Biannual Journal
mohammad javad esmaili
Abstract
Motion in the categories is one of the most significant topics in the natural philosophy of Ibn Sīnā (428 AH/1037 CE). Ḥakīm Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Fattāḥ Tonekābonī (1040 AH/1631 CE-1124 AH/1713 CE), known as Fādhil Sarāb, one of the great thinkers of the Safavid era, composed a ...
Read More
Motion in the categories is one of the most significant topics in the natural philosophy of Ibn Sīnā (428 AH/1037 CE). Ḥakīm Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Fattāḥ Tonekābonī (1040 AH/1631 CE-1124 AH/1713 CE), known as Fādhil Sarāb, one of the great thinkers of the Safavid era, composed a work titled Risāla fī Bayān al-Ḥarka fī al-Maqula. In this work, he analyzes and evaluates a topic from the second chapter of the second article of the art of "natural hearing" of Ibn Sīnā's Cure, titled “On the Relation of Motion to the Categories,” where the nature of motion is discussed. Ḥakīm Tonekābonī's explanation is invaluable because his assessment is based on his identification of the nature of motion with the doctrine of gradation. Ḥakīm Tonekābonī's study has a "they say/I say” structure, which encourages the reader to pay attention to the ideas that are rejected as well as those that are accepted in the discussion. Ḥakīm Tonekābonī goes beyond the discussion of the nature of motion and also deals with issues such as the connection between motion and time and instantaneous motion (ḥaraka tawassuṭiyya), as well as continuous motion (ḥaraka qaṭʿiyya). Referring to the views of Abū Naṣr al-Fārābī (339 AH/ 950/1 CE) and Jalāl al-Dīn al-Dawwānī (908 AH/ 1502 CE), he establishes a link between philosophical issues and the commentary tradition of the Tajrīd al-Iʿtiqād. The editio princeps of the treatise, along with an analysis of the text, provides a basis for further discussion of Ibn Sīnā's natural philosophy. Ḥakīm Tonekābonī was born in Sarab, one of the villages of Tonekābon; after acquiring the basics of science with his father, he left for Isfahan and the religious schools of Tonekābon. The date of Hakim Tonekābonī's death is recorded as Monday, the 18th of Dhihjah in 1124 AH, and his burial place is recorded as the Takhte- Fulad of Isfahan. His masters in the intellectual sciences are Mirza Muḥammad Bāqir Sabzevārī (d. 1090 AH), Āghā Ḥossein Khʷānsārī (d. 1098 AH) and Mullā Rajab-ʿAlī Tabrīzī (d. 1080 AH). In this article, Hakim Tonekābonī's view of motion in the categories is examined from a historical and philosophical perspective, based on his work, Risāla fī Bayān al-Ḥarka fī al-Maqula (The Treatise of Motion in Categories). The approach is philosophical, because the issue of motion and its conceptual analysis has a long philosophical ancestry. On the one hand, Heraclitus considered being to be a kind of motion itself, and on the other hand, Parmenides described being as alien to and incompatible with motion. The analysis is at the same time historical, in that the first detailed exploratioin of this issue is found in Aristotle's Physics, whereas in the Islamic world, Ibn Sina in his works, especially in the Shifa (Cure), offered a philosophical explanation of the nature of motion by way of various interpretations of Aristotle's Physics. But Ibn Sina expressed his view of the nature of motion after evaluating previous arguments on the subject and their consequences. Ibn Sina then presents his own interpretation. For example, in other views, according to him, motionis a matter of homonym, or of analogical gradation; Or if it is analogical gradation, it is like settled topoi (places), or fixed blackness or fluid blackness. He himself, however, engages with philosophical analysis of the category of the passion and raises the question of whether passion is motion or a relation between motion and something else. And if passion is identical with motion, then is motion absolute or restricted? With this method, Ibn Sina does not accept the idea of ten categories, like the Aristotelians, and he regards either of the categories as a real genera [this is unclear]. Accordingly, passion is identical with motion. After discussing Ibn Sina's view on the nature of motion, I examine Hakim Tonekābonī's explanation of Ibn Sina's view. The treatise on motion in the categories by Hakim Tonekābonī is considered at two levels: 1. analysis of text itself, 2. further considerations in the form of comments and marginal notes. Hakim Tonekābonī offers further considerations or comments in six sections, which cover only half of the topics of the treatise. Hakim Tonekābonī's answers to the view that the motion is based on analogical gradation are presented in a "they say/I say” structure" that encourages the reader to return to the text of the treatise. Hakim Tonekābonī composed this treatise in order to in response to the debates over Tusi's Tajrīd al-iʿtiqād (The Purification of Belief) and to answer an aporia about the nature of motion.
