نشریه پژوهش های مابعدالطبیعی
سال چهارم شماره 1 (بهار و تابستان 1402)

The redefinition of human being is among the foundations on which Cartesian thought is based. Descartes, in his Meditations on First Philosophy and Search for Truth, explicitly criticizes the Aristotelians formal definition of man as 'rational animal' because of the fact that two pivotal concepts in it, i.e. animality and rationality, both are vague and confused. Instead, in Cartesian philosophy man is redefined as the unextended thinking thing that is very different from Aristotelian formal definition in that being thinking for Descartes, is so remote from being rational for Aristotle. The former relates only with the sphere of mind, while the latter with soul. Both animality and rationality are excluded from Cartesian new definition of man because within his dualistic thought/extension paradigm, all confused, qualitative notions have been replaced with clear and distinct ones. Now, in present paper, we try to explore that weather we can yet expect from the Cartesian man whose soul has been reduced to mind, rationality to speaking, and animality to movement and heat of internal organs, to behave morally within the world, as we do from Aristotelian one. Basically, can the Cartesian man, who has no sensation and imagination at first, do ethics, and has any moral obligation before the other beings.

Heidegger holds that, although Western philosophy begins with an inquisition of the meaning of Being as the purpose of Metaphysics, at the time, perverted by Plato, and the history of forgetting Being begins from that time. According to Heidegger, the crisis of European sciences and the death of meaning is caused by ontological nihilism. It initiates from the metaphysical dualism that has occurred during centuries of philosophizing due to the disregard of the concept of Being and the obfuscation of this most fundamental thing. Heidegger conceives that with hermeneutical and phenomenological analysis of Dasein as the primary habitat in which the first and most fundamental problem of philosophy, What is Metaphysics?, has become a new way of philosophizing, before the thinkers of the epoch to get rid of this "great desert that Every day expands" (Nietzsche's famous expression, which Heidegger analyzed in the book What is Metaphysics?). This inquiry attempts to examine the characteristics and goals of Heidegger's hermeneutical phenomenology in the criticism of previous philosophies and in line with fundamental ontology, which is a drawing for understanding Being.

Mystical theories such as the unity of existence and annihilation seem to conflict with the issue of free will. The main aspect of the conflict is that it is thought that there is no trace of humans left in the mystical stages and positions so that free will can be proved for him. When the human is not present as the doer of the optional activities in the mystical stages, it is natural that choosing and selecting humans in these positions will not be meaningful. This study indicates that there is no conflict and confrontation with human selection in these theories. To prove this claim, firstly, the principle of conflicting theories along with the direction of conflict of each one is mentioned, and then a comprehensive philosophical redefinition of free will is presented by using the two elements of dignity and human nature to be under a coherent and integrated system and to have the power to support this superior human characteristic in all dimensions and levels. Philosophical semantics of free will be threatened by some rules when they are answered to fully support the redefinition and to resolve some mystical ambiguities in this direction, two key principles and rules " Subordination of knowledge from the known" and "Sir al-Qadr" are used. According to these two principles, no will create an obstacle to the freedom of human action and humans are responsible for their free choices at every stage.

In light of the technological advancements and the digitalization of information, a new realm of "Being" -which is called "cyberspace" - was created by the attempt of modern humans, which while being based on the material world, flows in parallel to it and creates the subsist of the modern human's second world. Reflecting on the position and dignity of this space in the universe and its ontological characteristics appears to be one of today's research necessities. The ontology of cyberspace, which is one of the theoretical studies in this field, can have a decisive role in identifying our mentality and intellectual and behavioral bias in interacting with this space. The current research has explained the existence of cyberspace and its most important ontological characteristics with a library method and a philosophical and intellectual approach. The current research findings are: firstly, the objects in cyberspace are "real", not imaginary and delusional; secondly, they are a kind of "objective existence"; thirdly, they have a "similar to suspended forms" entity and fourthly they are a kind of the real existence not mentally posited. Also, since cyberspace nowadays has invaded and dominated the previous realms of Being, this space has outcropped as "Hyperreality". Finally, the most important ontological characteristics of cyberspace are being digital, the relative eternity of time, the missing link of space and time, and the case of borderless space, virtual memory, being hypertext, being networked and interactive.

