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Concept of Freedom in Sartre's and Iqbal's Philosophy

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Concept of Freedom in Sartre's and Iqbal's Philosophy CONCEPT OF FREEDOM IN SARTRE'S AND IQBAL'S PHILOSOPHY SYN^OPSIS A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY AUGARH FOR THE DEGREE OF ©Dttor of ^liilos^opfip IN I>H[IIiOSOI>H:Y BY Syed Latif Hussain Kazmi M.A., M.Th., M.Phil (Alig.) UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF Professor & Chairman DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH X8S8 yi 1 jui ^'i^.^ ^mi^^, i^Y^N^g^P^S^I^S §s^2^2^ji The main thrust of this thesis entitled "Concept of Freedom in Sartre's and Iqbal's Philosophy" is towards investigating the concept of freedom in the philosophies of Muhammad Iqbal and Jean-Paul Sartre. These two philoso­ phers present several points of interesting contrast in the sense that Iqbal. is an enlightened theist, whereas Sartre is a 'committed* atheist. While Iqbal's aim was reconstruction of Islamic ideas in the perspective of creative evolution of the spirit, Sartre's objective was to develop a social philosophy on Marxist lines on the basis of existential ontology that marks a significant point of departure in Western philosophy. There are also similarities between these two philosophers which provide a common ground for their conC^trasting philosophies Both Iqbal and Sartre were contemporary in outlook, both exercised great influence on modern thought and politics and most significantly both were concerned deeply with the problem of the Individual Man and his freedom to such an extent that the conception of freedom could be called as the core issue in their philosophical quest. In this work an attempt is made to grasp the concept of freedom as it emerges in the philosophy of Iqbal and Sartre respectively. In order to facilitate this task, the general a philosophical orientation of both the thinkers has been critically expounded. With a view to provide a common ground for this comparative study the concept of freedom is discussed in its various contexts such as law, politics and religion, so as to locate the exact sense in which the idea of freedom is the concern of philosophy especially th^ philosophy of Sartre and Iqbal. Chapter I is devoted to a general discussion of the concept of freedom. After taking into consideration various meanings and uses of the term freedom, an attempt is made to examine the problem in three important fields, viz.. Law, Politics and Religion, In Chapter II an attempt is made to define briefly existential philosophy and to examine the conception of freedom in its perspective. Major existentialist themes such as human existence, choice, freedom, responsibility, authen­ ticity etc, are briefly discussed with reference to different existentialist thinkers. Chapter III deals with Sartre's notion of freedom and Its implications for individual and society. In this part of the work, the effort is made to present the conception of freedom as systematically developed by Sartre in all his writings, particularly in his major philosophical works such as* Being and Nothinffliess, Existentialism and Humanism, Critique o£ BiaIiec-&L6al Reason, as well as h±s literary works sticb as his triology, The Roads to Freedom; (The Age of Reason, The Reprieve, Iron in the Soul); Altona. Men Without Shadows, The Flies etc. How Sartre expounds the significance and implications of individual's freedom for society is also discussed in this chapter. Conception of freedom in Muslim Philosophy is discussed in Chapter IV. This chapter consists of five sections. Section I deals with the socio-political conditions in the early Islamic society. How the problem of predestinarlanism and freedom (Jabr and Qadar) was raised in early Islamic Ummah and was interpreted in the light of the Qur'an, Hadith and other early authentic sources such as Nah.j al-Balaghah and al-Kaf i. In section II the emergence of "^ilm al-Kalam (dialectical theology) is taken up with special reference to the three prominent schools of Muslim Thought, namely the Mu^tazilah, the Asha^'irah and the Shi^-ah. In the last three sections the conception of freedom in the above three major schools of Muslim thought is presented. Chapter V of the tehsis is devoted to the analysis of Iqbal*s conception of freedom. The following issues have been especially discussed: How did Iqbal make a radical break from the tradition of Muslim philosophers to reconstruct Islamic thought-system according to the need of the time? Why is he considered to be an amalgam of Eastern religious insight and Western intellectualism (imbibing higher values and ideals from the East and philosophico-scientific advancement of the West and interpreting them in the Islamic Weitanschauung according to the demands of contemporary philosophical and scientific outlook)? How does man, according to Iqbal, with his unique KhudI and freedom unfold his potentialities and capabilities, creat his own world, his ideals and participate in the Ik. creative process of Allah? A comparative study of Sartre*s and Iqbal's notions of freedom is made in chapter VI of the dissertation. Here an attempt is made to highlight the similarities and dissimilarities between the two thinkers. The issues particularly