A Critical Analysis of Allame Tabatabai Encounter with the Meaning of Idealism

In epistemology, the "idealism" school has had a profound effect on the formation of cognition. Since the construction of epistemology in Islamic philosophy relies on certainty, the obvious knowledge of the real world and the denial of any skepticism and relativism, this philosophical trend and its areas of application, among the Muslim philosophers, have been scantily explored. In this regard, Allameh-Tabatabai has treated this school and attempts to explain the flow of Islamic philosophy and calls it "realism" in contrast to the European movement and the epistemology of the philosophers of the West. He called epistemology as "realism" and proposed it against the common "idealism" movement in the West, and asserts that the point of separation of "realism" from "idealism" is the acknowledgment of the existence of the outside world. He believes that if one admits the existence of the outside world, he is a "philosopher" or a "realist," and whoever does not recognize the outside world in an absolute sense is an "idealist" and "sophist". This article, through a descriptive and conceptual analysis, discusses Allameh Tabatabai’s approach and his perception of idealism in the sense that is prevalent among the philosophers of the West. The results show that the meaning of idealism in Islamic philosophy, especially to Allameh Tabatabai , is different from the meanings and definitions proposed by Western philosophers. This different perception led to ambiguities that have ultimately resulted in inconsistencies between their analysis with some of the principles and meanings of idealism.