Dimensions of “Social Determination of Knowledge” from the Viewpoint of Nahj al-Balagha and the Sociological Theories of Knowledge

Using a comparative, qualitative content analysis, interpretative and documentary method, this paper seeks to study the dimensions of “social determination of knowledge” from the viewpoint of Nahj al-Balagha and the sociological theories of knowledge. In these two approaches, i.e. Nahj al-Balagha and the sociological theories of knowledge, the differences between Nahj al-Balagha and the social determination of knowledge have been examined based on the quintuple components including the depth of determination, degree of determination, level of determination, purpose of determination, and dominant factor. The findings show that, many sociological theories of knowledge have taken completely different methods from Nahj al-Balagha in those factors.