نشریه کاوش های فلسفه دین
پیاپی 3 (پاییز و زمستان 1402)

One of the fundamental issues, especially for those who believe in the unity of God, is that by maintaining the unity of God, how is it possible for many beings to be created by the Supreme Being? Different scientists, especially those who believe in divine monotheism, have tried to solve this problem. Although Abul Hasan Ameri has not clearly said anything about the Grace System in his available works, it can be seen from all his works that he paid attention to this discussion in two ways: through the upper and lower worlds. He introduced the world of abstracts as part of the upper world and the world of matter and nature as part of the lower world. Ameri's statement about the hierarchy of beings can be seen as his view on the Grace system. He has placed God at the head of the chain of beings and believed that God is the Creator and All-Knower who surrounds all beings, and after him are the intellects, which cannot be experienced and divided and surround the stages after them. In the third stage, there are souls, which are natural and dualistic matters, and in the final stage, there are natures and bodies, which lack life and are under the control of souls and their superior causes. Of course, based on Ameri’s existing works, it is not possible to accurately know his views about longitudinal and transverse intellects, the number of intellects, and the relationship between intellects and planets, as well as plant, animal, human, and celestial beings.

Stephen William Hawking, British astronomer and physicist, published the book "The Grand Design" in 2010 and explained how the universe was created from nothing. In this regard, he believes that there is no need for a creator for the creation of the world and its continuation, and the laws of physics explain how the world of matter is created from nothing and self-made. Therefore, he rejects philosophy and considers the laws of nature and physics to be the only way to know the world. However, Muslim philosophers and theologians addressed the issue of the creation of the world hundreds of years ago and gave a comprehensive and complete answer to this issue by using the Quran and hadiths. Among these philosophers, Mulla Sadra has proved the existence of God and the way of creation of the world with rational reasoning and Quranic evidence. The essence of God is the main goal and the active cause of the creatures and the creator of the whole world. This research first expresses Hawking's arguments with a descriptive-analytical and comparative method, and with a critical view, compares them with the opinions of Islamic philosophers. This study also examines the systematicity of the universe and the role of God in the world of creation with rational and Quranic evidence.

Obligationism is one of the consequences of voluntary belief; therefore, the relationship between will and belief is of interest to epistemologists. The main question of this research is to investigate this relationship from William James' point of view, to determine whether from his point of view, non-cognitive factors are also effective in belief, and what effect human will and voluntary nature have on a person's beliefs. This study concluded that although William James disagreed with Clifford's command of direct voluntarism, he was a voluntarist himself. From his point of view, man’s emotional nature not only can, but must choose between hypotheses, and of course, this is only possible in the case of "genuine" choices. From James' point of view, previous acceptances, reputation, and authority of others; practical application of belief; and inclinations are effective in the will to believe. In contrast to Clifford, who did not believe in the belief without sufficient evidence, he believes that man should experience, repeat this experience, and reach the truth by thinking about the results obtained from these experiences. From his point of view, the role of will is prominent in ethics, and the will also plays a role in personal relationships. James believes that one’s prior tendencies and belief in reality play an active role in the realization of that reality.

The highest good is the most important concept in Schleiermacher's ethics, which is explained and developed within a theological framework without relying on the theory of the divine command. Contrary to Kant, Schleiermacher eliminated the concept of happiness from the concept of the highest good due to its relevance to sensory desires, and thereby he attempted to extricate the moral act from material motives more than Kant has done. In his earlier views about the highest good, Schleiermacher refers to the concept of inclusiveness to define the highest good, which indicates that the highest good in his opinion is much more comprehensive than what Kant and others imagined and that it cannot be achieved only through our actions. This leads us to his later view of the highest good, in which the Greek and Christian view of God-likeness plays a central role. Here the ensoulment of nature, relationality of the highest good and the role of the individual in relation to the whole and the intertwining of the components of the highest good are emphasized. Finally, as a Christian theologian, Schleiermacher considers Christ as a condition for the realization of the highest good. Unsurprisingly he holds this belief, given that his ethical thinking revolves around religious experience. But since religious people do not share a single religious experience, the highest good is not a fixed thing that can be defined and realized once and for all, but it is experienced subjectively, and people interpret it within the framework of their own religious experience. Therefore, developing a truly religious feelings or intuitions can lead to moral action and the realization of the highest good.

