متافیزیک

From Whitehead's point of view, each human discipline, whether scientific, religious, moral, artistic, or philosophical, abstracts part of integrated reality and then sometimes erroneously equates it with the whole reality. This abstraction being taken for concrete reality is what Whitehead calls a Fallacy of misplaced concreteness. A fallacy which philosophy and new science suffered from it. Now, what is the function of philosophy? And what alternative does he introduce? This article, in view of these two questions, first analyzes the components of Whitehead's definition of metaphysics, such as experience as point of departure coherence, internal consistency, being necessary, attention to all experience, and so on. And then it was pointed to the Whitehead metaphysical method, which has similarities to the science method. Second addresses the main function of philosophy in Whitehead's view, which is "abstract criticism" or a critical examination of the boundary of the abstract from the integral. A prominent example of this criticism is about the fallacy of "simple location", which made the scientific materialism become the cosmological paradigm governing the minds of scientists of the new age. In the end, Whitehead's organismic attitude is introduced as an alternative to scientific materialism; and it is explained that instead of the scientific materialistic understanding of the world as if it is composed of independent material particles, Whitehead refers to the process based on the organism.  The world that consists of interconnected entities which are always experiencing or have been experienced.

The main goal of this research is to identify the origin of the concept of reason. The main question of this research is whether the concept of reason has a metaphysical origin and belongs to the beginning of the philosophical-scientific thinking of ancient Greece or whether this concept has a physical basis and its roots go back to the mythological language and texts. The main hypothesis of this research was that the concept of reason and rational thought goes back to an era before the philosophy of ancient Greece and in the mythological texts of different societies, such as Iran, Greece, Mesopotamia and ancient Rome, we can find the concept of reason and mythical characters symbolizing it. The findings of the research, in confirmation of the hypothesis, indicate that the concept of reason and rational thinking is older than philosophical thinking and has been referred to in the mythological texts of different societies. The research findings also indicate that the original meaning of the word "reason" in various ancient languages ​​refers to physical and tangible matters that have been simulated and transformed into a metaphysical concept through a metaphorical process. The author believes that, in accordance with the dominant approach in contemporary mythology and linguistics, any type of rational thought (such as legal thought) has a metaphorical-mythical basis due to its linguistic and symbolic nature.

Metaphysics has a long-standing history in philosophy. Although it does not date back as far as philosophy itself, it has always been a fundamental part of philosophical systems and is regarded as "first philosophy", the highest domain of rational knowledge. At times, metaphysics has been considered synonymous with philosophy, addressing fundamental questions about the essence and reality of things, or pure being. However, as intellectual developments have progressed, metaphysics has faced serious criticism and even outright rejection. Immanuel Kant and Rudolf Carnap, two prominent philosophers from distinct philosophical traditions, adopted critical stances toward metaphysics, resulting in profound transformations within this field. Kant, through his Copernican Revolution and his distinction between analytic/synthetic propositions and a priori/a posteriori concepts, examined the conditions under which metaphysics could be considered possible. In contrast, Carnap, a leading figure of the Vienna Circle, developed theories on analytic/synthetic judgments and their relationship to experience, establishing an epistemological framework that dismissed metaphysical propositions as meaningless. This article seeks to address the following questions: Which aspects of Kant’s philosophy revitalized philosophical thought and influenced Carnap and the logical positivism of the Vienna Circle? How did Kant critique and redefine metaphysics? How did Kant’s rationalist philosophy shape the empiricism of the logical positivists? A comparison of these two philosophers’ perspectives reveals that Carnap drew significant inspiration from Kant’s philosophy. Nevertheless, a fundamental difference exists between them: Kant sought to liberate metaphysics from its traditional framework and redefine it in a scientific and rigorous manner. In contrast, Carnap, emphasizing empiricism and dismissing metaphysics as futile, aimed to abolish it entirely and pave the way for the scientific advancement of human knowledge.

Kant’s Dreams of a Spirit-Seer Explained by Dreams of Metaphysics is one of the significant works from Immanuel Kant’s so-called "pre-Critical" period, published in 1766, fifteen years before the Critique of Pure Reason. In this essay, Kant examines and critiques the claims of Emanuel Swedenborg, the Swedish scholar and mystic, regarding access to a transcendent, supersensible world. The question of this paper is whether Kant’s critique of Swedenborg’s claims was influenced by Hume. If so, which fundamental concepts in the essay Dreams reflect this influence? In the present paper, we read Dreams in light of Hume’s An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, a work that Kant is believed to have studied before writing Dreams. Through an analysis of both works, we ultimately conclude that some of Kant’s most important positions in Dreams, including his critique of metaphysics, his empirical interpretation of causality, and his understanding of metaphysics as "the science of the limits of human reason," were directly influenced by Hume.