A religious experience is a mental event that the experiencer occasionally and to some extent consciously experiences after encountering one of the spiritual elements, such as the feeling of the presence or involvement of a sacred and immaterial existence or power, the understanding of the ultimate supernatural reality, the feeling of achieving the highest human good, the feeling of elation, the feeling of liberation and salvation or the feeling of the true self, is experienced. Such an experience has an epistemological value and therefore plays a role in defending the rationality of religious action and religious belief, especially the belief in God. Mystical experience is also a kind of feeling of intuitive understanding of the ultimate and fundamental supernatural reality, a feeling of unity and oneness, a feeling of freedom from the limitations of time and place and individual self, and a feeling of elation and peace. Thus, it is undoubtedly a religious experience by nature. Because this experience occurs at different cognitive, educational, and moral levels of the experiencers and in different situations, conditions, and encounters, it has a remarkable diversity and has become the subject of various religious studies. Philosophers and epistemologists of contemporary religion have discussed the types of religious experience and their categories and characteristics. The present essay seeks to investigate the similarity of religious experience in contemporary philosophy of religion and Islamic mysticism based on the perspective of Caroline Franks Davis, the author of the book The Evidential Force of Religious Experience, and Jalaluddin Mohammad Balkhi known as Rumi, Mawlawi, and Mullahye Rumi. He is an Iranian poet and mystic of the 7th lunar century. In the history of Sufism in Iran and in the history of Persian literature, he is considered unique and rare. His unparalleled skill in various narrative and intellectual sciences and familiarity with the Qur'an and traditions (hadiths) and his high position in mysticism and his poetic taste have made him a unique figure in Persian and mystical literature.  It is obvious that religious experience has occurred in traditions and among different people since long ago, but as one of the issues of the philosophy of religion, it does not have a long history. Therefore, we should not expect that Rumi has expressed this issue in an organized way and with well-established and specialized titles and concepts in today's philosophy of religion, but considering the deep mystical and religious knowledge in his works, we can find some similarities between these two views. For example, he considers religion in principle to be opening a window toward the supernatural. This transition from the world of nature and paying attention to the other world, especially God, is possible through religious experience. He did not use the term religious experience, but spoke of the revelation of the heart, which is the same as a religious experience and flows from God to the heart of a mystic and a believer who has removed the obstacles. He finds it difficult to describe these experiences and inspirations accurately, but never considers them unreal and purely subjective. In his book, Davis places religious experiences in six categories: interpretive experiences, quasi-sensory experiences, revelatory experiences, revitalizing experiences, numinous experiences, and mystical experiences. Mawlawi has also paid attention to this difference in experiences in Masnavi (couplet poems) and his other works. For example, regarding interpretive experiences, he has repeatedly said that he sees God's hand in all apparently non-spiritual events. He considers God to be the real cause of all causes in the world. He sees the world as the manifestation of God. Pseudo-sensory experiences, according to Davis, in which a sensory element is involved, such as spiritual dreams, feeling pain or hearing a special voice when receiving a religious experience, seeing angels or prophets, or experiences such as calls, smells, tastes, the feeling of being touched, warmth and coldness and the feeling of flying are a large part of religious experiences. When these quasi-sensory elements are combined with a non-sensory or more complex religious experience, it is a sign that the experience has a special meaning or originates from a spiritual realm. In Rumi's poems, there are also features that Davis mentions for pseudo-sensory experiences, such as hearing the voice and clearly seeing a sacred and otherworldly being that gives advice to the experience. In some cases, Mawlawi describes his religious experiences as "light of light" or "Sun of Sun". He also tells about the incident that happened in his childhood while playing with other children, when he saw green-clad beings who took him to the throne of the sky and showed him the wonders of the spiritual world. Rumi has clearly said about revelatory experiences that they are the type of revelation of hearts, divine inspirations, and mystical observations. Mawlawi has made many references to the revitalizing features of religious experience. Revitalizing experiences are the most common type for ordinary people, many people have gained their faith from such experiences. These experiences strengthen and revive the faith in the experiences. In this type of experience, a person feels that God has guided him and has received special favor and care. One of the positive results of this experience is that hope, emotion and a sense of security emerge in the person who has the experience. The experiences of new hope, strength, peace, security, and happiness that are obtained during a religious activity such as prayer, or are apparently created by a divine force, or are accompanied by a feeling of divine presence, are considered religious. Regarding the characteristics of the numinous experience, Davis mentions some characteristics, one of which is the experience of the pull and awe of the sublime. This attraction has been described in various ways, and intense enthusiasm and devotion to that "other" is one of them, and it often led to the attraction and experience of a clear mystical union with the numinous. We see these themes in Rumi's poems and sayings. One of the most important types of religious experiences is a mystical experience, which is associated with features such as the feeling of understanding an ultimate (fundamental) reality, the feeling of liberation from the limitations of time and space and the individual self, the feeling of "oneness" (unity) and elation or peace. Mawlawi's works, especially his Masnavi, clearly speak of these characteristics. Rumi writes in Arabic in the introduction of the first book of Masnavi: "This is the book of al-Masnawi, and it is a principle, the principle of religion, in the discovery of the secrets of union and certainty." With this sentence, he wants to say that his book contains fundamental facts and tips about reaching God and the innermost aspects of religious matters that he himself experienced and now wants to tell to the audience. In short, the review of Mawlawi's works shows that he has addressed various dimensions of religious experience, including its diversity, and presented valuable points and truths about it masterfully in literary formats, which are equal to today's readings.

