties of religious experience
• Pragmatism
• He assumed that human life has a purpose
• Theories about man and the world have to be tested against that purpose
• Rejected rationalism because it was dogmatic and presumes to give
conclusive answers about the world
• As a method, pragmatism did not specify particular results
• No formulation should be taken as final
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 405
 William James (1842 – 1910)

• An idea has a meaning only if it brings a difference in conduct

• Need to orient thinking around results and consequences

“Idea is true if it satisfies, is verifiable, and verified in experience” (James)

“Reality is malleable and subject to change in accordance with human desires, so

therefore is truth” (James)

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 406

 William James (1842 – 1910)
• Cash-value of ideas
• If one of them yields result of more cash-value then it is to be preferred
• If all possibilities have no significant practical difference at all the whole
dispute is useless
• Example: Human Will
• Free or predetermined?

“The whole function of Philosophy ought to be to find out what definite difference
it will make to you and me, at definite instants of our life if this world-formula or
that world-formula be the true one” (James)
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 407
 William James (1842 – 1910)
• Pragmatic Theory of Truth
• Truth happens to an idea
• Truth must be the cash-value of an idea
• Truth isn’t a stagnant property in ideas
• Ideas are made true by events

• Truth is what is convenient and successful in practice

• Truth is part of experience
• If it works for you, it true
• Example: Religion
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 408
 William James (1842 – 1910)

• Pluralistic Conception of the world

• Plural truths

• Experience is not an object that we examine

• It is constructed by ourselves

• There is no fixed reality independent of humans to be unveiled by experience

• The world changes and grows as our knowledge changes and grows

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 409

 William James (1842 – 1910)

• Religion
• It is generally successful

• Allows people to live a happy and contended life

• If the hypothesis of God works satisfactorily in life then God exists

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 410

 William James (1842 – 1910)
• Will to believe
• Sometimes objective evidence is not available
• No decision then?
• One has to choose because ‘will to believe’ pushes us into one direction
• Pragmatists recognized the relationship between thinking and doing and
therefore belief and action
• It is relevant in relation to Truth’s search
• Will influences our convictions
• Discovers facts
• Creates facts
• Religious experience
• Religious experience is a fact both created and discovered through the will to
believe
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 411
 William James (1842 – 1910)

• Criticism
• Hindu living in a Hindu society vs a Jewish society

• Should we also believe in the idea of Santa Claus?

• At what point do we know if an idea has worked or not?

• Industrialization & Global warming

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 412

 John Dewey (1859 – 1952)
• His outlook is scientific and social
• Father of instrumentalism
• Gave the idea of progressive education
• Should not merely impose a mass of facts
• Against philosopher’s notion that reality is independent of human
experiences
• Spectator Vs Experience
• Spectator theory of knowledge
• Empiricists: thinking refers to fixed things in nature
• Rationalists: to have a clear idea, see if it exists in reality
• Dewey: Can’t have knowledge of spectator without looking at experience
• Both humanity and environment are dynamic
• Spectator theory won’t work
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 413
 John Dewey (1859 – 1952)
• Instrumentalism
• Intelligence is not static
• It’s a power one possess to cope with the environment
• Consequently, thinking arises in problem situations
• It is intimately related with doing
• Two aspects of thinking
• Perplexed, troubled, confused situation at the beginning
• Unified, resolved situation at the end
• Thinking is always instrumental in solving problems
• Thinking is an act of achieving adjustment between man and his environment

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 414

 John Dewey (1859 – 1952)
• Experience and thinking
• Brute Experience: interaction of biological organism with environment
• Example: Piece of Paper
• Lawyers, Child, Teacher interact differently
• Carries different meaning for them

• Experience is not objective rather it is an action performed

• Role of Philosophy: devise new instrumental techniques to assist humans in struggle
against environment
• Involves thinking
• Progressive Education
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 415
 John Dewey (1859 – 1952)

• Pragmatic Education
• It should teach pupils how to deal with problems

• Education should be based on problem solving methods

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 416

 John Dewey (1859 – 1952)

• Theory of value
• Rejected any theory of values that said that the standard of value is to be
found either in the essence of things or in some form of transcendent eternal
truth