The ever-increasing development and progress of science in the universe has led to providing the ground for man to face the unknown and turbulent future and on the one hand to distance himself from previous matters such as beliefs and religious issues. The aim of the research is to investigate the most important features and consequences of new science and it is to express the existing challenges and opportunities from a religious point of view. Therefore, the research problem is the nature of new science with a pathological approach and a religious approach with a descriptive and analytical method. The findings of the research show that considering that new science is mainly based on empiricism, which has a one-dimensional and incomplete view without considering all aspects of existence, and the scientific and educational institutions of most countries of the world are based on this type. The paradigm and pattern have been designed and targeted; the acceptance of this model by any society requires the acceptance of inevitable harms and crises such as; the material nature of the new science, the one-dimensional view of the laws of the world, the domination of man over nature, the separation from the revealed teachings, the denial of religion with the claim of the originality of science and reason, the negation of metaphysics, the emergence of moral and spiritual crises, and the reliance on the purely experimental method are the new science. Now he is facing it. Therefore, it is necessary to create solutions such as; Negation of the one-dimensional view, two-dimensional explanation of human existence, adjustment of human domination, explanation of the mutual influence of science and religion, creation of a link between knowledge and value, proof of metaphysical ideas and adornment of science with moral virtue, correcting the epistemic base, in such a way that it should be appropriate and compatible with intellectual, cultural and religious and spiritual teachings

This research focusing on self-creation, a key element of Richard Rorty's playful belief system, also known as ironism. It explores how Self-Creation is manifested in the creation of texts. Following the Romantic tradition, Rorty aims to achieve human freedom by moving away from metaphysical ideas. He describes his philosophical stance as ironism, redefining the notions of truth, essence, and language to create his envisioned framework.According to Rorty, truth is not a universal, timeless, or spaceless entity but is constructed through human interactions and expressed through language. In his view, language does not serve as a bridge between truth and humans but is the creator of truth itself, requiring the ability to persuade others. Rorty's ironism emphasizes Self-Creation, which he defines as the freedom to narrate any story we wish to tell.Focusing on this aspect of ironism is crucial because it aims to achieve freedom by acknowledging human individuality. By altering their perspective on language and truth, a self-autonomous person can expand the boundaries of thought by creating new linguistic metaphors, thereby opening up new intellectual possibilities. When such an individual engages in text production, they must consider how the relationships between textual components can make the realization of freedom more achievable.Can we hope for freedom if the text is structured according to the coherence and harmony favored by metaphysicians? Is it possible to advocate for freedom while undermining it through the text's organization and presentation based on metaphysical patterns? Or must the components of the text be arranged in a new relationship, thereby creating a new language game?This new language game can establish a significant distance from previous ones, allowing new entities to emerge. This is the core of the ideal Rorty seeks in discussing individual freedom. The author believes that focusing on compositional qualities such as disharmony, diversity, and dispersion can more effectively achieve Rorty's concept of Self-Creation.Among the works of Persian-speaking researchers, numerous articles and books explore Rorty and his ideas. However, the question of operationalizing Rorty's goals and his romantic ideal through text production has yet to be thoroughly examined. This gap is also evident in Rorty's works. Although he paid attention to the works of writers and novelists, he focused primarily on those who aimed to achieve freedom in the public sphere. Therefore, focusing on texts emphasizing the realization of self-creation and freedom on an individual level can significantly advance Richard Rorty's thought.

This research employs analytical and descriptive methods to examine Rorty's ironism and self-creation. It then introduces ways to achieve self-creation in text production by focusing on compositional qualities aligned with ironism, contrasting the qualities favored by metaphysicians.

To further distance ourselves from metaphysical thoughts, which is the goal of Rorty's philosophy, it is essential to recognize the types of compositional qualities that organize texts. Metaphysicians favor two compositional qualities: coherence and harmony. These qualities require the components of a whole to be placed in a causal or obligatory relationship with each other, structuring the text accordingly. By eliminating ambiguity and disharmony, the text can transmit its message more quickly to the audience, and language can better fulfill its mediating role.Given this context, applying alternative structural patterns such as disharmony, diversity, and dispersion—where the arrangement of components differs from what metaphysicians prefer—can facilitate the production of new thought forms. Introducing works by writers like Samuel Beckett and Peter Handke can provide a clearer understanding of this new path explored in this research. Examples of such works can also be found among Persian-speaking writers and the fifth generation of Iranian literature.

