فصلنامه اندیشه دینی
پیاپی 46 (بهار1392)

Among the Muslim scholars the early Asharites especially Imam-Al-Haramain Joveini may be regarded as the exponents of the causal interpretation of the theory of divine command concerning ethics. According to Joveini, the rightness or wrongness of any action can be accounted for by the divine commands or prohibitions; and in fact, a given action is good if God commands it, and bad if God prohibits it. Although the divine command theory in general and its causal interpretation in particular include useful insights, it is subject to sever criticisms which will be discussed in this paper.

With no doubt, the element by which we are permitted to admire or blame one for his good or bad actions is freedom. But what the essence of freedom is and how human being can get it, in a world governed by causal determinism, are two questions which most moral philosophers in west have discussed. In this regard some of them believe that compatibility between freedom and causal determinism is impossible, so they have denied one of them in the favor of the other and have established incompatibilism. In contrary, some others, from modern era up now, have tried to make them compatible, in order to revival moral responsibility and prevent from falling in randomness. This view has been called compatibilism. This article studies compatibilism from the viewpoints of philosophers’ such as Hobbes, Hume, Ayer, Frankfurt, Watson, Wolf and Fischer. Finally this paper it cleared that despite the rightness of compatibilism, because of their unsuccessfulness in proposing a true explanation of human freedom and moral responsibility, compatibilists have failed to show that this view is reasonable and justified.

Throughout history, Iran has been one of the influential centers of mysticism and spirituality. After the arrival of Islam, Iran became a center for Islamic spirituality, also known as Sufism or 'irfan. Many great figures such as Hallaj, BaYazid, Kharaqani, Gazaly, 'Attar, Shams Tabrizi, and Moulavi (Rumi), are all examples of prominent Sufi figures. For over a millennium and through the generations, these spiritual teachings have been transmitted from great Sufi masters to their students. One important phenomena related to mysticism is the relationship between Sufism and Shiism and the development of Shia 'irfan by individuals such as Haydar Amuly, Ibn Turke and Mulla Sadra.'Irfan or Sufism is present in various forms and plays a significant role in contemporary Iran, as there are various forms of mystical education and its methods following the various interests and tendencies. However, despite its rich history, a comprehensive description and analysis of this phenomenon is not yet available. This paper seeks to present a brief but comprehensive and analytic vision of 'irfan in contemporary Iran. This helps students of 'irfan to see different dimensions of the field, as can provide all wayfarers of the path of 'irfan with a candle.

There has been too much discussion about the law of non-contradiction from logical point of view. It seems that if we do not explain this rule from ontological outlook, it will become merely a logical rule that displays its role and effects indirectly and potentially in philosophical problems. By existential explanation of the law of non- contradiction, we can justify the ontological root of logical aspect of this rule and change its position in philosophical problems. In this relation, we should explain and clarify existence and nonexistence as two components of this rule and its relation to knowing subject. Finally, it will become obvious that this rule actualizes itself in existential domain of the knowing subject and gives a base for viewing and knowing the world.

The relation between religion and mundane affairs is one of the favourite problems of theologians and philosophers of religion. But sociologists have not paid sufficient attention to this problem. In this paper we aim to show that despite the reductionistic approaches in study of religion, sociology of religion needs too much attention to the above mentioned problem. We are going to open a primary chapter in sociological study of religion. In addition we aim to reach a more clear understanding of secularization in such a way to be compatible with Islamic teachings and social conditions of Iran. Therefore we first emphasise the importance of mundane affairs from the viewpoints of different religions. Secondly we will compare these viewpoints to each other. Thirdly, preassuming that religious teachings have important role in determing the mode of social life of religious people, we will discuss in more details the role of some teachings such as salvation, theodicy and tensions with mundane affairs. Finally we will show the effect of these teachings in changing some prevailing approaches in sociological view of religion. In this relation we will emphasize a few facts concerning religion which have been ignored and which have important role in changing the theories of secularization.

Causality is one of the most important problems and one of the oldest one among philosophical problems. Greek philosophers, especially Aristotle had a great role in developing this issue. In this paper we will discuss the role of Ibn Sina in this relation. Ibn Sina is not merely a commentator of Aristotle. He made great innovations in this relation. He gave a new formulation both in content and in the form of this problem. We can discuss his views in issues such as: definition of causality, its divisions, different aspects of the cause and cause- effect rules. We will show his innovations and his philosophical initiatives in these issues.

The chief purpose of this paper is to argue for the possibility of immediate knowledge of God through knowledge by presence from Sadra’s philosophical perspective. This sort of immediate and direct knowledge can provide justification for belief in God. I shall show how knowledge by presence works in this regard, and how important the role of knowledge by presence is in a religious epistemology. Sadra as a famous Shi‘ite philosopher in his new philosophical school, al-Hikmat al-muta‘åliyah, on the basis of Shi’ite theology, has attempted to employ knowledge by presence to argue for the justification of immediate knowledge of God. I also shall deal with the criticisms of the immediate knowledge of God, that Sadra contended epistemically.