The Causes Responsible for Materialist Tendencies in the West

by Murtada Mutahhari

Translated from the Persian

by Mujahid Husayn

Table of Index

Chapter One
Materialism
Is Man by Nature a Theist or a Materialist?
The Historical Background
Materialism in Islamic History
Materialism in the Modern Age
Inadequacies in the Religious Ideas of the Church
Anthropomorphic Conceptions of God
Auguste Comte's Conception of God
The Station of Divinity
Auguste Comte's Three Stages of Human History
The Violence of the Church
Chapter Two
The Inadequacy of Philosophical Ideas
The Problem of the First Cause
Explaining the Universe by Means of Reason and not Cause
Identity of Mind and Reality
The Criterion for a Thing's Need for a Cause
1. The Theory of the Mutakallimun
2. The Theory of Early Islamic Philosophers, such as Ibn Sina, down to the Era of Sadr al-Muta'allihin
3. The Special Theory of Sadr al-Muta'allihin and His Followers
God and Evolution
Chapter Three
Eternity of Matter
God or Freedom?
Chance, God, or Causation?
The Concept of Creation
Argument from Design
Chapter Four
The Inadequacy of the Social and Political Concepts
Non-Specialist Opinions
An Unfavourable Moral and Social Environment
Bastion of Heroism and Dissent
Conclusion