Farabi and Habermas's Methodology

The question of knowledge acquisition and way of achieving true and valid knowledge has long been of special concern to thinkers. The main subjects discussed in epistemology are the nature of knowledge, the domain of knowledge and the sources and methods of acquiring knowledge. Over many centuries, these subjects have been discussed and investigated from different angles. The development of new philosophical and epistemological schools have enormously contributed to this subject and new questions have been raised in methodology and epistemology. Using a comparative method, the present paper tries to study the main important issues in this field from Farabi and Habermas's viewpoints, two thinkers coming from two different cultural and social backgrounds. There are several similarities and differences between the intellectual and scientific system of each of these thinkers. A comparative analysis of their thoughts in epistemology, methodology and the challenges facing this field could be useful and effective.