The Inevitable Contingency of Ethics on Theistic Foundations

• Published in: Journal of Islamic thought and civilization Vol. 11; no. 1; pp. 159 - 174
• Main Author: Arshad, Muhammad Rasheed
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lahore University of Management and Technology, Department of Islamic Thought and Civilization 01.04.2021
• Subjects: Consciousness; Ethics; Hegemony; Institutionalization; Islam; Metaphysics; Modernity; Morality; Muslims; Principles; Religion; Traditions
• ISSN: 2075-0943; 2520-0313
• DOI: 10.32350/iitc.111.09

In this article, the author examines the dependence of ethics on theistic foundations. The Western conception is that ethics is a result of a natural evolutionary process. The Modern West has never accepted or believed in any ethical system governed by religion, and modernity has tried to establish that the universal moral principles are independent of any metaphysical context. The modernity project and rising secularization have taken charge of the field, and religious significance has gone absent from the mainstream, on account of which many challenges have occurred in moral and ethical matters. We will also examine whether Modern Western Civilization has established an ethical code independent of religion and whether we should follow the Western Model, if any. Moreover, this article examines how ethics is a cause and consequence of the development of personality, and no ethical system is ever there without any religious foundations. Human beings are built on the essence of servitude, and virtues evolve from the foundation of servitude. Another area the article focuses on is the challenges faced by the Muslims and how Modern Western Civilization made morality appears as a result of social and psychological evolution. We also study the possibility and impossibility of Good without an omniscient and omnipotent authority. The absoluteness of moral principles and values and the necessity of consciousness are also discussed in this article.