An Introduction to Philosophy of Mysticism

It's not a long time that the philosophy of mysticism as a new born scientific field, has occupied the minds of scholars of this field. It is to be admitted that this subject has been studied from different perspectives; because some have just explained the ‘eight headings of sciences’ {the bases of science discussed before entering its discussions}, and some have seen the realities of existence philosophically and analytically, and have criticized and evaluated its bases, criterion and frame-works and have chosen a holistic, external and comprehensive perspective. The philosophy of mysticism studies subjects such as: the essence of mysticism, mysticism and religious experience – their similarities and differences, mysticism and inexplicability, the possibility of having a mystical experience and the validity of mystical intuition, the goal and functions of mysticism and some other similar subjects.I believes the discussions of this field are completely open and untouched; and due to the importance of mysticism and its position among other sciences and the necessity of preventing deviation and going to the extremes in this field, the discussions of this subject is a greater duty for the discussers. Yet I believe that the present article includes some introductory and selected discussions which should be completed by specialists.