خیال

The word "khayāl" (imagination) has been used in various forms, including conjecture, illusion, fantasy, thought, plan, and decision. Suhrawardi was the first to introduce the discussion of the world of khayāl into Islamic philosophy. He considered khayāl matter; however, he considered imaginary forms to be single (abstract) that remain in the world of khayāl. What is considered the goal of this research is to answer the question of what role the faculty of khayāl play in the creation of works of art? And is it at all influential in the creation of a work of art? And which works of art can be derived from the faculty of khayāl? It should be noted that this research is theoretical and based on exploratory research and the study of library documents and note-taking. The type of research method is content analysis or analytical-descriptive. In any case, in this research, we will present a description of the faculty of khayāl and its function from the perspective of Sheikh Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi in the two epistemological fields of khayāl (connected khayāl) and ontological khayāl, which is known in Islamic philosophy as the world of khayāl or the world of (disconnected khayāl), we will discuss the role of these two khayāl in the field of art and aesthetics.

Shaykh Shihāb al-Dīn Suhrawardī, 6th century AH philosopher, critiqued preceding philosophy and pioneered novel ideas. He founded Illuminationism, which diverges from the Peripatetic school of Ibn Sīnā in both its foundations and conclusions. Beyond these large-scale innovations, he introduced problem-driven innovations as well. These include the rejection of the Peripatetic view of imagination, thereby positing a new realm, namely “the intermediate world” (‘Alam al-Mithāl). Grounded in Neoplatonic teachings, this realm tries to resolve dilemmas faced by the Peripatetics regarding imaginal forms and also seeks to address theological questions raised by religion. Through an analytic-explanatory method, this study examines Suhrawardī’s views based on his own works and outlines his critiques of the Peripatetics on the issue of imagination. Ultimately, it elucidates the novel issue of the intermediate world and the matters related to it.

The Art philosophy studies the principles of and basses of art. Islamic philosophers like Sadra has just studied the principles and sources of esthetics. he has not independently studied “knowledge of art”. In opinin of Sadra, the first source of art is to be the successor of God for human. The soul of man is divine. He is the place of divine attributes manifestation. They are the creator and inventor. The attributes are the source of art action in human. The second is imagination faculty being the source of creator of art actions. Augustine is also considered as the philosopher who independently has deal with the principles of art and the knowledge of art itself. He in the book of “the city of god” has mentioned that the only permission for passing of the city is the obligation to Christion doctrines and faith of absolute beauty and trying to its manifestation in creator of art actions. He also comprehensively has deal with encomium and denunciation of art sciences such as music, drama arts, architecture and poem and … .

The growth of neuroscience has led many scholars in this field, much like philosophers, to engage with topics such as the mind/body problem, free will, perception, memory, and language. Despite the methodological differences between these two disciplines, the theories they propose can enhance their openness to one another, paving the way for mutual, beneficial collaboration and synergy. This study, in pursuit of this goal, endeavors to explore Mulla Sadra's concept of the imaginative faculty—a significant internal faculty in the realms of epistemology, ontology, and anthropology, with relevance in both Islamic and Western philosophy—alongside its approximate equivalent in cognitive neuroscience, "memory". The latter is considered fundamental in constructing individual identity and collective culture and plays a crucial role in social relations and issues. The study begins by elucidating the epistemological dimension of imagination according to Mulla Sadra and, after explaining memory and its types from the perspective of cognitive neuroscience, examines their commonalities and differences as two distinct viewpoints in the philosophy of mind—where Mulla Sadra's perspective is closer to ontological emergence, and neuroscientists predominantly adopt a physicalist view. The study, concludes that while cognitive neuroscience provides physiological explanations of memory, complementing and aiding philosophy. Mulla Sadra's philosophy, with its comprehensive perspective, offers more comprehensive and fundamental responses to the questions and issues in this field.