discussed are: a). Man's existence and his personal involvement; b). Anti-intellectualism and anti-impersonal functional- izatlon of man; c)• Alienation and authentic existence; d). Freedom, creativity and responsibility. Besides the atheistic and theistic interpretations of freedom, other relevant issues such as anguish, love, facticity, authenticity, Inauthenticity, dread etc, are also discussed. Chapter VII is devoted to a general and critical assessment of both the thinkers. Concluding remarks are directed towards an appraisal of the approaches of Sartre and Iqbal. CONCEPT OF FREEDOM IN SARTRE'S AND IQBAL'S PHILOSOPHY A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE AUGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH FOR THE DEGREE OF Mottot of l^litlo^op^p IN PHIX^OSOPHCY BY Syed Latif Hussain Kazmi M.A., M.Th., M.Phil. (Alig.) UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF Tiv» S. IflbTalieed Aklita.]? Professor & Chairman DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH less JliEsis SE:CT[ON T3676 r'-' Vi-/^ cai; rs '^90^ Prof. Syed Waheed Akhtar DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY ALFGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY M.A., PhD ALlGARH-202001 CHAIRMAN Dated..Ai>T±l 5, 1988 CERTIFICATE This is to certify that Sayed Latif Hussain Shah has done his research work on " THE CONCEPT OF FREEDOM IN SARTRE'S AND IQBAL'S PHILOSOPHY" under my supervision. I am satisfied that his thesis is original. He has consulted all the relevant works of Iqbal and Sartre alongwith other works on the subject. Moreover, he has dealt with various aspects of the notion of freedom, taking into consideration its legal, social, political and religious implications. This general study of 'fhe theme provides the proper perspective to understand the Isign'ificance of freedom in the context of contemporary hum.an situation. Iqbal in the East and Sartre in the West are two influential thinkers who placed freedom at the top of their value system. The candidate studied both the thinkers with great pains and expounded their positions clearly. In my view Shah Latif Hussain's present work is fit to be submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy Degree. (S. WAHEED AKHTAR ) DEDICATED TO MY PARENTS & TEACHERS I have great pleasure in expressing my profound sense of gratitude to my supervisor. Dr. S.Waheed Akhtar, Professor and Chairman, Department of Philosophy, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, to whose constant guidance and unfailing sympathy this work owes more than I can express in words. He evinced a keen interest at every stage in the preparation of the present thesis and devoted much of his valuable time in guiding me. His affection and solicitude coupled ^srith his vast scholarship have deeply influenced my general approach and understanding of philosophy as well as the main theme of this project. I have greatly benefited from his erudition, constructive suggestions and inspiring guidance. It would not have been possible for me to refer to original texts of Muslim philoso­ phy, Kalam and hadlth without his help. His vast knowledge of Islamic literature has proved to be of great value to my research, I also wish to acknowledge my deepest sense of gratitude to my former supervisor, the late Dr. Muhammad Anzarul Haq, whose affection and unceasing guidance inspired me to determine the line of thought pursued in this project. I must exprSsSs -^y sincere thanks to my respected teachers Prof, Jant^ Khwaja, and Dr. M.Rafique, who encouraged (ii) me from time to time and gave valuable and constructive suggestions during the preparation of this work, I am also thankful to all the teachers in the Department of Philosophy, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh for their fruitful suggestions and co-operation. I may be failing in my duty if I do not express my deepest gratitude to my beloved parents. But for their blessings and prayers I could not have achieved anything, not to speak of taking up this research work. I am also thankful to my brothers and sisters whose great affection and love have always been a source of inspiration to me. I am obliged to the Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh for granting me Junior Research Fellowship for a period of four years without which I could not have afforded to devote my entire time and energy to complete this project. I am especially thankful to my younger brother Syed Kazim Hussain Kazmx who encouraged and financed me substantially in the course of the preparation of the present work, I extend my thanks to all my friends and well-v/ishers, especially Syed Manzoor Hussain Jaffri, Syed Aziz Hussain Jaffri, Syed Shabbir Hussain Shah, Syed Sarwar Hussain Jaffri, Syed Zakir Hussain Shah, Syed Mansoor Rizvi, Javld Lodi, Ikram All Khan, Muhammad Sharief, Sheikh Mushtaq Ahmad, Kausar Mustafa, Ali Naghi Bagher Shahi, Danish Iqbal, Mukhtar Fatima, Seema Masood, Dr.Mushtaq, (ill) Bashir Batt, Muhammad Ali Jauhar, Qamrul Huda Firidi, Manzoor Hussain Kazmi, Muhammad Afzal Mir, Ashiq Hussain Kazmi, Nazir Hussain Shah, Shaukat Hussain Kazmi, Jarmat Hussain Kazmi, Muhammad Jameel, Wali Muhammad and a number of teachers from Jammu and Kashmir State for their encouragement and solicitude.
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