فصلنامه حکمت و فلسفه
سال نهم شماره 4 (پیاپی 36، زمستان 1392)

A suitable criterion for proper knowledge, is the ‘correspondence of knowledge with reality’, and in relation to ‘reality’ is introduced the concept of ‘the Inherent Essence’. One of Allameh Tabataba’i’s fundamental philosophical initiatives, which is related to both the field of ontology and the field of epistemology, is a novel theory concerning ‘the Inherent Essence’. In a comprehensive commentary, by indicating the effect of the philosophical fundaments of the origin of existence in the concept of ‘the Inherent Essence’ from an ontological aspect and through taking into account the problems of correspondence of knowledge with ‘the Inherent Essence’ from an epistemological aspect, Allameh Tabataba’i has interpreted ‘the Inherent Essence’ as absolute fixity and realization form or absolute fixity or general fixity. Based on this interpretation, Inherent Essence fixity is the general proof which contains both the actual creature and the affairs which come into existence and find fixity due to the credibility and the rooted exigent development of the intellect. In other words, Inherent Essence fixity consists of actual fixity and exigent fixity. This interpretation is a novel approach toward the correct criterion for proper knowledge, i.e. it provides a correspondence between knowledge and ‘the Inherent Essence’, since, based on this interpretation, the criterion for the assessment of proper knowledge is its correspondence with absolute fixity form.

Allameh Tabataba’i’s ‘contingent perception’ comes to thought in the subject of epistemology, though contingent perception should not be limited to this field. It appears that Allameh Tabataba’i has proposed this discussion with a novel perception of humankind and the world and by his presence in the mindset of the modern world. To discover such a perception, one must pay attention to the ‘realm’ of Contingents instead of focusing the mind on contingent perceptions. If we study the sixth article in the book The Principles of Philosophy and the Method of Realism with a consideration toward the thought pattern in the West that has led to philosophical reflections about ‘culture’, the correctness of this understanding is revealed. If we consider the emersion context for the mindset of intellectuals such as Rousseau, Vico and Herder about civilization and culture and follow the approach of these scholars to the field of culture, we can then understand the approach of Allameh Tabataba’i to questions which have been addressed by contingent perceptions. If we read the contingent perceptions theory with this method, and pay attention to the similarities in perceptions and different historical contexts, an opportunity for beginning a new dialogue about ‘culture and its elements’ between Islamic school of thought and those which have generated from European culture. The understanding of this article is that the subject of Contingents, considering its instruments and results, can be proposed as a substitute theory alongside other philosophical theories regarding culture. In other words, Allameh’s theory of Contingents can act as basis for answering questions about in the field of ‘the philosophy of culture’.

The theory of Contingents is a theoretical innovation and epistemological initiative which has been created with a psycho-epistemological approach. Allameh Tabataba’i considers Contingents as human’s practical and social thoughts which humankind, through utilizing emotional elements, tries to strike a balance between two actual worlds. Allameh Tabataba’i, as a novel design, has created the theory of Contingents. Contingent perceptions in a dissociation from substantive perceptions, is part of the noetic system which did not exist in Islamic philosophy before Allameh Tabataba’i. Although Islamic philosophers have mentioned and talked about Contingents in the general sense of the word (or secondary con), Contingents in a specific sense (or social Contingents) are the initiatives of Allameh Tabataba’i. Contingents, which have been mentioned in Allameh Tabataba’i’s works, especially in Tafsir al-Mizan, Principles of Philosophy, Logic, and Treatise on Contingents, is mostly concerned with practical and social aspects, though is an important part of epistemology. Allameh Tabataba’i has talked about substantive perceptions in the third to fifth articles in the Principles of Philosophy.and has mentioned contingent perceptions in the sixth. Contingents, unlike substantive perceptions, have a reproductive, inductive relationship rather than a demonstrative one. The basis of contingents is the Allameh Tabataba’i’s theory of anthr opology. This theory can help in reaching a proper understanding of humankind, its needs,questions, ends and goals, as well as describing the means to reach collective systems and social life,the foundation of rights and collective ethics.The noetic outcomes of contingents can also be seen in the topic of estate and social government, which considers political power as a human subject,as well as in the challenges of modern humanities. Contingents provides a vivid realm of understanding human social relations, basic human needs, its goals and intentions in a developmental progress, and finally a powerful framework of theorizing in the humanities, ethics, political power. In the present article, the writers aim to study the aspects of Allameh Tabataba’i’s initiatives in the subject of contingents and understand its noetic outcomes.

