فصلنامه حکمت اسلامی
پیاپی 9 (تابستان 1395)

This article aims at giving a 'causal explanation' of empirical understanding of human agency in his deeds and behaviors. Causal explanation cannot be restricted to explaining other creature's deeds which are in accordance with certain rules. The author tries to show that each one of man's behavior belongs to specific longitudinal and latitudinal spheres each of which lies under a specific causal relationship. In the causal relationship existing in these spheres, man's behavior emerges as an integrated entity. The distinction between natural sciences and humanities are the difficulties one faces when one attempts to present a causal explanation of human behavior, social or individual, depicting it as an effect of multiple but gradual existential causes. The solution to this problem is not to reduce to sphere to another nor is the solution to neglect one sphere for the sake of another. The solution to this problem is to carry out investigation for longitudinal and latitudinal causes on the basis of human being's common nature.

The main theme and purpose of this study is to explain the nature of philosophy of psychology. The author follows an analytic methodology through assessing the concept of philosophy and studying the instances of philosophy of. Research data are as under: according to the first approach philosophy of psychology is a semantic, ontological and epistemic assessment and is a moral attitude towards psychology. Based on the second approach, philosophy of psychology is a second order knowledge that assesses the conceptual and assertive axioms of psychology. It concludes that philosophy of psychology is different from philosophy of mind and philosophical anthropology, though they overlap each other in certain areas.

There is an approach according to which humanities and natural sciences are two utterly different domains, following different rules. Thus they should not interfere with the domain of each other. This theory which is more or less advocated in certain epistemic realms such as science and theology by some and is vigorously dependent on Wittgenstein's doctrines deals eventually with sciences as scattered islands. The author of this articles argues why this theory is incorrect having negative consequences for the development of sciences.

This article is based on a syllogism which is in turn based on the following premises: First premise: knowledge corresponds with lifestyles. Second premise: language corresponds with knowledge. language corresponds with lifestyles. The first premise presumes that lifestyles are based on a particular epistemology. The second premise deals with the nature of relation between language and knowledge, an old topic tackled by philosophers, linguists and logicians from sophists to post-structuralists. What is the relation between language and knowledge? Are they the same or different when they are realized? If they are different from each other, which is prior to the other? The conclusion is that: firstly there are different language structures. Secondly these different language structures lead to different lifestyles. This has been realized in Western and Islamic traditions both theoretically as well as historically and socially. In order to prove his theory, the author has made use of both conceptual as well as objective structures.

The author tries to present the theory of conventionality advocated by thinkers like Muhaqqiq Iraqi and Allama Tabatabaei in a way that leads to a social theory capable of ontologically explaining human behaviors whether individual or social. The article however gives more attention to the social aspect of the theory. We cannot attain this goal unless we are familiar with the classifications made by philosophers. The familiarity with this classification helps us determine which category the social phenomena belong to. According to Iraqi when we consider the concepts of 'seller' and 'buyer' an objective instance of a considered identity (for example ownership) emerges which enable us to derive from them the concept of ownership. This newly obtained considered identity is the social reality of buying and selling which arise from a social act. Making a philosophical investigation about the foundations of consideration, Allama Tabatabaei creates a link between consideration and human will shedding thus light on the psychological elements of consideration and the methodology of making a research on considered things. Such inquiries by Allama bring to light his theory concerning social facts and the theories presented by usuli scholars like Muhaqqiq Iraqi.

Psychology or self-knowledge matters in all cultures and [that is why] religion, philosophy, ethics and mysticism lay stress on self-knowledge. Socrate's well-known message was "know yourself". In Socratic philosophy, self-knowledge is the foundation of ethics and virtues. Philosophy basically aims at perfecting human soul and so does religion. It is not possible to attain this goal without knowing and training the soul. It is because of this that the Glorious Quran and Islamic traditions give importance to self-knowledge as the best kind of knowledge and as a key to wisdom and virtues, considering education and purification as the goal of divine prophet's mission. This has prompted Muslim philosophers and mystics to take the subject of self-knowledge seriously into account. According to this approach, theosophy is a journey towards perfecting one's soul theoretically and practically. That is the reason why Mulla Sadra has called his magnum opus on philosophy 'four journey's (al-asfar al-arba’a) corresponding with four spiritual journeys. Theoretical philosophy offers the epistemic foundations of this journey plus with its origination and destination, whereas practical philosophy tells us how we can reach the said destination. The concept of 'four journey's is borrowed from ‘irfan (Islamic mysticism) which is based on spiritual journey and in which the wayfarer is the soul that journeys. Practical mysticism tells us how we can undergo the journey and theoretical mysticism explains its achievements and the spiritual geography where this journey takes place. The present article explains the dimensions of the self-knowledge and its role in completing human soul. According to the author, self-knowledge has different dimensions which can be followed through empirical, intellectual, religious and mystical methodologies. With the application of these methodologies, out will come different sciences related to self-knowledge. These sciences include psychology, philosophical self-knowledge, mystical self-knowledge and religious self-knowledge. He will also assess the impacts of self-knowledge on self-building.

Various classifications are available of the academic life of Mulla Sadra, of which the most important is the classification made by Allama Tabatabaei. According to this classification Mulla Sadra's life can be divided into three periods of learning, mortification and self-purification, writing and teaching. Nearly all those who have come after Allama Tabatabaei have made use of this classification for explaining Mulla Sadra's life. The author is of the view that one can talk of three Mulla Sadras when one evaluates Mulla Sadra's academic life: young Mulla Sadra, middle-aged Mulla Sadra and old Mulla Sadra. Young Mulla Sadra is in pursuit of knowledge. The middle aged one intends to rewrite philosophy on the basis of the principle of priority of existence whereas the old one follows an integrated unity on the basis of Quranic, traditional and mystical discussions. This study offers a new classification of Sadra's works so as to pave the ground for assessing the place of politics in his works.