Scientia sacra

In perennial philosophy, scientia sacra or sacred science is a form of sacred knowledge that lies at the heart of divine revelations and traditional sciences. It embodies principles and doctrines derived from reason, revelation and intellectual intuition, with the conviction that these sources of knowledge can be reconciled without conflict and employed in the human quest for knowledge and truth. Scientia sacra considers the universe to be a unified reality, with God at its center. This notion may be traced back to traditional cultures and civilizations, particularly Islamic tradition, which was primarily conceptualized in contemporary language by the Iranian philosopher Seyyed Hossein Nasr.[note 1]

Terminology

Scietia sacra is a Latin term that means "sacred science."[3] Although Nasr employs the terms “scientia sacra”, “sacred science” and “sacred knowledge” interchangeably, he prefers the term "scientia sacra" to others because he thinks the word "science" in modern English usage can be misleading.[4] For Nasr, "scientia sacra" refers to the ultimate metaphysical science that encompasses the "principial knowledge of things", while "sacred science" pertains to the application of sacred knowledge to different dimensions of reality, both physical and spiritual.[5] According to Nasr, the terms, "scientia sacra," "sacred knowledge," "philosophia perennis," "sophia," "sophia perennis," "metaphysics," "esoteric knowledge," and "principial knowledge" are all consanguineous terms and relate to the "eternal Truth", embedded at the heart of authentic religions which are manifested in the form of "sacred traditions", and is attainable by everyone through intellect.[6]

Origins

Scientia sacra is not a new idea. It has its origins in the Islamic philosophical tradition, or, more broadly, traditional thought and culture. According to Asfa Widiyanto, thinkers such as Frithjof Schuon, who were influenced by Islamic tradition, used the term scientia sacra to describe knowledge that transcends human consciousness and "Deo Juvante" which is acquired through human intellect.[7] Similarly, Nasr's concept of scientia sacra is also founded on the Islamic intellectual tradition that preceded before him. This notion may be traced back to Suhrawardi's theory of al-ilm al-huduri (knowledge by presence). Suhrawardi defines al-ilm al-huduri as knowledge that is self-evident, self-present, and self-objective – which indicates that consciousness and cognizable reality are one and the same. Such knowledge is acquired through intellection, which Suhrawardi defines as a sort of vision that allows humans to perceive archetypes in the imaginal realm (alam al-mithal, or mundus imaginalis in Henry Corbin's terminology).[7] The notion of scientia sacra may also be traced back to Ibn Arabi's concept of "intuitive science", which he viewed as knowledge of the Truth, of the reality of all things. Ibn Arabi frequently refers to such knowledge as ma'rifa, which he connects with divine wisdom.[7]

According to the Encyclopedia of Science and Religion, Seyyed Hossein Nasr has championed the concept of "Sacred Science," which has its roots first and foremost in the thought of French metaphysicist René Guénon, and then in authors who followed in his footsteps, such as Frithjof Schuon and Titus Burckhardt.[8]

Guénon explained how modern Western civilization is an anomaly insofar as it is the only civilization in the world that developed without reference to transcendence. Guénon mentions the universal teaching of humanity's religions and traditions, all of which are nothing but adaptations of the original—essentially metaphysical—tradition. The destiny of human beings is the intellectual knowledge of eternal truths, not the exploration of the quantitative aspects of the cosmos. In this context, Nasr denounces....Western societies that are obsessed with developing a scientific knowledge anchored in a quantitative approach to reality and in the domination of nature, which results in its pure and simple destruction.[8]
— Bruno Guiderdoni, Encyclopedia of Science and Religion, 2003

Meaning

According to Nasr, scientia sacra – or knowledge of Reality – is "at the heart of every revelation and is the center of that circle which encompasses and defines tradition."[9][5] For him, this knowledge is identical with metaphysics as traditionally defined – that is, "as the ultimate science of the Real" – or marifa (Gnostic knowledge) in Sufi terminology.[9] Nasr describes metaphysics as:

the knowledge by means of which man is able to distinguish between the Real and the illusory and to know things in their essence or as they are, which means ultimately to know them in divinis. The knowledge of the Principle which is at once the absolute and infinite Reality is the heart of metaphysics while the distinction between levels of universal and cosmic existence, including both the macrocosm and the microcosm, are like its limbs. [...] metaphysics is the primary and fundamental science or wisdom which [...] contains the principles of all the sciences.[10][11]