Many believe that the problem of imagination was propounded after Suhrawardī and later by Mullā Ṣadrā in a more systematic form. However, the truth is that many of the important ideas concerning imagination were presented by Fārābī, who deliberated over them among his ontological and epistemological discussions. Unlike the Greek tradition, in which imagination lacked an epistemological aspect, and unlike Plato and Aristotle, Fārābī was the first to pay particular attention to its epistemological aspect and explained and analyzed several domains in unity with imagination. Therefore, imagination has various functions in Fārābī’s epistemological system, including protecting sensory forms; the analysis and synthesis of forms; comparison; contrast; imitation; metaphorical thought; education and punishment; provoking act; leading people towards happiness; perception of meaning particularly in relation to the problem of dreams, and revelation and unveiling. Some of these functions are presently receiving great attention in various sciences. Although Fārābī had a negative approach to imagination when it prevents intellection or replaces the intellect, he viewed its other functions positively in his works.

Imagination is a mental activity with which we can imagine an event free from its temporal and spatial characteristics. This function of the mind provides us with the necessary conditions for secondary and internal observation of primary external observations. In a way, it can be said that imagination plays a fundamental role in human perception and not only makes a person capable of advanced theoretical understanding, but also gives a person the necessary ability to capture the outside world and achieve their goals. Farabi and Spinoza both paid attention to the importance and use of imagination. In a way, it can be said that for both, imaginative cognition is an important pillar in human perception. Farabi considers the re-summoning of the sensory form after its absence and the ability to analyze and combine sensory forms after the absence of sensory observation as the primary role of the imagination, which not only gives a person the ability to go beyond sensory perception and recognize external observations and their similarities, but also It prepares the human mind to understand the general perception. In a way, it can be said that the power of imagination is the link connecting sensory perceptions with intellectual perceptions. Spinoza considers the perception caused by the body's impressions from the outside world as vague experience or imaginative perception because this type of perception does not give us knowledge about the truth of objects and their relationships, and only gives us vague ideas that are useful for our living. Therefore, although Farabi accepts the realism of imaginary sensory perception, Spinoza places practical value on them and does not place theoretical value on them, and considers imagination to include sensory, experimental, and imaginary perceptions, knowledge resulting from the frequency of general concepts and even false notions.
 
 

Perception and issues related to the quality of its attainment are crucial in Avicenna's philosophical discussions. He stands as the lone Muslim philosopher attempting to present a coherent theory on forgetting and recalling. Examining the possibility of forgetting and recalling in any scientific subject, and their occurrence for all people, is of utmost importance from the standpoint of epistemology in Avicennan philosophy. This aspect has been investigated in the present research in an analytical-descriptive manner. The questions addressed in this research include: What is the truth behind recalling and forgetting, the degrees of each, and the distinction between recalling and learning? Avicenna's discussions in this field are grounded in his theory about obtaining forms and their entrance into the mind from the outside world, as well as his categorization of different types of sensory, imaginary, apprehensive, and intellectual perceptions. Forgetting is a common attribute among humans and some animals, while recalling scientific forms is unique to humans. The non-materiality of imagination power and its perceptions, coupled with sensory evidence, fundamentally challenges Avicenna's perspective in this field. Learning is the acquisition of a new scientific form, marking a transition from the unknown to the known. On the other hand, recalling involves re-perceiving the scientific form that was previously apprehended.

Concept of sublime has a long record. The record refers usually to ancient Greece but in modern time emerged a challenge, That sublime debated under aesthetics. Kant debated the sublime in his philosophy under aesthetics too. Imagination has special importance in discussion of the sublime. This discussion has other aspects in Kant's philosophy that we must regard to them. In critique of pure reason, imagination participates with understanding and sense, consequently in current interpretations Kant's work is epistemology; it provides conditions of possibility of objectivity in first critique. But in Critique of the Power of Judgment, imagination has a free operation in test judgment, it is in a free harmony with understanding. In theory of the sublime, imagination has relation with reason here feeling of the sublime is similar to morel feeling. Thus it reveals the unity of total determination of man. Therefore we understand the nature as exhibition of supersensible.

