The Nature of Philosophy

 The scholars have mentioned three things as the criteria for distinguishing sciences: the subject matter, the method, and the purpose. The present study, conducted through an analytical-descriptive method, aims at finding the distinction between the philosophy and other sciences. The important finding of the study is that, firstly, the criterion for distinguishing philosophy from other sciences is the subject matter, not the method. Secondly, we found nothing in the statements of early philosophers to the effect that the feature and the criterion of the philosophy is the rational method. Thirdly, the Islamic philosophy is the philosophy nourished by revelation in its foundations and explanation of its subject matter.