فصلنامه آینه معرفت
پیاپی 74 (بهار 1402)

Every person's beliefs make up his inner personality and ontological reality and play a fundamental role in ensuring his worldly and otherwordly happiness in its individual and social dimensions. In the geometry of Islamic education, scholastic theology is responsible for religious education. The development of the science of scholastic theology and its growth provides the basis for an increase in people’s religious knowledge as members of a society. Scholastic theological science is a rule-oriented science; therefore, the first and fundamental step in the development and grwoth of this science is to research its rules. Re-examining the current rules of scholastic theology as well as infering and extracting new rules is an effective move in this regard, which has recently been initiated by some researchers. However, possessing scholastic theological rules, by itslef, is not enough for the growth and development of scholastic theology. One must also know how to apply these rules. Research on various functions of scholastic theological rules provides this knowledge. The present essay aimed at studying this issue with a descriptive-analytical method. The result show that scholastic theological rules have two functions of adaptation and mediation, and in relation to resolving the conflict in the inferred propositions, they have four types of functions of explanation, interpretation, preference and restriction.

Mortaza Hajhosseini has recently published the second edition of his book Two Non-Classical Logic Systems, A new Outlook on Elements of Logic. Similar to the first edition, he has introduced four non-classical logics (truth-functional, non-truth-functional and a combination of the two). In this article, I will only deal with his truth-functional system and the formal-mathematical criticisms levelled against it. I will leave the discussions related to the non-truth-functional system, as well as the philosophical and non-formal criticisms of both systems, and the related historical materials to a future article. The major formal criticisms are as follows: 1. the cyclic nature of some definitions; 2. Losing the rule of substitution; 3. The incorrect expression of the rules of reduction ad absurdum; 4. The lack of relationship between premises and conclusions of inferences; 5. Equivalence of formulas to several inequivalent ones; 6. Lack of correspondence between a condition with an inference. There are some less important criticisms: 7. Failure to express the rule of assumption; 8. Failure to state the reason for the lack of harmony in the rule of disjunction elimination in classical logic and the harmony of the disjunctive syllogism in the truth-functional system; 9. Expressing the rules of sub-proofs without using them.

The present article examines the theory of transversal interpretation of the theological verses of the Qur'an (verses referring to the names and attributes of God) in the school of Ibn Arabi. The issue of transversal interpretation is one of the important issues of the school of Ibn Arabi. It affects the interpretation of the theological verses of the holy Qur'an. Interpretation is possible in two different ways: longitudinal and transversal. In this context, interpretation means moving above the surface level of the theological verses to their inner level to get access to their longitudinal meaning. In longitudinal interpretation, the interpreter tries to derive a long chain of compatible meanings from the essence of the verses without making any modifications in the form of the theological verses. In transversal interpretation, unlike longitudinal interpretation, the meanings are arranged horizontally with no semantic unity. In this type of interpretation, the mystic tries to consider the theological verses in a broader context compared with longitudinal interpretation with the aim of extending the word of God in the realm of transverse meanings as well. One of the most important results of this research is the introduction of the foundations of transversal interpretation of the Qur'an, the need to observe or not to observe the unity of meaning in the Qur'an, a multi-dimensional view of the Qur'an, and the diversity of interpretation in this school. The method adopted in this article is an analytical one.

Anthropology, along with cosmology and theology, are the three basic pillars of the underlying thought of any school of philosophy, theology and ideology. The identity and nature of man, the truth of his body and soul, the connection and interaction of soul and body, their story after death in the world of purgatory and then the resurrection day, and finally, the way the body and soul are intermingled are among the most important issues. The anthropology of Shaykhiya school has largely been affected with Sadrai school of anthropology. The impact can be attributed to Sheikh Ahmad Ahsaei’s deliberations with references to Mulla Sadra’s works. Although Ehsai accepts the essential movement of the soul and acknowledges the physical resurrection like Sadra, because of his difference with Sadra in his explanation of the human body and the nature of the world of examples, purgatory, the promise of the world of Horqalia, and finally, the resurrection day, he presents a picture different from the picture depicted in transcendental wisdom.

Ghazali is one of the Islamic scholars with research works in the field of jurisprudence, ethics, theology and philosophy. Despite his alleged opposition to philosophy and philosophical thinking, his works shows, especially in topics related to psychology, that he is a rationalist thinker who has benefited from the methods and approaches of Islamic philosophers. In the present article, using a descriptive-analytical method, we have surveyed Ghazali's views on logic and philosophy and their application in psychology and we have come to the conclusion that, contrary to the opinion of some researchers who have considered Ghazali a strict anti-philosophy theologian, he  should be considered a rationalist theologian who, in all stages of his life, even when he turned to Sufism, remained loyal to rational principles and methods and considered reason to be the most important criterion for the validity of any kind of knowledge. In psychology, he is totally influenced by peripatetic philosophy, and due to his strong attachment to Ibn Sina's philosophical method in psychology, he sometimes borrow words from his books to support his own views. He adheres to logical arguments and considers reason as the criterion for testing the validity of other means of knowledge, that is, tradition, experience and intuition. According to some of Ghazali's theoretical foundations such as the negation of causality between phenomena, it seems that, by replacing causality with the theory of habit of Allah, he has managed to solve some of the requirements of the negation of causality in psychology. But such a theory is not free of ambiguities and problems.

Ethics is the center of the philosophical teachings of Mencius as the interpreter of Confucius and a creative philosopher and at the same time the creative philosopher. His ethics can be formulated under epistemological, ontological, and anthropological foundations. In addition, the present article, formats the moral teachings of Mencius school of philosophy at the individual, family and political levels. In ontology, he has a more transparent metaphysical approach than Confucius, and in anthropology, he is a creative philosopher and good processor of human nature. According to Mencius, nature is the comprehensive source of morality, and morality is rooted in human nature and human nature is rooted in heaven. In Mencius’ ethical perspective, some Confucian concepts are so important that he completes them with some innovations. “Li” is the wheel of modesty, "Yi" means piety and decency, Jen or Ren means philanthropy, “Chung” and “Chu”, which means the way, “Tao” which is a road towards the common existence and the evolution of mankind, and “Ming” which means providence or destiny, constitute the quintuplet communication, the golden rule of self-perfection and the perfection of others, obligation and transition from personal gain and modification of names. According to Mencius, among the virtues, the four virtues of piety, wisdom, knowledge and benevolence are major ones. In personal ethics, Mencius insists on self-purity, shame and modesty, love for kindness, self-criticism, perseverance, and etc. From his point of view, the relationship between husband and wife is the beginning of all human relationships. In his political ethics, apart from wisdom and philosophy, he counts a numbers laws and ethical duties such as meritocracy, respect for the people, and tyranny avoidance for the ruler who runs the country.

The concept of ethics, as one of the key and simultaneously most challenging issues in the realm of human teachings, has always been the subject of attention and investigation. Examining ethical principles and rules and developing multiple theories in this field, in order to find the best model of life, is considered one of the most important man’s intellectual endeavors. The present study explores Ludwig Wittgenstein's views in the field of ethics, considering his existential approach, and provides a fresh interpretation of the path to the attainment of a meaningful life in the realm of ethics. Based on the analysis of the concept of bioethics in Wittgenstein's philosophy, it is specifically argued that an ethical and meaningful life, according to him, is based on the exercise of moral will and the solution of the puzzle of life, both of which require adopting a special perspective towards the world. In this perspective, the world is perceived in an eternal domain.