TST Reflections
It has been quite the ride with Science & Technology Thinking course indeed. There have been some chapters that I really enjoyed, while others that I barely comprehended. It's nothing concerning the nature of the course itself, but rather who I am as person and what I really prefer listening to. This course has taught me about how deep and significant science, thought, and technology are, and how they've worked together throughout the times to aid in forming some of the greatest human civilizations out there. I was also highly grateful for the involvement of Islam throughout this whole course. It really backs the philosophy of UTM which was initially discussed in the first chapter. However, I think that it may feel a little bit of a biased way of putting things for those who are non-Muslim / non-religious. Nevertheless, I don't think that it is that great of a problem, but rather a great way to demonstrate Islam to those who really have little to no knowledge about it, especially that it paints the religion in its best and truest picture. In the end, I am grateful that I took this course in this semester. It was not that light, but not that big of a burden either. It is nice to blow some steam off from the core subjects through courses like these. I was also honored to be the class monitor for this course, which brought me closer to my classmates, and unlocked me great opportunities to grow as a student, and as a future leader.
In this chapter, I learned to identify the different concepts of science, civilization, and religion, and the relationship between them. Furthermore, I learned the role of each something in their contribution to our whole knowledge as we know it. Moreover, I became aware of the current issues and divisions that we are facing in terms of knowledge and knowledge seekers, as they are being labeled and separated differently. I also knew that there is a difference between knowledge and information, and that can be found out by understanding the core meaning of the two definitions.
It was particularly important in my view that one must maintain such a strict balance between the two dimensions (science and religion), so that one does not fall in deeper pits of the atheist way of science, or in the extremist heights of the isolated religious behavior. This is a core concept in Islam, as emphasized by The Holy Quran and the prophet, peace be upon him. Islam always encourages its followers to be both obedient servants of God, and good builders of the earth and the nations. In conclusion, and unlike many materialistic thinkers may believe, religion, in fact, goes hand-in-hand in the assistance of the development of the nations, if it is not even a pillar, so to speak.
Looking at our cooperation and achievements so far as a solid group, I believe we managed to do a great job throughout this course. My group members turned out to be highly cooperative and helpful, in addition to maintaining a good set of communication and leadership skills that helped ease our task handling even more. We were very unbiased and accepting of different points of views, especially when splitting the tasks. There was never any demeaning of each others' opinions, nor was there any ideas that were overlooked that might've been helpful or constructive in any way. I believe that power relies not only in good leadership, but also in managing every single member's strengths and weaknesses, and assigning them things they excel at doing the most. Looking at how we performed and interacted with each other, I am certain that my group members is a powerful team indeed.
Based on the first chapter's contents, I was able to build a thorough understanding about the significance of human and thought, in addition to having a brief understanding on UTM's philosophy. In this chapter, we dived deep into the definition and meaning of thinking, along with comparisons between the Islamic and the western points of view about it. Then, chapter 1 shifted to discussing about the development and evolution of wisdom and philosophy, dating back to the Greek meanings of the concepts, and dissecting the intrinsic values of each of them. Moreover, this chapter explores values and status of western thinking, as well as walking the reader through a brief historical overview of the most renowned philosophers that the western school of thought mostly based many of its values upon. In my opinion, I think chapter 1 served as a great introductory to this course, given its introductory features -which prepare the mind of the student for what's coming.
I concluded that knowing the core philosophy, mission, and ambition of UTM is very crucial for me as a student in it. Additionally, I would like to answer Dr. Wahid Omar's questions to support my whole response, since the answer can really provide more clarity to the subject of this lecture. The first question was about the moment when I have deep thinking. To me, I usually delve in the deepest oceans of thought when I'm alone and contemplating life. I found that I don't necessarily require a specific situation, rather it depends more on the state of mind I'm currently in. The other question was about what really guides me through the process of thinking. Mostly, my style of thinking is more towards handling a certain issue and trying to analyze, approach, and dissect it. With that said, the things that help me go through that are my own perspectives, beliefs, and personal values. I also learned all about thinking in terms of Western versus Islamic perspectives, and how that UTM is going along with Allah’s divine law and its correlation with all the other aspects of life. I also understood the reason why this subject was presented to us as students, and that is to assist us in our rational thinking processes.