Determinism versus Free Will is one of the important concepts and an impediment in philosophy. Throughout history, philosophers of the East and West have had much reflection over this issue. Islamic philosophers have debated over determinism amidst the topics of affective qualities, the principle of causality and divine attributes. Allameh Tabataba’i, too, both in his philosophical scholarly works and in his book Tafsir al-Mizan, has studied different aspects of determinism versus free will. He, by considering free will as innate, has criticized the view of materialists about determinism in human actions and has later, through proposing suppositions of different human actions, has studied human free will and authority.Allameh Tabataba’i, based on his own philosophical methods and by analysing the trinal concept of will, authority and exigency, has analysed the relationship between these three notions through his philosophical contemplations.The discussion about divine will and its relation to authority is another topic which has drawn Allameh Tabataba’i’s attention and studies. Amidst his discussions, he has criticized the theories of Ash’ari and Mu’tazilite scholars as well as criticizing the opinions of some of the fundamentalists regarding the issue of priority (in the analysis of authority).

One of the subjects which, despite its importance, has been given less attention as a topic of discussion is the distinctive aspects of substantive perceptions from contingent perceptions, and their method of comparison with different scientific subjects. A subject which, in spite of a simple appearance, has many complexities and its understanding requires much effort and utilization of the experiences of previous scholars. Therefore, the present research has addressed a scientific subject, the Communication Element Theorem, from two different dimensions, that is substantive (philosophical) and contingent (catechistic), and on this path, has made use of the comparative study of two key figures of our age, namely Imam Khomeini and Allameh Tabataba’i. We have determined as the basis of the discussion the differentiation between substantive and contingent as the principles of thought of these two notable persons, and based on this differentiation, we have studied and conducted research on Communication Element Theorem, which consists of two dimensions of substantive (the benchmark and reality stage which is the syndetic philosophical existence) and contingent (the verbal and statement of reality stage which is the syndetic meaning).

Occasionally, one can search for topics of modern philosophy in the works of Iran’s prominent philosophers. In a lenient segmentation, the humankind’s most important epistemological transformation can be divided into positivism, ultra-positivism and constructivism. Allameh Tabataba’i’s philosophy, though fundamentally different with these three approaches, possesses some of their contents. One of the innovations in Allameh’s philosophy is ‘the theory of Contingents’ which seem to have similarities with ultra-positivists and constructivist approaches, the investigation of which is the aim of this article. The gist of the present article is that although Allameh Tabataba’i considers a contingent nature for some social phenomena, he does not regard the perception of these phenomena as relative and believes in the possibility of unbiased perception, such as visual or contingent perception, of these social occurrences. In this way, Allameh Tabataba’i’s mindset differs from those of the postmodern era.

The concept of Casualty or the Causal Argument is a concept that draws attention of the philosophers over the time. Among those who consider the causal Argument is Thomas Aquinas, a famous philosopher of the Scholastic era. Among contemporary Muslim philosophers, Allameh Mohammad Hossein Tabatabaee, has also worked on this concept.The aim of the paper is to study around the concept of casualty through the window of Aquinas on the one hand, and that of Tabatabaee on the other hand. The goal of the paper is to have a comparison between the ideas of the two thinkers. Since Aquinas looks at the Causal Argument as a tool to prove the existence of God, the comparison is around this issue as well. The attempt of the paper is to find out whether there is a commonality in this subject between Aquinas in thirteen century and Tabatabaee in the current century.