List of Articles Epistemology

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  1 - Historical Development of Approaches to the Problem of Essential Accidents: From Mulla Sadra to Muhaqqiq Rashti
  Moosa Malayeri
  The present paper deals with one of the most important and complicated epistemological problems targeted by Muslim philosophers, that is, determining the referents and realm of essential accidents. The main question here is whether accidents are considered to be essenti More

  The present paper deals with one of the most important and complicated epistemological problems targeted by Muslim philosophers, that is, determining the referents and realm of essential accidents. The main question here is whether accidents are considered to be essential through the more particular. In this historical study, the writer examines the development of the various theories regarding this problem over three centuries (1050-1312 AH) and then reports and evaluates the solutions suggested by four of the most prominent theoreticians of this historical period. To this end, he initially explores Mulla Sadra’s solution, which is based on the necessity of distinguishing between particular accidents and accidents through the more particular. Then he discusses the view of Hossein Khwansari, who, after criticizing Mulla Sadra’s theory and acknowledging its weakness in solving the problem, presents his own theory of juristic preference and consensus in determining territories and setting boundaries between sciences. Later the writer deals with the views of Mulla Mehdi Naraqi, who accepts a part of Mulla Sadra’s theory but solves some parts of the problem using a different method. Naraqi’s method necessitates the screening of sciences and extracting some problems from the domains of related sciences. Finally, the writer focuses on the last character of this period, Mirza Habibullah Rashti. He was a capable fundamentalist who enriched this discussion more than ever before in the light of his own profound insight and increased the accuracy of the technical language used to describe the problem. Although he benefitted from the words of other thinkers, he did not accept the solution of any of the preceding philosophers in its totality. He believed that the scholars working in each field are allowed to discuss the related scientific problems within the borderlines of their own knowledge as long as no specific sciences have been devised for investigating them. This view, as explained in the body of the paper, is quite compatible with the apriori-historical approach to the development of various disciplines. Manuscript profile
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  2 - Doubt and Certainty in Contemporary Islamic and Western Philosophies
  Abdurrazzaq  Hesamifar
  Doubt and certainty are two soulish states which form problematic and certain knowledge in the process of human cognition. Problematic knowledge is mainly obtained in the realm of empirical sciences, while certain knowledge is mostly acquired in the domain of certain no More

  Doubt and certainty are two soulish states which form problematic and certain knowledge in the process of human cognition. Problematic knowledge is mainly obtained in the realm of empirical sciences, while certain knowledge is mostly acquired in the domain of certain non-empirical sciences such as philosophy, logic, mathematics, and gnosis. In the history of philosophy, philosophers often sought certain knowledge and believed that it is possible to attain the truth. In contrast, skeptics undermined the acquisition of such knowledge and did not believe in the existence of any kind of truth. The confrontations of these two groups have always constituted a part of the history of philosophy. Such a confrontation has been revived in contemporary philosophy as a result of the discussions which are made in modern epistemology both in Islamic philosophy and Western philosophy. On the one hand, contemporary Muslim philosophers have tried to defend the strong epistemological principles of Islamic philosophy through negating the views of skeptics. They believe in realism in epistemology and reject any interpretation of knowledge which is based on subjective idealism. On the other hand, at least some contemporary Western philosophers have tried to provide some responses to the questions posed by skeptics by developing a number of new views. In this comparative study, the author has tried to evaluate the attempts of a group of philosophers of each side in this regard. It is eventually concluded that the responses of Islamic philosophers to the posed questions enjoy a stronger basis both in the past and at present. Manuscript profile
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  3 - Nature of Intellectual Intuition in Ibn Sina’s Oriental Ethics
  Mir Sa‘id   Musawi Karimi Ali Reza  Sayyad Mansur Muhammed Hani  J‘afarian
  The purpose of this paper is to determine the nature of Ibn Sina’s idea concerning the ethical epistemology of oriental works entitled “intellectual intuition”. In the study of the nature of intellectual intuition, the focus is placed on its component parts. In other wo More

  The purpose of this paper is to determine the nature of Ibn Sina’s idea concerning the ethical epistemology of oriental works entitled “intellectual intuition”. In the study of the nature of intellectual intuition, the focus is placed on its component parts. In other words, we will pay attention to elements which Ibn Sina considers as the sources of the acquisition of ethical knowledge under the title of intellectual intuition, and it appears that this kind of intuition results from a combination of these elements. Therefore, here the writers initially introduce the epistemological elements of intellectual intuition following a modern approach and maintain that intellectual intuition consists of three epistemological elements of intuition, introversion, and intellect. Then they clarify the role of each of these elements in the epistemological functions of intellectual intuition in Ibn Sina’s view. Next, through explaining the role of intuition in the ethical epistemology of contemporary intuitionists, they try to explore the particular functions of this epistemological layout in the eyes of contemporary thinkers. Finally, through a comparison of their ideas with those of Ibn Sina, the writers provide a more accurate picture of the whatness of intuition and its constituent elements in Ibn Sina’s philosophy. Manuscript profile
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  4 - Hume’s and Kant’s Epistemological Critique of Metaphysics
  حامد احتشامی SSeyyed Mohammad  Hakak
  Metaphysics is a term which was used by the compilers of Aristotle’s works for a part of them that appeared after the book of Physics. Later it was used as the title of the science which Aristotle dealt with in that section; a science that discusses the principles of ex More