Rorty, by emphasizing the tradition of Romanticism, aims to realize human freedom within the realm of philosophy. He considers freedom at both public and individual levels. On the individual level, the pursuit of Self-Creation is achieved through non-essentialist, anti-nature thoughts, and twentieth-century perspectives on language. Focusing on imagination allows the self-autonomous ironist to craft their desired narrative. By viewing language as contingent, Rorty demonstrates how it can be used to construct new realities, enabling individuals to realize their freedom.If freedom is pursued through the creation of works with new compositional qualities that oppose the metaphysicians' preferred qualities of coherence and harmony, it will seem more attainable. By generating new linguistic metaphors, new terms will gradually emerge, creating a new intellectual space and facilitating the possibility of moving towards new forms of living.

Even though of the Greeks and especially Thales of Meitus are considered the founders of philosophical reflection, cannot deny the importance of economic, cultural and scientific relations and interactions in addition to the influence of their predecessors, especially in the Ionian region and also between them and neighbor civilizations. Thales, as the founder of philosophy, was on the one hand influenced by the mythological thinking before him and therefore his break from the mythological thinking should be regarded with a kind of tolerance; In addition, Thales was greatly influenced by non-Greek civilizations, including Babylonian and Egyptian, in his innovative approach to nature and his attempt to explain it. In general, at the forefront of philosophical thought, like any other category, human thinking has a close connection with historical conditions and social contexts and at the same time with other human fields, including science, in the sense of empirical and concrete human research.

In the rereading of Thales, it will be important to focus on the contextuality and historicity of thought, which is not only an effective factor, but apparently should be counted as a condition for the possibility of philosophical thinking and of course, in this regard, the issue of action and reaction of thinking in relation to the his environment condition is considered important. In particular, what is considered as politics, and to put it better, the political, which means power in the heart of human relations - and not necessarily the official and ruling politics of the society - plays an irreplaceable role in the formation and growth of thought.

Thales' intellectual system includes the connection between various components from different fields, including science and philosophy, both of which contain elements of myth-thought. At the same time, the analysis of Thales' thinking shows that, on the one hand, thought in ancient Greece was not formed in a miraculous way, but in the confrontation with neighbor civilizations and cultures, as well as the existing conflicts and contradictions. In the reflections of Thales, due to the special nature of the conditions and the type of thinking, it is not a matter specific only to his point of view, but a more or less common feature of all human thoughts throughout history. Discussion and

Emphasizing the special conditions in the formation and development of Thales's thought does not deny the importance of his approach.Paying attention to the many watersheds of Thales's approach is, on the one hand, a sign of the curiosity and practice of one of the epoch-making thinkers, along with paying attention to the hybrid dimension of thought.One of the inevitable results of adopting such different elements in the intellectual system is the existence of parts that are incompatible with each other, which itself inspires the thinkers and intellectual currents of the era after it, each of which relies on a particular aspect of the previous thinking. Therefore "Quentin Skinner", with regard to the contexts as well as the intention that the author chooses for himself in thinking, believes that there should not be a coherent framework free of conflicts and contradictions, especially duringtime attributed or imposed on the thinker.A thinker, as a child of his time, engages in reflections and actions that may reveal his contradictions by looking beyond the historical and spatial distance.The important insight of the overview of Thales as a historical and specific experience may indicate a transhistorical point in the analysis of thought that the originality of thought is always based on its interactive aspect with other thoughts and not in a discrete abstraction and separated from other opinions.

There is a controversy in Islamic philosophy over the relationship between something’s being something and something’s being. Two theses are well-known: assumption and entailment. Notoriously, Mirdamad is considered to be among the adherents of the entailment thesis. It is argued here that Mirdamad’s thesis is neither assumption nor entailment. Actually, his thesis includes a collection of different propositions that combine assumption and entailment variously. I interpret his thesis on the basis of his theory of subsistence and existence. Furthermore, I distinguish between semantical and metaphysical aspects of Mirdamad’s thesis. I abstract some logical consequences from these semantical aspects. I explain then why these logical consequences do not follow from a bunch of the alternative theses at issue.

