The link between coronavirus and Darwin according to Pervez Hoodbhoy: a critical response

This paper provides a critical response to Pervez Hoodbhoy’s article that first appeared in Dawn, Pakistan’s leading newspaper in April 2020. Hoodbhoy, a well-known physicist in the country and a former associate of the Nobel laureate Abdus Salam, titled the article ‘Corona – Our Debt to Darwin.’ The article’s main contention is that coronavirus reaffirms the truth of Darwin’s theory of organic evolution by means of natural selection that emphasises random variation and survival of the fittest as its main tenets. Hoodbhoy fully embraces this theory leading him to adopt a confrontational ideological position against religion. He also contends that Darwin’s natural selection is the key to unravelling the mysteries of coronavirus and to success in delivering the needed vaccines. This paper seeks to rebut both of Hoodbhoy’s contentions through arguments drawn from several disciplines, especially history and philosophy of science, evolutionary biology, theology, and traditional medicine. It argues that the contentions are premised on two main assumptions that are weak and questionable. First, Darwinian natural selection has always been central to evolutionary biology. Second, biology has well established knowledge about viruses, particularly coronavirus. This paper shows that the two assumptions are not supported by contemporary knowledge in biology. It argues that Hoodbhoy’s contentions are more motivated by his sectarian evolutionist ideology than by scientific considerations. ****************************************************************************** Kertas ini menghidangkan sebuah kritikan ilmiah terhadap makalah Pervez Hoodbhoy yang diterbitkan dalam Dawn, akhbar terkemuka Pakistan pada bulan April 2020. Hoodbhoy yang terkenal di negara itu sebagai ahli fizik dan yang pernah menjadi rakan penyelidik kepada Abdus Salam, pemenang Hadiah Nobel, menjudulkan makalahnya ‘Corona – Hutang Dunia Dengan Darwin.’ Pendapat utama yang dimajukan oleh makalah ini ialah bahawa koronavirus sesungguhnya mengesahkan kebenaran teori Darwin tentang evolusi organis menerusi pemilihan semulajadi yang menegaskan variasi secara rawak dan kelangsungan hidup bagi yang paling berkelebihan sebagai idea kuncinya. Hoodbhoy menerima sepenuhnya teori ini yang telah mendorongnya untuk mengambil pendirian ideologi yang berkonfrontasi terhadap agama. Beliau juga berpendapat bahawa pemilihan semulajadi menurut Darwin adalah kunci kepada terbongkarnya misteri koronavirus dan juga kunci kepada kejayaan menghasilkan vaksin yang diperlukan. Kertas ini bertujuan untuk menyanggah pendapat-pendapat Hoodbhoy ini dengan hujah-hujah yang berasaskan ilmu daripada beberapa disiplin ilmu terutamanya sejarah dan falsafah sains, biologi evolusi, teologi dan perubatan tradisional. Ia menghujahkan bahawa pendapat-pendapat tersebut didasarkan kepada dua andaian utama yang sebenarnya adalah lemah dan boleh dipertikaikan. Pertama, pemilihan semulajadi menurut Darwin adalah idea teras kepada biologi evolusi sepanjang sejarahnya. Kedua, biologi mempunyai pengetahuan yang jelas tentang virus, khasnya koronavirus. Kertas ini menunjukkan bahawa kedua-dua andaian tidak mendapat dukungan ilmiah daripada biologi semasa. Ia juga menghujahkan bahawa sebenarnya pendapat-pendapat Hoodbhoy lebih banyak dipengaruhi oleh ideologi evolusinya yang bersifat kepuakan daripada dipengaruhi oleh pertimbangan-pertimbangan saintifik

Covid-19 and Darwin: a response to Pervez Hoodbhoy

Corona Literature Explosion Ever since the novel coronavirus-generated disease called covid-19 became global news late last year, countless views and comments have appeared in the world’s print and electronic media on various aspects of the pandemic and its impact on the contemporary social order both at national and global levels. There is an almost endless supply of news each day on the pandemic and related issues that would make it difficult for anyone to keep track of each one of them. My simple wish is that, during this historic period of home confinement imposed on us by the pandemic when free time is in relative abundance, I would come across enough interesting articles to read to enable me to be educated on the subject. Thankfully, from time to time, I have been receiving from several friends really thoughtful articles on coronavirus and the diseases it has generated, particularly covid-19, which I don’t think I would have found on my own. Perusing them has benefited me intellectually. These friends have shared the articles with me without expecting something in return. In the past but on different subject matters, I used to receive articles from friends accompanied with requests for my written responses. But it was not until April 2020 that I received the first corona article whose sender was soliciting a written response from me. The article in question is now the subject of my present discussion

In Richtung einer neuen Wissenschaft von der Zivilisation. Eine synthetische Studie der philosophischen Ansichten von al-Farabi, Ibn Chaldun, Arnold Toynbee und Samuel Huntington

