Freedom from the Manifestations of Idols of Ignorance: Elements of Dogmatism and the Opposing Strategies in Mullā Ṣadrā’s Philosophy

Ignorance and dogmatism have always existed in various historical periods of epistemological disciplines and revealed their faces in their opposition to knowledge. Ignorance appears through separation from the necessities of knowledge. The spread of ignorance in the culture of social relationships threatens the place of scientific resources and epistemological cradles. Through breaking the idols of ignorance, Mullā Ṣadrā writes about the objective manifestations of such idols in society. He believes that the promotion of social relationships demands the creation of cradles for knowledge, and any kind of ignorance in this regard will result in the dominance of epistemological inefficiency. Through a semantic analysis of ignorance, Mullā Ṣadrā talks about one of its most obvious manifestations, which is dogmatism. He maintains that moral norms and epistemological necessities fade away in a dogmatism rooted in ignorance. The criticism of ignorance and reproach of ignorants in Mullā Ṣadrā’s portrayal of this phenomenon is manifested based on four elements: 1) lack of verification of mental understanding in conformity to reality, 2) lack of derivation of comparative elements particularly in the light of its functional dimensions such as unjust evaluation, 3) mental stagnation, and 4) defective social competition, which refers to the wrong quality of efficiency. When criticizing the culture of his time, Mullā Ṣadrā refers to the rise of ignorance behind the guise of knowledge as an important epistemological pest. In all his criticisms of this stagnant process, he introduces the weakness of true knowledge in society, spread of social foolishness, corruption of social justice, and frailty of the epistemological foundations of society as its most important outcomes. He propounds the treatment of ignorance in the light of a wise method of living while attending to its necessary elements.