Sunday, August 10, 2008
Sciences of Man
at 10:54 PM
Al Quran often reminds man to use his mind to think and to tafakkur, afala tatafakkarun, afala ta`qilun, awala yatadabbarun. Man is indeed a thinking animal (al insanu hayawanun nathiqun). In man, thinking is the fourth process after sensing, perceiving, and memorizing that influences interpretation to a stimulus. While thinking, a man involves sensation, perception, and memory at the same time. In this living, thinking is required to/for (a) to solve problems (problem solving), (b) to make decisions (decision making), and (c) create new things (creativity).The more knowledge/science one has, the more complex his way of thinking is. Some people only can daydream, some others think but unrealistically, while still some others think realistically. Furthermore, some people always think, some people only think when they need it, and still some others think only occasionally.
Smart people think systematically, for example in a deductive way (taking a particular conclusion from general premises) or on the contrary in an inductive way (taking a generalized conclusion from particular premises/instances). However, there are problems that can’t be solved through general ways of thinking, so in this case a very smart person will usually use a method called creative thinking.
Thinking creative is thinking using a new method, a new concept, a new finding, a new paradigm, and a new art. The importance of creative thinking is not for its novelty but for its relevance to problem solving. Since it’s new and not conventional, creative people are often misunderstood by people in general, they are often regarded as weird or even crazy (thinking crazily). There are five steps in the process of creative thinking: (1) orientation, formulating and identifying problems, (2) preparation, gathering information as much as possible, (3) incubation, taking a rest or sleeping for while—cooling down, (4) illumination, seeking inspirations, and (5) verification, testing and evaluating critically.
Science can be obtained by a man through: (1) his intellectual capacity (mind), through learning process, (2) feeling, through his heart, using it to comprehend reality, (3) direct gift from God, and the science is called “science of ladunni”. For man, science is used to find out truth regarding realities. Considering various methods, it is known that parameter of truth is not one but there are levels of truth: (1) scientific truth, (2) mathematical truth, (3) social truth, (4) philosophical truth, logical truth, and sufistic truth.
According Al Quran, there are following truths: (1) `ilm al yaqin, (2) `ain al yaqin, and (3) haqq al yaqin. The truth of `ilm al yaqin can be tested through scientific theories, the truth of `ain al yaqin can be tested through laboratories and similar means, while truth of haqq al yaqin can only be proved later in the day after. A philosopher can explain the truth, while a sufi can feel the truth. To a sufi, a philosopher says, “I can imagine what you feel.” The sufi replies, “and I can feel what you imagine.” Those are the scopes of man’s sciences.
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