Studying the progress of epistemology in Islamic philosophy shows that although the issues of epistemology have not been discussed separately and seriously and are usually implicitly discussed under the headings related to ontology, at the same time there are materials that It can be a solution to the problems in epistemology. In such an intellectual environment, the research problem is clearly how to show the epistemological approach in Ibn Sina's philosophy by investigating and extracting some epistemological issues through case studies. Of course, Ibn Sina's ontological views cast a shadow on his epistemological topics such as science, abstractions, imagination, etc.; But considering that the foundations of epistemology in Islamic philosophy are based on the three foundations of sense, reason, or intuition, we can refer to the epistemological system of Islamic philosophers in general, and Hikmat Masha in particular (mainly based on reason and reasoning) and Hikmat. Sinoy realized in particular (based on reason and reasoning with the element of intuition). The importance of the research problem is in the conditions that the history of philosophy is a connected whole, and showing this connection reveals various and sometimes invisible angles of the thinking of philosophers, especially Avicenna and his followers. In fact, based on the detailed analysis of Avicenna's epistemological issues, the current research unveils another Avicenna.

The modern world, by entering all areas of human life and placing itself in the context of reality, has narrowed the field to the transcendent so much that it seems that no trace of it has been left in the context of events. In order to get out of the crisis that has arisen, Sadr philosophy is an efficient figure who has based his ruling system on principles and principles that before him were less considered as the basis of a philosophical thought. The substantial movement of matter and the evolution of the soul from matter to the kingdom, the doubt of the existence and degree of the soul, the position of the imaginary world as a mediator between matter and reason, the union of the soul with the active intellect, His love affairs are among these principles. These principles and foundations have caused a considerable effect and a different attitude in recognizing art and explaining the process, and consequently, have become artistic products and have drawn a plausible boundary between the real and the vulgar.Sadra's special attention to the presence of the transcendent in the text of phenomena, philosophical explanation of the illustration of imagination in the creation of art and its meaningful middle position, human identity, human resemblance to God in the level of imagination, the two-way relationship between human love and art and holiness The field of original art is one of the achievements of this attitude.

In the present article, in line with the problem of cognition and knowledge, an attempt has been made to give a brief explanation of some epistemological principles of the celibacy of imagination in transcendent wisdom, such as the relation between the issuance and the subject of the soul to imaginary forms. Imagination is one of the broad concepts that are discussed in the fields of epistemology, ontology and anthropology and has a different place in each field. In the epistemological system of transcendent wisdom, imagination is the bridge between the intellectual and sensory powers, and in this way the epistemological problem is solved by the connection between sensory and intellectual perceptions. Have celibacy. The abstraction of this power is based on several arguments. The most important proofs of the abstraction of the imagination in transcendent wisdom is one argument of lack of material properties and the other argument of imagining contradictory things. To review the power of these arguments in the direction of the problem of cognition.

Imagination is one of the human perceptive faculties that is shared with animals. This concept, which has been transferred from Greek philosophy to Muslims’ philosophical tradition, has always been a very important problem with various functions in the self-knowledge of Muslim philosophers from Fārābī to Mullā Ṣadrā. It has even been used in responding to some kalāmī inquiries. Since the very beginning, Muslim philosophers have continuously devoted some of their studies to the investigation and explanation of the whatness and howness of the concept of imagination. However, this concept has not remained immune against change and has developed a distinct meaning in each philosophical system. In the history of Islamic philosophy, the three-fold schools of philosophy (Peripatetic philosophy, Illuminationist philosophy, and the Transcendent Philosophy) have each adopted a particular and different approach to this problem. The present study intends to examine the theories of some great figures of Islamic philosophy regarding the whatness of the faculty of imagination and reveal the existing differences among them. The findings indicate that philosophers’ views of the concept of imagination have not been fixed and similar in the course of history, and each has presented a specific and innovative explanation of this concept in conformity with their own philosophical system. For example, Fārābī considered this faculty to be a material component of the soul, while Mullā Ṣadrā changed it into the world of Ideas. This study was conducted following a descriptive-comparative method using library resources.

Mystical experience, which is one the types religious experience, has been one the manifestations of spirituality in human life and interesting topic for philosophers and mystics of all time.One of these philosophers is Maiden Ibn Arabi, a philosopher of the 7th century AH believed In discovery and intuition as the most important examples of religious experience.In his mystical ontological system,he describe existence based on how the perfect man percieves or finds it in his mystical experience. Examples of this experience can be seen in many cases, including in art.The nature and essence of art itself is a mystical issue and a empirical science and is considered as an intuitive knowledge.This research has been done descriptive analytical method and library studies to know the mystical principles affecting art.The concept of discovery ,intuition in the epistemological structure of Ibn Arabi and the value of discovery and intuition in art have been analysed. It can be said that the work of art is formed when the artist is inspired by the intuition and sense of the artist.At this stage, the artist needs imagination to achieve discovery and intuition.Finally artist has to apply ideogrammic elements in his or her works to materialize the imaginations.

