Analysis of the state of perception of intelligibles, based on the views of Allamah Tabataba’i

Muslim philosophers initially divide the intelligibles into two types; the primary intelligibles and the secondary intelligibles. The secondary intelligibles, based on the difference in the source of abstraction of some of its referents from others, further divide into two types: logical and philosophical types. The philosophers, adhering to different schools of thought, have suggested solutions to the state of attaining the primary intelligibles. But regarding the process of attaining the secondary intelligibles (especially the philosophical type), no specific scheme has been offered. Apparently, Allamah Tabataba’i is the first one to offer a specific scheme with regards to the process of attaining all the intelligibles (especially the philosophical secondary intelligibles). This paper follows the descriptive analytical approach. While pointing to the background of the discussion on the mode of attaining the intelligibles, the viewpoint of Allamah Tabataba’i is evaluated and critiqued, and eventually an accepted viewpoint of the author has been presented. The aim of this paper is to show that Allamah Tabatabai’s scheme with respect to the quality of attaining the intelligibles (especially the philosophical secondary intelligibles) is incomplete and the right viewpoint is the same scheme that is proposed by Sadruddin Shirazi and is explained according to the reality of faculty of estimation and its scope. In the works of some researchers, it is termed as intellectual witnessing.