In his view, scientia sacra perceives the cosmos not as a separate reality, but rather as a "manifestation and theophany" of the "Divine Essence." It holds the same idea as Plato that the "immaterial realm" is "concrete reality". From a metaphysical perspective, God is seen as a concrete Reality, whilst other realities are regarded as abstractions of God.[12] Nasr believes that scientia sacra is more than just a theoretical conception of Reality. It has a practical aspect in that it aids man in his quest of the sacred. As a result, its explanations can serve as a catalyst for exposing the human mind to the higher order of reality. According to Nasr, "scientia sacra contains both the seed and the fruit of the knowledge tree." He describes its seed as theoretical knowledge and its fruit as realized gnosis. From an axiological point of view, scientia sacra has a transformative function, that is, it transforms the human person in order for them to attain the sacred.[9]

Epistemological perspectives

Scientia sacra varies from discursive knowledge in that it recognizes sources of knowledge other than those recognized by contemporary epistemology. According to Nasr, the sources of "ordinary knowledge", as defined by modern epistemology, are sense perception and inductive reasoning, but the sources of sacred knowledge are revelation and intellectual intuition, together with reason and sense perception. Nasr contends that, whereas other forms of knowledge are based on speculation or reasoning about the subject matter, sacred knowledge is centered on intuition.[13] He believes that reasoning originates in the mind, while intellection emerges from the heart, which enlightens the mind of the individual in question. According to Nasr, this does not imply that it is unintelligible. For him, knowledge acquired through intellectual intuition is intelligible in and of itself. The human intelligence that receives this knowledge "does not impose upon it the intellectual nature or content of a spiritual experience of a sapiential character". Human intelligence does not serve as a source, but rather as a participant in the formation of such knowledge.[13]

Intellect, for Nasr, is the very substance that lies within man's being and is concerned with unveiling archetypal realities. Reason, on the other hand, is a manifestation of the intellect. In Nasr's view, intellection is the process through which our individual consciousness participates in Divine Consciousness. This method transcends logic and grasps reality without disturbing its harmony. It arrives at the truth by an a priori intuitive perception of it. This demonstrates Nasr's Platonic resemblance in that it preserves the notion of primordial knowledge and truth contained within man's being.[14] The act of intellection itself is nothing but the process of invoking and activating of this fundamental knowledge that is at the heart of man's intellect. It is worth noting that Nasr differentiates between the human intellect and Divine Intellect. For Nasr, the Divine Intellect is the source of all knowledge and being, and revelation is the divine aid for the human intellect.[14]

Traditional sciences and scientia sacra

Nasr's construction of traditional science may be seen through its ontological, epistemological, and axiological foundations. Unlike modern science, traditional science recognizes the direct connection between "hierarchical degrees of being" and "hierarchical degrees of knowing" at the ontological level. It is never divorced from its metaphysical foundations, and is epistemologically based on the "dialectics of revelation, intellect, and reason". Nasr considers scientia sacra, which deals with the Real, as the supreme form of knowledge that lies at the heart of traditional sciences.[15] Any science that places the sacred at the center of its structure, whether natural, mathematical, or intellectual, is sacred to the extent that it applies the immutable principles of metaphysics to the world of temporality and change. All sacred sciences can be classified as traditional sciences since they apply the traditional metaphysical principles to the scientific study of nature, and therefore can be characterized as different forms of applied metaphysics.[16]

The ‘Sacred Science’ approach of Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Frithjof Schuon and others thus takes an exception to the advancements in modern science and considers it as anomalous and responsible both for disconnecting man from God and for major environmental and social ills, fragmentation and disorder. According to this view, whereas modern science pursues objectives such as accuracy and confirmation by repeatability, scientific thinking in Islamic civilisation considered nature as sacred and consequently gave priority to values such as purpose, meaning and beauty.[17]
— Hasan, U.; Osama, A., Muslim Responses to Science's Big Questions: Report of the Ihsanoglu Task Force on Islam & Science, 2016

However, Nasr does not dismiss modern science, which he believes "is legitimate if kept within the boundaries defined by the limitations of its own philosophical premises concerning the nature of physical reality as well as its epistemologies and methodologies."[18] In this perspective, the sacred sciences, from cosmology to medicine, share a set of cardinal principles. The sacred sciences view the universe through the viewpoint of a hierarchy of existence and knowledge. The physical universe is not dismissed as an illusion, maya, or a shadow to be reduced in the presence of the Absolute. It is also not seen an ultimate reality by itself.[16]

