A Confluence Between Iqbal and Leibniz

Monads and Self
1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-1-032-42738-6
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 152 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 453 g

Reihe: Routledge Studies in Islamic Philosophy

A Confluence Between Iqbal and Leibniz: Monads and Self explores the striking metaphysical parallels between two towering thinkers separated by centuries - Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and Muhammad Iqbal.

Bringing these philosophical traditions into dialogue, the book makes a compelling case that both Leibniz and Iqbal articulate a theistic worldview rooted in the metaphysics of plural, self-contained entities: monads for Leibniz and egos or selves for Iqbal. Each thinker posits a universe governed by an omniscient, omnipotent, and benevolent God who grounds all existence and meaning. Through close comparative analysis, the book reveals how both philosophers address the problem of evil, reject Newtonian mechanics, and offer a vision of the cosmos that centers dynamic individuality and divine purpose. It also revisits and reinterprets key debates in Iqbal scholarship - challenging views that portray him as anti-reason or aligned with irrationalist thinkers like Bergson or Nietzsche. In doing so, it opens the possibility that Iqbal’s conception of freedom may even offer a valuable corrective to persistent critiques of Leibniz’s account of agency and determinism.

This work will appeal to students and scholars of comparative philosophy, Islamic thought, metaphysics, and religious studies, and to anyone interested in how modern and classical traditions can converge to illuminate enduring questions of self, freedom, and divine order.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate and Undergraduate Advanced

Autoren/Hrsg.

Ahsen, Muhammad Shabbir

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Geschichte der Westlichen Philosophie
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Stadt- und Regionalsoziologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Religionsphilosophie, Philosophische Theologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Islam & Islamische Studien Islam: Theologie
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften Interdisziplinär Regionalwissenschaften, Regionalstudien

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter 1: Monads and Self

1.1 Leibniz’s Theory of Monads

1.1.1 The Logic of Simple Substance

1.1.2 The Privileged Status of Monads

1.1.3 Monadic activity

1.1.4 Mirrors of God

1.2 Iqbal and His Conception of Self

1.2.1 The Fundamental Question for Iqbal

1.2.2 The Conception of Reality

1.3 A comparative analysis

1.4 Conclusion

Chapter 2: God

2.1 Leibniz’s Conception of God

2.1.1 Monads and the Necessary Being

2.1.2 Leibniz on the idea of a Perfect Being

2.1.3 Arguments for the Existence of God

2.2 Iqbal’s conception of God

2.2.1 Iqbal and the Scholastic Arguments for the Existence of God

2.2.2 Making a case for the existence of God through Experience

2.3 Parallels between Leibniz and Iqbal

Chapter 3: The Problem of Evil

3.1 Leibniz on the Problem of Evil

3.1.1 The best of all possible worlds

3.1.2 Leibniz on physical evil

3.1.3 Leibniz on moral evil

3.2 Iqbal on the Problem of Evil

3.2.1 Metaphysical evil as a consequence of creation

3.2.2 Iqbal on moral evil

3.2.3 Iqbal on physical evil

3.3 Comparisons between Leibniz and Iqbal

3.3.1 Similarities

3.3.2 Differences

Chapter 4: Philosophy of Physics of Leibniz and Iqbal

4.1 Leibniz

4.1.1 Leibniz on Bodies

4.1.2 Leibniz on Cartesian Extension and Newtonian Atomism

4.1.3 Metaphysics of Immaterial Substances and Physical Bodies

4.1.4 Phenomenalism

4.1.5 Bodies as Aggregate of Monads

4.1.6 Leibniz’s Preferred Position: Bodies as Well Founded Phenomena

4.1.7 Space and Time: Newton vs Leibniz

4.1.8 A summary of Leibniz’s conception of Space and Time

4.2 Iqbal on Time, Space and Matter

4.2.1 Critical assessment of Absolute Space, Absolute Time and Matter

4.2.2 Space, Time, Matter and the Metaphysics of Self

4.2.3 God’s Creativity: Self and the world of extended Bodies

4.2.4 Serial time and Duration

4.2.5 The upshot of the discussion on Iqbal

4.3 Comparison between Leibniz and Iqbal

4.3.1 Matter/Bodies

4.3.2 Space

4.3.3 Time

4.4 Appendix: Some Clarifications

Chapter 5: Iqbal on Leibniz

5.2 Pre-established harmony

5.3 Iqbal on the Windowlessness of Monads

Chapter 6: Conclusion

Bibliography

Supplementary Reference

INDEX

Über Autor(innen)

M. Shabbir Ahsen is a member of the core faculty at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) since 2004, Shabbir Ahsen teaches philosophy. His previous experience includes over ten years at the Department of Philosophy, University of Karachi (KU), including administrative responsibility for overseeing the department for more than three years. He was also elected to KU's Senate, Academic Council, and Teachers' Society. He has been a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Kentucky and a Visiting Scholar at Harvard. The Pakistan Philosophical Congress (PPC) appointed him as president of its logic and metaphysics section in 2000, and he served on the executive council from 2002 to 2005. In addition to his research on Wittgenstein, he has contributed to the literature on Muhammad Iqbal. Wittgenstein, logic, the history of philosophy, and analytic philosophy are among his areas of concentration.