ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHY AND THE CHALLENGE OF CLONING

Author: Farimani, Mohammad Motahari

Source: Zygon, Volume 42, Number 1, March 2007 , pp. 145-152(8)

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Abstract:

Scientific achievements, especially in contemporary biology, have led and continue to lead to uncertainties for some believers with regard to their understanding of the role of God as the creator. This essay, avoiding philosophical jargon, expounds the stance of Islamic philosophy on this matter and argues that such anxiety and doubt are unfounded. Drawing upon the thousand-year-old distinction between two types of cause, real and preparatory, as formulated by Muslim philosophers, the argument demonstrates that seeing biological advances as rivaling God's creation, as traditionally understood in the Abrahamic religions, is a premature judgment based on a faulty conflation. This comes to light most clearly through Mulla Sadra's analysis of causality, the far-reaching implications of which are briefly mentioned.

Keywords: biology; causality; cloning; creation; effect; God; Islamic philosophy; Mulla Sadra; preparatory cause; real cause; relation; religion and science; technology

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9744.2006.00811.x

Affiliations: 1: Teaches at the University of Tehran in the Faculties of Theology and Philosophy as well as the Imam Khomeini Education and Research Institute in Qum, Iran;, Email: mo.motaharifarimani@utoronto.ca.

Publication date: 2007-03-01