Özgür Koca – författare

This Element intends to contribute to the debate between Islam and science. It focuses on one of the most challenging issues in the modern discussion on the reconciliation of religious and scientific claims about the world, which is to think about divine causality without undermining the rigor and efficacy of the scientific method. First, the Element examines major Islamic accounts of causality. Then, it provides a brief overview of contemporary debates on the issue and identifies both scientific and theological challenges. It argues that any proposed Islamic account of causality for the task of reconciliation should be able to preserve scientific rigor without imposing a priori limits on scientific research, account for miracles without turning them into science-stoppers or metaphors, secure divine and creaturely freedom, and establish a strong sense of divine presence in the world. Following sections discuss strengths and weaknesses of each account in addressing these challenges.

This Element intends to contribute to the debate between Islam and science. It focuses on one of the most challenging issues in the modern discussion on the reconciliation of religious and scientific claims about the world, which is to think about divine causality without undermining the rigor and efficacy of the scientific method. First, the Element examines major Islamic accounts of causality. Then, it provides a brief overview of contemporary debates on the issue and identifies both scientific and theological challenges. It argues that any proposed Islamic account of causality for the task of reconciliation should be able to preserve scientific rigor without imposing a priori limits on scientific research, account for miracles without turning them into science-stoppers or metaphors, secure divine and creaturely freedom, and establish a strong sense of divine presence in the world. Following sections discuss strengths and weaknesses of each account in addressing these challenges.

In this volume, Ozgur Koca offers a comprehensive survey of Islamic accounts of causality and freedom from the medieval to the modern era, as well as contemporary relevance. His book is an invitation for Muslims and non-Muslims to explore a rich, but largely forgotten, aspect of Islamic intellectual history. Here, he examines how key Muslim thinkers, such as Ibn Sina, Ghazali, Ibn Rushd, Ibn Arabi, Suhrawardi, Jurjani, Mulla Sadra and Nursi, among others, conceptualized freedom in the created order as an extension of their perception of causality. Based on this examination, Koca identifies and explores some of the major currents in the debate on causality and freedom. He also discusses the possible implications of Muslim perspectives on causality for contemporary debates over religion and science.