Morality and Revelation in Islamic Thought and Beyond

PROLOGUE DEFINING A NEW PROBLEM OF EVIL Summary of the Chapter I. Two Stories II. Morally Controversial Scriptural Passages III. Seemingly Prescribed Evil IV. The New Problem of Evil and the Structure of the Book V. Historical Background PART I: SCRIPTURE-FIRST CHATER 1 THE CONSEQUENTIALISM OF THE LATE ASH'ARITES Summary of the Chapter I. Divine Command Theory of the Early Ash'arites II. The Consequentialism of al-Ghazali III. The Moral Epistemology of al-Ghazali IV. The Argument for Strict Adherence to Scripture V. Taqlid and the Rule of Figurative Interpretation CHAPTER 2 THE DEONTOLGICAL ETHICS OF THE MU'TAZILITES Summary of the Chapter I. The Ash'arites and the Problem of Evil II. The Metaethics of the Mu'tazilites III. The Normative Theory of 'Abd al-Jabbar IV. The Moral Epistemology of 'Abd al-Jabbar V. Natural Evil, Prescribed Evil, and Skeptical Theism CHAPTER 3 THE VIRTUE ETHICS OF ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHERS Summary of the Chapter I. The Project of the Reconciliation of Reason and Religion II. Al-Farabi's View on Epistemology and Religion III. Averroes's View on the Harmony of Religion and Philosophy IV. The Virtue Ethics of al-Farabi PART II: ETHICS-FIRST CHAPTER 4 THE IMPERMISSIBILITY OF MORAL DEFERENCE Summary of the Chapter I. Moral Deference in Contemporary Philosophy I. Al-Razi's Ethical Theory II. Al-Razi on Moral Deference III. Moses and Impermissibility of Pure Moral Deference IV. A Solution to the Problem of Prescribed Evil CHAPTER 5 THE RELIABILITY OF OUR MORAL JUDGMENTS Summary of the Chapter I. The Debate on Objective and Subjective Ought II. Scripture, Ignorance and Uncertainty III. Ignorance Revisited IV. Kantian Arguments for the Accessibility Constraint V. Moral Knowledge Optimism and The Mu'tazilites VI. The Case of Abraham CHAPTER 6 THE HERMENEUTICS OF SCRIPTURE Summary of the Chapter I. Ethics-first Solutions to the Problem of Prescribed Evil II. Lessons from a Philosophical Tale III. The Nature of Law IV. Legal Interpretation Defended V. The Moral Functions of Scripture