In Shahrur’s lexicon, knowledge in Shahrur’s thought is a relative human movement that develops through sensation, reason, abstraction, and the accumulation of sciences, and remains an open horizon for understanding rather than a final possession of truth.
Meaning in Shahrur’s Thought
Human knowledge is relative and evolving, moving from sensation to abstraction and theory. Human understanding changes as the tools of knowledge and the epistemic system change. From here, interpretation becomes, for him, an attempt to match the report or tidings with reality, reason, and the available knowledge.
Distinctions
- It differs from God’s knowledge, because God’s knowledge is absolute and all-encompassing, whereas human knowledge is historical and limited.
- It rests on scientific differentiation and classification rather than merely repeating inherited tradition.
- It is inseparable from interpretation, because interpretation is the place where knowledge is tested in reality.
Foundational Links
- Human knowledge is relative and evolving
- Human knowledge is relative and progresses from sensation to mathematics
- Knowledge begins with sensation and ends with differentiation
- Knowledge advances through differentiation and classification
- Judgments change with the epistemic system
- Existence, knowledge, and history
- Interpretation and reality
Its Place in the Atlas
Here, the scattered evidences of knowledge across the Book and the Qur’an, the Reading Guide, and the Qur’an in Contemporary Thought come together. The page opens a direct path to the question of knowledge from the lexicon and from the pathways of existence and interpretation.