Open theology is a theological movement that emerged from the heart of the evangelical Christian tradition at the end of the 20th century and was concerned with drawing a model of God's action in the world, based on which it could resolve the conflict and inconsistency in traditional theology, that is, between free will/human agency and God's prior and absolute knowledge. This thinking, which is considered a new approach in the field of theology and philosophy of religion, has raised views that have attracted the attention and criticism of many thinkers, both philosophically and theologically. Looking at the precious heritage of Islamic and especially Shiite thought, it can be seen that the doctrine of Bada can be more successful in solving the problem of human free will and divine foreknowledge; because based on open theism, it is necessary to give up the application of divine knowledge, in addition to ascribing attributes such as changeability to God in order to protect human free will, while with the help of Bada's teaching, it is possible to maintain the application of divine knowledge and to consider man as a being with absolute free will. In this research, an attempt was made to explain this superiority.

Modern Christian orthodoxy is a trend that emerged in the new era in reaction to the flow of free thought that was the product of the Age of Enlightenment and modernity. Modern orthodoxy, as its name suggests, emphasizes the fundamental teachings of Christianity, although it offers a new expression of it. Emphasis on fundamental Christian teachings is necessary for religious exclusivity; this means that the only true religion and the only way to salvation is Christianity, and the followers of other religions have no way to salvation. The intellectual roots of this school go back to Kierkegaard, but its founder is Karl Barth, whose expression of the new Christian orthodoxy has led to extreme exclusivism. People like Emil Bruner have continued in Barthes' footsteps; but even though they have confirmed the principle of Christian exclusivity, their position is a bit more moderate. This research describes the intellectual foundations of this trend that led it to exclusivity, as well as examines the type of this exclusivity. The question that this study tries to answer is whether religious exclusivity of the type of modern Christian orthodoxy can be rationally defended. The answer to this question, which is the hypothesis of this research, is that the foundations and results of this theory are shallow and have many intellectual problems.

The present research seeks to examine the views of Allameh Tabatabaei on the origin and evolution of human moral character and draw the theoretical framework and the general structure of this theory based on his opinion. To do this, first, the issues related to the moral character of man and their answers were extracted from the works of Allameh Tabatabaei and were interpreted and analyzed with a rational-analytical approach. Due to the importance of problemoriented, this study addresses two main issues: 1) What is the origin of the emergence of moral character from the perspective of Allameh Tabatabaei? 2) What are the internal and external-environmental factors of the growth and evolution of human moral character from his point of view? In the interpretation of Sharif al-Mizan, Allameh considers Shakeleh as the meaning of temperament and considers it to be a set of psychological traits of a human being that emerges in his relationship with objects and persons. Therefore, according to Allameh's philosophical analysis regarding temperament and the quality of its creation in individuals, he considered temperament as one of the sources of moral character. Allameh has mentioned internal and external (environmental) factors for the growth and evolution of human moral character. Internal factors are placed in three cognitive, emotional, and functional areas. From his point of view, essence and nature are internal factors, but the most important internal factor in his opinion is free will. Moreover, Allameh refers to external (environmental) factors, that are outside of man’s essence and are in the circumstances and atmosphere of his life, such as customs and traditions, imitation habits, and the influence of society, geographical environment, family, peers, and so on.

The rise or fall of schools of thought is influenced by various factors. Looking at the history of the creation of mystical texts over many centuries, the quantitative and qualitative increase or decrease of these texts can be seen.Using the descriptive and analytical method and referring to historical reports, the present research seeks to answer the question of why the frequency of mystical texts has increased significantly in the historical period from 460 to 638 AH. What caused the growth of mystical texts in this period is the expansion of the Ash'ari school and their special attention to the "heart" as a practical tool in epistemology, which can be categorized under cultural developments. Although Mu'tazila school also continued this intellectual life, the dominance of some Ash'ari principles can also be seen in Mu'tazila's writings. Among these principles is "intuitionism and relying on the heart" as a tool of knowledge. The support of the Abbasid caliphs for this school was also in the process of its spread. The existence of a relationship between the leading scholars of this school with the Abbasid rulers or the rulers under their influence was also among the political reasons that greatly contributed to the expansion of the Ash'ari school.

