The Epistemological Development of Imamiyya Kalam in the Middle Period and Ibn Sina's Role in it

An important issue in studies of Ibn Sina and Kalam is that of the interaction between the former's philosophical tradition with the latter and the extent to which Ibn Sina's philosophical doctrines influenced Shiite and Sunni scholars of Kalam. One consequence of the development of Ibn Sina's philosophical thoughts in the middle period was the formation of the school of philosophical Kalam among Sunni scholars by Fakhr al-Rāzī and among Imamiyya scholars by Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī. The introduction of Ibn Sina's philosophical doctrines into debates of Kalam led to remarkable developments in the ways in which Imamiyya scholars of Kalam treated various issues of Kalam. In this paper, I will compare the epistemological issues of the pre-philosophical Imamiyya Kalam known as the Imami School of Baghdad with those of the Imamiyya School of philosophical Kalam, and I will then explain various influences of Ibn Sina's philosophical tradition on these issues in the middle period of Imamiyya Kalam. Some important aspects of this fundamental change include: semantic developments of some epistemological terms, new categorizations for knowledge, the introduction of some epistemological principles, accounts of how human beings achieve knowledge, and new problems for epistemology.