نشریه پژوهشهای معرفت شناختی
سال یازدهم شماره 2 (پیاپی 24، پاییز و زمستان 1401)

Gazali’s perspectives on gnosis and knowledge are so important, because he has known much different knowledge in his era. In this paper, the difference between revealed gnosis, as a particular knowledge that belongs to the Prophets and human knowledge specifically the terrestrial world, has been explained. He has divided the sciences based on the object of knowledge, and its method, and aims to show that revelation is the most transcendent one. He believed that the revelation can be called a gnosis. The value of revealed gnosis has two aspects: firstly, it is a piece of certain knowledge, and second, without it achieving felicity can’t be possible. Never the other sciences can replace it but he has not wanted to humiliate the other sciences. He has applied philosophical and mystical notions to explain the revelation, but has explicitly expressed the revealed gnosis can’t be considered the same as another knowledge.

In his philosophical structure, Descartes intended to organize, on the basis of mathematics, an efficient method of certainty for research and philosophy. The Mathesis is a body of universal and necessary truths of order and connection between ideas. According to Descartes' epistemology, man has become a researcher and discoverer who must discover himself. For Descartes, certain knowledge is possible, and in his structural cognitive style, action is a function of the form, while Dewey's cognitive style is a function in which form is a function of action and behavior. Examining the consequences of Darwinian views of the world, Dewey rejects Descartes' view: The question of the possibility of human knowledge has been fundamentally wrong. Dewey, by looking again at the absolute, the unconditional, and the certain, in philosophy, sees it only as a means to use if it results in success. Philosophy is not merely a mental organization of eternal and absolute truth, but a technology, method, and technique to be a means for social reform, regulation, and improvement of human and societal behavior.

Being and knowledge as two main elements of Islamic philosophical tradition have their own relations and semantics. In this research, we analyze being and knowledge’s relations in Peripatetic, Illuminative, and Transcendent Islamic and philosophical schools. Our research approach is fundamental, through analyzing-illustrating methods and by using a meta-combination style. Since meta-combination through integrating previous investigation’s data tries to introduce new data that make new conceptions and ideas. Therefore, we try to integrate and categorize between being and knowledge based on Sadrean’s school which is different from Peripatetic and Illuminative understanding regarding their relation. So through making ontological integration between being and knowledge, we reach to a new conception of transformation in the ontology of knowledge. The data and findings of the research show that there are two approaches regarding the ontology of knowledge based on the meta-combination method between being and knowledge that includes, first, the separation of being and knowledge, second, their unity or integration. The bases of their separation are quidditive relation between being and knowledge, and considering knowledge as a quiddity. And the basis of their unity is the ontological approach to being. On the other hand, paying attention to Mulla Sadra’s bases regarding integrity between being and knowledge or their equality or unity guides us to the deep gap between Transcendent Wisdom from Peripatetic and Illuminative schools concerning the relation between being and knowledge.

In the contemporary era, thinkers abandoned the issue of the mind in a way that gives rise to the idea that it is essence or material, and addressed the issue of what are mental states, what are their characteristics? On the other hand, Islamic thinkers has always been concerned to the human soul. Fakhr Razi, a famous Muslim theologian, has significant opinions in the discussion of philosophical psychology. He considers the soul to be different from the body, and he has studied a number of soul states and some of their characteristics. The current research deals with the question: what is the relationship between the states and qualities of the soul from Fakhr Razi's point of view and mentality in the contemporary philosophy of mind? In this search, some similarities between Fakhr Razi's opinions and contemporary mentality will be clarified; Emotional states such as pain and pleasure, and perceptual states from the point of view of Fakhr have certain characteristics such as the phenomenality and direct experience of these states for the soul. He has criticized Ibn Sina for not paying attention to these states in the definition of pleasure and pain. He also paid attention to science, which is one of the cognitive states, and it seems that by proposing the addition theory, he intended the consciousness for soul.

