Philosophy in the Modern Islamic World

• Applicant: Dr. Roman Seidel
• Subject Area: Islamic Studies, Arabian Studies, Semitic Studies ; History of Philosophy
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 454257963

Since the middle of the 19th century at the latest, the modern Islamic world has been experiencing a reception of modern Western philosophy, which has also led to a critical re-reading of the classical and post-classical philosophical and theological traditions of Islam. This appropriation of Western and Islamic traditions of thought was initiated by intellectuals and activists who were based in various intellectual hotspots of the Near and Middle East. In the historical context of Europe's colonial expansion, they began to deal with the political thinking of the Enlightenment, the idea of the nation, and positivist, scientifically oriented philosophy, some of which was discussed in connection with the philosophical writings of Islamic traditions. In the course of the 20th century, these intellectual debates became more differentiated and professionalized within the framework of the modern universities that were newly established on the Western model. Enlightenment philosophy, liberalism, Marxism, existentialism, hermeneutics, and deconstruction, but also rationalism, mysticism and intuitionism became important elements of social, intellectual, and academic discourses in various regions of the Islamic world.Neither in Middle Eastern studies nor in historical or even systematic philosophical research in German-speaking countries have these developments been sufficiently examined on a larger scale. The proposed network pursues the medium- and long-term goal of establishing the barely developed field of research on Philosophy in the Modern Islamic World transdisciplinarily and in constant exchange with colleagues from the MENA region within the German university landscape as an integral part of research and teaching, also institutionally. Using the collective expertise of the network members, 1) core questions and key concepts will be identified and discussed in central thematic areas (history of philosophy, metaphysics and political philosophy); 2) key texts of each of the mentioned central thematic areas will be identified, analysed from a regional and doctrinally comparative perspective, and made accessible for academic and public discourse; 3) concrete publications will be realized, and research projects and structure-building measures will be developed and initiated in order to make the presence of philosophical thought and its continuing entanglement with European intellectual history visible within the academic and general public.

• DFG Programme: Scientific Networks
• Co-Investigator: Professorin Dr. Kata Moser