Call for Papers

Date: December 17-18, 2022

Abstract Submission Deadline: June 30, 2022

Organizer: Cambridge Muslim College

Cambridge Muslim College is hosting a one-day online conference on Intersecting Philosophy of Science with Islamic Thought.

The field of philosophy of science has grown extensively since the 1960s with multiple sub-disciplinary areas of interest. However, there has hardly been any exchange of developments between philosophy of science as a whole and its specific inquiries with Islamic thought. This conference attempts to connect these two otherwise largely disconnected territories. We are looking for novel papers that engage questions posed in philosophy of science from Islamic perspectives. Example inquiries include:

1. Are/can there be any Islamic perspectives on the demarcation problem?
2. How have Muslims conceived the laws of nature?
3. Are there any Islamic responses to the problem of induction?
4. How might Muslims respond to the scientific realism debate?

Participants should feel free to localise these inquiries to particular disciplines and/or thinkers/groups. For example:

1. How might Avicenna’s framework demarcate between physics (science) and black magic (pseudoscience)?
2. Are laws of nature “real” in Ash’arite occasionalism?
3. How do prophetic miracles impact the discussion of scientific realism?

We are also open to the meta questions. The following are potential research questions:

1. Should philosophy of science intersect with Islamic thought?
2. How might an engagement between philosophy of science and Islamic theology and/or philosophy look like?
3. How might philosophy of science mediate the role between the natural sciences and Islamic philosophy and/or theology?

More information on: Cambridge Muslim College