What is meant
Shahrur sees knowledge as expanding human freedom because the more one understands natural and social laws, the greater one’s capacity to act and make decisions. For him, scientific knowledge is not merely theoretical knowledge, but a means of increasing the ability to influence reality.
The atom’s structure in the atlas
- Type of argument: value-based
- Argument movement: it makes knowledge a means of expanding freedom and the capacity to act.
- Central terms: knowledge, freedom, capacity, action.
- Degree of centrality: central.
This atom links knowledge and mastery of reality, making science a practical value that increases human capacity to choose and influence, not merely a theoretical accumulation detached from behavior.
Links that help with reading
Basis
- Supporting text: “Knowledge expands freedom; the more a person understands natural and social laws, the greater one’s capacity for action and judgment.”
Basis location in the book
- Book: The Book and the Qur’an.
- Location: in the middle section of the book
- Type of basis: close evidence.
- Marker that helps verification: the more human knowledge increases
- Reading note: the text links the increase of knowledge to the increase of judgment and freedom, and is very close to the atom.
Degree of documentation
- Level: directly documented
- Meaning of the level: the atom relies on a clear witness close to the wording of the claim.
- Limits of reading: the wording above is an analytical summary and should not be treated as a verbatim quotation unless the witness is quoted textually.
Its function in the book
Its function here is argumentative; it supports a larger result in the chapter or prepares for it.
Editorial note
Knowledge here is an instrument of liberation, not an intellectual luxury.