Philosophy lesson in religious schools

Author's name: Abdul Jabbar Al-Rafai

Everything is subject to the mind's questioning, criticism, and scrutiny. The mind itself is subject to the mind's questioning, scrutiny of its concepts, the screening of its judgments, the way it defines itself, and its interpretation of the truth of its knowledge, its sources, and its value. Only the mind sets limits for the mind. The mind defines its boundaries and what is within its space, and intervenes by clarifying the truth of what lies outside its boundaries. When the mind falls silent and ceases to function, the spirit and emotions enter a labyrinth. The mind wants us to hear nothing but its own voice, without being disturbed, confused, or exhausted by sounds outside its boundaries. The mind determines that it is impossible for a person to completely free himself from the hidden influence of his self, his emotions, his feelings, and the environment in which he lives. The accelerating pace of progress in artificial intelligence and robotics, the various technologies that speak the language of artificial intelligence and its software, and genetic engineering, produce a comprehensive state of uncertainty that extends to values, beliefs, cultures, economies, political systems, local and regional policies, international relations, social relations, and everything in humanity's present and future. The more uncertainty increases and its scope expands, the greater the need for an active presence of the philosophical mind. The great existential questions and crises of the mind, spirit, and emotion are not the domain of science, nor do they lie within the realm of matter and experience. Whoever forgets philosophy will be forgotten by the feasts of history. Philosophy never ends and will never stop as long as humanity is amazed, thinks, questions, doubts, discusses, engages in dialogue, and disagrees. Science poses its intractable questions and problems to philosophy, and for what it is unable to discover ways to escape from within the realm of matter, the tangible, and experience, only philosophy can answer them. This book was born out of the author's long labors of studying and teaching philosophy, spanning over four decades of his life. This practice of teaching philosophy has resulted in a vision that offers the reader an assessment of the reality of philosophical study in the seminary and its prospects.