The problem of evil, which is considered one of the most challenging philosophical-theological issues, is specifically considered as a way to challenge the essence of God's existence or God's perfect attributes. For this reason, philosophers with different religions have tried to respond to different interpretations of the problem of evil in its natural, moral and existential aspects. Although the existential aspect of the problem of evil has been neglected in most of the answers. In the meantime, Muslim theologians have tried to show the compatibility of evil with the doctrine of divine justice by presenting and cultivating the theory of compensation. In this research, after examining some types of answers to the problem of evil, and mentioning the views of some theologians, especially the elders of Imamiyyah, the basics of the compensation theory are analyzed, as well as the rational and narrative evidence of the theory. Also, the theory of justice, which tells about the right of the oppressed from the oppressor by God, is presented as a complement to the theory of compensation. This theory does not ignore the existential aspect of the problem of evil, therefore, in this research, it has been read as a solution to the existential aspect of evil. Also, in comparison with Yalom's psychotherapy theories, it is shown that the compensation theory becomes meaningful in the light of an authentic and real relationship between God and man, and it can be seriously considered as a therapeutic solution for people affected by suffering.

One of the issues that has always occupied the human mind is the meaning of life. This issue is more important in today's world because today, despite the vast advances in science and technology, the dust of despair and sense of meaninglessness is sitting on the mirror of people's thoughts, and anxiety and worry mixed with a painful sense of fear, doubt, and absurdity have spread their shadow everywhere. For this reason, different viewpoints have sought an answer for the meaningfulness of life, one of which is the religious viewpoint. In the religious texts, there is a wave of purposefulness of creation, a believer has a spiritual life, and his life is growing and getting closer to God. Therefore, the spirituality arising from religion in general and the religion of Islam in particular, has foundations, components, and a structure that has a significant effect on giving meaning to human life. Hence, the current research, by examining the role of religious spirituality, has sought to answer this question: what role does religious spirituality play in giving meaning to human life? The research followed the descriptive analytical approach and data collection was done using library resources. After examining the foundations and characteristics of religious spirituality, its capabilities and success rate in giving meaning to life were examined. The findings of the research indicated that religious spirituality, with its foundations such as the originality of the soul, the originality of nature, the originality of the unseen world, and the originality of the Sharia, draws meaning from life for humans, which, while having a variety of individual and social functions, has features such as simplicity and clarity, adaptability and responsiveness to inner tendencies, and creating vitality and real lasting hope.

According to the Shia belief, prophecy does not have a static state but is dynamic and mobile, and the Shia Imamate is a continuation of the prophecy. All divine religions have completed each other until the time of the last prophet, who has complemented the religion of God. For the continuation of the religion, it needs to be described by perfect human beings who have the same qualities as the Prophet of Islam (PBUH). Based on this, the prophetic mission continues by the imam, who has all the privileges of the prophet, except for receiving revelation, and by having special characteristics and attributes, including spiritual guardianship, continues the duties of the prophet. The findings of this research, which was carried out in a descriptive-theological manner and with a theological approach, revealed that not only there is no contradiction or conflict between belief in the Finality of Prophecy and belief in Imamate, but Imamate is complementary to the Finality of Prophecy, and there is a special relationship between these two doctrines. Just as the existence of religion and Sharia requires the presence of a prophet, the survival of religion and Sharia depends on the existence of an imam. Therefore, religion’s need for an imam in continuity is the same as its need for a prophet in establishment.

The pursuit for the premises of cognition urges a systematic separation of ontological and epistemological considerations. On the other hand, both the mundane (collective intellect) and divine (revelation) imprints on cognition are to be taken into account, which suggests a comparative study based on the philosophy of mind and religion.Present article provides a two dimensional model to classify and compare these views. The horizontal and vertical axes of this model respectively present the ontological and epistemological stands. In the epistemological axis, three faculties of cognition, namely sense, intellect, and intuition are listed, whereas the ontological axis lists three aspects of being, appearance and function of cognitive data. This encompasses nine approaches of the modern philosophy (dialectical, speculative, critical, positivistic, scientific, phenomenological, existential, hermeneutical, and aesthetical) as well as nine mainstreams in religious wisdom (theologians, dialecticians, sophists, ascetics, juristic, sages, commentators, mystics, and sufis). Though each of these currents has been the subject of uncountable discussions and articles, one-to-one correspondence has never been done, and such a comprehensive overview provides a clear vision of the human approach to the category of knowledge.