• Persons are always faced with choices

• The choice that will terminate most successfully will be the most valuable

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 417

 Pragmatism (Past Paper Qs)

• Discuss Pragmatism with special reference to William James. (2016)

• Pragmatism (2019-Short Note)

• John Dewey (2019-Short Note)

• Explain and criticize the Pragmatic Theory of Truth. (2021-Short Note)

• Pragmatists argue that philosophy has become irrelevant. Do you

agree? (2022)
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 418
Neo-Pragmatism &
Postmodernism
 Neo-Pragmatism

• Richard Rorty

• Traditional Philosophy
• We have the best methods to find truth

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 420

 Richard Rorty (1931 – 2007)
• Applied pragmatism to the role of literature in society
• It provides new possibilities to construct a meaningful life

• Misconception
• We think of evolution or God or nature as having made us into something like machines that
accurately photocopy the world around us
• In other words, If we are objective, truth will force itself on us
• Gives the view that inquiry is constrained by the world

• Objectivity is fiction & truth is a myth

• There is no way to know when truth is arrived at
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 421
 Richard Rorty (1931 – 2007)

• Standards of evidence, reasonableness, knowledge, truth =

Constraints on inquiry
• Starting points > contingent
• Starting points are relative to cultures
• Pragmatic view

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 422

 Richard Rorty (1931 – 2007)
• Cultures = Conversations
• Culture A
• Arrives at truth w.r.t constraints of inquiry
• Are the constraints correct?
• No way to know that
• People cannot step outside their perspective to evaluate their constraints
• Like asking, “Is the constitution constitutional?”

• Culture B
• Meaningless for people there to wonder if culture B’s constraints are correct
• It can try to judge Culture A’s truth but it cannot know if B’s constraints are true
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 423
 Richard Rorty (1931 – 2007)

• Acceptance of contingency of starting point means that conversation

with fellow humans is the only source of guidance

• What matters is our loyalty to other humans, clinging together against

the dark
• Not our hope of getting things right

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 424

 Postmodernism
• Four postulates of Enlightenment
• Objective truth

• Objective knowledge

• Use of reason

• Human progress

• Postmodernism challenges enlightenment along with Marxism, Rationalism

• Consequences of postmodernist thought: Nihilism

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 425

 Postmodernism
• Three main themes
1. No such thing as Truth > No objectivity
• No science
• Everything is subjective and relative
• All narratives (religion, politics, economy)are equal to each other > no one superior
2. Basis of Power is subjective
• We express subjective through language
• Actual basis of power: Language
• Language determines power relations
• How we define things in language
3. Come out of binary thinking (Dialectics)
• Move away from essentialism > No essence
• Understand things as a whole
• No determinism/reductionism
• All concepts in language are, by definition, deterministic and reductionist
• Reductionist itself is a word expressing a complex idea which is being narrowed down
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 426
 Jean-François Lyotard (1924 – 1998)

• French Philosopher

• Postmodern Condition

• What is Modern?

“Any science that legitimizes itself with reference to a meta-discourse of

this kind, making explicit appeal to some grand narrative, such as the
dialectics of spirit, the hermeneutics of meaning, the emancipation of
the rational, or working subject or the creation of wealth” (Lyotard)
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 427
 Jean-François Lyotard (1924 – 1998)
• He defines postmodernism as incredulity towards all metanarratives
• Metanarratives
• Provides a schematic worldview upon which an individual’s experiences and
perceptions may be ordered
• Ultimate end goal of future

• It tends people to believe that ends justify means

• The world is too complex to just be understood through metanarratives
• Use small, local narratives
• Example: Biology class
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 428
 Jean-François Lyotard (1924 – 1998)

• Metanarratives
• All cultures depend on metanarratives
• Enlightenment, Christianity, Islam etc

• Metanarratives distort reality as objective

• Hegelian narrative: History is progressing toward emancipation & knowledge

is progressing toward totalization

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 429

 Jean-François Lyotard (1924 – 1998)
• Nothing explains everything > be suspicious

• There are multiple communities and multiple systems of meaning

• Narrative Knowledge
• Stories, myths, philosophies
• Enlightenment > Political narrative
• Hegelian Philosophy > Philosophical narrative
• It legitimizes itself

