Arab Muslim Civilization In The Mirror Of The Universal Philosophical Perspectives

This follows on from the very well-received Volume I UNIVER-CITIES: Strategic Implications for Asia — Readings from Cambridge and Berkeley to Singapore edited by Anthony SC Teo and published in 2013. The early discussions on the topic "univer-cities" sparked considerable interest, leading to the Inaugural Univer-Cities Conference 2013. Volume II is the result of papers presented at the Inaugural Univer-Cities Conference 2013. Founded by Anthony SC Teo, the Conference was held under the auspices of Nanyang Technological University and the Lee Foundation in Singapore. The Inaugural Address was delivered by His Royal Highness Raja Dr Nazrin Shah and followed by presentations by eminent scholars and leaders of thought from universities all over the world. Building on the foundation for further research, discussion and input from scholars worldwide and the international community, the next univer-cities conference is planned for 2016. *His Royal Highness Raja Dr Nazrin Shah ascended the Throne as the 35th Sultan of Perak Darul Ridzuan on 29 May 2014. Contents:Foreword (Leszek Borysiewicz)Welcome Address (Bertil Andersson)Univer-Cities: Strategic View of the Future — From Berkeley and Cambridge to Singapore and Rising Asia, Volume II (Anthony SC Teo)Universities and Cities: The Future of Univer-Cities in Asia (*His Royal Highness Raja Dr Nazrin Shah)Berkeley: Campus and Community (Richard Bender, Emily Marthinsen and John Parman)Cambridge: Beyond the Univer-City (Peter Carolin)Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM): East-West Views of Univer-Cities — UKM with Bangi, Kuala Lumpur and Tiger Malaysia (Sharifah Hapsah Syed Hasan Shahabudin)University of Newcastle: Recasting the City of Newcastle as a Univer-City — The Journey from 'Olde' Newcastle-upon-Tyne to the New Silk Road (Nancy Cushing, Katrina Quinn and Caroline McMillen)From Burnaby's Mountain Top to Vancouver and Surrey: The Making of an Engaged University (Andrew Petter, Richard Littlemore and Joanne Curry)Modelling Good Urban (Design) Behaviour: University-led Neighbourhood Development, University of Manitoba (Richard Milgrom, David T Barnard and Michelle Richard)Carleton University: The Architecture of Knowledge and the Knowledge of Architecture (Roseann O'Reilly Runte)KAIST: World-Class Innovations in Top-Notch Research University — Case of the On-Line Electric Vehicle (OLEV) (Nam P Suh)Cambridge: From Medieval Market Town to Univer-City (Gordon Johnson)Tunisian Scientists' Experiences in Singapore: On the New Silk Road? (Lilia Labidi and Anthony SC Teo)Univer-City of Melbourne: Case of Medical Regionality (Shane Huntington and Stephen K Smith) Readership: Campus planners, architects, landscape and lighting consultants, city planners, mayors, futurists, educators. Key Features:This is an artistically-designed compact reader which explains the idea of univer-cities. Prominent authors from Cambridge, Berkeley, Melbourne, and Singapore have contributed four evocative readings that have been written in a conversationally thought-provoking mannerThe challenges that universities face in this day and age are re-defined and they are not presented as pre-defined notionsKeywords:Univer-Cities Continuum Strategy Management;Strategic View of the Future;21st Century Silk Road Redefined;Keystone Innovation Ecosystems;Redefining Core Competency and Innovating Academic Leadership;Inspired Trans-disciplinary Research and Knowledge Economy;Urban Efficacy and Engines of Growth;Quality Academic Campus and City Life;Next Silicon Valley or Fen;Univer-Cities Too Big to Fail and Addressing Societal Challenges

Following a spectacular surge in interest for Egyptian masters, Modern Art in Egypt fills the void in Egyptian art history, chronicling the lives and legacies of six pioneering artists working under the British occupation. Using Western-style academic art as a starting point, these artists championed cultural progress, re-appropriating Egyptian visual culture from European orientalists to found a neo-Pharaonic School of Realism. Modern Art in Egypt charts the years from Muhammad Ali's educational reforms to the mass influx of foreigners during the nineteenth-century. With a focus on the al-Nahda thought movement, this book provides an overview of the key policy-makers, reformists and feminists who founded the first School of Fine Arts in Egypt, as well as cultural salons, museums and arts collectives. By combining political and aesthetic histories, Fatenn Mostafa breaks the prevailing understanding that has preferred to see non-Western art as derivatives of Western art movements. Modern Art in Egypt re-establishes Egypt's presence within the global Modernist canon.

This book, a milestone of Islamic scholarship, calls attention to those aspects of Arab Islamic culture that excite modern controversy. Professor Khalidi examines the classical period, when the basic cultural patterns of Islamic civilization were established, the various branches of religious and nonreligious scholarship defined, and the religious life-styles had become embedded in the subconscious of an ancient society. The topics covered are: The Foundations God and His Community Islamic Paideia Attitudes Towards the past The Mystic Quest The Place of Reason The World of Nature The Governance of the Umma Ibn Khaldun--The Great Synthesist Past and Present in Contemporary Arabic Thought.

"This book fills a significant lack. The world of learning's paucity of detailed information about the relationships between Arab-Islamic and Western Scientific philosophy is both real and unfortunate. Professor Obiedat's instructive discussion provides an informative step towards repairing this regrettable omission." -Nicholas Rescher, Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy, University of Pittsburgh, USA "This is the first comparative study ever to engage the impressive oeuvres of Mario Bunge and Abdurrahman Taha. Obiedat, however, has his own perspective on things, finding both philosophers lacking in some respects. This is a provocative book that has as one of its virtues the opening of crucial space for bringing Western and Islamic philosophical voices into dialogue with one another." -Wael Hallaq, Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University, USA "Professor Obeidat takes us in an exciting journey to the universal religious, secular, and scientific points of views. He aims at exploring their broad lines and surpassing their partial differences. Thereby, he uses a modern philosophical approach by which he attempts to eliminate the dialectical gap between the Arab-Islamic and the Western worlds. Finally, he tests the boundaries of the philosophical vision that has dominated our understanding of the world for a very long time!" -Salah Osman, Professor of Logic and Philosophy of Science at Menoufia University, Egypt This is the first study to compare the philosophical systems of secular scientific philosopher Mario Bunge (1919-2020), and Moroccan Islamic philosopher Taha Abd al-Rahman (b.1945). In their efforts to establish the philosophical underpinnings of an ideal modernity these two great thinkers speak to the same elements of the human condition, despite their opposing secular and religious worldviews. While the differences between Bunge's critical-realist epistemology and materialist ontology on the one hand, and Taha's spiritualist ontology and revelational-mystical epistemology on the other, are fundamental, there is remarkable common ground between their scientific and Islamic versions of humanism. Both call for an ethics of prosperity combined with social justice, and both criticize postmodernism and religious conservatism. The aspiration of this book is to serve as a model for future dialogue between holders of Western and Islamic worldviews, in mutual pursuit of modernity's best-case scenario. A. Z. Obiedat is an Assistant Professor of Arabic Language and Culture at Wake Forest University, USA. .

A new cultural-theoretical approach is used to develop a philosophy to overcome post-war traumata, or the traumatization effects that affect entire national cultures. The new aspect is the book’s study of both France and Germany in its discussion of post-war issues. The reader is given insights into the approaches France and Germany took in their self-evaluation processes. In one case the issue is the admission of total humiliation, and in the other it is salvaging a certain sense of national honor. The book overcomes the speechlessness on the post-war issue that can still be observed in German/French philosophy today.