فصلنامه نقد و نظر
سال نوزدهم شماره 3 (پیاپی 75، پاییز 1393)

This paper consists of two main parts: in the first part, given the main notions such as civilization and the desired classification of sciences, I will seek to show the place of Kalam in this classification and its capacities for civilization studies. Such capacities will be cashed out in terms of a civilizational account of religion as well as a systematic and comprehensive presentation of religious doctrines. In this case, we can point to ontological, epistemological, anthropological issues as well as the theory of Imamate in Kalam as the most important kalam-based themes for civilization studies. In the second part, with an account of Kalam-based anthropology in terms of reason and volition, I will show that, unlike philosophical and mystical ideas, Kalam can provide the foundations required for Islamic civilization studies.

The extant classifications of sciences were made in terms of the world order, or in terms of the categories of human cognition (faculties of memory, imagination, and understanding or reasoning), or in terms of the stages of the developments of the human being. However, these are not the only possible ways in which sciences are classified; they can also be classified in terms of human needs (whether material or spiritual), lacks and wants. In this paper, after providing an account of the place of "civilization" as the most inclusive anthropo-social unit in the extant classifications of sciences, I will show the necessity of providing civilizational criteria and a logic for the social needs in an attempt to give a classification of Islamic sciences. I insist on the necessity of mutual relations between theory and practice, and even on the priority of practice to theory at civilizational levels.

"Moderation" is not a new term in our political culture, but it is a term that has recently been frequently used, finding its way into our governmental planning and policy-making. There will be difficulties if such terms are not accurately accounted for and if no agreement is made over the notions involved in them. "Moderation" has been a focus of attention in Islamic religious texts, as a religious value, based on an epistemic foundation different from its well-known Aristotelian one. It has appeared in different forms in various layers and dimensions of the Islamic civilization. In order to evaluate the thesis of "moderation as a feature of the Islamic civilization", an extensive study is called for. As a first step towards such an enormous project (aiming at providing a model for similar researches), the present paper examines the uses of the world 'al-iqtiṣād' (meaning moderation) in hadiths, texts of fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), ethics, literature, politics, history, as well as the science of rhetoric, arriving at the conclusion that not only has "moderation" had its origin in religious sources, but it has also been common in Islamic society, affecting different aspects of the Islamic civilization. If such a finding is consistent with the results of other complimentary studies, then we can have more confidence that moderation was a feature of the Islamic civilization.

Although there is a record of reflections about civilization in general, and the Islamic civilization in particular, within Islamic writings, the question about the Islamic civilization has been more widespread in recent decades, because of Islamic self-awareness, especially as a result of Islamic movements, such as the Islamic Revolution of Iran. One important question in this regard is the possibility of an Islamic civilization in the Occlusion Period (the period when the last Shiite Imam (a) is not present to people). In this paper, I admit that the Occlusion Period has minimal resources for realizing such an ideal, but historical experiences of Muslims during the Occlusion Period, and a degreed notion of civilization, will enable us to hold that Islamic civilization can be realized in this period and can enjoy a desirable liveliness.

The distinction between civilizations and national communities based on modern government raises the question that which component distinguishes civilizational society from society based on homeland rationality, based on modern government. What is the distinctive feature that results in civilizational comprehensiveness? And above all this, what are the social consequences of this feature? In this paper, after a consideration about the dependence of modern government on their territories and geographical borders and the independence of civilizational society with respect to this feature, I seek to examine the consequences of such dependence and independence for the formation of some significant social categories, that is, the idea of society, social identity, the demarcation of insiders and outsiders, and the logic of behavioral calculations of governments, drawing their influences on the inclusiveness of civilizational rationality, the formation of models, and objective structures of social management in spite of the possibility of different models and styles.

The notion of 'spirituality' is ambiguous. In this paper I am concerned with the question why proposed definitions of spirituality are ambiguous, and why each approach demands a different notion of this term. I claim that the reason is that extant approaches have overlooked a civilizational perspective on spirituality. I will make a distinction between lexicological and approach-based definitions of spirituality, showing how spirituality is viewed from the standpoints of different paradigms of social sciences and academic traditions. Finally, I mentions some critiques of proposed approaches, and then introduce a genealogical approach to spirituality that has taken civilizational aspects of the phenomenon into account. It will be helpful to consider its capacities for a civilizational perspective on the notion of spirituality. I will mention, however, that there are weaknesses in this approach as well.