• Scientific Knowledge
• Scientific method, verification, falsification
• Science legitimized by scientific method which is legitimized by narrative knowledge that science is superior
although it is no different than narrative knowledge
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 430
 Jean-François Lyotard (1924 – 1998)

• Knowing truth is just part of knowledge

• Most of knowledge comes down to knowing how to do stuff
• How to ride a bicycle
• Can’t be reduced to a set of statements

• Learning goes beyond science

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 431

 Jean-François Lyotard (1924 – 1998)
• Narratives
• Allow the society in which they are told to define its criteria of competence and to evaluate
according to those criteria what is performed or can be performed with it
• I might have an evidence to prove a theory but how do I know if it is a good evidence or
adequate (skepticism)
• We can’t know reality but only what languages and experiences fit with the reality we
perceive
• Myth of the given
• Example: Screen > between us and the world

• Example: Self > Who am I?

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 432
 Jean-François Lyotard (1924 – 1998)
• The Postmodern Condition: A Report on Knowledge (1979)
• Status of knowledge in a computerized society
• Crisis of legitimization in Science
1. Representation
• Science is believed to give accurate picture of the objective world but it doesn’t

2. Put to technological criterion

• Computerization of knowledge
• Sciences put in service of supplying know-how and patents for corporations

“We can predict that anything in the constituted body of knowledge that is not translatable in this
way will be abandoned” (Lyotard)
• Translatable in digital language > digitalization
• Knowledge is not seen as a source of truth but through economic value

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 433

 Jean-François Lyotard (1924 – 1998)

• Computers have changed the nature of knowledge

• Mercantilism of knowledge
• Wars would be fought over it

• New forms of research needed to solve issues

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 434

 Michel Foucault (1926 – 1984)
• French Philosopher

• Works
• Discipline and Punishment (1975)
• The history of sexuality (1976)
• Madness and Civilization (1961)
• The order of things (1966)

• Draws his thinking from anti-enlightenment tradition that rejects the equation of reason,
emancipation, and progress
• Interface between modern forms of power and knowledge has created new forms of domination
• Domination of individual through social institutions, discourses, and practices

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 435

 Michel Foucault (1926 – 1984)

• Discourse
• How people talk, the shape they give to multitude of their interactions
• Results in invented realities

• Framework through which people think in a society

• Example: How crime is perceived
• We only know about crime when it is told

Evil Power Discourse Disease Discourse Professionalized medicine

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 436

 Michel Foucault (1926 – 1984)

• Discourse
• Knowledge is constructed, organized, shared and used through particular
forms of speech and language called Discourse
• Discourse refers to the context in which meaning is produced

• Discourse is shaped by knowledge

• No absolute truth

• Truth is what a group of people decide

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 437

 Michel Foucault (1926 – 1984)
• Micro politics of power
• Power is exercised at the local level
• A prison
• A hospital
• A university

• Power lies with institutions not state

• Health system, sex system, prison system, criminology, madness
• Codify practices to exert social control

• Power is the constitutive dimension of all discourse

• A given discourse is a reflection of power structures
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 438
 Michel Foucault (1926 – 1984)

• Micro politics of power

• Concepts such as madness and sexuality are discursively reconstituted within
rationalist and scientific frames of reference, within the discourses of modern
knowledge
• Foucault stigmatizes modern rationality, institutions, and forms of subjectivity
as sources or constructs of domination
• He rejects totalitarian (universal) theories and proposes a plurality of forms of
knowledge and microanalysis
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 439
 Michel Foucault (1926 – 1984)
• Foucault attempted to unravel the underlying structures of thinking in various fields of
knowledge

• Epistemes or Created Realities

• Foucault’s archeological method: series of discontinuous created realities
• They serve in each era as the ground of True & False
• They are socially give > No absolute truth
• Example: Madness

• Anti-Hegelian
• He saw history as a series of discontinuities. One following the next but with no hint of true
progress
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 440
 Jacques Derrida (1930 – 2004)

• French Philosopher

• Margins of Philosophy (1972)

• He held that everything is a text

• There is nothing outside the text

• Language is a system of differences

• To use a term screen, I have to distinguish screens from non-screens OR
walking from un-walking
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 441
 Jacques Derrida (1930 – 2004)