The Theology of Event" is a new approach to theology that is rooted in postmodern philosophies. The concept that John D. Caputo, the American philosopher of religion, based on the ideas of her teacher Jacques Derrida, has established to negate the theological systems based on traditional western philosophy and seeks religion minus metaphysics. Event Theology tells about a kind of instability in meaning, and depicts a threshold and indeterminate situation in theological concepts. This attitude denies the permission of any absolutism and systematization, and in a word, metaphysics-centeredness in theological concepts from human thought. The Theology of Event talks about concepts that are continuously being realized, an open, unpredictable, and uncontrollable future, and instead of epistemological strains, it emphasizes the pragmatic and existential features of religion.  In the Theology of Events, instead of dealing with religious knowledge, which is necessarily a metaphysical matter, serious attention is paid to religious rituals such as altruism, good deeds, seeking justice, and ethics. But from a critical point of view, one should ask whether theology minus metaphysics is conceivable in principle? In other words, is it possible to enter the field of theology without philosophical interpretation and formulation? This article is an answer to this basic question against the concept of the Theology of Events.

Substance is one of the fundamental concepts in the history of philosophy that has a history as long as the history of philosophy itself. Although this concept has underwent profound developments and assumed different layers during the centuries, because of its firm linkage with common-sense, never lost its significance. Since the birthplace of the concept of substance is ancient Greece and Greek philosophy, this essay intends to narrate an analytical history of the genesis of the concept in ancient Greece; then to trace its course of development in Christian and Islamic middle age; and finally, to investigate its remnants in modern philosophy. The purpose of this essay, however, is not merely a philosophy-historical narrative, but its secondary purpose is to place the concept of substance under a critical light and to report its fundamental critiques. Hence, we will consider the most important critiques, mostly proposed by Anglo-Saxon philosophers, and will conclude that this concept in order to have a legitimate presence in philosophy, must submit a fundamental reformulation.

Distinguishing empirical knowledge from non-empirical knowledge is one of the important issues of epistemology.The criterion for distinguishing "science" from non-empirical knowledge actually goes back to determining the role of experience in science. The traditional and inductive view considers the role of experience to confirm scientific statements.From this point of view, a scientific theorem is a theorem that can be confirmed and finally proved by an experimental method.  The famous philosopher of science, Karl Popper, at the beginning of the 20th century, proposed the criterion of "falsifiability" as a criterion for distinguishing "science" from other types of knowledge.In the present article, the author tries to reveal the epistemological result of his opinion by referring to some of the criticisms that have been made to Popper's theory, that in experimental science, neither definite proof nor definite refutation is possible. This important point is an emphasis on the hypothetical nature of experimental science.

Heidegger holds that, although Western philosophy begins with an inquisition of the meaning of Being as the purpose of Metaphysics, at the time, perverted by Plato, and the history of forgetting Being begins from that time. According to Heidegger, the crisis of European sciences and the death of meaning is caused by ontological nihilism. It initiates from the metaphysical dualism that has occurred during centuries of philosophizing due to the disregard of the concept of Being and the obfuscation of this most fundamental thing. Heidegger conceives that with hermeneutical and phenomenological analysis of Dasein as the primary habitat in which the first and most fundamental problem of philosophy, What is Metaphysics?, has become a new way of philosophizing, before the thinkers of the epoch to get rid of this "great desert that Every day expands" (Nietzsche's famous expression, which Heidegger analyzed in the book What is Metaphysics?). This inquiry attempts to examine the characteristics and goals of Heidegger's hermeneutical phenomenology in the criticism of previous philosophies and in line with fundamental ontology, which is a drawing for understanding Being.

Human cerebral organoids are biological organs that are cultured in laboratory dishes and can mimic the human brain. One of the main issues in this area is about the moral status of these creatures. Where is the moral status of cerebral organoids in the ethical hierarchy, and to what extent can researchers use them for their experiments? The discussion of the moral status of organoids is connected to the discussion of their consciousness. The main question of this article is whether phenomenal consciousness can guarantee the moral status of these beings or not? We will answer that mere phenomenal consciousness cannot determine the moral status of a being. In addition, conditions such as to possess a certain morally relevant characteristic, structural resemblance to the fetal brain, or being in the network of significant and appropriate relationships, which are cited as conditions for the moral status of cerebral organoids, they ultimately have nothing more than to consider phenomenal consciousness as a sufficient condition for having a moral status for a creature. Therefore, these conditions cannot be a good guide to determine an ethical framework for the use of cerebral organoids. Ultimately, the goal of this study is to show that the condition of having phenomenal consciousness cannot guarantee an efficient moral frame for human cerebral organoids, and that we need more than just phenomenal consciousness.

Surveying the problem of emanation in Farabi's view, has some difficulties like that does for Farabi this problem is a fundamental problem in metaphysics or a secondary one? In this issue we are confronted with two main difficulties: one is that some scholars doubted to two Farabi's works that he discussed there the problem of emanation, mean Fosus Al-hekam and Ouoon Al-masael. They cannot say that these two books certainly are Farabi's books. But the more difficult problem is that Farabi's views on the problem of emanation are different in his works. It seem that some of Farabi's books are basically written in the Aristotelian context and some of his books are from his personally views. In addition, there is another difficulty: Farabi discussed the problem of emanation in some of his books that are not basically metaphysical but are psychological. In the present article, we try to survey these difficulties in Farabi's works.

