seyed mohammadkazem alavi

Modern rationality fostered autonomy development in its historical course, which was identical to "rationality" and opposed to epistemic authority in an unalterable sense. Zagzebski mentions this process as the autonomous conceptual turn. He ignores essential rational necessities that have high epistemological and virtuous significance. Therefore, Linda Zagzebski (1946) exposes this misconception and examines the concept of autonomy. She explains the necessities that have been ignored in acquiring knowledge.The concept of autonomy states that humans should understand propositions by relying on their epistemic powers and prevailing views and not entrust the responsibility of justifying their beliefs to anyone. It faces the important questions as follows: 1) Is the goal of knowledge achieved by focusing solely on faithful belief? 2) Does autonomy pay attention to the rational necessities required for acquiring knowledge in this comprehensive sense? 3) In which rational ignored imperatives do the moral imperative understand and promote knowledge or accept the epistemic superiority of another being harmed? 4) Is the absolute negation of epistemic authority rational and feasible for these necessities? In the following research, we have analyzed Zagzebski's pillars of epistemic authority and its relationship with rationality. We find Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi's (549-587 AH/1155-1191 AD) critical and sympathetic components, which reflect the ordinary and original approaches in the thinking of these two thinkers in the approach of the illumination philosophies. Suhrawardi attempts to move beyond purely argumentative knowledge and change the evaluation focus from belief to the believer. He advances the true path of knowledge differently from his peripatetic philosophy. The themes of the illumination philosophy reveal the importance of forgotten angles, thoughtful coherence with Zagzebski's philosophy's pillars, and a deep understanding of the issue of epistemological authority. 

This research was conducted using a comparative method between Linda Zagzebski and Suhrawardi. Although it is difficult to find common features and compare two philosophers who have viewed knowledge from different civilizational and temporal perspectives, this can be influential in gaining a broader understanding of some problematic philosophical issues. To understand Zagzebski's perspective, epistemic authority, a topic widely questioned in today's epistemology, contains important rational imperatives that become clear. Like Zagzebski's viewpoint, Suhrawardi's philosophy does not address the issue of epistemic authority, and his important epistemic themes contain some standard features that criticize the proposition-centered view and justify epistemic authority. It becomes increasingly apparent in comparison and analytical studies and is introduced as a unique example of Zagzebski's results.This study is organized into three parts, with three common pillars between the two philosophers. The method proceeds in each section: First, we address the concept's pillars. Zagzebski places autonomy in its true meaning and makes it justifiable while compatible with epistemic authority. Then, from Suhrawardi's point of view, we compared his approach with Zagzebski's perspective by dwelling on consistent themes. Finally, we have reached a final summary and conclusion.   

In the first section, we have shown that Zagzebski's central importance of reflective self-consciousness is consistent with Suhrawardi's theme of self-knowledge. Zagzebski recognizes the contemplative trust consciously to accept the sublime based on intellectual virtues. Suhrawardi also achieves knowledge by emphasizing the practical approach to self-knowledge and acquiring spiritual virtues to aid self-discipline.In the second part, we have shown that Zagzebski focused on reflective reasons to explain the rationality of epistemic trust in the virtuous by achieving the foundation of trust's validity as a non-cognitive state. This component's coherence with the theme of companions of trust and truth opposes self-supremacy in Suhrawardi's revival of wisdom. It is worthy of consideration and provides the basis for tolerance and interaction in religions and cultures.In the third section, we compare Zagzebski's epistemological model to the development of practical wisdom in Suhrawardi's divine model. We emphasize the transfer of personal and intuitive knowledge to increase humanity's cognitive reserve and the unity and cohesion of societies. 

