Rawls and Religion by Bailey Tom Gentile Valentina

Author:Bailey, Tom, Gentile, Valentina
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: PHI019000, Philosophy/Political, REL051000, Religion/Philosophy
Publisher: Columbia University Press
Published: 2015-01-05T16:00:00+00:00

CULTURAL IMPERIALISM

A second objection to reasoning from conjecture is that it manifests a form of cultural imperialism. This type of objection has been suggested by Abdullahi An-Na‘im, a Muslim legal scholar who has argued for a progressive account of Islamic reformation,25 which Rawls mentions as a “perfect example of overlapping consensus.”26 In developing his views, however, An-Na‘im argues from within a tradition to which he is committed and indeed warns that Islamic arguments for liberal principles must be developed by Muslims and not by those who are outside the tradition.

For example, in a discussion of Islamic law and women’s rights, An-Na‘im argues that only Muslims may participate in deliberations about Islamic reformation.27 He writes, “this is an internal debate for the Muslims to conduct and settle among themselves.”28 An-Na‘im offers two main arguments for this view. The first is that criticisms made by outsiders are often perceived, and rejected, as forms of cultural imperialism. As he says, “to avoid even the appearance of dictation by outsiders, which is likely only to be counterproductive, the classification of certain cultural (legal or religious) norms, as archaic and oppressive, must be done by the members of the cultural or religious group themselves.”29

Of course, resistance to external sources of criticism may give rise to practical reasons for refraining from conjecture. Engaging in it may be pointless or counterproductive. But that some might perceive conjecture as a form of alien imposition is not, in itself, a principled argument against presenting criticisms based on sources internal to their cultural or religious traditions. It may be the case that, when dealing with illiberal cultural or religious groups, conjecturers find that the only way to gain an audience is through cautious cooperation with internal social critics. And even this may be overly optimistic. Those who resist reform often attempt to suppress criticism from within.30 Under these circumstances, however, conjecture might be used to voice criticisms that would otherwise have been made by social critics. Whether this is possible or desirable is a question that can only be answered by looking at specific examples. The important point here is that resistance to conjecture by groups that stifle criticism, whether it originates internally or externally, does not represent a moral, or otherwise principled, objection to justifying, or at least attempting to justify, liberal principles on the basis of beliefs and values to which such groups are committed.

An-Na‘im’s second argument is a stronger claim for cultural or religious sovereignty. He suggests that every cultural or religious tradition should have the opportunity to determine its own understandings of, and justifications for, basic human rights, without “allowing any tradition to dictate to the others.”31 Yet this claim is not necessarily inconsistent with reasoning from conjecture. Insofar as conjecture is based on appeal to internal sources, it does not impose alien standards on cultural or religious traditions. Indeed, the very possibility of conjecture is premised on the idea that various traditions will have different ways of justifying moral and political principles, including those that call for the protection of human rights.

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