Faisal Chuhan

In search for an innovative Ethical Self: Nietzsche's 'biological imperative', Ibn Arabi's 'original health' and the ‘Paradox of Vulnerability’.

Any response to the ultimate question of the meaning of life and death entails the epistemology of Self. Without such epistemology, the ultimate question is inaccessible and groundless, and finding a justified response is also severely limited. Suppose it is true that the Self is the source of the ultimate question and justified response. In that case, the epistemology of Self is critical because the crisis of meaning is the crisis in the epistemology of Self. The scientific explanation of the world exacerbates the crisis in the epistemology of Self through the implications of the technological evolution on our ethical and metaphysical frameworks.

My research project is about integrating the biological worldview with spirituality to expand the scope of the epistemological basis of the Self and find a justified response to life's meaning. Hence, about biology, the research will focus on the critique and consequences of biological complexity's idea of 'organism' within the 'coded matter framework' (the connection of life, information, and meaning) and the interpretation of the Self within it. With regards to the discussion of spirituality, I will evaluate and compare Nietzsche’s Übermensch (Overman) and Ibn Arabi's al-insan al-Kamil (the Perfect human) to explore the ultimate question through Nietzsche’s biological imperative (the organising inner will - Will to Power) and Ibn Arabi’s alchemy of original health (a simultaneous ontological and metaphysically spiritual principle of transformation) as the source of meaningfulness. The aim is to expound the ‘earthly’ characteristic of Übermensch’s non-divine god-like strength (dominance) and al-insan al-Kamil’s fulfilment of divine manifestations (perfectibility).

I argue that spiritual epistemology is vital for expanding the epistemology of Self, without which the possibility of solving the crisis of meaning is unreachable. The biological complexity idea of ‘coded matter organism’ and Nietzsche’s biological imperative is insufficient for the epistemological expansion of the Self. However, it is also challenging to integrate such a biological worldview of Self with spirituality, for the sources of meaningfulness are incompatible: the non-divine source of biological complexity and the divine-like source of spirituality. For the integration of biology and spirituality, i.e., for the epistemological expansion of Self in addressing the crisis of meaning, I shall propose the idea of the 'paradox of vulnerability' as a response to the ultimate question that not only can ethically enrich Self’s earthly (non-)divine-like characteristics but also can provide an ethical basis for biological organisms and life's meaning. 
  

Supervisors

Professor Michael Hauskeller and Dr Jan Jobling