Biannual Journal
Zahra Bahremand
Abstract
Resālat al-Abrāj or Kalemāte Zowqiye is one of Sohrevardi’s symbolic treatises in Arabic studied less. With Henry Corbin’s phenomenological hermeneutics, we understand it represents the story of lovingly returning of a soul to his original homeland, in which is revealed to the soul his ...
Read More
Resālat al-Abrāj or Kalemāte Zowqiye is one of Sohrevardi’s symbolic treatises in Arabic studied less. With Henry Corbin’s phenomenological hermeneutics, we understand it represents the story of lovingly returning of a soul to his original homeland, in which is revealed to the soul his story of travelling through the phenomena of real and live symbols, in such a manner that he is saved and returned to his origin through this revealing. Corbin believes "returning to the Origin" is the very principle that contemporary man has forgotten following the body-mind dualism of post-Descartian cosmology, caused by disappearing of an intermediator i.e. the world of soul in his active and spiritual imagination. What makes imagination agent and spiritual is the love for returning to the true homeland; with gnosis reminding it and referring to the angelic origin. Corbin describes the spiritual hermeneutics as returning to the origins and archetypes of phenomena, revealed to the soul through dematerialization and active imagination in the intermediate world. He tries to represent the contemporary aspect of “mundus imaginalis” as the theory of “active imagination” and his especial phenomenology. Here we present this lovingly returning in the mirror of symbols wherein the origins of phenomena appeared.
Scientific Review
Ali Torabi; zeynab sadeghi; mehran najafi; zahra lotfi
Abstract
Introduction Two complicated and difficult problems in the Islamic philosophy are knowledge and intellect. These were of great significance to philosophers from Plato and Aristotle to such Muslim philosophers as Avicenna, Fakhr al-Razi, Suhrawardi, and Nasir al-Din al-Tusi as well as to the Schools ...
Read More
Introduction Two complicated and difficult problems in the Islamic philosophy are knowledge and intellect. These were of great significance to philosophers from Plato and Aristotle to such Muslim philosophers as Avicenna, Fakhr al-Razi, Suhrawardi, and Nasir al-Din al-Tusi as well as to the Schools of Shiraz and Isfahan. Following them, Mulla Sadra raised the question of knowledge throughout his philosophical work. As the Sadrai thought is still dynamic and can be pursued, examined, critiqued or reconstructed, Muslim thinkers continue to publish their research in the form of books, dissertations, and articles on the issue of knowledge and the intellect. It goes without saying that in order to prevent doing what others already do or have already done the evolution of research on a problem needs to be brought to the researcher’s attention. Therefore, literature plays an important role in the research process, and the present article intends to assist researchers on Mulla Sadra with the literature review. It goes over scientific productions in the area of dissertations and articles from 2001 to 2020 on the subject of knowledge in Sadra’i philosophy. This includes 218 works, out of which 85 articles, 32 master’s degree dissertations and 9 PhD theses are written in the field of the intellect. Master’s degree dissertations and PhD theses on the subject of knowledge are 35 and 9 titles respectively, which does not show a marked difference to the field of the intellect. This is while the articles in the field of knowledge are 45 titles i.e. half as many as the articles written in the field of intellect. The research method As a systematic review, using the search engines and data bases such as Noormags, Comprehensive Portal of Human Sciences, Magiran, and the Treasure System (sāmāni-yi ganj) in the Iranian Research Institute for Information, Science and Technology (IranDoc), and Islamic World Science Citation Center (ISC), this article has searched titles of articles, dissertations, and PhD theses and conducted a statistical study of those Farsi titles written between 2001 and 2020 in Iran in the areas of knowledge and intellect in Mulla Sadra’s transcendent wisdom. A discussion of results More attention has been paid to the question of knowledge than that of the intellect. Within the subject of knowledge, discussions of divine knowledge are of the highest frequency, but less attention has been paid to the levels of the Creator’s knowledge and the status of the Creator’s knowledge in creation, or, to put it the other way, to the levels of knowledge in parallel to the levels of creation. When it comes to theology in the more specific sense, less attention has been paid to the knowledge-led Shia theology versus power-led Sunni theology, and the basics and results of such a discussion are not examined. Within the subject of intellect, discussions of the epistemology of the intellect are of the highest frequency, whereas less attention has been paid to various meanings and usages of the intellect in Islamic sciences including theosophy, philosophy, ethics, and to their distinction from the intellect in common parlance. Conclusion Among the conclusions is that there are methodological limitations: lack of attention to a needs assessment in the process of deciding research topics; lack of proper attention to other researchers’ findings (which leads up to many problems including repetitious work and lack of attention to certain topics, as witnessed by the results of the present study); lack of variety in the articles (for the most part, they are written for academic research journals, while a helpful research activity of high efficiency and influence relies on a whole variety of introductory studies, including reviews, which are visibly missing in the field of Islamic philosophy); and finally the lack of information about research activities in the field in the international arena and even Islamic countries.