Jaegwon Kim (1934-2019) was a contemporary Korean-American philosopher whose research was on the philosophy of mind and metaphysics. This paper undertakes an evaluative examination and critique of his stance on the matter of mental causation. Kim's viewpoint on mental causation is based on reductive physicalism. This is how mental events become causally effective through the functional reduction of physical properties. He rejects physicalism's non-reductive reading. And, he believes, it involves the problem of over-determination. In his point of view, mental states can have causal power if their neuro-physical causes have such properties. Within the framework of the Canonical formulation of mental causation, the phenomenon of causal over-determination results in a diminished degree of causal efficacy associated with mental properties. Kim endeavors to expound his conceptualization of mental causation by elucidating notions such as the principle of causal exclusion, causation construed as production and closure principles. The author endeavors to evince the plausibility of mental causality. We argue that (1) supervening mental properties on physical properties makes mental properties to be an epiphenomenon. (2) The Causal Exclusion Argument inadequately preserves the presence of mental properties while simultaneously failing to provide a sufficient rejoinder to the concerns posited by the Generalization Argument. (3) The independency of mental properties from physical properties, and considering them as nomological, are incompatible with each other; and (4) reading causation as production contradicts physics' fundamental laws.

In this article with a study of the meaning of substance in empirical philosophers’ viewpoints, we show that Hume's negation of substance has influenced Kant's theory of knowledge. To solve the problem of knowledge, Kant, on the one hand, turns the substance negated by Hume into a thing in itself. In this way, he tries to provide a strong foundation for the phenomena and keep his philosophy from falling into the abyss of absolute idealism. On the other hand, with the Copernican revolution, he turned the substance into one of the categories and determinations of the subject. In this way, he kept its essential role in the formation of knowledge and paved the way for the object to correspond with the mind. Therefore, in a sense, Kant preserves the substance in the meaning of the predecessors, but no epistemic role is possible for this meaning; however, he tries to maintain the epistemic position of the substance in another sense. The reason why Kant, while transforming the substance of the predecessors into a thing in itself, did not abandon the substance, but presented another definition of it, was to be able to explain perception. Because he needed a permanent thing, of course, a permanent thing that can be pointed to its position with the subject, not an unchanging existence that is unknown with the objects.

