Systematization of the Uses of  Reason in Al-Ghazali's Works

The problem with research on al-Ghazali’s works is that one can observe some inconsistency in his utterances. As an example, al-Ghazali’s remarks on ‘reason’ are among those cases. The present writing is going to give the uses of ‘reason’ a logical framework in terms of ontological, psychological, and epistemological applications. To understand al-Ghazali’s main intention, one should perform a thorough investigation into his works so as to find the general spirit dominating them. Here we can consider two meanings of reason used by al-Ghazali: the particular sense is ‘discursive reason’; another meaning is ‘the whole stage of humanity’ in knowing. Reason in the latter meaning consists of different manifestations including the level of reasoning to the prophetic level of knowledge. Such a point is one of the basic principles in al-Ghazali’s system of thought.