Biannual Journal
zeinab zargooshi; reza rezazadeh; majid ziaei
Abstract
Inquiry into Some Metaphors of Causality in Philosophy of Suhrawardi Introduction This research aims at investigating some specific metaphorical applications of the concept of causality in Suhrawardi's philosophy, basically referring to the theory of conceptual metaphor.Hitherto, two traditional ...
Read More
Inquiry into Some Metaphors of Causality in Philosophy of Suhrawardi Introduction This research aims at investigating some specific metaphorical applications of the concept of causality in Suhrawardi's philosophy, basically referring to the theory of conceptual metaphor.Hitherto, two traditional and contemporary theories have been discussed in this regard. Regarding the traditional theory represented by Aristotle Metaphor, it can be regarded as the use of the name of something for something else.According to this view, the reason why one word is used instead of another is a pre-existing and objective similarity between the two phenomena.Contemporary metaphor theory holds that,in addition to objective similarity,non-objective similarities, the creation of similarities by the mind and the correlation in experience are bases for the formation of metaphors. In Suhrawardi's philosophy, causality has been conceptualized as a key philosophical concept with the help of various metaphors. Research Questions This research tries to answer basic questions: How Suhrawardi used metaphor in conceptualizing causality?What metaphors have been used in Suhrawardi's philosophy to conceptualize causality?And, finally,what is the connection between the symbol in Suhrawardi's philosophy and metaphor? Research Hypothesis -Suhrawardi has used metaphor in conceptualizing causality. -In Suhrawardi's philosophy, the metaphors of "causality is Illumination","causality is the Forced Movement","causality is the Transfer Of Possessions"," causality is to generate" and"causality is to build" were used to conceptualize causality. -The basis of metaphor formation is different.In Suhrawardi's philosophy,a metaphor whose formation is based on the inherent similarity between the two phenomena is regarded as symbol. Accordingly, the metaphors of "causality is Illumination", "causality is to generate” and"causality is to build” are symbolic metaphors. Method The research method in this paper is analytical, comparative and somehow critical.The research tool is the authoritative books and articles.Through these references, we first obtained the principles and foundations of the theory of conceptual metaphors.In the next step, we extracted the conceptual metaphors of causality.Afterwards, we studied the conceptual metaphors of causality in Suhrawardi philosophy.In the final step, the relationship between the theory of conceptual metaphor and the discussion of symbol in Suhrawardi's philosophy is examined. Results Suhrawardi has used various metaphors to describe and conceptualize causality. The introduced metaphors are only a part of the metaphors of causality in Suhrawardi's works. in fact, he is a descriptor in some of the causal metaphors.In some causal metaphors, causality is described by illumination.Immaterial effects such as ray and material effects such as shadoware depicted. Motion schema is one of the most widely used image schemas for conceptualizing abstract concepts. In the philosophy of illumination, the Forced Movement is used to illustrate causality.The metaphor of "causality is the transfer of Possessions " can also be seen in the works of Shaykh al-Ishrag.The experience of creating/generating is also one of the conventional experiences that Shaykh al-Ishrag uses to describe causality.In this metaphor, causes are conceptualized as parents and effects as child.Causality is also depicted by the metaphor of "causality is to build".According to the metaphor of "causality is illumination ", there is a similarity between cause and effect.But, according to the metaphor of "causality is the transfer of Possessions " which has three components, a kind of demarcation between cause and effect is associated.The use of the metaphor of "causality is to build" also associates inconsistency and dissimilarity between cause and effect. The most widely used metaphor in Suhrawardi's philosophy for conceptualizing causality is the metaphor of "causality is illumination".The discussion of metaphor is also related to the discussion of symbol. In Suhrawardi's philosophy, a metaphor whose formation is based on the inherent similarity between two phenomena is called symbol.The metaphors "causality is illumination","causality is to generate"and "causality is to build” are of this type. The sun and human in the material world are similar to Immaterials and are symbols of Immaterial.Thus, the causality of Immaterials is conceptualized in the following terms:sunshine and human characteristics such as generating and construction. But, the basis of metaphor is not always the inherent similarity betweenthe two phenomena. On the contrary; sometimes, the human mind creates similarities.The human mind depicts attributes as objects and causality as the transfer of objects, and on this basis the metaphor "causality is the transfer of Possessions " is formed.The basis of metaphor can also be co-occurrencein experience.The co-occurrence between change and motion in conventional experience causes that causality, which is a kind of change in the state of effect to be illustrated as motion. Besides, based on this, the metaphor of "causality is Forced Movement" is formed.
Biannual Journal
fateme soleimani
Abstract
Introductin Since the best order is the best possible created order, such an order is a complete created order as an act of God the All-wise. Given the teleological notion of order, which is the harmony and coherence of the parts of a whole directed at a purpose, the existence of an order in the world ...
