| The Practical Wisdom of a Sufi in this Day - Age | |
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This paper explains and analyses in detail practical reason as understood and used by Fethullah Gülen. First, as far as the root of Gülen’s practical wisdom is concerned, he is influenced by Sunni-Muslim scholars who emphasized the spiritual aspect of the human nature. However, their approach to practical wisdom can be regarded as an appropriation of Platonic-Aristotelian analyses of ethical action into an Islamic framework. Plato’s “tripartite analysis of the soul” and Aristotle’s “doctrine of the mean” are interpreted consistently with the Islamic teaching. Second, although Gülen’s notion of practical reason is not original, his originality lies in the use of it; as it is exemplified in his interpretation of “jihad.” Nazif Muhtaroğlu received his B.A. and M.A. degrees on Philosophy from Bosphorus University in 2004 and 2006, respectively. He was accepted to the PhD program at University of Kentucky Philosophy Department in Fall 2006. He is continuing his Doctorate studies on “Occasionalism”, which is the doctrine that ascribes to all causal power to God. He is trying to reconstruct this doctrine by benefiting from its proponents in Islamic philosophy and the Cartesian tradition. Aside from his native language Turkish, he speaks English fluently and can read Arabic, German and Latin. He is serving as the Secretary of the Interfaith Dialogue Organization at the University of Kentucky.
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