The AIWG project group ‘Falsafa for schools’ (Arabic: falsafa; English: philosophy) encourages interdisciplinary discourse between the disciplines of philosophy, ethics and Islamic theology and uses extant research to prepare materials for teacher training and school lessons in the subjects of philosophy, ethics and religion.
This project group therefore addresses desiderata in educational media and teaching based on the current state of research: On the whole, philosophy as currently taught in schools, and in foundation courses in philosophy, ethics, religion, history and politics, does not reference Islamicate philosophy. As a result, the thoughts and ideas of philosophers influential in intellectual history and the history of ideas are largely ignored. This also applies to the significant achievements made during the 9th–12th centuries by Islamicate philosophy in the transfer from ancient to modern philosophy. Islamicate philosophy played a crucial role in the development of philosophy in Europe as well as in Islamic, Jewish and Christian theologies by contributing new methods and insights. This incomplete representation results in a distorted image of Islamic and European intellectual history, which, contrary to the general depiction in educational media, have in fact been closely intertwined for centuries.
Furthermore, public debate, teaching and education are primarily dominated by radical Islamic political and theological positions, frequently on topics that are controversial. Existing textbook analyses strongly suggest that pluralistic historic and contemporary philosophical positions from the Islamic cultural world on values such as reason, science, democracy and gender equality are seldom covered. Instead, an apparent dichotomy is presented between, for example, ‘Islam and reason’, Islam and gender equality’, Islam and Europe’, which supports extremist interpretations of Islam as well as colonial and Islamophobic narratives of so-called ‘Western philosophy’ or ‘Western values’.
Using impulses from Islamicate philosophy, the project group will illustrate how a more differentiated image of Islam and Europe, as well as of Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim, can be brought into the classroom.
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Planned project output
- Course reader on the subject-specific introduction of Islamicate philosophy for teacher training in the subjects of philosophy, ethics and religion.
- Material for teaching units on Islamicate philosophy for the subjects of philosophy, ethics and religion to be published on the website www.zwischentoene.info.
- A series of webinars aimed at educational media publishers and the offer to review textbook manuscripts.
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Interdisciplinary network
The project group ‘Falsafa for schools’ encourages more interdisciplinary discourse in research, teaching and educational practice. The project is therefore guided by a network of experts and specialist educators from the disciplines of philosophy, theology (Islamic, Jewish and Christian), and Islamic and Jewish studies. The academics and practitioners held three conferences to discuss which texts from Islamicate philosophy would work best in the school context and why.
1st network conference: May 2024 at the Georg Eckert Institute
The Falsafa network met for the first time in mid-May. The participants discussed three fundamental questions in relation to text selection: Who? Why? How? They examined these points from an academic perspective and that of educational media/textbooks.
Participants: Laura Beusmann, Daniel Birnstiel, Müfit Daknili, Erdmann Görg, Tuba Işık, Mansooreh Khalilizand, Kata Moser, Ulrich Rudolph, Katharina Schulz, Mira Sievers, Riem Spielhaus, Farid Suleiman, Hannah Tzuberi, Annika v. Lüpke, Haluk Yumurtacı
Introductory speeches:
Prof. Ulrich Rudolph: Why should particular content from Islamicate philosphy be introduced to school lessons and teacher training for the subjects of philosophy, ethics and religion?
Dr Farid Suleiman: Which philosophical content should be introduced to teacher training and school lessons?
Dr Erdmann Görg: How can this content be introduced to teacher training and school lessons?
2nd network conference: December 2024 at the George Eckert Institute
The Falsafa network met for the second time at the beginning of December. The interim findings from project workshops were presented and discussed, as were new subject-specific and academic impulses as well as how they could be implemented into school practice.
Participants: Annett Abdel-Rahman, Laura Beusmann, Anne Burkard, Müfit Daknili, Erdmann Görg, Rotraud Hansberger, Tuba Işık, Mansooreh Khalilizand, Nadeem Khan, Batol Kobeissi, Kata Moser, Frederek Musall, Günther Nagel, Inga Piel, Katharina Schulz, Mira Sievers, Riem Spielhaus, Farid Suleiman, Annika von Lüpke, Haluk Yumurtacı
Introductory speeches:
Dr Rotraud Hansberger and Prof. Annika v. Lüpke: Miskawayh in ethics teaching.
Prof. Tuba Işık: Rumī and Kalīla wa-Dimna: examples of philosophical texts for the classroom.
Prof. Frederek Musall: Jewish philosophy in the Islamic world: From Maimonides to the present day.
Prof. Kata Moser: Secularism in Islamicate philosophy.
Prof. Annett Abdel-Rahman: Al-Ghazāli: On the duties of friendship and brotherhood.
3rd network conference: June 2025 at the University of Hamburg
The concluding conference of the Falsafa network took place in June at the Institute for Islamic Theology at the Univerity of Hamburg, a partner in the project. The agenda featured the presentation and discussion of the interim findings from the project workshops as well as the examination of long-standing questions regarding reason and faith in contemporary debates.
Participants (hybrid): Jameleddine Ben Abdeljelil, Jochen Bauer, Laura Beusmann, Anne Burkard, Kadir Çapan, Müfit Daknili, Julia Eckert, Erdmann Görg, Mansooreh Khalilizand, Osman Kösen, Nadeem Khan, Annika von Lüpke, Katharina Schulz, Mira Sievers, Riem Spielhaus, Farid Suleiman
Introductory speeches:
Prof. Mira Sievers: Between reason and revelation: the philosophical demands of Kalām using the examples of Qāḍī ʿAbd al-Ǧabbār’s ‘Kurzer Abhandlung über die Glaubensgrundlagen’ (A Brief Treatise on the Fundamentals of Faith).
Dr Farid Suleiman: Reformist thinking in the modern Islamic world. Using examples from ʿAbd al-Ǧabbār ar-Rifāʿī (b. 1954) und ʿAbd al-Bārī an-Nadwī (d. 1976).
Prof. Jameleddine Ben Abdeljelil: Reason versus faith? The discomfort surrounding a question in both traditional and modern Islamic contexts.
Dr Osman Kösen: Falsafa, Kalām and teaching practice: curricular approaches and educational tension in Islamic religious education (IRU).
The ‘Falsafa for schools – Providing concepts and materials to Islamicate philosophy for teacher training and educational media’ project will be conducted jointly by researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Educational Media | Georg Eckert Institute (GEI) and Hamburg University as part of the Academy for Islam in Research and Society (AIWG), and is funded by the BMBF.
