Historical Origins of Social Science

Continues from?previous post?on?Chapter 1?of Islamic Economics: The Polar Opposite of Capitalist Economics. Studying the archaeology of knowledge – how the discipline of economics emerged – yields precious insights into the nature of the subject.

The?religious wars that ravaged Europe?for over a century caused enormous loss of life, leaving a profound impact on the lives of the entire population. It was clear to all that religion could not serve as a basis for organizing society. Christianity became confined to a personal belief system, and the scholastics' approach to economics and politics (based on Christianity) was abandoned. European intellectuals came to believe that the natural state for humanity was “war of all against all”, and political science had to be devised to prevent this.?

The rejection of Christianity had a profound impact on the development of social sciences in the West. The need to create consensus across warring factions led to an emphasis on objectivity and rationality in the creation of secular social sciences.?Since differing moral judgments had divided Christians, moral foundations of these new sciences were concealed within the concept of “rationality”. This concealment of morality within rationality had far-reaching consequences, which will be described in greater detail later. In particular, Muslims were deceived into accepting these secular sciences as objective and rational descriptions, instead of normative frameworks which presented European society as the ideal for all mankind.

To overcome this deception, it is useful to think of Social Science as the religion which replaced Christianity in Europe. The idea of society as a single body, in pursuit of common goals, was replaced by the idea of society as consisting of warring factions with no common goals. This led to the emergence of “freedom” and “wealth” as goals of social organization. Neither of these is desirable for its own sake – freedom is valuable as the freedom to do what one desires, and wealth is valuable as a means to obtain desired goods or services. However, in a secular society, consensus on goals is not possible, and allowing everyone the means – freedom and wealth – to pursue their own goals is the only uniting principle. Whereas all other societies put social responsibilities above individual freedom, European societies reversed these priorities and emphasized individualism, because the sense of a common society was lost.

Social sciences were built on these Eurocentric ideas, shaped by historical experiences of Europe. These sciences were spread globally through colonization, shaping modern societies around the world in the image of Europe. Post-modern Western thought has recognized the inherently Eurocentric nature of social science, but the dominant perspective remains highly Eurocentric, particularly in Western sources of knowledge like Wikipedia. The question arises: why social science claims to be universally applicable, given that it is obviously based on lessons extracted from European historical experience? The answer, detailed in Edward Said’s?Orientalism, is that global conquest and colonization created a superiority complex in Europeans. They thought that they were the most advanced society on the planet, and all others would come to resemble Europe as they progressed and developed. Economic theory has also been strongly shaped by the rejection of Christianity. It interprets “rationality” as maximization of pleasure and profits, which is valid only if there is no God, Judgment, or afterlife.?

Unfortunately, many Muslims have been taken in by this “rationality” claim, and uncritically accepted modern economic theories. This has led to the treatment of Islamic Economics as a variant of capitalism. The teachings of Islam launched a revolution in history, transforming ignorant and backward Bedouins into world leaders. Islamic principles of social organization were implemented globally in Islamic societies for over a thousand years before being destroyed by colonization. To rebuild society according to these principles, it is necessary to reject capitalist mindsets and worldviews and rebuild according to the frameworks of the Qur’an and Sunnah. A sketch of how this can be done will be provided in this book (Islamic Economics: The Polar Opposite of Capitalist Economics).