فصلنامه آیین حکمت
پیاپی 41 (پاییز 1398)

One of the most fundamental topics in the philosophy of knowledge is the problem of knowing the sources of knowledge. The sources of knowledge are those origins of which human knowledge is acquired for the human soul and by meeting which and using perception tools the cognitive self acquires knowledge. Sadr al-Mutuallihin and Rene Descartes have been two prominent philosophers of thought and of school in two different philosophical geographies that have provided specific, innovative and influential views in this field. The authors of this article have expressed their views in a concise and complete manner. Sadra introduces the world of nature, the world of ideas and the world of intellect as the main sources of knowledge. From Sadra`s point of view, the heart and the human intellect are two epistemic tools that, by promotion, have the ability to attain the status of epistemic source. Descartes, too, considers reason, self-evident knowledge and needless of any reflection, intangibles, dialogue, and books as the sources of knowledge. He, however, does not consider revelation, inspiration, basic causes, and true principles as the sources of knowledge. In the following we will review and critique the views of these two philosophers on these topics.

Human`s first perfection is known as his understanding soul, which is essential for his being human, and human`s second perfection are such perfections as knowledge and power. It should, however, be stated that sensation, imagination, intellection and other actions and interactions, as well as all things that occur after humanity, are also known secondary perfection of the human kind. In the article ahead, the human`s ultimate perfection, being of the second type of perfections, is a complement for an order beyond which no perfection may be possible for human being. The view of Khwaje Nasir al-Din Tusi on the ultimate perfection of man is meaningful through two seemingly different approaches found in his philosophical system and his mystical system. In the former, the ultimate perfection of man is in the form of rational evolution and may be known as the flourishing of theoretical reason. A man who has reached his theoretical intellect at the highest level, would attain the highest degree of happiness (aqli mustafad). In the latter, however, which may be taken as the continuation of the former, he views the ultimate perfection of man as being the present observation of God. Entering the path of perfection, the human soul goes beyond the rational perfection, forgets himself/herself completely, sees nothing but God, and attains unity. At the end of this article, we will give some considerations of these philosophical and mystical attitudes and their relationship

In transcendent philosophy, the imagination is one of the most important aspects of the human being, which is promoted by the inward movement of the senses and precedes the intellect. If one uses this faculty under the control of the intellect and thereby rescues himself from stopping and the multiplicity of conceptual forms and meanings, he can attain divine monotheism through this power. This faculty has also been referred to as "the power of purgatory" because of its being in common in the field of some characteristics of sense and intellect. An attempt is made to explain the role of the purification of the imagination in attaining divine monotheism by analyzing the views of Allameh Tabataba'i and Ayatollah Javadi Amoli. On the basis of the unity of the mind and the powers and the unity of the knowledge, the knowing and the known, they believe that if the theoretical reason the and practical reason be united, one may achieve the divine monotheism by the power of imagination, because by focusing the imagination on outer and inner journey as well as its control by human will under the rule of the faculty of intellect, attaining the Truth would be possible.

Sometimes human beings, through imagination, make new faces and bodies from the tangible realities that these imaginative forms refer to. And sometimes the imaginary forms are some reflections of the incorporeal world in human`s peaceful hearth. Some imaginary forms, however, which are called evil and dark forms of imagination, are neither originated from natural principles nor from incorporeal principles, for the world of nature is that of natural earthly beauty, and the incorporeal world is that of heavenly beauty.
 Thus, what meant by the imaginary forms for philosophers in ontology and epistemology includes both good and evil imaginary forms. Ibn Sina and Sheikh Ishraq, in a common view, consider some evil forms of imagination as being unrealistic and originated from agitation of imagination, and in a different way, Ibn Sina attribute some of these forms to the incorporeal world, while Sheikh Ishraq refers to them with such names as hayula, monster, ghool, giant, dark forms, jinn and devil occurred by the absolute and limited imaginary world. In this article, along with expressing the viewpoints of these two philosophers, we will elaborate the place and the manner in which the forms of imagination are realized, as well as the implications and consequences.

The unity of the knowing and the known, as a theory, has a special place in transcendent philosophy. Some philosophers including Ibn Sina, have denied the theory; Mulla Sadra, however, agrees with it. This disagreement is due to the differences founded in their philosophical foundations; so that one may say: this theory can only be conceived on the basis of transcendent philosophy. The content of this theory, on the basis of common views, is the unification of human mind with its scientific forms. Mulla Sadra's specific principles and theories about the nature of the soul as well as in epistemology allow for a specific interpretation of this rule. The common view of the process of perception lie in the effect of the outside world and the ascendant state of knowledge, there may be found a downward spiral of knowledge. On the basis of the simplicity of human soul, every object in the outside world has a principle and reality in the inner of rational order of man. Given appearance of this simplicity, all rational, imaginary, and sensory perceptions would appear in downward orders of sense and imagination.  emergence of that principle in the far infrared, including imagination and sense. Mulla Sadra considers this field of knowledge in his theory of which the best expression, regarding the unity of zahir and mazhr, is the unity of the knowledge, the knowing and the known.

The basis of Divine science in the illumination philosophy is light, appearance, presence, and intuition, and Sadrian explanation of the Divine essence is none other. The Exalted Necessary Being knows His Essence essentially for the sake of the fact that He is appear and present for Himself. The base for the Divine Science to others is the same light and appearance. Nur al-Anwar, the light of the lights, dominates the entire universe in its essentiality and richness, so that no creature, whether earthly or celestial, corporeal or incorporeal, is out of this light, existential and scientific realm, even material beings are known for Him by their real and objective existence. Mulla Sadra's monotheistic and Qur'anic system of thought do not consider any particle of the universe as being excluded from this scientific dominance, and Sadra`s clear sayings facing the fact may be taken only as the ways of justification not of acceptance.