Various Approaches to Religious Science

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Abstract

This servey is concerned with the current approaches to the possibility and necessity of making sciences (disciplines) religiously - oriented. The idea that a religious science has four senses indicates the possibility of the evolvement of a certain kind of science. Sometimes it means the science in which the sum total of teachings of a religion on a certain subject are discussed, deduced and formulated and - in some cases - subject to defence. As for the second sense of "religious science", it is the science in which certain empirical, rational of historical discussions about the phenomenon of religion are made. The third sense signifies that men can construct and formulate disciplines through certain methods by using religious texts of the same sort which can replace modern non-religious sciences, and one can dispense with the four methods prescribed by science. Sometimes it has a forth sense and that is, instead of the human empirical sciences, disciplines are produced on anthropological and sociological subjects taken from religious texts or scriptures and with a special special epistemological procedure.
The approaches with which we are concerned in this article ar as follows:
A) An approach which oposes the preservation of non-religious nature and structure of contemporary or modern sciences:
1) A traditional approach or sacred science
2) Independ - judgement oriented view of sciences
B) An approach approving of the transformation of the structures of modern sciences:
1) transforming the subject
2) developing the method
3) reforming the objective
C) An approach approving of the preservation of the nature and structure of modern sciences:
1) Changing the presupposition of modern sciences
2) Modern scientists' acquaintance with religious world views and religious values.
3) Ispiration by the religious texts or scriptures in the context of discovery and compilation.
4) Geographical outlook and developing sciences that can belong to the religious territories.
5) Modern science-religion dialogue (a composite approach)
What we can conclude from all the discussions is that the method all the approaches in question adopt for islamizing the sciences (disciplines) is indeterminate and vague, because these approaches are still at their initial stages of development and therefore they take time until these approaches become developed and prectical steps have to be taken in various fields. In order to attain the results desired, critical investigations into the literature, though not elaborate, will be necessary. In oth words, most approaches to religious sciences are still at their intial stage of maturity, because they have been subject to no criticisms or evaluations of the scientists whether those who are for or aginst the idea of religious science. Furthermore, the efforts for solving the dichotomy between religious and secular domains in epistemology need to be reconsidered as far as epistemology in specialized discussions is concerned. Perhaps the reason for this defect is that the scholars who advocate the idea of "religious science" have not relieved themselves of theoretical and scientific investigations into the very approaches, and their scientific works have not survived the process of trial and error.

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