• Language establishes a system of differences, of interrelated

distinctions but that’s all it is capable of
• It establishes a structure

• So does any theory expressed in language

• We can talk about how the nodes of structure relate to one and
another but what are the nodes, the elements of the structure?
• How do they relate to reality?
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 442
 Jacques Derrida (1930 – 2004)

• Postmodernist: Language can reveal or impose structure but can say

nothing about what it’s the structure of
• There is no principled difference between describing reality and describing a system
of signs, a text, and language itself

• No principled difference between describing and imagining at all

• No sharp line between fiction and non-fiction

• Thus, No truths are absolute

• Truths are social constructions depending especially on race, class, gender, and power-status
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 443
 Jacques Derrida (1930 – 2004)

• Skepticism
• Objective knowledge is impossible

• Deconstruction
• Dismantling excessive loyalty to any idea and learning to see the aspects of
truth that might lie buried in its opposite

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 444

 Jacques Derrida (1930 – 2004)
• Binary Opposites
• Man/Woman, Spirit/Matter, Nature/Culture
• We have no access to reality except through concepts and categories
• Human mind functions by forming such conceptual pairs
• One member of the pair is privileged and the other is marginalized
• Deconstruction: makes away of the privileged and marginalized
• Reverse and see the category through the lens of marginal
• Then give equal weight to both

• Western Philosophy: Privileged speech and writing was marginalized

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 445
 Jacques Derrida (1930 – 2004)

• Logocentrism
• Reason is a tool by means of which certain empowered groups retain their
hegemony, oppressing other groups
• The emotions and experiences of other groups are to be valued over rational arguments

• Over hasty devotion to reason, logic

• Faith in language as the natural and best way to communicate
• There is some absolute truth that can be found through language
• He opposed it
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 446
 Jacques Derrida (1930 – 2004)

• Liberation
• We must fight oppression by exposing the categories and meta-narratives by
which empowered retain hegemony

“Postmodernism is the sense that the past is restricting, smothering, blackmailing

us” (Umberto Eco)

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 447

 Jacques Derrida (1930 – 2004)

• Criticism
• Everything is a social construct
• Society > language > differences > concepts > objects

• Example: concept of Tornado is a social construct

• But Tornado itself isn’t a social construct

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 448

 Debate between Foucault & Derrida
• Cogito and the History of Madness (1963) by Derrida
• A response to Foucault's Madness and Civilization
• Let madness speak for itself

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 449

 Debate between Foucault & Derrida
• A binary between reason and madness
• Foucault says there is very fine distinction between the two and sometimes difficult
to set them apart
• Example: Man made of Glass

• He says that the difference between the two emerged in a specific time period in
history > classical age
• As psychiatric clinics and hospitals emerged, mad people were institutionalized and were
made silent

• Let madness speak for itself

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 450
 Debate between Foucault & Derrida
• A binary between reason and madness
• Derrida disagrees that this difference ought to be attributed to a specific
moment in history
• It goes even back from certain time period and must be attributed to Logocentrism

• During Greek period, there was an appreciation of one form of speech over another
while writing was suppressed

• The silence of madness referred by Foucault was just condemned due to the
logocentrism of Speech

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 451

 Debate between Foucault & Derrida
• A binary between reason and madness
• Derrida says that Foucault wants to make madness speak without filtering it
through reason

• You cannot speak about madness without the language of reason

• When we are trying to speak about madness we are just replicating reason

• Madness may have predated reason and is actually a necessary component

for the constitution of reason
• Both are connected like two sides of a same coin > not opposing
Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 452
 Debate between Foucault & Derrida
• Derrida says that we live in a certain psychiatric paradigm in which
there are limits as to how to talk about madness > how can then
madness speak for itself
• What Foucault is trying to do is escape these dynamics at play and see the
issue as a transcendent neutral observer

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 453

 Postmodernism (Past Paper Qs)

• In what sense Foucault may be treated as a post-modernist thinker.

(2018)

• Derrida (2020-Short Note)

• Shed light on the debate between Foucault and Derrida. (2022)

Notes by Hafiz Ali Naeem Sheikh 454

Good Luck!