Background of the Cartesian Distinction in Islamic Philosophy and Kalam

This paper intends to demonstrate that the traces of the epistemological criterion for Cartesian distinction existed previously in Islamic philosophy and kalam. Hence, the writer initially refers to Descartes’ views and follows their traces in the ideas of early Muslim scholars. Then he refers to the views of some Muslim thinkers such as Fakhr al-Din Razi, ‘Allamah Hilli, Taftazani, and Mulla Sadra, who were already involved in this discussion more than others and propounded more solid and plausible theories in this regard. They have sometimes reviewed the same informed theories critically before some of the critiques of Descartes. In this way, the author reveals that Islamic thinkers’ interpretation of the Cartesian distinction is closer to Hume’s more solid interpretation of this notion than to that of Descartes himself. Hume states that clarity and distinction result in possible existence rather than the very existence of the researchers.