The Senses Provide Raw Material
Editorial verification status: This atom was extracted from an explanatory audiovisual source, and has now been linked to the closest books within the Shahrur project at the book level. For precise academic citation, consult the original book and the original episode together.
Formulation of the claim
The senses do not produce final knowledge; rather, they supply human beings with the raw material from which thinking begins.
Explanation
Shahrur explains that hearing, sight, and the heart are not complete knowledge, but primary inputs. These inputs turn into raw material for thinking, analysis, deconstruction, and composition. Thus, the senses are not the end of the process, but only its beginning.
Its place in the episode’s argument
This atom serves the construction of his cognitive sequence: sensation, then perception, then thinking, then decision. It is the basis for his linking of the Wise Revelation with epistemology.
Scope of the claim
It does not negate the senses’ cognitive function, but it does negate that they alone are sufficient to produce understanding.
Brief evidence
“These senses give the raw material… the raw material for thinking”
Nearby links
- The Qur’an
- Shahrur - Islam and the Human Being
- Shahrur - A Contemporary Reading Guide to the Wise Revelation