A Critical Study of “Posteriority of the Soul’s Presential Knowledge to Certain Types of Acquired Knowledge”

In the view of some contemporary Sadrian philosophers (‘Allamah Tabataba’i and Murtada Mutahhari), at all stages of the emergence and acquisition of different types of knowledge for human beings, the soul’s presential knowledge is absolutely prior to any kind of acquired knowledge. In other words, any kind of acquired knowledge is realized for Man after the soul attains the presential knowledge of itself. Some contemporary Iranian thinkers believe in the opposite view and claim that the soul’s presential knowledge is the product of some types of acquired knowledge; nevertheless, a careful study of this view demonstrates that, firstly, the adduced arguments for the opposing standpoint is not free from fallacy and cannot prove the mentioned claim. Secondly, this view is in contrast to the necessary and sufficient conditions for the realization of presential knowledge. Accordingly, such a view cannot be confirmed.