Description, Analysis and Epistemic Explanation of the Structure of Theology as Discursive Science in Kitab al-Shifa

Kitab al-Shifa (Part of Theology) in comparison to the previous metaphysical works has a genuine and innovative structure, in addition to innovations in content. Regardless of statements of Ibn Sina in the Shifa's introduction, opinion of some researchers in Sina’s philosophy obviously denoted to this claim. Researching on the foundations and epistemic sides of this structure is valuable and necessary in that it can lead to clarifying depth, scope and type of Ibn Sina's view in establishing his metaphysics with marvelous and distinctive sides. The goal of this article is describing, analyzing and explaining the structure of metaphysics in this Ibn Sina’s masterpiece. For this, the article begins with categorizing the various levels of knowledge structure to four classes regarding the universal concept of structure and Ibn Sina's philosophy of science, including propositional, terminal, divisional and configurational. Then, we analyzed and described the structure of the Shifa's theology in case of these categories. According to the study, the structure of Shifa's theology is axiomatic in the propositional level, arboreal in terminal level and lineal in divisional and configurational levels. The result shows that foundationalism and essentialism in ontological and epistemological aspects, separately, had influence on creation of axiomatic structure of propositions and arboreal structure of terms in Kitab al-Shifa (Part of Theology). In addition, logic of asking question as a methodological factor influenced in its axiomatic structure.