Read More
Introductin Since the best order is the best possible created order, such an order is a complete created order as an act of God the All-wise. Given the teleological notion of order, which is the harmony and coherence of the parts of a whole directed at a purpose, the existence of an order in the world can be seen as evidence of a harmony among phenomena in the world to achieve an end. Given the process of developments and changes in the world, the discovery of its complex laws and regularities leads the human mind to a serious problem: How can such changes and developments be accounted for by the fixed and rigid laws of the world. Moreover, how can man as part of the order have a conscious free life in such a coherent and fixed world? The main question is: What is the characteristic of the dominant order of the world, in virtue of which it can accommodate all the developments and changes of the natural world, particularly the developments of man’s free acts? This research seeks to provide an account of the changes and developments of the natural world and those of man’s free acts through an account of the created order and the relationship among God, the world, and man. In reply to objections such as the reconciliation of the human agency and the divine agency—man’s free will and divine will—theologians and philosophers have offered general accounts that fail to accommodate particularities and cannot solve problems concerning badā’ (alternation in divine will) and prayer. Because of this, it is necessary to provide an account of the world as a divine act, in which the world has room for both human choices and the deterministic processes of natural phenomena, despite its rigidity and organization. Discussion and results In the best order of the world, all changes and developments of the material world occur within the framework of fixed divine laws. God the All-wise exhibits proper reactions to the developments of the world in accordance with the fixed laws without undergoing passions or changes. On this picture, the world is a creative and dynamic process in a constant state of renewal. This process is creative in that it is spontaneous, internally caused, and systematic as directed by an All-wise and All-living agent. Thus, the world order is active and dynamic in accordance with fixed and inviolable laws, complying with these laws and traditions in different circumstances. In such an order, man with his power of choice applies divine traditions to himself with his power to choose. According to the Transcendent Wisdom, in a world in which evils are inevitable because of causal conflicts, God provides man with a variety of possibilities for achieving the good. When people comply with divine traditions and the worldly order, the material and spiritual causes and forces of the world will act in their favor, leading them to further enjoyment of the material world and spiritual benefits. However, if people act against divine traditions and the worldly order, they will face negative forces and will be subject to divine traditions that lead him to a wretched life. Under the direction of an All-knowing and All-powerful God, the world displays intelligent reactions to human actions and reactions. The divine power and will are absolute, and yet, they are guide and encourage people; that is, God guides people to the good and prohibits them from evils. God’s final goal is to improve and enrich people’s practice. In the dynamic order of the world, the fate never changes; it is made. In this order, God’s response to the prayer is not a matter of man’s influence on God. It is a matter of proper use of material and spiritual causes and forces within the framework of divine traditions and the discovery of the ways out of impasse. We refer to such a construal of the world as the “dynamic world’ which is a lawful, intelligent, and active system or order directed by an All-knowing, All-powerful, and All-wise being, appearing in a manifestation at every moment. On this account, man has a creative and choice-making power, making his fate within the framework of divine traditions in accordance with the extent of his understanding at every moment.
Biannual Journal
Homayon Shekari; Ebrahim Rahimi Zangene; vahid mobarak
Abstract
Abstract In the current research, writers aim to specify that Ruzbahan has used "Eltebas" with the meaning that "Plotinus" have used emanation. "Eltebas" is a Peculiar Lexicon in Ruzbahan Baqli-e-Shirazi's Intellectual System. He has Used This Metaphorical Title for naming appearance of God. In his point ...
