Archive for the ‘Videnskab’ Category
Hoodbhoy: Islam og videnskaben er gået hver sin vej
Et spændende interview med Pakistans førende videnskabsmand, en af de mest fremtrædende intellektuelle i landet, Pervez Amirali Hoodbhoy, som er stærkt kritisk overfor islam-bølgen, der er skyllet over hans eget hjemland og trængt den rationelle tanke og videnskaben i defensiven. Men Hoodbhoy holder fast i, at teologi ikke forklarer mørkets sejr i disse år over intellektets lys:
“Hoodbhoy: This question must be disaggregated and examined at many levels. It cannot be answered simply in terms of mere theology—the Bible contains elements of extreme violence and yet the vast majority of scientists who are believing Christians are also peaceful people. What brought about the global Islamist wave is a much more relevant question. It is, in some ways, the Muslim version of anti-colonialism and a reaction to the excesses of the West, combined with an excessive traditionalism.
[...]MEQ: What role do you think is played by the ulema in blocking new knowledge by imposing the rulings against innovation?
Hoodbhoy: The traditional ulema are indeed a problem, but they are not the biggest one; the biggest problem is Islamism, a radical and often militant interpretation of Islam that spills over from the theological domain into national and international politics. Whenever and wherever religious fundamentalism dominates, blind faith clouds objective and rational thinking. If such forces take hold in a society, they create a mindset unfavorable for critical inquiry, including scientific inquiry, with its need to question received wisdom.
MEQ: Have religious conservatism and anti-science attitudes among Muslims always been as strong as today? Or were Muslims more pro-science, say, a hundred years ago?
Hoodbhoy: In my childhood, the traditional ulema—who are so powerful today—were regarded as rather quaint objects and often ridiculed in private. Centuries ago the greatest poets of Persia, like Hafiz and Rumi, stripped away the mullahs’ religious pretensions and exposed their stupidity. Today, however, those same mullahs have taken control of the Iranian republic.
The answer lies just as much in the domain of world politics as in theology. Khomeini developed the doctrine known as “guardianship of the clergy,” which gives the mullahs much wider powers than they generally exercised in the past. Instead of being simple religious leaders, they now became political leaders as well. This echoes the broader Islamic fusion of the spiritual and the temporal. [...]“
Man havde gerne set, at Hoodbhoy satte en mere præcis finger på, hvorfra islamismen og traditionalismen udspringer. Iran er langt fra så indflydelsesrig en islamiseringsspiller som Saudiarabien, der bl.a. i Pakistan, men over stort set hele den muslimske verden (og udenfor såmænd også) har spillet den afgørende rolle i Muslimistans generelle omfavnelse af tradition og religion de seneste årtier.
Bo-sproget er dødt. Lad det hvile i fred
Sjovt, som ret ukontroversielle nyheder kan tolkes fundamentalt forskelligt: Den sidste kvinde, Boa Sr., der talte det andamanesiske sprog bo, er død. Det får sprogalarmister til at bimle med klokkerne:
Of the world’s roughly 7,000 spoken languages, over half are spoken by only 0.2% of all the people on earth. Nearly 80% of the world’s population speaks just 83 languages, a proportion that is growing as globalization and urbanization encourage migrants and rural outliers to learn the dominant tongue in lieu of their own. Every 14 days, estimates [David] Harrison’s institute, a language dies.
Der er ingen tvivl om, at David Harrison og hans institut har en masse gode og kostbare ideer til, hvordan FN kan bevare indfødte folk og deres sprog som levende frilandsmuseer. Man kan bare undre sig over – hvorfor?
Siden Jahve greb ind og chikanerede menneskeheden ved at forvirre deres sprog, har det været kilde til stor irritation, at man ikke umiddelbart kunne tale og handle med sine naboer. Et par uønskede krige, forårsaget af sproglige misforståelser, er det sikkert også blevet til i tidens løb.
Hvad er problemet, hvis hele menneskeheden taler bare ét sprog, engelsk? Der er ikke noget problem, blot nostalgisk længsel efter noget der var engang. Som med blåhvalerne. De var interessante og imponerende, men kunne bare ikke klare det hektiske og stressende liv i et moderne industrisamfund.