Were a true metaphysics, a scientia sacra, to become once again a living reality in the West, knowledge gained of man [and nature] through scientific research could be integrated into a pattern which would also embrace other forms of knowledge ranging from the purely metaphysical to those derived from traditional schools of psychology and cosmology. But in the field of the sciences of man, as in that of the sciences of nature, the great impediment is precisely the monolithic and monopolistic character which modern Western science has displayed since the seventeenth century.[19]
— Seyyed Hossein Nasr quoted in Ali Zaidi, Muslim Reconstructions of Knowledge: The Cases of Nasr and al-Faruqi, 2011

Traditional civilizations that nurtured sacred sciences emphasized on the divine origin of the cosmos and maintained a hierarchy between the absolute and the relative, the eternal and the temporal, the necessary and the contingent. For Nasr, traditional sciences are inherently anti-reductionist since hierarchy entails a multilayered structure. This largely explains the continuity of the concept of the "great chain of being" throughout traditional civilizations that do not allow reality to be reduced to a "pure idea" or "pure matter". The sacred sciences study each domain of reality on its own level, instead of reducing reality to a material existence, relying on a metaphysical framework that allows the One and the Many to coexist without contradiction.[20]

According to this perspective, nature is viewed as a sacred entity, as vestigia Dei or as ayat Allah (signs of God). Traditional sciences see nature as the abode of both change and permanence, in opposition to modern science, which reduces the order of nature to perpetual change and impermanence. Although nature is commonly seen as a "perennially changing structure," the "world of nature" also exhibits extraordinary continuity, persistence, and harmony, as evidenced by the preservation of species and the longevity of natural forms. This dual aspects of nature, according to Nasr, proves beyond doubt the Divine character in nature: the world of nature has not been consigned to the unending sequence of random and senseless changes that allow no telos in the universe. Nature, on the other hand, incorporates both the principles of change and permanence and alludes to a "big picture" in which all of its components are viewed as constituting a meaningful unity and harmony.[20]

Notes

Nidhal Guessoum: "Sacred science, which Seyyed Hossein Nasr developed almost single-handedly (though it was later adopted and defended by several of his disciples)."[1] Soumaya Pernilla Ouis: "The well-known Muslim scholar, Seyyed Hossein Nasr has introduced the concept of scientia sacra and defined it as the sacred knowledge which lies at the heart of every revelation and is the centre of that circle which encompasses and defines tradition."[2]

References

Guessoum 2014, p. 24.
Ouis 1998, p. 152.
Sayem 2019, p. 276.
Widiyanto 2017, p. 270.
Kalin 2000, p. 447.
King 2000, p. 204.
Widiyanto 2017, p. 260.
Guiderdoni 2003, p. 468.
Widiyanto 2017, p. 257.
Deutsch 2000, p. 371.
Nasr 1989, p. 120-121.
Widiyanto 2017, p. 261.
Aslan 2004, p. 85.
Widiyanto 2017, p. 264.
Widiyanto 2017, p. 269.
Kalin 2000, p. 447-448.
Hasan & Osama 2016, p. 36.
Hasan & Osama 2016, p. 38.
Zaidi 2011, pp. 63.
Kalin 2000, p. 448.

Sources

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Deutsch, Eliot (2000). "Seyyed Hossein Nasr's Philosophy of Art". In Hahn, Lewis Edwin; Auxier, Randall E.; Stone Jr., Lucian W. (eds.). The Philosophy of Seyyed Hossein Nasr. Open Court. ISBN 978-0812694147.
Guessoum, Nidhal (2014). "Islam and Science". In S. Fuller; M. Stenmark; Zackariasson, U. (eds.). The Customization of Science: The Impact of Religious and Political Worldviews on Contemporary Science. Palgrave Macmillan UK. ISBN 978-1-137-37961-0.
Guiderdoni, Bruno (2003). "Islam, Contemporary Issues in Science and Religion". Encyclopedia of Science and Religion. Biography In Context + The Complete Marquis Who's Who. Macmillan Reference. ISBN 978-0-02-865705-9.
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Kalin, Ibrahim (2000). "The Sacred versus The Secular: Nasr on Science". In Hahn, Lewis Edwin; Auxier, Randall E.; Stone Jr., Lucian W. (eds.). The Philosophy of Seyyed Hossein Nasr. Open Court. ISBN 978-0812694147.
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Zaidi, Ali (2011). "Muslim Reconstructions of Knowledge: The Cases of Nasr and al-Faruqi". Islam, Modernity, and the Human Sciences. New York: Palgrave Macmillan US. pp. 53–80. doi:10.1057/9780230118997_3. ISBN 978-1-349-29281-3.