We can reach the following conclusion and summary based on the comparative nature of this research:There is an understanding of seeking truth from two perspectives that reduce the distance between the other self and another. At the same time, he sees himself as similar and familiar to the other in that understanding. This self-cultivation and reflective attention reduce incorrect inference and, consequently, the incorrect tendency towards epistemic egotism.Autonomy without a practical path of self-purification lacks the humility or intellectual courage necessary to acknowledge the epistemic superiority or another's authority.Zagzebski and Suhrawardi have considered influencing the nature of knowledge and changing its relationship with rationality by proposing reviving wisdom and transmitting the legacy of sages and theologians.Mere imitation and the pleasure of seeking resemblance are not conscious and virtuous. It must be taken not to lose self-confidence and self-awareness.In Suhrawardi's philosophy, ​​epistemic authority is compatible with the components of traditional culture, and its challenges in endangering self-awareness have not been considered. However, Zagzebski thinks about limiting it and is aware of the consequences of epistemic tyranny.

The soul is an abstract concept that requires the use of metaphor for its comprehension. The human mind is inherently incapable of understanding intellectual concepts without the aid of concrete domains. Cognitive metaphor theory (conceptual metaphor theory) demonstrates how humans utilize metaphors to grasp intangible phenomena, wherein the target conceptual domain becomes understandable through mappings from a source domain. This study adopts a cognitive approach to explore the conceptualization of the soul in Ibn Sinā’s works through anthropomorphic metaphors, framed under the overarching metaphor "The Soul is a Human" and its subsidiary metaphors. The findings reveal that the soul is made comprehensible through metaphors drawn from domains such as human life dimensions, including birth, management, ownership, worship, physical activity, social interaction, legal frameworks, and negative human traits. These metaphors illustrate the relationship between the soul and the body as well as its connection to higher principles, including the Active Intellect.

Contemporary theories in cognitive semantics suggest that humans utilize conceptual metaphors, either consciously or subconsciously, to distill complex mental constructs into simpler forms. Philosophers, in particular, have extensively employed conceptual metaphors to render abstract philosophical notions comprehensible. This study delves into the application of conceptual metaphors in elucidating ‘knowledge by presence’ within Avicenna’s philosophy. Ibn Sinā employed these metaphors to articulate and streamline the concept of ‘knowledge by presence.’ He posits that such knowledge is actualized when the object of knowledge is directly present to the knower, that is, the soul. However, he asserts that mere presence is not the sole requisite for attaining knowledge; rather, conditions conducive to vision and illumination must also be met for presence to culminate in knowledge acquisition. Interpreting his discourse yields two metaphors: ‘knowledge by presence as seeing’ and ‘knowledge by presence as illumination.’ The ‘seeing’ metaphor hinges on three critical elements: the observer, the observed, and their interrelation. Conversely, the ‘illumination’ metaphor involves two key elements: the source of illumination and the object being illuminated. This article endeavors to explore the conceptual metaphors associated with ‘knowledge by presence’ in Avicennian philosophy through an exploratory approach, deliberately eschewing any hypothesis formulation.

Human relationships are effective in spiritual health and interact with each other, and based on that, we can consider spiritual health as a fundamental factor for dealing with problems and challenges, especially in institutions with different, numerous and continuous client relationships. The current research seeks to identify the four challenges of human relationships and its effect on health with a case study of the financial institution.

Case study of the research is 21 employees of a financial institution, the initial assessment of the employees was with Polotzin and Ellison questionnaire, and in the next step, the answers of the employees were analyzed using SPSS. Corresponding to the results of the questionnaire analysis, the interview tool was used to identify the root of the challenges, and content and discourse analysis were used to analyze the interview.

The average spiritual health in people was 85.8 with a standard deviation of 11. According to the thresholds set for this questionnaire, the average of people is in the average range. At the same time, separately, average religious health is 48.4 and existential health is 37.3. The level of spiritual health in the tested subjects, based on the spiritual health questionnaire of Polotzin and Ellison, is at an average level. The observed difference between the level of religious health and existential health is also significant. It seems that in the dimension of existential health compared to religious health, the scores are at a lower level.

