A Study of the Validity of Gnostic Intuition in the Epistemology of the Transcendent Philosophy

One of the most important discussions in epistemology focuses on the origins of knowledge. Many contemporary Western philosophers disapprove of gnostic intuition as a source of knowledge while Mullā Ṣadrā, one of the greatest divine philosophers of the world, believes in the opposite and states that, in addition to rational arguments, religious texts also confirm the validity of this view. He maintains that some philosophical problems are outside the domain of reason and can only be accessed through gnostic intuition. According to the Transcendent Philosophy, gnostic intuition will be realized when there is an ontological connection or unity between the knower and the known, when both of them are immaterial, and when the knower depends on the self. In this paper, the authors initially explain gnostic intuition based on presential knowledge, refer to its specific features, and discuss its difference from introspection. Then, through examining the whatness of gnostic intuition and its different types, they investigate its validity and epistemological values and provide a list of the criteria that Mullā Ṣadrā and the commentators of his works have introduced for identifying valid intuitions. Finally, they examine its validity.