Read More
Abstract In the current research, writers aim to specify that Ruzbahan has used "Eltebas" with the meaning that "Plotinus" have used emanation. "Eltebas" is a Peculiar Lexicon in Ruzbahan Baqli-e-Shirazi's Intellectual System. He has Used This Metaphorical Title for naming appearance of God. In his point of view, due to Eltebas, right, appears in the universe. This Thought has been seen previously in Greece philosophy, especially in Plato & Plotinus 'ideas have entered Islam world via translation of his work, companionship with Christians,…and had had an impression on intellectual stream of the Islam World. Ruzbahan's ideas about the relationship between creator & creatures are close to Plato& Plotinus's ideas in a way that they have the same allegory. By considering cultural exchanges between East & west Mediterranean it has to be said that this similarity is in a way that it proves that Ruzbahan had been impressed with these Greek philosopher. And it's not false to call him "Neo-platonic". Muslims were familiar with Plato’s (347 BC) name, his beliefs, and his works, but Plotinus (270 CE) does not appear in their work. In certain works of Islamic philosophy as well as those of sects and creeds, a person is mentioned as “the Greek master.” In contemporary scholarships, it has been determined that this person was Plotinus (see Badawi 1955:1). The Greek master is mentioned in Ṣiwān al-ḥikma, Al-ḥikmat al-khālida and Al-milal wa-l-niḥal, where some of his remarks are cited. The author of Al-ḥikmat al-khālida refers to the Greek master as having a particular philosophy, although he does not refer to his main beliefs (see Miskawayh 1358:216). It should be acknowledged that “in the history of Islamic philosophy, Plotinus was undoubtedly one of the most influential Greek philosophers, who was directly or indirectly considered throughout the history of philosophy in Islam” (Pourjavadi 1378:98). Some scholars have gone so far as to suggest that he is at least as influential as Aristotle (322 BC): “his influence in the Islamic thought is not by any means less than that of Aristotle” (Badawi 1955:2). Of Plotinus’s work, his Enneads (nine essays) is available to us. Summaries of the fourth, fifth, and sixth essays were translated into Arabic in the third century AH (ninth century CE) under Theologia. In this research, this work is more important than Enneads, because Muslims learned about Plotinus’s views through this Arabic translation. The essay was translated by a Christian scholar ‘Abd al-Masīḥ ibn ‘Abd Allāh Nā‘ima al-Ḥimṣī(third century AH). The work was misattributed to Aristotle (see Badawi 1955:1-18). It should be noted that Muslims’ acquaintance with Plotinus’s doctrines was not limited to Theologia. In fact, “they were familiar with the work of other Neo-Platonists, particularly Pyrphyry and Proclus” (Pourjavadi 1387:104). With these preliminaries and having in mind that a sort of unity in creation is articulated in the work translated from Plotinus and his studies into Arabic, it can be said that the most prominent impact of Plotinus on Muslims is where the theory of the unity of existence is developed (see O’Leary 1374:42). Plotinus says there is no doubt that we should not talk about observations, but about the observer and the observed, and one should dare talk about the pure unity (Stace 1388:243). On this account, it should be acknowledged that, in addition to Muslim philosophers, Islamic mysticism, particularly beauty-centered mysticism, is influenced by Plotinus’s doctrines. 2. Methodology and Material The method of research here is based on historical method and content analysis. We first examined data about how the Greek intellectual heritage, particularly that of Plato and Plotinus, was transmitted to eastern neighbors of Greece and Rome. We have then examined the understanding of eastern intellectuals, particularly Rūzbahān Baqlī Shīrāzī. It is noteworthy that, of different dimensions of the impact of the heritages of Plato and Plotinus, this research focuses on the relation between the one and phenomena. We conclude that Rūzbahān was influenced by Plotinus’s views. 3. Results and Discussion A problem raised in Plato’s and then in Plotinus’s philosophy is whether the Monad (the unified essence) is related with creatures? In discussions of his theory of Forms, Plato has deployed the metaphor of “participation” (methexis) in answering the question. This was strongly opposed by his student Aristotle. Later, Plotinus combined their views to provide a more rational structure of the issue. He explains the presence of the “one” in the world by drawing upon the metaphor of “emanation” or “issuance.” Plotinus likens the one to a bright volume from which light and warmth emanates involuntarily and without it undergoing a diminution or multiplicity. In this way, he describes how the one is related with other stages of creation. With this revision, Plato’s view found a less flawed form in Neo-Platonic philosophy. Rūzbahān Baqlī Shīrāzī (606 AH/1209 CE) was influenced by Plotinus’s doctrines. In his work, he was inspired by Neo-Platonic theology. An investigation of this reveals the great extent to which beauty-oriented mystics were influenced by Greek philosophical theology. For this reason, it is necessary to specify different dimensions of this influence. The outline of Rūzbahān’s intellectual system led him to offer an answer to the problem of the relation between the creator and creatures in line with his religious beliefs. He portrays the original creation in the same way as Neo-Platonic philosophers. He suggests that the creation is constituted by necessity and the principle of emanation, but instead of equivalents of “emanation” or “issuance,” he uses the term “iltibās” (clothing). (Baqlī Shīrāzī 1389:53-54) 4. Conclusion Drawing upon the notion of “participation,” Plato tried to argue that creatures participate in the divine essence. Thus, the world was portrayed as a fundamental unity, despite its multiplicity. Just like Plato, Plotinus believed in unity in multiplicity. Plato recognized that there is a separation between the worlds of ideas and senses in Plato’s view, Plotinus deployed “issuance” or “emanation” in his theory. In his view, the world results from the issuance of the one, where issuance does not lead to diminution, multiplicity, imperfection, and the like. Unity in multiplicity was characteristically acceptable to Muslims, as it was based on Quranic doctrines. The theory was deployed by philosophers and then mystics. Rūzbahān is obviously influenced by Plotinus’s theory. In his view, the creation of the world begins from God, and then ends in reason, spirit, and finally matter. The process is explained in line with Plotinus’s philosophy in his ‘Abhar al-‘āshiqīn and Sharḥ shaṭaḥiyyāt. In contrast to emanation, he uses the term iltibās. He views the mundane world as the abode of iltibās, which is God’s manifestation in the world. In other words, God’s iltibās is the manifestation or revelation of divine essence in sensible things. This is inevitable in the course of creation. On this account, Rūzbahān’s description of the creation of the world corresponds to Plotinus’s doctrines as they are generally received in the Islamic world, which indicates Rūzbahān Baqlī Shīrāzī’s evident influence from Plotinus’s views. Rūzbahān should, thus, be deemed a Neo-Platonic philosopher.