Ovaj rad predstavlja sintetičku studiju o filozofskim stajalištima al-Farabija i Ibn Halduna iz klasičnog islama te Arnolda Toynbeeja i Samuela Huntingtona s modernog Zapada o temi znanosti o civilizaciji. Na temelju aristotelovske ideje o istinskoj znanosti, ovaj članak dokazuje da su al-Farabi i Ibn Haldun bili istinski utemeljitelji znanosti o civilizaciji. Reformuliranjem tema koje tvore predmet ove znanosti, koju je definirao al-Farabi, Ibn Haldun ju je odjednom učinio razumljivijom i izumio je nekoliko novih znanosti kao njezinih ogranaka. Unutar epistemološkog okvira Ibn Haldunove nove znanosti o civilizaciji, Toynbee se poduhvatio istraživanja komparativne civilizacije, što tek treba zadobiti status znanosti. Nadalje se pokazuje da bi Huntingtonov mogući doprinos znanosti o civilizaciji mogao biti u konceptu politike civilizacije. U ovom stoljeću rafiniranija znanost o civilizaciji može nastati samo ako se sintetiziraju civilizacijska stajališta ovih i drugih mislitelja.This article presents a synthetic study of the philosophical views of al-Farabi and Ibn Khaldun from classical Islam and Arnold Toynbee and Samuel Huntington from the modern West on the subject of civilizational science. On the basis of the Aristotelian idea of a true science, this article argues that al-Farabi and Ibn Khaldun were the real founders of civilizational science. Through his reformulation of the topics constituting the subject matter of this science as first defined by al-Farabi, Ibn Khaldun immediately made the science more comprehensive and created several new sciences as its branches. Within the epistemological framework of Ibn Khaldun’s new civilizational science, Toynbee developed the study of comparative civilization, which is yet to attain its true status as a science. It is further argued that Huntington’s possible contribution to civilizational science would be through the concept of politics of civilization. A more refined civilizational science may only emerge in this century if the civilizational views of these thinkers and others are to be synthesized.Cet article présente une étude synthétique des perspectives philosophiques d’al-Farabi et d’Ibn Khaldoun issues de l’islam classique, et celles de Arnold Toynbee et de Samuel Huntington de l’Occident moderne. En se basant sur les idées aristotéliciennes de la science vraie, cette article démontre que al-Farabi et Ibn Khaldoun ont été les véritables fondateurs de la science de la civilisation. En reformulant les thèmes qui constituent l’objet de cette science définie par al-Farabi, Ibn Khaldoun l’a aussitôt rendue plus compréhensible et a créé de nombreuses sciences nouvelles qui consistent en des ramifications de cette science. Dans le cadre de la nouvelle science de la civilisation d’Ibn Khaldoun, Toynbee développe une étude comparée des civilisations, recherche qui doit encore atteindre le statut de science. Plus loin, il est montré que l’éventuelle contribution de Huntington aux sciences des civilisations pourrait se situer dans le concept de la politique des civilisations. Une science de la civilisation plus recherchée pourrait émerger au cours de ce siècle à la condition de synthétiser les diverses perspectives sur la civilisation de chacun des auteurs.Dieser Artikel präsentiert eine synthetische Studie der philosophischen Ansichten von al-Farabi und Ibn Chaldun aus dem klassischen Islam sowie von Arnold Toynbee und Samuel Huntington aus dem modernen Westen zum Thema Zivilisationswissenschaft. Auf der Grundlage der aristo telischen Idee einer wahren Wissenschaft vertritt dieser Artikel die Ansicht, dass al-Farabi und Ibn Chaldun die eigentlichen Gründer der Zivilisationswissenschaft waren. Durch seine Neu formulierung der Themen, die den Gegenstand dieser Wissenschaft bilden, wie sie zuerst von al-Farabi definiert wurde, machte Ibn Chaldun sie abrupt umfassender und schuf mehrere neue Wissenschaften als ihre Zweige. Innerhalb des epistemologischen Rahmens von Ibn Chalduns neuer Zivilisationswissenschaft trieb Toynbee die Erforschung der komparativen Zivilisation voran, die ihren wahren Status als Wissenschaft noch zu erlangen hat. Es wird weiterhin argu mentiert, Huntingtons möglicher Beitrag zur Zivilisationswissenschaft würde in dem Konzept der Zivilisationspolitik liegen. Eine raffiniertere Zivilisationswissenschaft könnte sich in diesem Jahrhundert nur dann herauskristallisieren, wenn die zivilisatorischen Blickwinkel dieser und anderer Denker synthetisiert werden

El destino del Islam: Puente civilizacional entre el Este y el Oeste.

