The Ethical Implications of the Modern Progress in Science

This paper discusses the human ability to make scientific discoveries and the ethical implications of scientific progress in the context of Islamic epistemology. The aim is to introduce Islamic epistemology as the basis of an Islamic philosophy of science. The paper explains that in Islamic epistemology, revelation is the basic source of knowledge, and this knowledge is established by human beings through description (which answers the question “What?”), and interpretation (which answers the question “Why?”). In the Islamic philosophy of science, both aspects of knowledge are integrated; for the Muslim scientist, the main objective is to establish not only the facts of the physical world, but also, and more importantly, the purpose for their existence. The ethical dimension of this approach is rooted in the Islamic worldview that all natural phenomena are clear signs leading to cognition of the Creator. The paper also discusses the compatibility of Islam and science in terms of Islam’s positive attitude towards scientific inquiry, its view that the purpose of human curiosity is to motivate creative thinking, its prioritising of the empirical approach, and its assertion that there is no contradiction between modern scientific discoveries and the knowledge revealed to the Prophet (s.a.w.).