Biannual Journal
makek abiyan; gholamhossein khedri; jalal peykani; alireza parsa
Abstract
The “argument of the sincere” (burhān al-ṣiddīqīn) was first introduced by Avicenna as andirect proof for a creator. He tried to provide a nearly ideal and direct version of the proof for God’s existence. The argument from possibility and necessity found its way to the Western ...
Read More
The “argument of the sincere” (burhān al-ṣiddīqīn) was first introduced by Avicenna as andirect proof for a creator. He tried to provide a nearly ideal and direct version of the proof for God’s existence. The argument from possibility and necessity found its way to the Western philosophy through translations, and then Thomas Aquinas made tremendous efforts to refine and supplement it as a proof for the source of the world. This paper seeks to provide a more clear account of Avicenna’s argument of the sincere in the Islamic world and Aquinas’s argument from possibility and necessity in the Western world as proofs for the creator. It will then be argued that, first of all, these are two different arguments, and despite their shared foundations, they have different structures. It seems that Aquinas’s argument is like the argument from possibility and necessity in Islamic philosophy and theology. Secondly, regardless of how persuasive it might be to the public, Thomas’s argument rests upon controversial philosophical assumptions and involves lengthy premises, whereas Avicenna’s argument has solid rational foundations and structure, achieving its goal through fewer mediating premises.
Extension scientific
soheila golipoorsharakey; mojtaba jafarieashkavanday; mohsen fahim; Alireza khajegir
Abstract
Faith is the most basic element of spiritual life, the jewel that adorns the human soul and the brightest ray of the Alawite world, One of the most important theological issues is faith and its related elements, so that its fundamental role in the formation of religious belief in the meaning of life ...
Read More
Faith is the most basic element of spiritual life, the jewel that adorns the human soul and the brightest ray of the Alawite world, One of the most important theological issues is faith and its related elements, so that its fundamental role in the formation of religious belief in the meaning of life can not be ignored. The present study seeks to examine the role of religious components such as prophecy, Imamate, worship on faith and its accessories in the meaning of life in both cognitive and functional dimensions, with a descriptive-comparative method from the perspective of two great thinkers with two different Islamic traditions, Sunni and Shiite. It has been used to collect data through a library. The research data has been analyzed by collecting similarities and differences between the views of these two great thinkers based on their anthropological foundations. The results showed that every thinker considers faith to be meaningful in life, although there are differences in the details based on the principles of their thoughts, In the issue of Ghazali worship, more emphasis is placed on the individual dimension of worship, but Allameh emphasizes both the individual and social dimensions of worship. The most important difference between these two scholars is the issue of Imamate, which Ghazali considers as a worldly management and a jurisprudential and sub-matter. Allameh considers Imamate as the continuation of prophecy and divine covenant.
Biannual Journal
Zahra Moballegh
Abstract
This essay is an attempt to make some textual material of Islamic philosophy speak to us. The first part of this article discusses the importance of re-reading and making the silent texts of the Islamic philosophy speak. In this way only, the Islamic philosophical tradition can contribute to the development ...
Read More
This essay is an attempt to make some textual material of Islamic philosophy speak to us. The first part of this article discusses the importance of re-reading and making the silent texts of the Islamic philosophy speak. In this way only, the Islamic philosophical tradition can contribute to the development of the philosophy world we live in today. The second part of this essay reviews the development of a significant philosophical problem that has changed our understanding of the meaning and applications of philosophy. The problem concerning the relationship between the theoretical and the practical has been considered from a different point of view since the18th century. Many philosophers since then have deviated from the traditional cliché of the separation between the practical and the theoretical discussing the two as intertwined concepts. This unifying view can be discovered within the Illuminationist philosophy of Sohrawardi. It portrays thought and practice in a so deeply unified consistency that practical philosophy is being born and bred from within the most theoretical part of philosophy, that is, logic. The Illumationist logic gives birth to a moral philosophy. The last part of the essay endeavors to re-construct this co-existency of logic and ethics in the Illuminative philosophy.
Biannual Journal
AmirHosain MansouriNouri; Einollah khademi; leaila purakbar; Mahdi sanei
Abstract
Introduction: One of the most important questions for people today is what fact can properly justify their life. The question might be as old as the human history, but it was in the last 50 years that analytic philosophers dealt with it as a particular and independent question. Continental philosophers ...