En españolEl tema central de este trabajo son los diálogos del Islam en el pasado presente y futuro con otras culturas y civilizaciones. Contrariamente al punto de vista expresado por Samuel P. Huntington de que la idea de "civilización universal" fue producto del pensamiento occidental, este trabajo sostiene que la islámica fue la primera civilización universal verdadera en la historia del mundo.En inglésThe central theme of this paper es Islam´s past, present, and future dialogues with other cultures and civilizations. Contrary to de view expressed by Samuel P. Huntington that the idea of "universal civilization" was an original product of Western thought, this article makes the claim that Islamic civilization was the first truly universal civilization in the history of the world

Environmental wisdom for Planet Earth: the Islamic heritage

The present book is a revised and expanded version of its first edition, which was published nearly fifteen years ago (2007). This new edition has an additional chapter titled “The Qur’anic Idea of Earth as Our Only Planetary Home,” which itself is a revised version of my contributory chapter to Imtiyaz Yusuf’s edited book A Global and Planetary Ethics for Climate Change and Sustainable Energy published in 2016 by Mahidol University in Bangkok. The inclusion of the revised version of this article as a third chapter of the new edition further strengthens the Qur’anic theme of environmental and ecological wisdom that was adopted in the previous edition. This third chapter seeks to reinforce the argument that the planet Earth is humanity’s only planetary home with scriptural support from the Qur’an. Since the earlier edition of the book and the earlier version of Chapter 3 were published years ago, I have made the effort to revise their content wherever necessary. The new edition also contains a bibliography and an index that was not made available in the first edition. Viewed as a whole, the present edition treats readers with a much more comprehensive coverage of the Islamic treasury of environmental and ecological wisdom than the one earlier provided. The body of wisdom under discussion is very pertinent to the issue of the Earth’s planetary ecological health that the whole humanity is now facing. With the ecological health in question now worsening, it is our sincere hope that the publication of this work can contribute in a small way to the worldwide efforts to address this unprecedented ecological challenge in human history

A decentralized proportional-integral sliding mode tracking controller for a 2 D.O.F robot arm

Trajectory tracking with high accuracy is a very challenging topic in direct drive robot control. This is due to the nonlinearities and input couplings present in the dynamics of the arm. This paper deals with the tracking control of a class of direct-drive robot manipulators. A robust Proportional-Integral (PI) sliding mode control law is derived so that the robot trajectory tracks a desired trajectory as closely as possible despite the highly non-linear and coupled dynamics. The controller is designed using the decentralized approaches. Application to a two degree of freedom direct drive robot arm is considered

Enterprise Factors Contributing to The Success of Malaysian Biotechnology SMEs: A Grounded Theory Approach

While numerous empirical studies have been conducted in Western countries on biotechnology enterprises, little empirical research has been done in Malaysia especially in respect to the factors that contribute to the success of biotechnology small and medium enterprises (SMEs). In view of this, a study was undertaken recently in Malaysia to address this gap in the existing body of biotechnology knowledge. Using a grounded theory approach, this qualitative study managed to develop a conceptual framework that sheds useful information on the enterprise factors that significantly impact the success of Malaysian biotechnology SMEs. Specifically, this study found that organizational structure, innovation activities, linkages with academic research institutions, linkages with other private enterprises, personal linkages with academic researchers, access to financial capital, the procuring of government assistances, vertical integration, enterprise image, GMP compliance and halal certification, strongly influence enterprise success

Personality and lifestyle interprets external condition to environmental behaviours

Personality and lifestyles frame individuals’ interpretation of situational information; as such, the encouragement, convenience and reinforcement to behave more environmentally. Issue: Existing research lack empirical evidence on the influence of personality and lifestyle (PL) on external condition (EC) to environmental behaviours. Purpose: This paper aims to verify the statistical predictability of EC based on PL. Approach: Multiple Correlation and Multiple Linear Regression were carried out to assess linear associations and parameters of linear equations to predict EC components based on PL items. Findings: EC components were predictable by some of the PL items. In particular, ‘urging media to raise environmental awareness’ was the strongest predictor of EC

The impact of personality and lifestyle on interaction with nature

Awareness on the complex interdepending systems between individuals and their contexts is a fundamental understanding of sustainable well-being. Collectivist beliefs and biospheric values translate the normative behaviours when environmental decisions are being made. Issue: Existing research has limited empirical evidence on the impact of personality and lifestyle (PL) on interaction with nature (IN) for Malaysia. Purpose: This paper aims to verify the statistical predictability of IN based on PL. Approach: Multiple Correlation and Multiple Linear Regression were carried out to assess linear associations and parameters of linear equations to predict IN components based on PL items. Findings: IN components were predictable by the majority of the PL items and ‘feeling affected by the environmental loss of other countries’ was the strongest predictor of IN

Attitudes and pro-environmental behaviours: determining factor of personality and lifestyle

Sustainability in well-being embodies the interconnecting course of how various systems influence each other. The more strongly individuals subscribe to values beyond their immediate interests, that is, prosocial, collectivistic and biospheric values, the more likely they are to engage in environmental behaviour. Issue: Existing research has limited evidence on specific values of Malaysian’s personality and lifestyle (PL) that have significant impact on attitude and proenvironmental behaviour (AP). Purpose: This paper aims to verify the statistical predictability of AP based on PL. Approach: Multiple Correlation and Multiple Linear Regression were carried out to assess linear associations and parameters of linear equations to predict AP components based on PL items. Findings: AP components were moderately predictable by some of the PL items. Specifically, ‘Urging media to raise environmental awareness’ and ‘being mindful about environmental destruction’ were the two strongest predictors of AP