فصلنامه معرفت فلسفی
سال چهارم شماره 2 (پیاپی 14، زمستان 1385)

Defining and explaining the main terms are necessary in any discipline. In this discussion, contemporary terms in the philosophical and political literature, which have become part of popular culture, are used. The term, "political philosophy" is used to convey different meanings: first, it is assumed as part of philosophy; secondly it means the ontology of political science, thirdly it is meant to consist of both the perceptual and affirmative foundations of this discipline, and still in a fourth use, it involves a second-order study of politics, and the discipline is a subject of such an investigation. Political sciences have their own subject matter and methodology, according to which they solve their problems. Problems investigated in the political sciences are based on certain universal principles, which are their foundations—and not their problems. A collection of such principles is called political philosophy. "Islamic political philosophy" refers to those fundamental issues in the discipline of political sciences that are rationally discussed and established. It is "Islamic" either because its issues and subject matters are determined by Islamic sources narrated from the Prophet and the infallible Imams, or because its problems are suggested by Muslim philosophers, or because it is a philosophical enterprise capable of establishing Islamic ideas and teachings. Providing solutions for the same subject matters, based on revelation, belongs to another discipline, called "political theology".

The first part of this article is an attempt to collect and "fairly" introduce the foundations and infrastructure of John Rawl's political theory by reviewing his ideas across different works. Afterward, they are criticized from various points of view. The author has benefited from the works of the interpreters and commentators of Rawls in both parts. As researches in the field of political philosophy are well aware, explaining the foundations of Rawl's political theory, as well as introducing the system of his political ideas, is not an easy task, and their obstacles are not easily overcome. For this very reason, one is not expected to suggest a reading of his ideas that gains unanimous acceptance, especially in such issues that has already attracted less, or no, attention. Therefore, this article can be viewed as a preliminary work in this arena.

Can witnessing (shuhūd) God be considered a proof of His existence? Some have claimed that from such a witness one can conclude God's existence. On the other hand, some have opposed that it cannot be viewed as a proof because witnessing God is not a public matter. According to the author, witnessing and shuhūd of something involves a reference to something else; therefore, for the person who has witnessed it, its existence is established. This is a deductive, and not an inductive, argument because its negation leads to self-contradiction.

The idea of the Divine Watchmaker or a Watchmaker God is a false idea about God that has been there in some people's mind almost form the time of antiquity. Following modern scientific theories during the last two centuries, this idea has been revived. In a previous article, this idea was criticized, and the author had shown that the argument leading to this conclusion is but an analogy, which is logically sterile. He concluded that such an argument is rationally unacceptable. The present article deals with the idea of the God of gaps. First, it explains the idea, and then its features are described and criticized. Since this is a complement to its predecessor, we highly recommend reading "An Analysis of the Idea of Divine Watchmaker" first.

Design argument and the analysis of the accurate and complex system of the natural world is one of the proofs for the existence of God. Understanding this argument is easier for most of the people who are not familiar with technical and abstract philosophical terminology. That is because sense perception and experience have a great role in this argument, and human being is more associated with the material and sensible world. Although modern versions of this argument cannot be found in earlier theological schools; however, they can serve as an introduction for understanding more precise and more comprehensive arguments for the existence of God. The author in this article tries to examine different view points about this argument and to answer criticisms about them.

From amongst various traits of knowledge by presence that distinguishes it from knowledge by representation, only a few—such as infallibility—are epistemological ones. All other differences are ontological features. The article reviews theses characteristics in order to differentiate the two types. Sifting through all divisions of knowledge by presence, the author concludes its vast domain, many of them are discovered and mentioned by Muslim philosophers from the time of Shaykh Ishrāq, that need attention and appraisal. In the last part of the essay, the relation between mystical experience, or intuition, and knowledge by presence is discussed, and three possibilities are evaluated: a) all mystical intuitions are presential; b) they are all representational; c) some of them are presential and others representational.

According to the falsification theory, the relation between theories and realities is not positive, but negative, that is, by gaining access to various falsifications, we understand that the world does not work the way we previously thought, and that those theories are false. In this theory, falsification is essential, and confirmation is peripheral. A positive role of a theory can be explained in terms of the fact that the new theory contains new confirmations lacked in a previous theory. According to Falsificationism, one cannot claim perfect correspondence of a theory to reality; rather, one can only allege that scientific theories gradually approach reality; and that is because later theories lack previous falsifications and therefore by avoiding some of their predecessor's falsities, they are more complete and more proximate to reality.