Ethics: Between Celestial Religions and Western Philosophy - Author's Introduction

Ethics: Between Celestial Religions and Western Philosophy - Author's Introduction Introduction Praise be to Allah, Who has sent His Messengers with guidance and has sent down His Books with the truth, and has been a lamp illuminating the path of the believers. Morality is the basis of civilizational construction and human progress, it is the pole of the millstone, and the basic pillar of the life of the individual and society, and the behavior of the right man is only an expression of his representation of the lofty values that distinguish him from the animal, and take him out of the circle of beasthood. God has distinguished man from all other creatures with reason, by which he flies in the sky of idealism, endowed with morals and business virtues, thus realizing the psychological balance that makes him continuous in his life. Therefore, the divine messages came in essence calling for moral virtues, and stressing the need to establish societies on fixed values that do not change with changing circumstances and conditions, and its goal in all this was to spread values and virtues in the soul of man, and exalt him to the highest levels of virtue, and raise him from the vices of the hateful, so each of them was called principles and values complementary to each other, that the seal of God - yes - the message of Islam. The Apostles, all of them, called their people to enjoy the virtues of deeds and avoid evil deeds, so their call was not limited, as some think, to mere monotheism and worship of God only, but extended its shadow to self-recommencement and reform, by forbidding vices and fighting degenerate and moral chaos, which would eliminate the morality of man, and the call of Lot (peace be upon him) to reform his people and all other prophets except proof. Thus, the divine religions went on a balance between belief, worship and morality, calling for a fixed and non-volatile morality with the fluctuation of man in his material life, based on the divine revelation, which is followed in establishing ethics among people, drawing the Lord's approach that achieves human happiness in the present and the future. Morality was not only the call of the heavenly religions, but was the focus of the attention of philosophers, some of whom have deviated from morals mentally, so their views and attitudes conflicted between those who approved the immutability of morality, and those who saw in it a relative knowledge that changes with the change of time and space, and even changes according to the benefits of man, and what this ethics achieves from the same desires that satisfy his instinct. These trends are evident in some of the moral doctrines in Western philosophy, which were influenced by the scientific progress that Europe has reached thanks to experimental science, and then worked to formulate moral theories, in line with the materialism that produced a man printed for us in the character of selfishness and usefulness and the pursuit of material, Western man has become, based on these doctrines, disturbed morals and behavior. Through this contrast between religious ethics based on divine revelation and philosophical ethics based on reason, I have tried to formulate a topic that deals with both sides of the study that I called “ethics between heavenly religions and Western philosophy,” hoping that God will benefit me and you. * Importance of the topic If morality is the foundation of civilizations and the building of nations, then studying it is necessary because of the shortcomings and imbalances that may be perceived in those civilizations at times, and the prosperity and progress in some of them at others, but it will be the mirror through which we reveal the essence of man, considering his beliefs or philosophies influenced by him and his ethical behavior as part of the framework governing him. The contemporary reality, with its conflicts, wars and disintegration, makes this study urgent, through which we understand the origin of the moral crisis and the value collapse in dealing between individuals and human groups. These reasons are considered an objective justification for the interest in the subject of ethics in the heavenly religions and Western philosophy, especially since each of them has dealt with ethics from an opposite angle, they are united in terms of the subject of research, but they have differed in its results, which will have effects, both on the individual and society. Motivations for choosing a topic First, the desire that my study be linked to a subject shared by each of the three monotheistic religions and Western philosophy, and therefore the choice of the subject of ethics as part of both religious and philosophical study. Second: The desire to show the morals brought by the divine religions, and to know the virtues that have been established in the societies in which they appeared, in addition to the statement of the moral texts contained in the Holy Scriptures calling for the honor of ethics, and forbade vices that would destroy human life, to be replaced by the bestial life, which they are only interested in watering whims and pleasures. Third: The desire to stand on the moral doctrines produced by Western philosophy, which have had an impact on the formation of Western thought and the building of its civilization. Finally, this humble subject contributed to the completion of previous studies, whose efforts focused on the study of ethics in religion and philosophy, while trying to show the link between ethics and each of them. The Problem of Research If ethics is, as we have seen, the subject of heavenly religions and Western