Q&A3 Question 1

Q1: How would a theocratic country view the stance of “this-world empiricism? 

At first glance this question might seem to have a straight forward answer, such as “they obviously abide by their affiliated religious dogma, so empiricism is out of the question.” Countries such as Iran, which have strong beliefs in Islam, have implemented their religious doctrines within their legislature. This is also known as Sharia or Islamic law. I’m not regarding over whether these laws are moral or not, but how they would view empiricism? Some of these countries with Islamic law are fairly modernized in some cities and technologically advanced; Dubai is a perfect example. This is where it is interesting to me, because even though they are still following ancient ideology, they openly embrace all the benefits that “this-world empricism” has brought to the world. Indoor ski slopes and shopping malls. Regardless of what their regulations are within Islamic law, the fact that these consumeristic utopias are around seems diametrically opposed to the one thing that controls their lives; the Sharia. This might be an act of spite towards the Westernization of Middle-Eastern countries, but it shows that if you have the money you start being pulled into a consumer mentality, for whatever the reason (probably due an augmented sense of self) .This is rather frightening, for it comes at expense of the planet but now I am being side tracked. I do not know exactly how a society with such intense religious views, unless it is just for show, could embrace such hollow ideas of what to do with their wealth. As money seems to correlate with pleasure (at least today), and pleasure is derived from the senses, hence empiricism. I can only speculate as to someone affiliated with Dubai or another theocratic country would take into account of “this-world empricism.”