نشریه پژوهش های عقلی نوین
پیاپی 14 (پاییز و زمستان 1401)

The position of God and the arguments of proving the Necessary is one of the most important topics that Kant should have determined his position on according to his epistemological principles. Kant considers knowledge to be meaningful only in the realm of material affairs, for this reason, in his opinion, discussing such affairs as the soul or God, which are not temporal and spatial, is fundamentally wrong. In order to show this mistake, in the transcendental dialectic section of the book Critique of Pure Reason, he calls the idea of “God” as the transcendental idea of pure reason, and in his opinion, he proves that, in order to reach this idea, reason can be reached neither through experience nor through transcendence. This viewpoint is the outcome of Kant’s approach in epistemology and ontology. Kant, in his epistemological approach, deals in detail with the possibility and truth of synthetic a priori propositions and believes that the possibility of a priori knowledge in metaphysics and physics depends on the possibility synthetic a priori propositions. In contrast to this viewpoint, there is the viewpoint of Mulla Sadra’s philosophy, which not only does not believe that theoretical reason should be suspended in the metaphysics, but also believes that many philosophical issues, including the issue of proving the existence of God, can be solved through the correct application of theoretical reason. It seems that Mulla Sadra’s philosophy has the ability to resolve conflicts and fallacies from the ideal of pure reason, both in terms of epistemology and ontology. Therefore, in this article, we have tried to criticize Kant’s viewpoint according to Mulla Sadra’s philosophy and answer his objections.

This article is intended to raise two questions and to present a feasible solution to them. The first one is, “Did Mulla Sadra maintain hermeneutic circle in his philosophical thoughts? And the second is, “How did Mulla Sadra seek help from the Qur’an and intuitive perceptions in his impression of the principle of basīt al-ḥaqīqa by using the hermeneutic circle? This research first deals with the anatomy of the vocabulary of the questions in order to find a proper and clear answer, then it has pointed out the approaches of hermeneutic scholars and Mulla Sadra concerning the hermeneutic circle. Finally, Mulla Sadra’s method of applying the Qur’an and intuitive perception has been discussed within the framework of the hermeneutic circle and his achievement of the elegant principle of basīt al-ḥaqīqa in an epistemological system. In the present article, by testifying to the prominent thoughts of Mulla Sadra, the author seeks to reiterate this claim that in addition to the fact that he refers to the hermeneutic circle in his works, by using Qur’anic and intuitive knowledge as a premise, he has achieved new philosophical viewpoints by the hermeneutic circle method.

The view of “gender acceptability of ethics” is one of the challenging issues raised in the intellectual circles of the believers in this trend since the end of the 18th century and with the rise of feminist activities. Feminists were divided into two groups in their stance against this idea; a group claiming complete equality of men and women denied any difference between them and another group emphasized the supremacy of the female gender by imagining the ideal of a single gender as a mirage. Although the question of gender acceptability of ethics has no precedents in the Islamic tradition, but according to the detailed and critical studies that Muslim thinkers (especially philosophers) have made about the issue of nafs (carnal soul), it is possible to give a negative or positive answer to this question. For this purpose, in this article, relying on the principles of Mulla Sadra’s Philosophy, we have attempted to inquire this school in response to the “gender acceptability of ethics” and while showing the shortcoming of feminists in not paying attention to the anthropological and psychological foundations of this issue, we have made a comparative comparison between the answers arising from Mulla Sadra’s principles and the thoughts of ethical feminists and we have come to the conclusion that the viewpoint of gender acceptability of nafs is more appropriate. Of course, this does not mean ignoring the difference in ethical standards between men and women. Our method in this research is descriptive-analytical.

Understanding the extent of Imam’s knowledge plays an important role in understanding Imam and his high status. One of the ways that has been neglected by researchers and can be used to pay attention to the extent of Imam’s knowledge is the quality and quantity of this knowledge with the use of rational rules. According to the viewpoints of Muslim sages, the levels of human existence in the universe start from the level of material intellect and end at the level of acquired intellect, in which the soul, by connecting to the active intellect, becomes similar to it, or rather, becomes one with it. In the acquired intellect, the forms of all beings exist passively; whereas, in the active intellect, all forms of beings exist actively. The final perfection of a human being is to reach the status of acquired intellect and he has the ability to have knowledge that includes all the truths of the world and has an infinite and unlimited extent. On the other hand, Divine wisdom requires that no creation, including this creative capacity in human existence, should be useless or nullified, because a nullified creation is indecent and against Divine wisdom. The present research, after explaining these preliminaries, shows that at least some human beings have reached such a status and have such knowledge. Then, in the process of identifying the examples of acquired wisdom, the viewpoints of some Islamic philosophers are used and the Infallible Ahl al-Bayt (A.S.), who enjoy the position of Wilāya, are introduced as the perfect example of such wisdom.