The formal structure of the subject is widely debated because "subject" is based on discrete of the "I / world" distinction, how can the formal structure remain stable without distinguishing between "this and that" by adding multiple concrete things? The subject, in the beginning, is only a space that gives the non-possibility to enter, it cannot be determined whether it is "the influence of the subject or the influence of the object" but in any case, it is a structure that opens the other Ideas to the "sensual matter" and figures the stage of alienation It enters a stage that is necessary for the "formal emergence of the subject." The subject is the “analytical continuation” of the notion that the basis of consciousness is not sought from any context and sometimes has an empty beginning. We lose the possibility of receiving consciousness naturally in such a way that the subject creates it only with the emergence and disappearance (the catalytic role of the subject). So "the subject is not historical and linguistic, because the natural connection and natural references are not related to history and language." It informs to the extent that "what does not become symbolic remains unconscious."

God speaking with the messenger and the quality of revelation received has been the vital problem for theologians and philosophers during the Islamic history. Islamic thinkers such as Farabi and Ibn Arabi have encountered this issue through what vision and form can be sent to the Prophet. Can other people except messengers like philosophers or mystics achieve that or not? If so, what are the differences between them and the prophet? Farabi has used his imagination to solve this problem. It can play the role of intermediate to make the relationship between simple and immaterial God and the prophet who is living in change and time, acceptable.  That is why some contemporary scholars interpreted the revelation as a dream. Ibn Arabi criticized Farabi’s thought, he has mentioned that the imagination is beyond the reason which is in need of senses, memory and rational faculty which is subjected to the error. Since Farabi’s approach may be considered by certain philosophers, it has its own importance. Ibn Arabi’s answers are the modern discussion which has not been presented by any one so far. As a result, it should be said that considering the revelation as an imaginative phenomenon is a sort of reductionism which has descended it to the level of unveiling and intuition.   The koranic words considered as existence will be reduced to human words. While the revelation is allusion and human words are the passage.

The first concepts, according to Al-Farabi, are the cause of the first degree of actualization for the potential intellect, the origination of free will, the individual human life, and the first step towards higher degrees of perception and action. The origination of the first concepts depends on the origination of the powers of sensation, imagination, and understanding, transcending from their respective acquired knowledge and the actualization of the voluntary component dependent on their acquired knowledge. The interactions of sensory-imaginative stages and the formation of the first knowledge and origination of the free will, on the one hand, and the interactions of the first knowledge and higher degrees of knowledge, on the other hand, reveal the polarization of the free will and the active intellect, and the determinative role of the free will in the epistemic position of every human being. Admitting different kinds of first concepts by Al-Farabi shows his precedence in expanding the first principles of the sciences and his modified foundationalism. The imagination plays a part in different levels of the origination of the first concepts: it is a repository of observation recordings, has roles in the formation of experiences at the level of secondary will, and is a receiver of first concepts and an imitator of agent intellect emanations. Furthermore, the epistemological structure of human beings, because of their incapability to know the true nature of things, is imaginative.