Among the four types of relationships, employees had challenges in relationships with others. Based on this, a series of workshops on verbal and non-verbal communication skills will be held in order to improve. By applying the mentioned principles in these workshops, a significant effect was observed in promoting existential health and ultimately spiritual health, and finally, relationships with clients and productivity improved

In the contemporary view, metaphor is the transfer of the inferential pattern of the source area to the destination area, based on which many philosophical concepts can be reconstructed. The way of perception and its different stages in Avicenna’s philosophy can be understood and explained in a metaphorical way and based on the metaphor of the event structure of Lakoff and Johnson and the definition of movement given by Avicenna. The movement schema is the basis of the event structure metaphor, which is composed of the macro metaphor “perception is movement” from the combination of the primary metaphors “knowledge is movement” and “science is movement”; and it is capable of reconstructing all types of perception, including partial and general perception, and in that general movement includes micro-movements that form sub-metaphors of the macrometaphor of movement. Each of these sub-metaphors focuses on an aspect of the perception process and highlights it. This article aims to present a new reading of Avicenna’s epistemology with the approach of conceptual metaphor through the expression of the domain of  erception by movement.

Any field of health studies, such as spiritual health, which seeks to be involved in the experimental field for the purpose of making changes, is rooted in the worldview dominating it and cannot be designed and implemented without considering its paradigmatic foundations. The difference between current spiritual health theory and spiritual health derived from Quranic verses is in regard to these basics. The most important Quranic foundations of spiritual health are the ontological, anthropological, etc. foundations that lay the foundation for the design of health theory and the transition to the Quranic formation of spiritual health.The current research, with descriptive-analytical method, seeks to answer the question that what are the foundations of the ontology of spiritual health from the perspective of the Holy Quran and how does it lead into spiritual health? The findings of the research indicate that attitude toward being, God-centered components, materiality and immateriality of being, consistency and systematicity of being, purposefulness, believing in the invisible world and the hereafter, death and resurrection, and meaningfulness of suffering and life are effective in realizing spiritual health.

Time is the basis of human life in this world and it is not only his biological background, but also a background for his intelligent life. Man thinks about time and looks at it from the angles of different sciences; from physics to philosophy; and from cosmology to anthropology. The concept of "Time" has also received attention in the Qur'an, and due to the dedication of an independent surah to this concept and the oath to time has assigned a special place to it in the form of the concept of "al-ʿAṣr". The epistemological connection of this concept with the concepts of "Man", "Loss", and "Faith" is very important from an existential point of view, which organizes the current approach in this article. The existential and existentialistic condition of man is the condition of this world that requires timing. This is a possibility for humans, which indicates a time limit for humans. This situation is associated with the feeling of loss in the passage of time, which is absolute and inseparable from the situation of this world. This is the human condition and, of course, it is a condition that presents possibilities to the human being. Time passes on man and confronts man with the concept of eternity and immortality. Eternity is placed in front of man as a possibility to face an existential contradiction in order to achieve salvation as an existential concern by choosing faith in a transcendental and spatial origin and destination.

In the thought of Shihab al-Din al-Suhrawardi and Linda Zagzebski, two famous philosophers from two different eras and civilizations, we come across some components that lead us to a common approach. The value of knowledge, according to both philosophers, is a result of the value of processes, without which philosophy is doomed to fail. The three common necessities in the philosophy of Suhrawardi and Zagzebski are: (1) The necessity of internal elevation, which upholds the qualitative and internal process of knowledge by trying to strengthen the human will. (2) The necessity of unifying wisdom. According to this necessity, a person thinks about the unity of human opinion and experience by trusting in his/her thought and other intellectual traditions. Moreover, to reach self-cultivation and also to understand and elevate wisdom, a person requires personal intuition and creativity in each era. (3) The necessity of narrative, which makes the development of philosophical intentions dependent on the genius in thinking, the genius in creating motivation, and also the return to intellectual and moral patterns. With a new look at the factors of knowledge promotion, this research has addressed some epistemologically neglected topics that the spiritual and epistemological life of philosophy depends on it.