Read More
Introduction: One of the most important questions for people today is what fact can properly justify their life. The question might be as old as the human history, but it was in the last 50 years that analytic philosophers dealt with it as a particular and independent question. Continental philosophers might be deemed pioneers of the issue because they grappled with challenges of modernity for religiosity much sooner than analytic philosophers, although the latter are known for their more coherent treatment of the issue. Since they believe in God and in human servitude toward God, Muslim philosophers never saw the “meaning of life” as a considerable problem. However, since problems in the Western theological-philosophical tradition tend to find their way into the intellectual domain of Muslims, Muslim scholars need to provide relevant answers to the question and consider the factors contributing to it. In order to derive a theory from the Islamic tradition which can actively answer the questions about the meaning of life, we need to consider the work of Western intellectuals as inventors of the question, since without awareness of Western ideas we will be passively on the defensive, whereas after a careful consideration of their views, we can establish an independent theory drawing upon the inherent resources of the Islamic tradition. Research question: The present research seeks to answer the following question: “How does the belief in the possibility of knowing the divine essence affect the ‘meaning of life’ in Fakhr al-Rāzī’s view?” Research method: Here is the method of research in this article: First the required data are extracted from the relevant sources via a library research, then the data are coded and organized in accordance with the titles, and since the subject-matter of the article was not Fakhr’s problem, the data were analyzed and criticized through a particular reading. The main body of the article: For Fakhr, the meaning of life is indeed a desire for God in accordance with innate knowledge of Him. From Fakhr’s work, it is implied that he extended his conception of the “meaning of life” to the areas of utilitarianism and functionalism as well. Notwithstanding this, his entire analyses in other areas are also grounded in innate knowledge and desire. On this account, Fakhr’s reply to the main research question here—“ How does the belief in the possibility of knowing the divine essence affect the meaning of life”—will be as follows: Fakhr al-Rāzī, as a theologian, analyzes the innate desire for God in terms of sharia (Islamic jurisprudence), holding that knowledge of God provides the meaning of life. In the next step, Fakhr al-Rāzī as a philosopher puts the innate desire along with acquisition of discursive knowledge, extending the path to higher levels of wisdom which might be considered as philosophical-mystical. He characterizes rational knowledge in the first step and intuitive knowledge at higher steps as what organize the meaning of life. Finally, Fakhr al-Rāzī as a full-fledged mystic suggests that, by endorsing annihilation as a cognitive system, we can achieve knowledge of the divine essence, which will bring about a fundamental transformation in the “meaning of life,” since with any limitation at any level, the desire will be limited, but if we attribute unending knowledge to man, it will amount to saying that the desire to God is unending; that is, it will be deeper and finer with every higher step. In this case, the “meaning of life” will be more transcendental. Research conclusions: Here are the conclusions of this research: Fakhr applies the meaning of life to the areas of theory, utility, and function on the basis of innate knowledge and desire for perfection. Since Fakhr’s thought is based on knowledge, he believes that there are different degrees of knowledge: knowledge is, for him, a process that goes through different stages of rationalization, refinement (tahdhīb), and annihilation (fanā’). In his view, knowledge of the essence is not possible for man before the stage of annihilation. This is why, the desire for God will have its limits, relative to which the meaning of life will also be limited. Eventually, however, Fakhr al-Rāzī introduces annihilation as a cognitive system, in light of which he endorses the possibility of achieving knowledge of God’s essence. In this way, innate desire will cease to be limited, and with thin unlimited, unending desire the “meaning of life” will be at its highest.
Biannual Journal
ahmad reza honari
Abstract
Abstract Symbolism in the field of metaphysics is a method that has always been considered and widely used in various religious and mystical and philosophical schools, as well as traditional arts such as Iranian Islamic art. Applying this method requires providing its own existential and epistemological ...
Read More
Abstract Symbolism in the field of metaphysics is a method that has always been considered and widely used in various religious and mystical and philosophical schools, as well as traditional arts such as Iranian Islamic art. Applying this method requires providing its own existential and epistemological foundations. Given that metaphysical symbolism is related to the realm of existence, and in Islamic wisdom, the originality of existence and the originality of essence are the two foundations that have been proposed in the field of ontology and each has its own supporters, so this study seeks to answer this question. Are these two bases compatible with symbolism? Which is preferable to the other and what are the reasons for this preference? Given that the basis of the originality of existence provides a deeper look at existence, and also the metaphysical symbolism is based on the gradiation and the hierarchy of existence, so it is consistent with the originality of existence and this is preferable to the originality of essence Provide symbolism theory.
Extension scientific
ali asghar yazdanbakhsh; jahangir masoudi; Abbas Javareshkyan
Abstract
Introduction There have always been two viewpoints on the human rights in the history of Western philosophy: some philosophers adhere to Natural Law, while the others follow Positive Law. Among modern philosophers, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, and among the contemporary ones, Lon L. Fuller and John ...
