The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #121502   Message #2662051
Posted By: plnelson
22-Jun-09 - 09:18 AM
Thread Name: BS: Election in Iran
Subject: RE: BS: Election in Iran
Someone said that democracy is an alien concept in the Islamic parts of the world, and they tried to use the commonly repeated (racist) canard that Islam has never experienced an enlightenment as the reason democracy is not compatible with Islam

I gave you specific details about the European Enlightenment for which there are no parallels in the "Islamic Enlightenment". (Primacy of reason over religion, autonomy of the individual) These were radical ideas at the time, and in many parts of the world, including most of the Islamic world, they are still radical. I asked you a specific question ("Who would you regard the David Hume of Islam to be?")

You've offered no response to any of this!

And on that theme- who was the Islamic John Stuart Mill? What is the Islamic Enlightenment's equivalent to Locke's Social Contract theory? Who provides the Islamic Enlightenment's contributions to epistemology, a la Kant?

The whole concept of "consent of the governed" (which democracy is based on) depends on a well-developed philosophy of reason and the idea that reason trumps mere belief a la religion.   This is an idea that western philosophers managed to wrap their heads around centuries ago, and Islam is yet to accept.    If you think this is racist, please provide your facts.