Modified propositions are among the propositions raised in Aristotle's logic and transferred from Aristotle’s logic to Muslim logicians through Ibn Honain’s translation. In his translation, he has referred to these propositions as "opposition in propositions with actualized and non-actualized subjects". Apart from defining these propositions and dividing them according to their revocation and actualization, the opposition of propositions has been raised as one of the judgments of the propositions called the square of opposition. Propositions with non-actualized subjects do not have a square of opposition, because they are not mistaken for negation. But the propositions with actualized subjects, which may be actualized or non-actualized because of their predicate, in the two states of negation and affirmation, have a quadrilateral or square form, and their relationships are examined in the width, length, and diameter of square so that the modified is distinguished from negation. The disagreement of the logicians in the meaning of non-actualized and modified caused a change in the shape and relationships of this square. Following this change, this square evolved from the quadrilateral to the cubic form, which involved a change in its inner aspects and meaning. Thus, by comparing the views of logicians, it will be explained why and how Aristotle shaped this square; Farabi put it in order and Ibn Sina expanded and deepened it.

Today, the literature, and especially the Feminist literature, has been influenced by the philosophical-literary school of existentialism. This literature emphasizes Prominent Women's identity and emphasizes their high status and identity. This school analyzes human concerns by focusing on the primacy of existence on nature and by denying any quiddity introduces him as the only factor in his destiny.Layla Balabakki is a literary activist of the feminism movement and one of the most prominent existentialist story writers in the Arab world, who became famous at the young age with the novel âna ahia. In his work, which reflects her ideologies in defending the status of women, she spoke of the identification, independence and rebellion of a young girl who observing the facts of the family and society, she seeks to break the constraints and prove her independence and strives to restore her identity which caught up in tradition. The present research seeks to study the existentialist feminism of the novel through a descriptive-analytical method. The results of the research indicate that Layla Balabakki, under the influence of the existentialist philosophy, and in particular of Jean Paul Sartre's, has been able to use it to reflect the issues of women in different dimensions.

Extraordinary affairs (EOA) and extrasensory perceptions (ESP) are studied in philosophical psychology. The main problem in this research is to consider how these actions are done by the soul. Our findings show that the occurrences of these actions are based on their both proximate and remote origins, i.e., volition and knowledge respectively. In extraordinary affairs (EOA) and extrasensory perceptions (ESP), ‘influential volition’, having its root in the intensity of volition and certainty of knowledge, plays a main role. This certain knowledge is realized under special conditions, including physical and psychological ones. There is a distinction between magic and haruspication on the one hand, and miracles of the prophets and the saints on the other. The influential volition in the former depends upon the soul of the possessor of the volition, whereas in the latter, it is inspired by God as the source and origin of the world.

Richard Rorty is a neo-pragmatist and anti-substantialist philosopher while Seyyed Hussain Nasr is a Traditionalist one. Both of them are among the most impressive leaders of thought in contemporary philosophy. They are challenging the foundations and criteria of rationalism in modern philosophy, especially those which develop scientific rationalism. They try to develop rationalism in other fields of human efforts such as, Literature, Art and Human Sciences based on their philosophical thoughts and personal concerns. By considering the same and different aspects of these two above-said philosophers, we can find out the inadequacies of modern philosophy about the concept of rationalism. The mentioned inadequacies should be totally changed and then developed. These changes happen in Nasr's philosophy by focusing on the timeless and eternal aspects of human and by entering the absolute truth to other sciences. Also, the changes happen in Rorty's philosophy based on the historical and chronological aspects by making a democratic relationship among all of the people. Despite the existing difference between Nasr and Rorty's philosophy, their thoughts are really useful for solving the modern philosophy's problems by revealing the vulnerability of modern rationalism.

The principle of complementarity which is based on Heisenberg's principle of uncertainty is one the most controversial theories of quantum physics. The implication of this principle is that there is no absolute truth in the world of science and in turn non-causal picture of nuclear phenomena and non-determination. We are here, encountered with an inherent limitation in principle, not just in practice. The wave-particle duality has been at the heart of quantum mechanics. Einstein believed that one could confirm both wave-like and particle-like behaviors in the same interferometry  experiment. Although Einstein ultimately failed to achieve this goal, professor Afshar managed to show a discrepancy in the predictions of Bohr's principle of complementarity and its consequences. In this paper we report on the ontological consequences of Afshar experiment.