Human agency, both in creation and in recognition of architectural space and their interaction with the space, has been affected by the hidden harmony that is generated in the space, which turns the architectural space away from its static state, stillness, and lifelessness, and the core of the harmony is indeed the “unity”; that is, multiple parts find unity and totality within a whole that creates a sense inside, which fits the aesthetic desire and indeed the internal human self, because the human self seeks unity and suffers from multiplicity, diffusion, and conflicts (Ardalan et al., 2011). In fact, it might be acknowledged that architecture as a created work secretly involves the creation of multiplicity and turning it into unity in interaction with humans. Given the idea of the unity of existence (waḥdat al-wujūd) in Islamic mysticism, a world is portrayed that is, first, divine and spiritual, where the song of holiness resonates, and second, it involves a unity by which all multiple parts are unified, or more precisely speaking, all that exists is a manifestation or representation of the one unified reality. In this way, art in general and architecture in particular might come to have a different color. Unity of existence is evident in architectural work in the Islamic world, but the character of this unity is not adequately discussed. A genuine perception of unity in architectural space is not confined to external senses. To the contrary, in its higher degrees, i.e., internal senses, it affects the observer. The goal of the present research to identify the nature of this unity and how it occurs. The question of our research is as follows: are Ibn ʿArabī’s views of unity applicable to architectural space, and what material grounds are prepared in architectural space to attain the unity? To answer the question, we begin with an overview of Ibn ʿArabī’s mystical view, where the question of existence and knowledge of unity is discussed as the foundation of Ibn ʿArabī’s mysticism.According to our surveys, the issue of whether Ibn ʿArabī’s account of unity is applicable to architectural space has not been properly addressed in the past research. Instead, issues of the unity of existence and multiplicity within unity have been discussed separately in philosophy and architecture. Moreover, the architectural literature tends to focus on corporeal, visual, and symbolic aspects of architectural parts in the realization of unity. In the present research, we drawAssociate Professor, Department of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism, Tabriz Islamic Art University, Tabriz, Iran (Corresponding Author). This article has been extracted from the course "Wisdom in Islamic Architecture" in the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of Tabriz Islamic Art University. on Ibn ʿArabī’s views about the questions of existence and knowledge of unity as the foundation of his mysticism to tackle material and perceptual grounds in the Islamic architectural space to examine the move from multiplicity to unity.

Methodologically speaking, the present research is descriptive-analytic, adopting the qualitative research approach. Qualitative research involves identification of the relevant references, studies and overviews of the written sources, comprehension of their meanings, and extraction of the relevant material, establishment of relations between issues, and providing descriptions and analyses of them.

Creation of multiplicity in architectural space and its transformation into unity has been effective in attaining an understanding of the existential unity, such that this understanding in architectural space was a determinant of the degree of the work’s life, and was somehow a cause of its existence. In fact, to attain such a unity, the human presence and existence in the space is undoubtedly what engenders a motion toward its recognition. Accordingly, the move from multiplicity to unity in architectural space implies physical movement (translocation – ocular) and semantic movement (mental movement). During the movement in architectural space, the observer’s physical movement turns into visual movement, which in turn results in reception of a series of regression and connections in the observer’s mind, leading to his or her mental movement. However, once the observer begins to recognize and see signs, it enables him or her to move in the world of imagination to attain unity. In fact, genuine unity is obtained through human imagination.

There is a remarkable correspondence between perceptions of existential unity in both philosophy and architecture. On Ibn ʿArabī’s account, imagination is perception of images in the soul after having seen something. Indeed, imagination is the intermediary between dualities. So in his view, human imagination is capable of attaining unity in the world that is abstracted or detached from the sensible world (existence of multiplicity). Furthermore, in the unity of existence, finding the existence is the same as coming to exist, where the finding is through intuitions and revelations. In the Imam Mosque of Isfahan (or the Shah Mosque), manifestation of the pairs [imagination being in pair] in space provides a bedrock for the observer’s intuition and revelation of unity through a definition of hierarchies and qualitative geometry based on the principle of the centrality and symmetry and existence of light.

Mullā Ṣadrā introduces philosophy as a knowledge for the perfection of all human souls and does not limit to a certain group; the complexity of philosophical issues and the difficulty of understanding them due to their abstract nature, however, is not hidden. Nevertheless, according to Mullā Ṣadrā, the power of imagination and speech are two divine gifts that make it possible for different audiences to understand and convey such complex issues. The power of imagination, by analyzing and combining forms and meanings, is constantly creating new forms and meanings, and language, with a wide range of mental creativity, through continuous changes in form and content, is a tool at the service of the speaker’s mind to convey meanings to the audience. Story is a format which is distinguished from other texts by the two elements of imagination and speech. In this article, the elements of story are explained from the perspective of Ṣadrā’s philosophy in a descriptive-analytical way, and its narrative capacities are examined. The existence of allegories in Ṣadrā’s philosophy and its presentation in the form of four journeys makes it possible to have a narrative reading of it using the old narrative archetype of “hero’s journey”.