PHILOSOPHY
That ideas may be encountered, understood, and instantiated by individuals is a truth I found warrant to believe in the course of studying comparative philosophy at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. As Khaled Abou El Fadl writes, "Who is ever foolish enough to believe that there is a past and a present? There is only the read and the unread; otherwise, all times are ever present in this library" (from "The Conference of the Books: The First Admission," chapter one in El Fadl's book, The Search for Beauty in Islam, page 1). Below I have included two essays which show the arguments for believing in the creative and restorative power of an individual reading. A single person can change the world though his personal virtue, and such virtue is forged in the mind of the reader.
Al-Ghazali and Ibn Rushd
I have included a paper that considers the debate between Al-Ghazali and Ibn Rushd (Averroes) over how best to reach certainty. The paper was written for an Islamic philosophy class taught by the Renaissance and Islamic philosophy professor, polyglot and scholar, Dr. Tamara Albertini at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Al-Ghazali asserts that personal experience confers certainty, while Ibn Rushd contends that logical demonstrations are the only way to obtain certainty. Before studying English at ASU, I agreed with Ibn Rushd. Now I see the truth of Al-Ghazali's position. Both arguments have merit, but assenting to Al-Ghazali's postion has far-reaching ramifications for how an English teacher approaches English Language Arts instruction.
The paper is linked here.
