Secularism, identity, and enchantment /
Bilgrami, Akeel, 1950-
Secularism, identity, and enchantment / Akeel Bilgrami. - 1 online resource (xiii, 397 pages) - Convergences: inventories of the present . - Convergences (Cambridge, Mass.) .
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
Secularism -- Secularism: its content and context -- Secularism and the very concept of law -- Liberalism and the academy -- Secular enchantment -- Gandhi, the philosopher -- Gandhi (and Marx) -- The political possibilities of the long romantic period -- Identity -- What is a Muslim? fundamental commitment and cultural identity -- Notes toward the definition of identity -- After the Fatwah: twenty years of controversy -- Reflections on Edward Said -- Occidentalism, the very idea: an essay on the enlightenment, enchantment, and the democratic mentality -- The freedom of beginnings -- Edward said: an intellectual and personal tribute.
Main Description: Bringing clarity to a subject clouded by polemic, Secularism, Identity, and Enchantment is a rigorous exploration of how secularism and identity emerged as concepts in different parts of the modern world. At a time when secularist and religious worldviews appear irreconcilable, Akeel Bilgrami strikes out on a path distinctly his own, criticizing secularist proponents and detractors, liberal universalists and multicultural relativists alike. Those who ground secularism in arguments that aspire to universal reach, Bilgrami argues, fundamentally misunderstand the nature of politics. To those, by contrast, who regard secularism as a mere outgrowth of colonial domination, he offers the possibility of a more conceptually vernacular ground for political secularism. Focusing on the response to Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses, Bilgrami asks why Islamic identity has so often been a mobilizing force against liberalism, and he answers the question with diagnostic sympathy, providing a philosophical framework within which the Islamic tradition might overcome the resentments prompted by its colonized past and present. Turning to Gandhi's political and religious thought, Bilgrami ponders whether the increasing appeal of religion in many parts of the world reflects a growing disillusionment not with science but with an outlook of detachment around the rise of modern science and capitalism. He elaborates a notion of enchantment along metaphysical, ethical, and political lines with a view to finding in secular modernity a locus of meaning and value, while addressing squarely the anxiety that all such notions hark back nostalgically to a time that has past.
9780674419643 (electronic bk.) 0674419642 (electronic bk.)
22573/ctt6hpms4 JSTOR
Said, Edward W. 1935-2003
Secularism.
Identity (Philosophical concept)
Political science--Philosophy.
Identité.
identity.
RELIGION--Agnosticism.
RELIGION--Islam--General.
Identity (Philosophical concept)
Political science--Philosophy.
Secularism.
Identität
Säkularismus
Politische Philosophie
Godsdiensten.
Secularisatie (maatschappij)
Identiteit.
Electronic books.
BL2747.8 / .B53 2014eb
211/.6
Secularism, identity, and enchantment / Akeel Bilgrami. - 1 online resource (xiii, 397 pages) - Convergences: inventories of the present . - Convergences (Cambridge, Mass.) .
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
Secularism -- Secularism: its content and context -- Secularism and the very concept of law -- Liberalism and the academy -- Secular enchantment -- Gandhi, the philosopher -- Gandhi (and Marx) -- The political possibilities of the long romantic period -- Identity -- What is a Muslim? fundamental commitment and cultural identity -- Notes toward the definition of identity -- After the Fatwah: twenty years of controversy -- Reflections on Edward Said -- Occidentalism, the very idea: an essay on the enlightenment, enchantment, and the democratic mentality -- The freedom of beginnings -- Edward said: an intellectual and personal tribute.
Main Description: Bringing clarity to a subject clouded by polemic, Secularism, Identity, and Enchantment is a rigorous exploration of how secularism and identity emerged as concepts in different parts of the modern world. At a time when secularist and religious worldviews appear irreconcilable, Akeel Bilgrami strikes out on a path distinctly his own, criticizing secularist proponents and detractors, liberal universalists and multicultural relativists alike. Those who ground secularism in arguments that aspire to universal reach, Bilgrami argues, fundamentally misunderstand the nature of politics. To those, by contrast, who regard secularism as a mere outgrowth of colonial domination, he offers the possibility of a more conceptually vernacular ground for political secularism. Focusing on the response to Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses, Bilgrami asks why Islamic identity has so often been a mobilizing force against liberalism, and he answers the question with diagnostic sympathy, providing a philosophical framework within which the Islamic tradition might overcome the resentments prompted by its colonized past and present. Turning to Gandhi's political and religious thought, Bilgrami ponders whether the increasing appeal of religion in many parts of the world reflects a growing disillusionment not with science but with an outlook of detachment around the rise of modern science and capitalism. He elaborates a notion of enchantment along metaphysical, ethical, and political lines with a view to finding in secular modernity a locus of meaning and value, while addressing squarely the anxiety that all such notions hark back nostalgically to a time that has past.
9780674419643 (electronic bk.) 0674419642 (electronic bk.)
22573/ctt6hpms4 JSTOR
Said, Edward W. 1935-2003
Secularism.
Identity (Philosophical concept)
Political science--Philosophy.
Identité.
identity.
RELIGION--Agnosticism.
RELIGION--Islam--General.
Identity (Philosophical concept)
Political science--Philosophy.
Secularism.
Identität
Säkularismus
Politische Philosophie
Godsdiensten.
Secularisatie (maatschappij)
Identiteit.
Electronic books.
BL2747.8 / .B53 2014eb
211/.6