نشریه حکمت اسرا
سال چهارم شماره 2 (پیاپی 12، تابستان 1391)

The emergence of mystical (quasi-mystical) experiences following the consumption of psychedelic drugs (hallucinogens) is one of those important proofs for their claimants to demolish epistemological validity of mystical experiences (mystical unveilings). By resorting to such deduction they try to claim that mystical experiences may always be aroused from abnormal physiological states of their experiencers, so they conclude that these experiences are not valid and cannot be confirmed that they manifest the reality.This article aims at investigating different aspects of the argument so as to show that it is deeply flawed because firstly, this argument is based on the existence of cognation between the experiences achieved by psychedelic drug users and those achieved by mystics and this is the case which cannot be proved by alleged evidences; secondly, even in case that the cognation in question is proved, it will exist between the former and those mystical experiences of extrovertive kind; thirdly, considering the extrovertive mystical experiences as invalid due to considering them as congeneric with quasi-mystical experiences achieved by psychedelic drugs is not accepted; fourthly, there is no reason represented proving the invalidity of quasi-mystical experiences. It has also been discussed in this article the criticism on the principle of “causal indifference” by Stace and also the Muslim philosopher's consideration toward the possibility of occurrence of perceptual connections with esoteric issues.

In this article we try to separate the concept of “practical rationality” from “cognitive or scientific rationality” to illustrate that this is the cognitive rationality which is connected to the “agent of cognition” and the “humanity's realm” taking its validity from the validity of rationality in paradigms of the philosophy of science. But on the other hand the practical rationality, which is connected to the “cognition” of the humanities, takes its validity from philosophy and ethical system. Furthermore the mission of cognitive rationality in the humanity's realm is the systematic identification of human's behavior and actions, because humans act in a way that they consider ethically true. Hypotheses in the humanities, which are a primary concept on identifying of human's behavior and actions, have the ethical quiddity, because they are indicatives of the system of human's action rationality. But it is possible to prove the hypotheses by scientific reality-indicative methods. The conventional humanities generally include some hypotheses trying to introduce the practical rationality system of the western communities. Even if that is the case and they have had a system of practical rationality, this means that they are only committed to their own moral code. In this article it will be shown that the “Islamic practical rationality” is a “fuzzy rationality” being able to explain all the human being's behavior. For this reason, the Islamic humanities are more universal than conventional humanities. It should be noted that in this article the Islam's attitude toward rationality and humanities is cognitive approach not sociological and cultural one.

This article tries to explain the relationship between the divine law and policy in the transcendental theosophy and also the four distinctions (difference in Origin, difference in Final Goal, difference in actions, and difference in passivity) of these two views of Mulla Sadra will be discussed. Paying attention to the analysis regarding the relationship between the body and soul is an innovation. In this paper as Mulla Sadra specifies, the relationship between the divine law and policy has been analyzed from the perspective of the relationship between the body and soul. In addition, this argument has been considered in terms of the theory of “substantial motion”. What is prominent in the Mulla Sadra's discussions is that he believes that the ultimate goal of the policy is to empower the divine law. So from this perspective, we can say that the policy prepares the ground for empowering divine law, which has been discussed in detail in this paper emphasizing on the relationship between the body and soul; and between the divine law and policy.

The most challenging problem in environmental ethics debates is the threatening environmental crisis which has been emerged due to the development in human material life. Those who are concerned together with researchers in this field have discussed on how to settle or manage the risk. The most important of these discussions include review on environmental ethical issues, understanding the correct moral relationship between human beings and natural organisms, finding the causes of environmental problems and difficulties, and criticism of manly western traditional morality in confrontation with the environment. In this article we try to enlighten these discussions and also draw the outlines of Islamic approach regarding the view of Hazrat Ayatullah Jawadi Amuli (may God protect him).

Environmental ethics is a controversial topic of our era which has attracted many philosopher's attention, in which understanding of nature by human, human relationship with the environment, and the sense of responsibility toward it are considered. This article aims at replying to this question of whether the nature has intrinsic value or extrinsic one; that is to say whether the value of nature is because that it serves human or the value of nature is inherent and also independent of what is inside the human's mind or it is human who gives value to it and or it is worthless regardless of human valuation? Since Mullah Sadra considers the universe, based on his philosophic fundamentals, as God's creature being the symbol of Allah's Names of Outstanding Excellence and His Elevated Attributes; and that he especially considers the system of existence as the Best Order due to divine wisdom and justice, he concludes that this Best Order has intrinsic value regardless of its being in human's service. In addition, since around the world is a manifestation of the Exalted God's names and attributes; all the creatures, as the manifestation of God's Beautiful Names, deserve to be cherished by human. The feature of being cherished by human indicates their intrinsic value because all the creatures around the world are a beam of His sovereignty and indication of His absolute existence.

The main purpose of this paper is to present a structured and systematic analysis on the dispersing comments of Ostad Motahhari (RA) on the subject of “social ontology”. The main point of this paper is to investigate Ayatullah Motahhari's answers to the ontological arguments on the “philosophy of social science”. Among the issues discussed in social ontology, four fundamental issues have been studied including “social anthropology”, “philosophical identity studies of the society”, “causality in the social world” and “the theme of social changes”. It is a belief in social anthropology that there exists a special kind of belief to “subjective qualities” in social activists, and pre-social identity will have a profound impact on the social explanation. In the second part of the paper it will be proven that Allameh Motahhari (RA) considers the society as “a real existence”, however he does not regard individuals assimilated into the community but he believes that every individual has a “relative independence” in the social structure. In the section of “causality in the social world” it is said that in view of Ayatullah, there exists a causal relationship within the social world; however the causes in question are not limited to the material ones, but the spiritual and immaterial causes also influence on social changes. In the final section, it has been discussed that the Ayatullah regards “social changes” as a special identity out of the conflict between the truth and falsehood.

This article aims at investigating the quality of society formation from the viewpoint of Allameh Tabatabaei (RH) and eliciting the principles and methods of social training based on which. Three basic fundamentals have been discussed in this article including “the instinct of employment” as a basis for society formation, “inevitability of discrepancies within the society”, and “the importance of family status” as the first step for society formation. Based on these fundamentals, principles and methods of society training should be formulated in such a way that they can employ the instinct of employment to serve the individual and society, help resolve disputes, and be successful in maintaining and strengthening the relationships within the family. By investigating the Allameh Tabatabei's ideas in this area, we can find out its capability for developing such principles and methods. Therefore, by using an attributive - analytical approach and based on the fundamentals of society formation from the viewpoint of Allameh Tabtabaei (RH), the present article attempts to deduce the principles and methods of society training. The results show the effectiveness of social training in improving social relationships and solving problems of the society.