Classification of Sciences in Islamic Thought

Abstract

The classification of sciences is not a purely descriptive science, for its aim is not limited to providing a statistical survey of existing human knowledge and to arranging the sciences in order to present a report describing what is already there so that it can be built upon in the framework of general epistemological growth. This science, rather, carries under its descriptive appearance an evaluative standard that views the description of existing sciences as a foundation for what should take place in the mind's orientations toward subjects of knowl­edge. This can occur on an educational level, by pointing toward the manner of comprehending and assimilating sciences, or on a creative level. by pointing toward new areas of intellectual discovery in accor­dance with what is necessary for the advancement of human life. Thus. this science bears some similarity to history, in its descriptive appear­ance of what is there in the field of human knowledge, and to logic, in its defining of what should take place in the processes of the intellect. As a result, it is called the "logic of sciences" and is simultaneously descriptive and evaluative. However its descriptive aspect, which likens it to history, and its evaluative aspect. which draws it toward logic, does not mean that it is "objective," as are history and logic. This is because its evaluative aim is not based on the primeval issues of the intellect, as are logic and other objective sciences, but on the existential situation of human­ity, in what the individual perceives of the reality of existence and his/her own position in that reality. Upon this perception is based the formulation of a science classification method that is in harmony with the situation that is subservient to the destiny drawn for itself by humanity ...