Dehumanization in the Age of Artificiality: Rethinking Medical Education Through The Islamic Conception Of Man

Abstrak

Contemporary medical education faces a growing crisis of dehumanization, driven by the rapid advancement of technology and the rise of artificial intelligence. Within a technocratic system, both medical practitioners and students are at risk of perceiving patients as clinical data rather than holistic human beings. This phenomenon reflects a deeper ontological and epistemological disorder which, from the Islamic perspective—particularly in the thought of Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas—is rooted in the loss of adab, the failure to recognize the proper place and purpose of knowledge, self, and human dignity. This study adopts a qualitative-conceptual methodology grounded in Islamic intellectual tradition. It engages with primary texts by Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, classical Islamic sources, and contemporary literature on medical education. The findings reveal that modern medical education, rooted in secular and reductionist epistemologies, marginalizes the spiritual, moral, and metaphysical dimensions of the human being. This has led to the commodification of the medical profession and emotional fatigue among healthcare providers. Drawing from al-Attas’s metaphysical anthropology, the study articulates a holistic conception of the human being comprising jasad, qalb, ʿaql, nafs, and rūḥ. Medical education should be reconceptualized as a moral and spiritual endeavor, aimed not only at professional competence but also at the cultivation of virtuous, God-conscious individuals. Addressing dehumanization in medical education requires a paradigm shift that re-centers the human being as the ontological and ethical core of educational practice. Islamic medical education must be reformed through institutional redesign, faculty development, and spiritually informed mentorship models.