God speaking with the messenger and the quality of revelation received has been the vital problem for theologians and philosophers during the Islamic history. Islamic thinkers such as Farabi and Ibn Arabi have encountered this issue through what vision and form can be sent to the Prophet. Can other people except messengers like philosophers or mystics achieve that or not? If so, what are the differences between them and the prophet? Farabi has used his imagination to solve this problem. It can play the role of intermediate to make the relationship between simple and immaterial God and the prophet who is living in change and time, acceptable.  That is why some contemporary scholars interpreted the revelation as a dream. Ibn Arabi criticized Farabi’s thought, he has mentioned that the imagination is beyond the reason which is in need of senses, memory and rational faculty which is subjected to the error. Since Farabi’s approach may be considered by certain philosophers, it has its own importance. Ibn Arabi’s answers are the modern discussion which has not been presented by any one so far. As a result, it should be said that considering the revelation as an imaginative phenomenon is a sort of reductionism which has descended it to the level of unveiling and intuition.   The koranic words considered as existence will be reduced to human words. While the revelation is allusion and human words are the passage.

There are different opinions regarding the origin of Memes’ ontology. Some researchers, including Blackmore and Dennett, believe that Memes are cultural creatures, while others, including Lynch and Bridie, recognize them as intellectual entities. Moreover, some researchers, including Gatherer and Benzon, consider the Memes as physical existence. Some critics such as Boyd and Riechrson, and their supporters, deny the existence of the Memes. All these negotiations make it necessary to focus on the ontological scrutiny of the Memes theory. The present paper contributes to analyzing the discrepancies in the opinions for the ontology of the Memes using Popper's three worlds theory. In this study, the opinions regarding the ontology of the Memes are investigated with an introduction to Popper's three world’s theory. Then, we present reasons in favor of Mems pluralism. First, some Memes are in one, two, or three worlds simultaneously. Thus, The Memes should not be considered the same in terms of ontological cognition. Secondly, some Memes might be existing in two or three worlds at a time, while they might be in another world at another time. Popper's three worlds’ theory (especially world three) could have enough capacity for describing and discerning the ontology of the Memes due to robust linkage with the evolutionary epistemology and linking procedure of the three worlds.

One of the fundamental issues in the course of human perfection is the acquisition of knowledge. The higher level of the human knowledge is, the closer its soul would be to its perfection. This important issue has made many thinkers represent their ideas. Throughout history, thinkers have presented different methods in this regard. The basic difference between these methods is the usage of religion or faith (revelation). As a result, some of these methods have an intellectual basis and some have a faithful (revelatory) basis. Among the most influential people in this process is Imam Mohammad Ghazali. The main goal of the current research is to investigate the effect of Ghazali's epistemological method on the course of philosophy by an analytical-descriptive method. This research seeks to find the answers to these questions, which epistemic method is Ghazali's statements based on? What effects has his method had on the course of philosophy, especially Mulla Sadra's thoughts? Ghazali's dealings with philosophers have brought different perceptions in a way that even some people consider him to be an anti-rational person. But his exact position deserves a more comprehensive and clear investigation. In fact, with his statements, Ghazali established a new mode of moderate rationalism among thinkers. This influence can be found in course of rationalism in philosophy and specifically in Mulla Sadra. He, in agreement with Ghazali, finds philosophical reason unable to provide opinions in all fields and considers benefiting from revelation along with relation to be the most reliable epistemological method.

The science of geography is one of the most influential sciences in human life, which has had many changes in the past and present in terms of philosophical foundations. This development shows that the experts and thinkers of this field did not agree on the subject, nature, and definition of this science; but despite these divisions in the science of geography, today this science has found many capabilities and has acquired new specialized trends with the technical tools it has. The philosophy of the field of geography, as the constitution or constitution of the scientific system of geography, has a key and central role in the scientific life of this field. Although the transformation in human life and its new needs initially led to a specialization in the sciences, but with the expansion of scientific branches, attention to the totality of human knowledge also became a common feeling among thinkers to explain with a new attitude in the first step. The philosophy of the science of geography should be discussed and in line with that, the state of geographical knowledge should be examined.

