Ma`rifat Farhangi Ejtemaei

In this study, "cultural analysis" has been chosen as the theoretical framework. From an epistemological perspective, culture consists of multiple layers, including beliefs, values, norms, and symbols, and ontologically, it is considered an existent with being. After explaining the characteristics of culture and emphasizing the interconnection among its layers, Dr. Sayyid Muhammad Naqib al-Attas’s theory of Islamization of the sciences, known as “purificationism,” is evaluated and critiqued within this framework. The findings indicate that this perspective is a kind of unrealistic aspiration because the interconnection of cultural layers, the presence of underlying layers in the perceptible layers, and the deep link between technology and culture prevent any arbitrary separation or purification of the philosophical and intellectual foundations of sciences and technology. Emerging technologies inevitably carry with them the culture and ethics derived from their underlying principles, and the hidden education and unintended consequences are inseparable components of technology. Therefore, the idea of “purificationism” and similar proposals that ignore the coherence of cultural layers and the close connection between technology and culture are ineffective in the Islamization of sciences. According to the author, the production of Islamic science must necessarily be based on an “Islamic lifeworld”; however, defining this lifeworld and the method for achieving Islamic science requires further discussion beyond the scope of this study.