This page explains a conceptual relationship between two poles within Shahrur’s thought, and how this relationship functions in the construction of meaning.
Within a Broader Family
This relationship falls within a field that places the human being as an influential party in the movement of history, not merely a recipient of it. Its witness clarifies a degree of this presence, and the family gathers the formulations that describe the historical agency of the human being.
Meaning of the Relationship
This relationship means that the human being is not merely a recipient of what happens in time, but an influential party that shapes the course of events and participates in directing them. The meaning here is that history does not move in isolation from human will, freedom of choice, and responsibility, and that human actions enter into shaping the course of human and cognitive development.
The Two Poles of the Relationship
- First pole: the human being
- Relationship: agent
- Second pole: in history
Evidence
- The Qur’anic Narrative, vol. 1 via Human Beings Are Agents in History
- Witness: - It links the Qur’anic narrative to human freedom, responsibility, and cognitive development, and makes the human being an agent in history rather than subject to a fixed determinism.
Its Impact on the Knowledge Map
This relationship acquires importance because it links the Qur’anic narrative with a broader conception of the human being as a free and responsible creature, not captive to a fixed necessity. In doing so, it gives the conceptual map a dimension that clarifies the human being’s position within history, and shows that understanding the Qur’anic narrative is connected to the idea of human action and its role in change and development.