Causality as an existential cause serves as a basis for Avicenna’s philosophy and is one of the vital principles of philosophical and rational problems. As a rationalist philosopher, Avicenna has proposed some new insights including the idea that causality is based on existence. Proposing the distinction between existence and essence, he has provided a new model for the God-world relationship. He believes that the relationship between the creator and the created can be explained by examining the causality relationship. Among different causes, he prioritizes the efficient cause (Agent) which makes things exist out of nothing. As to the God-world relationship explanation, he argues that God governs the world of beings as the cause of causes. As for its existence and non-existence, the Being as the effect and the possible (non-aseity) needs a preponderance (Murajjih) that is the cause of causes. Avicenna believes that God’s essential aseity entails God’s necessitated existence. Not only he defines the dependency of the caused on the cause as “the necessity by virtue of another” (Wujub Bilghair) or existential possibility in Sadra’s words, but he emphasizes the existential relationship between the caused and the cause. Then he opens a clearer horizon towards the primacy of being which had a great impact on Islamic philosophers as well as Western philosophers like Thomas Aquinas.

Today, equating the mind in Western philosophy with the soul in Islamic philosophy has become common but debatable. Presenting the theory of Islamic philosophy on anthropological issues requires a common concept that is approved by all perspectives. This highlights the need to suggest replacing the mind with the soul in Islamic philosophy. We should first clarify the position of mind in the two perspectives of Ibn Sina and Sadra, and determine which of the two perspectives considers the mind to be exactly what is known in the philosophy of mind. Then it must be inferred that, based on the view of which of them, it is possible to replace the mind with the soul. In Ibn Sina, the Nafs Natique is the human soul which is immaterial and rational. In Sadrian philosophy, the Nafs Natiqah is called the imaginary (Misali) level of the absolute human soul and with the faculties of the soul, which are imaginary (Misali), it has objectivity in their level. In Ibn Sina's view, the mind is either the epistemological status derived from the Nafs Natiqah or it shows the set of epistemic faculties of the rational soul. But in Sadrian philosophy, the mind is the human Natiqah level of the soul. According to Sadrian philosophy, it is possible to replace the mind with the soul at its imaginary level; but in Ibn Sina it is impossible.

One of the most important human concerns is how to have a clean, peaceful, and free life with the least suffering and hardship and eternal life. This research, with the analytical method and document study, seeks to answer the question, "What does Hayate Taybeh mean from viewpoint of Ayatollah Tabatabai and Ayatollah Misbah, and what are the ways to reach it?" The findings of the research shows that Allameh's perspective is a good life in this world and a new life that is specific to believing people with righteous deeds. But according to Ayatollah Misbah, a good soul with a good life has degrees that if someone becomes a real human being and reaches a stage higher than reasonable life, he will have a good life. According to Alameh, one of the factors for a person to achieve a good life is his worship and servitude, which originates from his self-knowledge, but in addition to self-knowledge, Ayatollah Misbah also emphasizes the key role of human desire and natural tendency and love and attraction to God. Also, leaving the fleeting pleasures of the world and the role of servitude and accepting the authority of the Shia Imams and faith combined with righteous deeds are considered by both of them to be effective in attaining a virtuous life. From the point of view of Ayatollah Misbah, what is most desirable is "intrinsic value" which is an example of "human perfection" and the example of human perfection is "closeness to God" which is the peak of human perfection and the main philosophy of human creation.

The problem of universals can be examined from two aspects: ontological (the state of the external existence of universals) and epistemological (our cognition of universals). This article mainly concerns the ontological aspect. Both of Fakhr al-Din Razi and Khajeh Nasir al-Din Tusi have furnished us with novel views and insights which, in spite of their significance and freshness, have not been yet studied seriously. This paper deals with their views on the ontology of universals. We conclude that they have almost similar opinions about the three different meanings of ‘kulli’ (universal) and three kinds of consideration of quiddity. Nevertheless, their elucidations and refinements of the ontological state of these three kinds of universals are totally different. Moreover, al-Razi’s view on the rational universal (al-kulli al-aqli) and Tusi’s interpretation of the natural universal (al-kulli al-tabi’ee) seems questionable.

One of the most complex and important issues in philosophy is its absence and rulings. This article tries to address one of the controversial questions in this chapter, that is, the realization and objectification of non-existence, from some philosophers’ point of views, and finally answer it with the foundations of Mulla Sadra. In Mulla Sadra's opinion, sometimes absence is opposite to existence and sometimes it is symmetrical to existence. The absence that stands in front of existence is nothingness and pure nullity, but the other means the lack of perfection, symmetrical and accompanied by existence; Therefore, among the early and late sages, both meanings have their own supporters, and the author believes that the dual fundamental theory of the existence and nature of Mulla Sadra can be considered as the chapter of the discourse of this conflict. Therefore, the author's new approach in this article aims to prove it by criticizing and reviewing the opinions of a number of supporters and opponents of the realization and objectivity of not focusing on Mulla Sadra's opinions, with a descriptive-analytical method.

