Islam, Modernity, and the Human Sciences

Ali Zaidi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Global Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University inWaterloo, Ontario, Canada.

• Part I: Social Theory and Dialogical Understanding * Critique and Dialogical Understanding * Part II: Muslim Debates on Social Knowledge * Muslim Reconstructions of Knowledge: the Case of Nasr and al-Faruqi * The Putative Modernity of Ibn Khaldun * Part III: Western Debates on Social Knowledge * Dilthey and the Problem of Immanence * Weber: from Nihilism to an Organic Metaphysics

"Zaidi's book is an important contribution to the global Islam-Modernity debate." - Ernest Wolf-Gazo, Professor of Philosophy, the American University in Cairo "Islam, Modernity, and the Human Sciences is a complex and demanding exposition of the epistemological problems that confront any dialogue between civilizations, especially between Islam and the West, but it is also wholly rewarding and captivating. Can a dialogue between civilizations ultimately replace the destructive clash of civilizations that has raged since 9/11? Ali Zaidi offers a masterly analysis of various attempts, from Max Weber to Jurgen Habermas, to understand other cultures[...] How can we understand the truth claims of Islam and at the same time dismiss the Other s notion of the sacred? Faced with the bleak prospect of an endless conflict of civilizations, dialogue may be all that we have to hope for. As a result, Ali Zaidi s book is an urgent prerequisite for more productive conversations." - Bryan S. Turner, Presidential Professor of Sociology, the Graduate Center, City University of New York