"An Islamic Approach to Humanities," Journal of King Abdul Aziz University, v. 27 #2, p3-27, 2014/1435
SSRN Version
ABSTRACT
The methodology of science is suitable for material substances subject to laws, but not for humans with free will. “Social science” was born from the misconception that application of the scientific method to human beings and societies would lead to remarkable progress. However, this approach has failed in many ways, which is documented in this paper. Islam provides us with a radically different approach to the study of human beings and societies, predicated on human freedom to choose between good and evil. This approach is delineated in this paper.
REFERENCE
Amir-ud-Din, Rafi and Zaman, Asad (2013) “Failures of the Invisible Hand”, Availa-
ble at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2293940
Ariely, Dan (2009) Predictably Irrational. NY: Harper Collins.
Bauman, Zygmunt (1989) Modernity and the Holocaust. USA: Cornell University Press.
Bicchieri, Cristina (2006) The Grammar of Society: The Nature and Dynamics of
Social Norms. UK: Cambridge University Press.
Card, David Edward (1995) Myth And Measurement: The New Economics of the
Minimum Wage. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Chittick, William (1998) “Recovering the Islamic Intellectual Tradition: Problems and
Possibilities.” Conference paper published as “Can the Islamic Intellectual Heritage be Recovered?” Iqbal Review, October 1998, pp. 11-25.
Halberstam, David (2002) The Best and the Brightest. NY: Random House Digital, Inc.
Hodgson, Geoffrey M. (2002), How Economics Forgot History: The Problem of Historical Specificity in Social Science. USA: Routledge.
Hodgson, Marshall GS (1974) The Venture of Islam, 3 vols. Chicago: University of
Chicago Press.
Karacuka, M and Zaman, A. (2012) “The Empirical Evidence Against Neoclassical
Utility Theory: A Review of the Literature” International Journal for Pluralism in Economics Education Vol. 3(4) p. 366-414
Klein, Naomi (2007), The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. NY: Macmillan.
Ledyard, John O. (1995) ‘Public goods: a survey of experimental research,’ in John H.
Kagel, and Alvin E. Roth (Eds.) The Handbook of Experimental Economics, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Manicas, Peter T. (1987) A History and Philosophy of the Social Sciences, Oxford:
Basil Blackwell.
Manicas, Peter T. (2006) A Realist Philosophy of Social Science: Explanation and
Understanding. UK: Cambridge University Press
Mankiw, N.G., and Taylor, M.P. (2007) Macroeconomics European Edition (PV) 6th edition: VA:Worth Publishers.
Mirowski, Phillip (1990), More Heat Than Light UK: Cambridge University Press.
Najam, Adil (2007) Portrait of a Giving Community: Philanthropy by the Pakistani-
American Diaspora, Harvard: Harvard University.
Pfeifer, Karen (2001) “Islamic business and business as usual: A study of firms in
Egypt.” Development in Practice, 11(1), pp. 20-33.
Putnam, Hilary (2002) The Collapse of the Fact/Value Dichotomy and Other Essays.
Harvard University Press,
Reuben, Julie A. (1996) The Making of the Modern University: Intellectual Transformation and the Marginalization of Morality. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Skinner, Burrhus Frederic (1972) Beyond Freedom and Dignity. New York: Bantam
Books.
Suppes, Frederick (1977) The Structure of Scientific Theories, 2nd Ed. University of
Illinois Press, Chicago
Taleb, Nassim Nicholas (2010) The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
Fragility. NY: Random House LLC.
Wong, Stanley (2002), Foundations of Paul Samuelson's Revealed Preference Theory:
A study by the method of rational reconstruction. USA: Routledge.
Zaman, Asad (2012) “Methodological Mistakes and Econometric Consequences,”
International Econometric Review, 4 (2), p.99-122.
Zaman, Asad (Sep 2012) “The Normative Foundations of Scarcity,” Real-World
Economics Review, 61(26), pp. 22-39.
Zaman, Asad (April 2013) “Deification of Science and Its Disastrous Consequences,”
Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2260052
Zaman, Asad (Dec 2013) “Logical Positivism and Islamic Economics” International Journal of Economics, Management and Accounting (IJEMA). 21(2) pp. 1-18.