Reason from an Epistemological Perspective

"Reason" ('aql) is one of the most important sources or ways of knowledge. This article deals with reason from an epistemological point of view. The author defines reason as a source of knowledge and then explains different types of reason, including theoretical and practical ones, and tries to answer the question as to which kind of reason is dealt with in a theory of knowledge, and whether reason is also a source or an instrument of knowledge. The article examines several functions of reason, reviewing its role in each class of concepts and propositions. It comes to the conclusion that various actions and functions of reason, such as the abstraction of universal concepts and understanding them, definition or analysis, judgment, reasoning, and making propositions give the human being a vast source of knowledge about objects. It comes to an end by assessing the role of reason in a priori propositions and their role in human knowledge.