Analysis of the Intellectual Principles and Educational Implications of Imam Khomeini's Thoughts

The concept of knowledge has been discussed in philosophy from the ontological and epistemological perspectives. Though the present article takes an epistemological view of Imam Khomeini’s works, its aim is not to separate the two perspectives. It rather aims at explaining some major points in the field of knowledge and their implications for Imam Khomeini’s educational philosophy. Questions like the quiddity of knowledge and its definition, types of knowledge, conditions on reaching a useful knowledge constitute the focus of the present article. This would include the different divisions made in the categorization of knowledge including acquired and intuitive, pragmatic and theoretical, and also a division based on the domains of human existence. The article also provides an explanation of the conditions for the usefulness of knowledge including the contiguity of knowledge with humbleness and self-refinement, internalization of sciences and knowledge, and the goodness of the agent. The final part covers the educational implication of the above-mentioned concepts.