A Realistic Description of Allameh Tabatabai's Conventional Matters

Since Allameh Tabatabai categorizes ethical terms in conventional understandings and negates their logical value and representation of reality – in his book "Osool Falsafeh va Ravesh Realism" – and also considers them to be dependent on vital needs and special environmental factors and thus believes they change by the evolutionary movement of social life and are temporary and unnecessary, some ambiguities are formed: does he believe ethical matters – and consequently religious commands - are realistic or not. Some have ascribed him of ethical relativism although they believe him being unrealistic in this field is unlikely.
If we say, regarding ethical terms, being conventional is equivalent with being agreed-upon and non-declarative, therefore no ethical term will be related with the outside reality; rather their validity will depend on the demand and agreements of the society and thus it will be negated that they are realistic and consequently are absolute and will result in relativism of ethical system. This article will try to investigate Allameh's theoretical base regarding ethical terms, whether they are declarative or non-declarative, with an analytic look, considering his theoretical bases and the collection of his views in his different books. In this article it is also researched how the distinguished pupils of Allameh confront his theory of conventional matters and will clarify his idea on conventional matters. This matter has undoubtedly a great effect on how to use religion and religious teachings in ethical aspects and religious commands.