The basic issue of this research is to examine and analyze the definition of "intention" in the philosophy of Davidson and Mulla Sadra, and its purpose is to distinguish "intentional action" from "unintentional". Clarifying the nature of this action and its precise definition is important in practical wisdom and some sciences such as jurisprudence, law, and ethics; because the subject of these sciences is intentional action. Davidson does not consider "intention" to be an independent mental state and reduces it to "the causality of belief and desire in performing an action"; therefore, an action is an intention if and only if it is the effect of the desire and belief of the agent. Mulla Sadra is also reductionist about "intention", but unlike Davidson, he considers an intentional action as an action resulting from "the will and the Second-order awareness of the agent for the purpose of the action". The results of this research, which were obtained based on the descriptive-analytical method and through the analysis of the logical requirements of the concept of "intention", show that Davidson's definition, due to facing problems such as "non-reduction of desire to will" and "deviant causal chain"; does not prevent others. As a result, Mulla Sadra’s definition of "intention" and "intentional action" is more defensible than his definition.

Knowledge of hadith is one of the topics that has been discussed more in logic and to a lesser extent in the principles of jurisprudence than in the science of hadith. The basis of the epistemological study of frequent news shows that the knowledge that is accepted by custom is sufficient to realize the knowledge of frequent news through the plurality of informants and the normal impossibility of collusion on lies. The dual division of Tawatar into verbal and spiritual and its subset will develop the epistemological scope resulting from the news of Mawatar by looking at the type of knowledge of its hearts in the form of matching, guaranteeing, and commitment. This article tries to use the descriptive-analytical method to challenge and prove the non-achievement of certainty through frequency as claimed by Fakhr Razi, and to prove that psychological certainty and confidence will be useful and sufficient for the informants of frequent news who are considered to be common people. It is not important whether the knowledge resulting from frequency is obvious or theoretical, because it can be gathered according to the probability theory of Martyr Sadr or the gradualness of the said knowledge in Ghazali's perspective. Also, the doubts raised about the sensibility of frequent informant science, such as the changeability of sensations, can be answered in detail in the issue.

One of the most important topics in the field of moral epistemology is the discussion about "foundations". Although each of the factors of desire, motivation, mandatory ends, emotions, revelation and intuition are known as the basis of moral knowledge, special attention has always been focused on the basis of reason. However, if the influence of reason in discovering moral values is measured on the one hand and other bases on the other hand, how will the influence of each of the mentioned bases be and what relationships can be imagined between these knowledge bases and the basis of reason? Barbara Herman, an American philosopher, and Mulla Sadra have considerable opinions in explaining this issue, so it was important and necessary to examine their views. The research was carried out by descriptive-analytical method and using text analysis and the findings showed that assuming other bases of moral knowledge besides reason, three different relationships were extracted between them. Both thinkers claimed that desire, motivation, and obligatory ends, among other things, are necessary and dependent on reason, therefore, they have an "efficacy" relationship with reason. Considering that Mulla Sadra considered the foundations of revelation and intuition to be the support of reason, the relationship of revelation and intuition with reason was considered to be of the type of "effect" relationship, and finally, Herman claimed that emotions are neither the support of reason nor dependent on it, but a complete basis. It is independent, therefore emotions and reason were placed in an "independent" relationship.

In the literature on the problem of the criterion, John Locke is described as a methodist: one who prioritizes the criterion of knowledge over its extent and believes that based on the criterion of knowledge, its extent can be determined. However, there is no independent research to substantiate this description. That is the arguments and evidence confirming that Locke is a methodist have not been presented and examined independently. The following article addresses this issue. Hence, the author after a brief review of the problem of the criterion and its background provides the reasons and evidence that Locke is a methodist, including the argument based on 'no innate knowledge', the argument based on 'tabula rasa', and the argument based on the rejection of epistemic authoritarianism. Then, the nature of his Methodism and, indeed, Locke's view of the criterion of knowledge are discussed. During this discussion, it is examined whether Locke considers the criterion of knowledge to be related to the achievement of knowledge or justification. Then, it is argued that if the criterion of knowledge in Locke's view is related to the achievement of knowledge, should his epistemology be considered naturalized? And if so, what is the significance of Locke's discussion of the primacy of the criterion of knowledge over its extent, which is a normative discussion?