philosophy, then the study of it raises a series of problems and questions, through which we can understand the ethical path in each of them, and from the pressing questions that the subject tried to answer: How did both divine religions and Western philosophy address moral issues? or rather: How did divine religions and Western philosophy view morality? Did the difference in moral authority change the meaning of virtue and human values? I do not claim to have answered all the questions and questions raised by the subject, but I have tried hard to present all the ideas that I have been able to reach, hoping that God Almighty faithfulness to his face in this study, as I ask him to help and pay, and avoid slippage. * Research Plan The nature of the topic required me to divide it into an introduction, three chapters and a conclusion: - The introduction, in which I discussed the importance of the subject, the motives of the research, in addition to the problems surrounding this study, followed by the work plan, the methodology followed, previous studies and, finally, the most important difficulties encountered in preparing the subject. Chapter I: entitled "Introductions in the science of ethics", and divided into four detectives; dealt in the first subject definition of ethics, and touched in the second subject to show the subject and purpose of this science, while the third subject highlighted the nature of this science, and the fourth research highlighted the relationship between ethics and religion and philosophy. Chapter II: Entitled "Ethics in the three monotheistic religions", it was divided into three detectives; the first dealt with the study of ethics in the Jewish religion, and the second dealt with ethics in the Christian religion, while the third highlighted ethics in Islam. Chapter III: entitled "Ethics in Western Philosophy", and divided into three detectives; the first dealt with ethics in Greek philosophy, and touched in the second on ethics in Hellenistic philosophy, and the last dedicated to the study of ethics in modern philosophy. - Conclusion: I discussed the most important conclusions and conclusions that I came out of this research. Research Methodology I have tried and endeavored to follow a scientific approach that pursues objectivity, not tainted by intolerance and prejudice to a particular opinion; I was keen to study every part of the research not issued by an opinion I won, or an idea I was excited about, and the nature of the research required that I approach two approaches: Analytical descriptive approach: by presenting ideas and analyzing the content of philosophical and religious texts according to a systematic plan; in order to identify the details of the subject, and reveal its facts in both heavenly religions and Western philosophy. Comparative approach: By comparing moral issues sometimes shared between monotheistic religions, and sometimes between the views of philosophers. * Previous studies The subject of ethics in the heavenly religions and Western philosophy is not new, but the study of ethics has received a lot of attention from researchers and writers. Some of them dealt with this issue from the philosophical side, and began to look at Western philosophical doctrines, reviewing the moral theories; the likes of "Andre Cresson", who tried through his book "The moral problem and philosophers" to present the historical development that has passed through the history of ethics since Greek philosophy to modern moral doctrines, as well as a historian. As for the studies that dealt with ethics from the religious side, I benefited from the study of "Abdullah Draz" ethics, through his two books: "The Constitution of Ethics in the Qur'an", and "Introduction to the Holy Qur'an"; in the latter he compared between ethics contained in both the Islamic religion and the other contained in Judaism and Christianity, and we do not lose sight of contemporary studies, which dealt with ethics from both sides; religious and philosophical, as well as in the studies of "Abdul Rahman". Through these studies I have tried to formulate a general idea on the subject that will help me to grasp its manifold aspects, try to focus on the three religions, in addition to the study of ethics in some Western philosophers. * Difficulties of research No research is without any difficulties that may be experienced by the researcher in the study of his subject, whether it is related to the collection of scientific material needed by the researcher in his study, or parts of the subject that are difficult to understand sometimes, and the most prominent difficulties that have emerged in the way of research: - The complexity and complexity of the subject, due to the expansion of the circle of ethics, and the multiplicity of problems, both in the heavenly religions or Western philosophy. - The difficulty of dealing with some philosophical texts that contain terms that are difficult for any researcher who is unfamiliar with philosophy and its complex topics, which forces me to return to the philosophical dictionaries; in order to see what those terms are. This was in the supervision of the virtuous professor / Sir Mohammed Zuhair - may God protect him - help us patience and overcome the difficulties, it is beautiful thanks for that, and thanks be to God who completes the good deeds. God bless. [1] Preface to what is in Al-Mutta of meanings and support, Ibn Abdul-Barr al-Qurtoubi, investigation: Ahmed Aarab, edition (1411 AH), c(24), p(333). - Cream duz. — Source: Brahin Center website - Posted on 2016-01-21 (archived at the Internet Archive) https://braheen.com/publications/intros/الأخلاق-بين-الأديان-السماوية-والفلسفة-الغربية-مقدمة-المؤلفة