ABSTRACT
Knowledge is a basic issue area related to cultural modernity.1 René Descartes established modern knowledge on the grounds of conjecture and doubt, guided by the principle “cogito ergo sum/I think, therefore I am.” In contrast to what is described as an authentic “Islamic knowledge” based on faith, this modern Cartesian epistemology dismisses any claim of knowledge to be absolute, regardless of whether it is based on belief or on ideology. The basic pillar of modern knowledge is its recognition of the primacy of reason and the related subjection of all matters, including religion, to critical reflection. Jürgen Habermas restates Kant’s views on this issue in the course of his introduction of “the principle of subjectivity” (on which the logic of cultural modernity rests) in this manner: “Kant carried out this approach of the philosophy of reflection in his three ‘critiques’ …; he installed reason in the supreme seat of judgment before which anything that made a claim to validity had to be justified.”2 To determine the current problem, let it be stated at the outset that at issue are not only epistemology and knowledge, but also development and power. If the Islamic world fails to engage in Building a Knowledge Society (this is the title of the second UNDP report of 2003) in order to come to terms with modern knowledge in the sense outlined, then it will never be able to move forward.
