Illuminative Realism; Reflections on Truth and Correspondence in Illuminative Wisdom

The relationship between subject and object is an epistemological issue which determines the realistic or idealistic position of a philosopher. Among Muslim philosophers, Suhrawardi moves away from Aristotelian realism and proposes a new theory called ‘resemblance’. Denying the apprehension of the essence of things, he challenges the essential correspondence and advances the theory of the resemblance of the subject and object through gaining knowledge from trait complexes. An important problem with Suhrawardi’s theory of resemblance is its idealistic approach and its introspective interpretations. The current study attempts to use the relationship between argumentative philosophy (rational philosophy) and intuitive philosophy (tasted philosophy) to refute the problem referred to above. The major argument is that Suhrawardi’s illuminative realism which substitutes similitude for correspondence can move away not only from Aristotelian dogmatic correspondence but also from idealism and can put forth a logical philosophical model which can explain the relationship between intuition and realty.