Linguistic philosophy in modern uṣūl al-fiqh
Al-Ākhund al-Khurāsānī (d. 1911) on seeking something without willing it to be
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21759960 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ali-Reza Bhojani (0000-0002-3728-5260, University of Birmingham, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 22 |
| Publication date | 2022-01-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Méthodos (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1626-0600 • E-ISSN: 1769-7379 |
| Publisher | OpenEdition (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.4000/methodos.8985 |
| OpenAlex | W4281962544 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 19 |
In a seminal modern work of uṣūl al-fiqh, al-Ākhund al-Khurāsānī (d. 1911) argues that the two terms ṭalab (seeking) and irāda (willing) are coined to refer to a single concept. Within the argument he implies that the Ashʿarīs, and some modern Twelver Shīʿa who lean towards their position, fall foul of a linguistic fallacy when they assert that ṭalab and irāda are distinct. For al-Khurāsānī, both ṭalab and irāda may be used in two distinct modes, a real (ḥaqīqī) mode or an initiating mode (inshāʾī). The former denotes a real seeking or willing within the essence of an actor, whereas the latter simply seeks to initiate the meaning of seeking or willing. Accordingly, an initiating ṭalab may be distinct from a real irāda, and a real ṭalab may be distinct from an initiating irāda, without undermining the position that ṭalab and irāda are conceptually identical. Analysis of al-Khurāsānī’s arguments, and some criticisms of it by later modern and contemporary scholars of uṣūl al-fiqh, will aim to broaden our understanding of the category of inshāʾ in Arabic, hitherto analysed through the lens of J. L. Austin’s notion of performatives. More generally, the paper takes the treatment of this linguistic issue as an example affirming the continued importance of modern and contemporary uṣūl al-fiqh for engaging with Arabic philosophy of language and argument
Epistemology · Fallacy · Humanities · Performative utterance · Chemistry · Historical and Linguistic Studies · Islamic Studies and History · Medieval and Classical Philosophy · Philosophy
How To Do Things With Words
Islam and Literalism
A History of Islamic Legal Theories
Inevitable Doubt
The Search for God's Law
The muʿtazila's arguments against divine command theory
Debating the Imperative Mood in Uṣūl al-Fiqh
Une pragmatique avant la pragmatique
Akhund Khurasani and the Iranian Constitutional Movement
| Highly cited | No |
|---|