  Metaphysics is a term which was used by the compilers of Aristotle’s works for a part of them that appeared after the book of Physics. Later it was used as the title of the science which Aristotle dealt with in that section; a science that discusses the principles of existent qua existent. Since it delves into some of the fundamental problems of human beings such as God, self, and free will, this discipline has always been the main representative of philosophy. It is, in fact, only in the modern era that epistemology has gained more importance than metaphysics; moreover, some philosophers such as David Hume and Emanuel Kant have questioned its validity. In Hume’s view, metaphysics is an absurd field of science because its concepts are meaningless. In Kant’s view, metaphysical concepts and, thus, the related propositions are meaningful; however, it is impossible for theoretical wisdom to tackle them, and the solutions for metaphysical problems should be sought in the realm of practical wisdom or ethics. This paper reports and evaluates the viewpoints of these two philosophers in relation to metaphysics. Manuscript profile
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  5 - Value of Philosophia Prima in Kant and ‘Allāmah Ṭabāṭabā’ī
  Armin Mansouri Abbas Izadpanah
  20.1001.1.20089589.1400.11.4.6.5
  The present study investigates the scientific value of philosophia prima from the epistemological perspectives of Kant and ‘Allāmah Ṭabāṭabā’ī. As a philosopher whose standpoints were under the influence of other sciences and, due to the conditions of his time, he sided More

  The present study investigates the scientific value of philosophia prima from the epistemological perspectives of Kant and ‘Allāmah Ṭabāṭabā’ī. As a philosopher whose standpoints were under the influence of other sciences and, due to the conditions of his time, he sided with both empiricism and rationalism, Kant tried to solve the conflicts between these two schools relying on apriori synthetic propositions. Finally, he argued that, firstly, knowledge is acquired through sense perception and, secondly, it is limited to phenomena. Hence, he concluded that, while metaphysics cannot be denied, the existence of scientific propositions of philosophia prima are not epistemologically possible. Nevertheless, based on the ideas that, apart from sensible knowledge, pure rational knowledge can also be demonstrated, and that knowledge includes not only phenomenon but also essence, ‘Allāmah Ṭabāṭabā’ī believed that philosophia prima enjoys epistemological value in terms of its demonstrative method, subject, and problems. He places it on the top of all human sciences and considers all of its propositions and achievement to be certain and scientific. Manuscript profile
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  6 - Historical Trends of Epistemological Issues in Pre-Sadrian Philosophical Tradition
  Ali Asghar  Jafari Valani Donya  Asadi Fakhrnejad
  20.1001.1.20089589.1401.13.2.4.9
  A study of epistemological developments in Islamic philosophy indicates that, although the issues in this philosophical trend have not been independently dealt with and have been generally discussed under epistemological issues, there are other problems in Islamic philo More

  A study of epistemological developments in Islamic philosophy indicates that, although the issues in this philosophical trend have not been independently dealt with and have been generally discussed under epistemological issues, there are other problems in Islamic philosophy that, if organized and classified, can open the door to philosophical approaches to ontological discussions. Perhaps, some of the fundamental ambiguities in epistemology can be clarified based on the outcomes of such discussions. For example, reference can be made to the effects of ontological views of Ibn Sīnā and Suhrawardī over their epistemology. The main question of this study is how an epistemological approach can be extracted from an investigation and analysis of a collection of problems and demonstrate it with reference to the standpoints and views of Islamic philosophers. In order to achieve this purpose, it must be said that an epistemology based on the sense, reason, and intuition can lead to the development of Islamic philosophers’ epistemology. The Peripatetic philosophy is mainly based on the intellect and reasoning, and the Illuminationist philosophy, although relying on reasoning, basically draws on unveiling and intuition in epistemological analyses. However, logic, as a gateway to epistemology, usually opens the discussion because almost all Islamic philosophers consider the theory of definition as a tool for unveiling the unknown (unveiling the general nature of affairs) relying on acquired knowledge and the five predicables (universals). Nevertheless, Suhrawardī and his followers, while relying on presential knowledge, believe that a genus-differentia definition is not justified and, by criticizing the theory of definition, try to discover the particular unknown through observation and illumination. Accordingly, the problem of vision and imagination in the common epistemological system is usually viewed as one of the sides of acquired knowledge. In contrast, it is explained under presential knowledge in Illuminationist philosophy. Manuscript profile