An Organic Model of Social Sciences

We can change any walk of life indirectly by working only in our own area of influence. The key is understanding - and for now, I mean an understanding of "the new beginning" of Iqbal Studies. Without this understanding, even a well-meaning political leader with all the support of the people is more likely to fail than succeed.

This is one of the major implications of the "new beginning" for Iqbal Studies (see previous post). It has been summed up as an "Organic Model of Social Sciences" in the final chapter of 2017: The Battle for Marghdeen. The following diagram is meant to explain it.

An Organic Model of Social Sciences

What we see here is that:

• History is the force that moves the human world. As such, it is a mystery to be unraveled. It is more than a record of the past because it is not just what is known. It is the complete series of goals collectively adopted and achieved by humanity, and those goals are influencing us whether we know them or not. Those choices, made by the people in the past are our destiny because they are influencing us just as our choices today are going to influence those who will come after us. 

• Choices are not always made consciously. In fact, they are often made by our souls rather than our minds, and unfortunately the significance is usually overlooked because the act of making such choices is known by the name of “entertainment”. Whether it is a sitcom or a play by Shakespeare, it becomes a collective dream when enjoyed by many, and the dream comes true eventually. Literature commonly enjoyed by all segments and schools of thought in a society is the collective dream of that society.

• Dreams chosen through literature are turned into reality through politics (“Nations are born in the hearts of poets; they prosper and die in the hands of politicians,” Iqbal wrote in his notebook in 1910). Therefore, politics is not an independent activity (and most problems of today might be rooted in a failure to accept this). Politicians, as well as intellectuals and think-tanks working with them, may presume that their job is to wish anything they like and to try achieving it. In reality, it shall always turn out that they achieved only what the society had already dreamt of.

• Religion and science answer our questions about the reality around us. Since that reality is shaped through social and political action, interpretations offered by religion and science also evolve accordingly (“Ideas act and react on each other,” Iqbal wrote in his private notebook in 1910. “The growing spirit of individualism in politics is not without its influence on contemporary scientific thought. Modern thought regards the universe a democracy of living atoms.”).

• Through education, a society passes on its knowledge of things to the next generations. Since that knowledge is filtered through religion and science, education is invariably moderated by them. In turn, it affects the choice of literature in future.

By understanding this connection between five important domains of knowledge, one can work in any walk of life, or even in one’s home, and still contribute towards social change with an informed vision.

This is why we need "a new beginning" of Iqbal Studies. We need to have at least one key statement about each subject consistent with the vision of Iqbal. That statement need not be accepted just because Iqbal said so. It should be tested and tried, and accepted only if it yields a positive social change.