فصلنامه حکمت اسلامی
پیاپی 23 (زمستان 1398)

In order to produce religious knowledge and Islamic humanities, one is to define an apparatus of deductive cognition; one is thus able to infer descriptive data from the religious resources and to plausibly develop theories that reveal the meaningful relations among various constituents. Web paradigm is an attempt to propose a systematic postulates and method of deduction for the development of such a cognitive apparatus. The core characteristic of such a cognitive apparatus is “the web-like feature of existence”, from which web-like ontology, web-like humanities, web-like epistemology, web-like methodology, web-like axiology, web-like society and historiology, and web-like theology might be inferred. The outcome of the modifying “web-like” is in “the requirement of distinguishing and determining the equation of going forward in the large scale of existence in the course of descriptions and prescriptions.” This paradigm is a rival to the three ones of (positivism, interpretation, and criticism) prevailing in humanities examined comparatively in this article.

What is understood from the very possibility of knowledge and cognitive realism is the perceptions whose essences reveal the objects known. However, by introspection we may find some mental ideas whose essences fail to reveal anything. In their article, the authors mainly try to propose an ontological explanation of how mentally-constructed perceptions and ideas reveal something in the framework of the criterion of there-being [in contrast to the criterion of demonstration] of knowledge. Having reviewed the issues and suggestions related to the nature of mental ideas and their examination such as the theory of apparition, capability of revealing, and the explanation of the essence of revealing, the authors have tried to propose one single framework for the process of revealing of true and mentally-constructed perceptions and ideas. Their answer is that mentally-constructed ideas do not stand in line with true perceptions, but come after them in a hierarchical order. By virtual widening the scope of the referents of true perceptions, we may encounter semi-entities that partially resemble the objects of true perceptions. In this proposal, both “mental-construction” and “partial resemblance” play their role in the process of none-essential revealing; however, there is no partial resemblance between a “mental image” and the “so-called object known”. Rather, there is partial resemblance between “real referent” and “so-called referent”. A mental image reveals by essence the true object to be revealed, but in comparison to the so-called object known its revealing is none-essential.

In what follows, the authors have revised different views on the origin of meaning in social sciences according to the subject-object relation, and then they have stated the position of Sadraian theosophy on the issue. In this course, three major approaches have been recognized: object-centered view, subject-centered view, structuralist view.     The first view seeks for the origin of meaning in the object and the second in the subject and its creations. Having considered the death of sense-making subject, the third view seeks for the structured meaning in the midst of cultural and historical relations. In contrast, Sadraian theosophy does not embrace the tie between the knowing subject and the object to be known according to the subject-object relation. Nevertheless, according to Sadra’s viewpoint, mankind has an earthly-heavenly identity whose relation with the meaning of his perceptions is developed according to the rule of union of the knower and the known on some scale, and on another scale, according to the mechanism of metaphor, man’s common nature, and his reserve of true meanings. Accordingly, the origin of meaning is from God who gives the forms, and man has the option to either turn to the Giver of forms or turn away from Him and thus decide about different worlds of meaning for himself. This viewpoint has its outcomes in social sciences: that we are not obliged to reduce meanings to the level of sensible objects, that we might embrace different systems of necessary meanings outside man’s inner being, that we may consider man’s unified and single identity, and that we may not reduce the identity of meanings to the merely conventional and social issues.

Whether there is “social reality” for Sadra's transcendental civil theosophy rests on the possibility of founding human science in conformity with the Islamic philosophy. In fact, to ask whether it is possible to found the above human science challenges the capacity of transcendental theosophy as a prefect system of philosophy. Were the answer negative, it would be construed as some deficiency in the Islamic system of Philosophy. In his article, the author aims to explain the concept and weight of “realism” for the whole transcendental theosophy. The author claims that “realism” has a main significance in ontology, epistemology, and the system of values in the transcendental civil theosophy. Thus, the realistic explanation of social affairs is developed into a main issue in civil philosophy.     The method of the research is to make reference to library and to quote from the masters of this theosophy as the document for what is claimed. The findings might be used for matters such as proposing realistic view on the products of consideration or the capacity of transcendental theosophy for founding of humanities

In what follows, the authors have demonstrated that the tie between a theory and observation is not linear nor is it straight. In order to do so, they have made use of a case-study, i.e. Einstein's theory of special and general relativism and its ratio to observation and theory. They have also assessed how Einstein made use of philosophical theories current at his time and how he benefited from empirical observations to develop his theory. We have also demonstrated that in modern physics testing theories is not so easy. As a result, there are different factors from the academic society playing in the process of compilation and acceptance of a theory.

The union of the intellect and the intelligible is one controversial issue of philosophy examined and proved in Sadraian philosophy. In their article, the authors do not aim to repeat the pros and cons of the intellect and the intelligible or their weak and strong points; rather, they want to pursue another approach to it. Viewing the complexity of this theory, the commentators of Sadra’s theosophy have different conceptions of the tie between the intellect and the intelligible forms and their how-union. They hold that those conceptions as to knowledge fall in three groups. Having considered knowledge as the category of quality belonging to the soul, some of them say that the union of the soul and the intelligibles is of that of substance and accident. Others who regard knowledge as an illuminative attribution argue that the soul-intelligible union is the same as that of res (thing, entity) and quasi-res. Another group holds that, in Mulla Sadra’s view, knowledge is a meta-category thing [i.e. it belongs to none of Aristotelian categories of substance or accident] whose reality is identical with the soul, and thus the soul-intelligible union is of sameness. Having examined the above three views, we came to the conclusion that the intelligible form is identical with the very soul and the sameness of the intellect and intelligible is closer to Sadra’s approach.

In the analysis of the texts of the revelation, one of the most striking notions in the meaning of the concept of Imamate is the authority of obedience. By analyzing the narrations that follow the concept of Imamate, such as the narrations following verse of the great kingdom, it is possible to establish the idea of this relationship between Imamate and the authority of obedience. According to these narratives, even in cases where there is no direct revelation, the statement of Imam is obedient because the Imam is entitled to the protected with Divine discipline. Among the implications of accepting this theory is the difference between obeying the Imam and the prayers of the prophets and messengers. The commandment of the prophet and the apostle is attached to the direct divine revelation, but the instructions of the Imam refer to this. The commitment to the existence of only one Imam at any time is one of the other Consequences of this theory. This paper, analytically analyzes the framework and components of the theory of consistency of the concept of Imamate with the authority of obedience on the basis of revelation texts.

The explanation of the meaning of philosophy and its method in modern time in comparison to that of the Islamic theosophy and its method helps us tell the identity of the former from that of the latter. The rise of modern law in contrast to the Islamic law owes to the philosophical foregrounds and meta-law approaches. Consequently, study of the foundations of ontology epistemology and methodology of law and its philosophical foregrounds help us know its identity.     Viewing the wide scope of the philosophy of law in modern viewpoint, this research goes to merely refer to Immanuel Kant Auguste Comte, Vienna Circle and those on the margin on the meaning of philosophy of law. In respect of the meaning and method of Islamic theosophy, the authors have tried to offer a different philosophy of law. In its celebrated meaning, the philosophy of Islamic law is a discipline in which a set of similar sort of propositions are directly put together in the light of the Qur’an, proof and ‘irfan (Islamic mysticism) in order to ponder over the creation of the Islamic law system and to explain its epistemological infrastructure. In the course of pursuing this idea, resistance against modern interpretations of law can be a strong point to lift the position of the philosophy of Islamic law.