Read More
Introduction There have always been two viewpoints on the human rights in the history of Western philosophy: some philosophers adhere to Natural Law, while the others follow Positive Law. Among modern philosophers, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, and among the contemporary ones, Lon L. Fuller and John Finnis, are known to be followers of natural law. Positive law refers to the rights established by the legislator and recognized through interpersonal conventions and contracts; people and states may establish or lift them. As a matter of fact, this kind of law is focused on a set of rules and regulations which gains force through guarantee and acceptance of social institutions and governs a certain community during a specified time frame. Natural law, with its characteristics, i.e. universality, necessity, and stability, began to popularize in the West in the third century AD, but it is rather newly-established among Islamic scholar. It constitutes the origin of many governing rules in communities, so this topic deserves considerable debate and discussion by Islamic scholars. Rights, observance, setting up justice, and preventing injustice are of utmost importance in Islamic teachings; they also influence many religious acts, and Islamic doctrines strongly enjoin it and emphasize its moral, legal, and ideological necessity. Undoubtedly, the concept of human rights is one of the modern challenges facing Islam in comparison with the West, and it is going to take a more serious form in the future. The current paper did not search for strong and weak points of the theory of rational decency and obscenity and natural human rights and did not pass any judgment thereof; this paper aimed to analyze the ideas of Sadr al-Din Shirazi (Mulla Sadra) as the founder of transcendental philosophy/theosophy, esp. the theory of decency and obscenity, and sought to answer the following question from his viewpoint: In Mulla Sadra’s opinion, are decency and obscenity rational and inherent? If so, is it possible to attribute the belief in natural human rights to him? The Study of these items from the viewpoint of Mulla Sadra and the analysis and evaluation of them will provide answers to above questions. The current paper focused on proving the following line of argument based on its multiple premises: - Premise 1: Duties/obligations bring rights with them. - Premise 2: Duties are congeneric with their rights. For instance, if a duty is conventional, its interrelated right will be conventional too, and if it is religious, i.e. originating in a divine command, the interrelated right will be religious too, having its roots in a divine command and providence. - From Mulla Sadra’s perspective, duties, decencies, and obscenities are inherent. Conclusion: Mulla Sadra believes that rights accompanying duties are inherent, incorporated in the center of reality. Apophatic interpretation of the duty as it is necessary to respect the freedom/ liberties of humans (It is decent to respect the freedom of humans.) consists in: “Humans should not be deprived of freedom.” (It is obscene to deprive humans of the freedom.) This duty is interrelated with a human right: humans enjoy the right to freedom. 2. Methods and Material we did this within the framework of Mulla Sadra’s perspective on ethical values. The data were gathered through library research and the conclusions were reached using a logical, deductive method. 3. Results and Discussion Although the discussion of rights is apparently different from the discussion of ethical values, these two topics can be linked according to some views; the foundations raised in one area can be extended to another, and we may conclude that although Mulla Sadra did not expressly state his acceptance of natural human rights, his ideas were in conformity with Inherent Natural Rights based on evidence and rational reasoning taken from his moral views. 4. Conclusion This paper used sufficient evidence to show that the theory of Mulla Sadra chosen in this regard was rational and inherent decency and obscenity. Regarding the question of Mulla Sadra belief in rational or inherent decency and obscenity, this paper answered that he believed in inherent, and not divine, decency and obscenity, in terms of ontology (real/outside world and universe of permanent positiveness) and believed in rational decency and obscenity in terms of epistemology (understanding and proving), not religious decency and obscenity. Ash’aris supported divine and religious decency and obscenity, but Mulla Sadra said this view would dispel wisdom, reason, and religion. In relation to understanding decency and obscenity and the intellectual ability of humans, Mull Sadra maintained that only a perfect human was able to grasp the inherent properties of acts not all people. In addition, different views on the contradiction and interrelation of rights and duties were covered, and it was proved that most scholars approved the existence of a relationship between natural human rights and belief in inherent and rational decency and obscenity. Only those who accept inherent decency and obscenity may support natural, innate rights, because the duties are congeneric with their interrelated rights. Thus Mulla Sadra who was a moral realist and believed in inherent decency and obscenity and considered all duties, decencies, and obscenities inherent would adhere to inherence or naturalness of rights. In summary, Mulla Sadra believed that humans, qua humans, enjoy universal, necessary, fixed rights which result from their nature and character, unaffected by time and space. These rights which are in total coordination with creation and universe are called Natural, Inherent, or Innate rights. Although Mulla Sadra did not mention explicitly the inherent decency and obscenity of duties and the inherence and naturalness of humans rights, it is possible to deduce these two points from his theoretical foundations and some views plus supporting premises.
