Understanding of Pragmatism and Islamic Perspective: A Case Study of University Kuala Lumpur Students

Pemahaman Falsafah Pragmatisme dan Islamik Perspektif: Satu Kajian ke atas Pelajar Universiti Kuala Lumpur

Abstract

This paper discusses the ideology of pragmatism. The research was conducted at one of the UniKL branch institutes, the British Malaysian Institute in Gombak. The British Malaysian Institute majorly offers engineering courses with expertise in electrical, electronics and medical electronic engineering. This study aims at analysing the UniKL students’ understanding of pragmatism ideology and how their understanding shapes their thinking and action. This article highlighted some features of pragmatism by referring to the one of the famous pioneers of pragmatism, Williams James.  A set of questionnaire was instrumented for collecting data from the respondents on their thought regarding the ideology of pragmatism. This ideology has changed the lifestyle of people especially for Muslim. This is because people believe that this ideology is more practical in solving problems consequently some of this ideology is not suitable for Muslim. The result of this study revealed that respondents did not have much understanding about this ideology due to lack of Islamic principal. Therefore, it is suggested that learning institutions need to instil better understanding of pragmatism ideology among students and responsible for educators to educate students properly in order to protect their faith especially among the Muslim students.

Kajian ini dijalankan untuk mengenalpasti kefahaman pelajar terhadap satu ideologi pragmatisme dan ciri-cirinya dalam kalangan para pelajar yang berlatar belakangkan bidang kejuruteraan di Universiti Kuala Lumpur (British Malaysian Institute), Gombak. Kajian ini membincangkan kefahaman dan tindakan pelajar terhadap ideologi pragmatisme ini yang diperkenalkan oleh pengasasnya iaitu Williams James. Soalan kaji selidik diedarkan kepada sejumlah responden dalam usaha memperolehi data kajian. Ideologi ini juga sedikit sebanyak mempengaruhi kehidupan seseorang muslim yang mempercayai ia dapat menyelesaikan sesuatu masalah yang berkaitan malah ia sebenarnya tidak bersesuian kepada umat Islam. Hasil kajian mendapati bahawa responden menyedari akan ideologi ini. Walaubagaimanapun, kajian juga menekankan bahawa guru-guru perlu meletakkan keutamaan dalam perkara tersebut dan memastikan para pelajar memahami ideologi tersebut supaya mereka dapat memelihara kepercayaan atau keimanan  sebagai seorang Islam.