This research with a descriptive-analytical method seeks to answer the old question "What is the body?" This question has been a topic of debate in the works of Ancient Greek and Islamic philosophical and theological scholars. The aim of this research is to achieve a precise definition of the body in order to obtain the conceptual foundations of various philosophical and religious topics. For this purpose, the lexical definitions of "body" and then by observing the chronological order of various scientific viewpoints, are reviewed. The most important of these viewpoints are Democritus, the Mutakallimun (theologians), and Peripatetic philosophers, Sheikh Ishraq, and Mulla Sadra. After examining and criticizing these viewpoints, the selected approach of this article will be presented: any entity possessing extension, whether it is tangible or intangible, or whether it consists of parts or is indivisible, is deemed a body, and from it the existence of the unit of intellect understands Hylomorphism concepts, physical form, and kind.

One of the disputes which has always existed in the justification of epistemological beliefs is the issue of extroversion and introversion in justification. A group of philosophers believe in extroversion and some others in introversion. In this context, Alston abandons the issue of justification and instead deals with epistemological issues. The main question is: What is Alston's view of justification? Achievements of this research: 1- Alston, by analyzing extroversion and introversion in the justification of beliefs, believes that both modes are needed to justify beliefs. 2-based on his point of view, a degree of awareness is necessary for justification. 3- And what exactly should be accessed and to what degree this access should be, what we have access to, and which is a justification has two introspective and external dimensions, that is, justification from one point of view in the ruling, it is based on belief (introspective dimension) and from another point of view it is true (externalist) according to Modi's verdict.

Believers in the existence of meaning for the concept of life can be divided into two groups: those who believe in the meaning of life and those who believe in creating meaning for the concept of life. Those who believe in the meaningfulness of life consider an inherent and hidden meaning for life that must be discovered. But those who believe in making meaning of life, deny the existence of an inherent meaning for life and believe in making meaning. This research is descriptive and with a deep analysis of the content, tries to provide a systematic explanation of the impact and impression relationship between the epidemic of Covid-19 and the problem of the meaning of life. The most important problem is human's encounter with existential suffering. That man can or cannot justify his/her suffering based on his/her intellectual foundations. If he/she is unable to justify why he/she is suffering, then non-existent and non-essential (Mahovi) sufferings are created, which causes the crisis of the meaning of life. It has become difficult for modern man to accept why he is suffering in the covid-19 pandemic, because he/she has become extremely dependent on humanism and scientism and also the role of God has been removed or weakened for him. God in modern human thought, either does not exist or if He does exist, cannot be a human support. Non-essential (Mahovi) sufferings such as the feeling of loneliness and helplessness or the feeling of emptiness and worthlessness of the values, created by scientism or humanism, cause the crisis of the meaninglessness of life and despair in creating meaning for life.

Focusing on the criteria of truth and falsity and what it is as one of the most key topics in the field of epistemology has always been discussed. Correspondence, coherence, pragmatism, relativism and assertively redundancy are the main theories of truth in the history of thought. In matching perception, meaning depends on matching with reality. Avoiding logical coherence and focusing on organizational and institutional coherence is the focus of the second approach. Pragmatists also think that function is the criterion for evaluating propositions. The diversity of relativists' perception is also the result of focusing on the difference of perceptual structures in passivity from external belonging. Finally, assertively redundancy's theory of statement does not give independence to truth. The root of the diversity and difference of the mentioned theories should be found in the quality of explanation of the relationship between the subject and object. The present article aims to analyze and examine the concepts that have been influential in the development of the theories of truth and have played the greatest role in the transformation of the concepts of subjectivity and the world into intersubjectivity and lifeworld by focusing on some influential currents in both continental and analytical currents. And how the relationship between the subject and the object has changed from relationship to inter relation.