What Is Attributed to Shahrur?
The excerpt attributes to Shahrur the construction of his thesis on the premise that reason and knowledge perform the function of transformation from speech to action, and from imagination to reality, in both the natural sciences and the human sciences.
“[He] builds his thesis on the premise that reason and knowledge are the two principal mediators for transforming speech into action and imagination into reality, whether in natural science or in the human sciences.”
Atlas Explanation
This atom records a methodological principle: the idea is presented here not as a self-sufficient end, but as something that requires reason and knowledge in order to become action and reality. This does not mean that the text provides, at this point, a single detailed mechanism applicable to all fields; rather, it establishes the breadth of the claim across natural science and the human sciences.
For the broader context: Muhammad Shahrur: State and Society, and the contemporary reading methodology.
Synthetic Inference
The pairing of “reason and knowledge” can be understood to mean that the intended transformation is not merely the material realization of action, but a transition connected to both understanding and practice. This is a synthetic explanation based on the wording of the excerpt, not a detailed terminological definition of reason or knowledge.
Open Question and Limits of the Evidence
The excerpt alone does not specify the definition of either reason or knowledge, nor does it explain the stages or tools through which speech is transformed into action in each of the natural and human sciences. Nor does it establish that reason and knowledge are synonymous terms; rather, the text presents them together as two mediators.