Morganti and Tahko advocate a kind of metaphysics that they call "moderate naturalized metaphysics." This moderate naturalism concerning metaphysics differs crucially with, on the one hand, Ladyman & Ross's radical project of naturalizing metaphysics and, on the other hand, proposals aiming to defend the autonomy of metaphysics, such as those of Larry Paul and Jonathan Lowe. Morganti and Tahko hold that metaphysics overlaps with natural sciences in terms of subject matter and has a sufficient degree of independence from it in terms of method. In this article, I will outline this naturalistic project, mainly in contrast with the meta-metaphysical views of Ladyman & Ross, Lowe, and Paul. Then I attempt to examine and criticize it, arguing that their project faces two main challenges. First, it cannot suitably address the overlap between metaphysics and science regarding the subject matter. Second, it cannot provide a criterion for limiting and constraining the metaphysical activity based on naturalism.

This article shifts from doubt about the meaning of a commonly neglected phrase in Aristotle’s Metaphysics about the relation between metaphysics and myth into a fundamental question about the relation between metaphysics and emotions. The contemporary philosophical trend of reviving emotions, with all of its advantages in different felids of philosophy, has been almost silent in the field of metaphysics. The historical cliché of reason/emotion (also, reason/body) separation, among other things, has overshadowed the possibility of revising/ re-reading metaphysical texts through the lenses of constitutional emotions. This article develops a different narrative about the nature of metaphysics in Aristotel’s thought through re-reading some of his works. According to this narrative, certain emotions, including wonder (thauma), praise, pleasure, and desire, alongside the “nous”, play a constitutional role in the construction of the Aristotelian structure of metaphysics. I will discuss that the concept of “nous/ reason” cannot suffice for giving a comprehensive explanation for the tools and methods of metaphysics. According to the constitutional role of emotions, reductive interpretations of Metaphysics should be radically challenged in that they have ignored the emotional foundations of metaphysics during the history of philosophy. Moreover, I will suggest that the new narrative of metaphysics can provide some material to revise the traditional understanding of the soul’s parts, the soul’s unity, and relation between soul and body in Aristotle’s thought.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the place of metaphysics of light in the thought of Saint Bonaventure. Bonaventure is one of the mystical philosophers of the thirteenth century who had many influences on later thinkers. How man achieves fixed and common truths is a fundamental issue that Saint Bonaventure has faced in epistemological discussions. He uses the theory of light to explain this issue. In this article, while proposing different views and approaches to Bonaventure's theory of light, an attempt has been made to examine issues related to the metaphysics of light. The results show that Saint Bonaventure uses light as an analogy to communicate with God and enjoy Him in life. A God-centered view that seeks to reconcile the philosophical search for truth with the ultimate truth of Christian revelation. Despite his influence on Aristotle's thought in the form of the physics of light, in the general synthesis of his thought, the use of Neoplatonic and Augustine's ideas and the metaphysics of light is evident. "Lux" and "lumen" are terms used by Bonaventure to describe the metaphysics of light. In his metaphysical thought, light is the most original form on which all other forms depend, and whatever it is, it is formed through the basic form of light.

The dominant interpretation about the relation between metaphysics and morality in Aristotle’s thought is the separative interpretation. According to this understanding, Aristotle divides the piratical from the theoretical reason/ wisdom- hence a radical historical disassociation between metaphysics and morality. This division of the theoretical/ practical has brought about some crucial implications in the history of philosophy. During the recent decades, some philosophers have demonstrated the dangerous implications of this separation for the human world and criticized Aristotle for establishing this division. In this article, I argue that the separative interpretation of Aristotle is not based on an accurate understanding of his texts. A close study in his writings in different fields would unravel that the birth of metaphysics is joined to the birth of morality from his viewpoint. The possibility of metaphysics is based on an encounter with the other and being toward the other. Analyzing the different functions of ‘nous’ in the formation of metaphysics, I will discuss that nous underlies the possibility and objectivity of (Aristotelian) metaphysics and the unity of metaphysics with morality and practice. Discovering the unity within the strangeness of the other is the situation in which metaphysics begins. This situation is based on the both ontological and epistemological functions of nous. According to this understanding, the separative interpretation of Aristotle’s metaphysics is to be seriously doubted.