Contemporary analytical philosophers have provided arguments to prove haecceity in beings. These arguments can be divided into two general categories. The first category is called conceivability arguments and the second category is the arguments known as the Chisholm’s paradox. All these arguments seek to prove a non-qualitative feature in objects or any of the possible worlds, which can exclusively distinguish that object or possible world from other objects or possible worlds. This special non-qualitative feature is specific to haecceity. This article while touching upon both categories of arguments that have been presented so far for haecceitism, has examined the critiques offered on these arguments and came to the conclusion that none of these arguments are inviolable from the perspective of opposition to haecceitism. On the other hand, by stating the consequences and challenges encountered by the opponents of haecceitism, it has generally assessed that haecceitism is an acceptable idea despite the fact that all its arguments are unacceptable or at least debatable; because, even irrespective of the challenges faced by the opponents of haecceitism, it seems to be a more acceptable explanation for understanding the distinctions of beings from one another.

Misconception of God as a delusion recently raised by Richard Dawkins, an English biologist and behaviorist, is one of the most important misconceptions in the new age. Based on this misconceptions, although the problem of improbability of life cannot be solved by coincidence, this does not mean falling into the lap of the intelligent designer theory supported by theologians; because there is a better alternative to coincidence and it is nothing but the theory of natural selection. In this article, organized as descriptive-analytical, we first tried to explain Dawkins’ misconception and its foundations in a fair way and according to his own works, and then criticique it based on the opinions and thoughts of Muslim theologians and philosophers. From the viewpoint of Muslim thinkers, not only the foundations of Dawkins’ view do not have the necessary strength; rather, some of the premises used in his argument are not sufficient enough.

Positivism or radical empiricism is a sensory philosophical and epistemological system that, by entering religious and metaphysical propositions, considers them to lack objective and external reality. From the viewpoint of the radical empiricists, expecting knowledge provision, truthfulness and proof of religious propositions is absurd and futile. Such an impression would lead to considering many truths of the universe, such as God, resurrection, revelation, miracles and spirit as legends. The present article criticizes the empiricist thinking with intra-religious and extra-religious reasons with a “descriptive, analytical, and critical” approach and maintains that the acquisition of scientific and knowledge-providing facts is not merely in the field of the empirical approach; rather, this approach is evaluated within the limits of natural and material truths. On the other hand, religious and metaphysical propositions have a scholarly certainty in a general and knowledge-providing sense, which can even definitively be said that the truthfulness of material and natural entities has acquired its existential and semantic benefits from supernatural truths called knowledge-providing truth (God). In a similar sense, Holy Qur’an and Islamic traditions also prove some supernatural propositions through modification of the experimental method and in the form of moderate empiricism or pseudo-philosophical or pseudo-scientific empiricism.

Mysticism as a cognitive trend based on intuition is originated from self-purification, whose theoretical principles are manifested in religious texts and literary and mystical works. The issue of tayy al-arḍ (thaumaturgical teleportation or folding up of the earth miraculously) has been analyzed and evaluated in mysticism as one of the exigencies arising from the levels of formal perception (shuhūd) in line with the manifestation of Divine Names and Attributes. According to Mawlavi (Rumi), the stages of human perfection are formed based on the evolution and transformation of human existence from imperfection to infinite perfection. This transformation, in addition to the inner impact, has an impact on his physical body as well. Therefore, from Mawlavi’s perspective, the quality of tayy al-arḍ can be explained in this field. Accordingly, the interior aspect (bāṭin) of the Prophets and Godly Saints has special qualities and capabilities that distinguish their body from that of other people and as per the evolution and transcendence of the body as a result of the spiritual wayfaring, it provides the necessary ground for the acceptance of miracles such as tayy al-arḍ. In this essay, after examining the concept of tayy al-arḍ and the principles of raising this problem from Mawlvi’s perspective, the quality of its realization will be explained.

The present research is mainly intended to explain, analyze and criticize the relationship between Islamic art and spirituality and theosophy based on Dr. Nasr’s approach. The research method in this article is based on the documentary analysis method and the library method was used in data collection. The findings of the research show that, from Dr. Nasr’s perspective, Islamic art, in addition to being spiritual enhancing, can also be considered as an ultimate manifestation of Divinity, because it causes man to deliberate on the beauties of art and always remember God with their help. The most important critique of Dr. Nasr’s view concerns his view on the nature of art as well as its role in spiritual and theological functions. By dividing art into religious, sacred and traditional, he has considered societies and not humans to be the criteria for the sacredness of art, and has also considered sacred art to be an art that originates from a traditional society. Another drawback leveled against his theory about art is matching his thoughts with works of art in Islamic civilization, which will be mentioned in the next parts of the research.