JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHICAL THEOLOGICAL RESEARCH
Year:2015 | Volume:16 | Issue:4 (64)|Papers Count:12

Issues related to the philosophy of ethics are discussed not independently but dispersedly and relevant to other issues in the works of most Muslim philosophers, including Avicenna. This dispersion and thematic incoherence has sometimes led to misunderstandings and misinterpretations and even to unreal claims about their views on ethics. For example, there are some statements in Avicenna's different books to the effect that moral propositions are a type of well-known propositions. These statements have made many intellectuals to claim that moral propositions have social and collective identity with no reality other than men's consensus, according to Avicenna's view on ethics. No doubt, this claim will lead to such dilemmas as ethical contractarianism (ethical conventionalism) and even to ethical relativism, of which Avicenna's philosophical though is devoid. Citing the statements which have led to such claim, the present paper seeks to deny and resolve this wrong misunderstanding and claim and propose a comprehensive strategy to differentiate different ethical domains in order that other misunderstandings and fallacies are avoided in similar cases. Finally, using the proposed strategy, it rereads the statements narrated from Avicenna and proves that these statements can never lead to a perception implying ethical unrealism and contractarianism.

Comparative philosophy is not a review of philosophers' standpoints on one or more philosophical issues or among different philosophical schools. Most of the works on comparative philosophy lead to a review and explanation of similarities and contradictions or differences and commonalities of different philosophies on the issue. Generally, a comparative research has three conditions: 1) two philosophies which are different in terms of principles should be compared; 2) the common language of these two philosophies should be found in order to understand their principles; 3) having understood their foundations and principles, their aims should be understood. Therefore, comparative philosophy is not the history of philosophy in which all views of philosophers are narrated and possibly compared briefly. If a researcher does not begin and deal with the foundations and principles of philosophies, his comparison is superficial. So, comparative philosophy means comparing a philosophy as whole with another philosophy or even with the history of philosophy. Therefore, comparative philosophy is possible through a same language and dialogue among philosophers and their philosophies.

The problem of evils is one of the most obvious problems that atheists regard it as a serious problem faced by theists and claim that there is not a proper answer for the question "if there is an All-Merciful and Almighty God, why there are or should be such evils?". They regard it as a strong reason for theists' weak claim that God is All-Merciful and Almighty, resulting in the negation of God's existence. Providing a brief review of answers given to this question, the present paper shows that some intellectuals, in addition to regarding evils as non-existent, try to fully clarify the famous theory about evils, i.e. relativity of evils, by citing benefits of evils like transcending man's soul and making progress in human society. Mawlawi proves the relativity of evils by his different statements and believes that evils are a requirement of man's worldly life. If there were no evils, then not only many issues would remain ambiguous but also most of man's virtues and arts would not be actualized. On the other hand, Mawlawi believes that we can never find an absolute evil in the world and that evils are relative to each other.

Using the principle of "every temporal occurrence is preceded by a potentiality and matter which bears the former", Avicenna proved the existence of matter and potentiality (dispositional possibility). Subsequent philosophers and theologians reviewed and criticized the principle, Avicenna's argument and the relationship between essential possibility and dispositional possibility. Some of them hold that the two possibilities are equivocal, so Avicenna's argument as a fallacy of equivocation. Others regarded his argument devoid of any problem through proving that these two possibilities are univocal. Accepting body as a composition of matter and form is one of the requirements for believing in aforementioned principle. Therefore, such philosophers as Sohrevardi, Fakhr Razi, and Khawja Nassir who denied body as a composition of matter and form did not accept the principle. Issues related to dispositional possibility and its relationship with essential possibility were ambiguous before the advent of Transcendent Theosophy. After its advent, however, some of its followers proved and explained the principle "every temporal occurrence is preceded by a potentiality and matter which bears the former" and univocality of essential possibility and dispositional possibility using such principles as fundamentality and gradational unity of existence, and thence the validity of Avicenna's argument.

Hobbes's status in the present texts on philosophy, politics and society is high and influential because he has explicated and explained one of the most important issues of political philosophy and politics, i.e. power and state, systematically and comprehensively. In his book entitled "leviathan ", Hobbes took the first step in scientizing the politics by applying accuracy and certainty of mathematics rules to the field of politics, regarded leviathan or state as an artificial man using instrumental and organic metaphors and tried to explain all events and human desires, behaviors, conducts and feelings on the basis of the principle of motion using a mechanistic and materialistic analysis of man's nature. The gist of leviathan is that if society members want to have complete security in the society and observance of laws which aim to establish security does not harm them, they must entrust all their powers to an individual or a group. However, Hobbes's importance, first of all, lies in the fact that he established a relationship between exact sciences (e.g. geometry and mathematics) and such sciences as physics and psychology in his methodology and tried to use them in political studies and establishment of state. Therefore, he regarded geometric analysis-like method as a good and reasonable method to analyze all issues.

Providing an explanation of pleasure, man's perfection and essence in Sadrian theosophy, Bentham's act-based utilitarianism which bases the value of act on its pleasure, his seven criteria and criticizing them, the present paper seeks to prove that the existence of perfection is prior to the existence of pleasure raised from perfection in Sadrian theosophy. Ordinary man's motive to act is first to achieve pleasure and then the perfection itself. In this case, therefore, pleasure is posterior to perfection in terms of existence and subject can be prior to achieving and approximating perfection in terms of motive. Of course, some followers of Sadrian theosophy believe that friends of God have disconnected from their pleasure and that achieving perfection is prior to pleasure in terms of existence and the aim of subject is prior to the existence and perception of pleasure for them. Therefore, friends of God worship Him for His essence not for pleasure which is posterior to absolute perfection. According to Bentham, however, the only motive of man's acts is pleasure, that is, subject is prior to achieving and approximating pleasure in terms of motive and pleasure in prior to everything in terms of existence.

Demonstrating substantial motion and gradual movement of a being's nature from potentiality towards actuality, Sadrian philosophy proves the existence of a matter, beside the form and actuality of a being, which bears this potentiality. The claim means that man's intellective soul will have no perfection after its separation from body. On the other hand, religious texts have stipulated soul's perfection in intermediate world and other world when it separated from body. Since there can be no contradiction between intellect and pure religion, philosophers believe that this contradiction is rooted in human thoughts. Therefore, they have taken for granted the definitive content of religion and have tried to solve the problem. Some have accepted the renewal of likes and others have regarded the arguments for matter as inefficient. Still others have attributed immateriality only to the essence of the Most High God. It should be added that the aim of man's intellective soul is nearness and reaching to the indefinite Divine Being. Thus, soul's perfection cannot be limited to material limits; rather, it is limitless and should continue in other worlds. As Quranic verses and traditions imply, this perfection will not be immediate and abrupt. This is another solution for the aforementioned contradiction proposed in the present paper after reviewing some views on the possibility of substantial motion of soul separated form body.

The present research mainly seeks to analyze the content of the articles published in the Journal of Philosophical-Theological Research. It is an applied research which is conducted using content analysis method. Its statistical population includes 399 articles published in 54 volumes of this journal during 1378-1391 (1999-2012), whose data were gathered using checklist tool, analyzed using SPSS software and findings were presented through statistical tables and diagrams. The findings show that 378 articles (%94.7) were written and 21 ones (%5.3) were translated. There were 379 authors including 40 women (%10.5) and 339 men (%89.5).325 articles were written individually and 74 articles (%18.6) collectively. Those with PhD degree have written %48 of articles and PhD students have written %11.2 of them. Assistant professors have written %35 of articles and associate professors have written %10 of them. The review of authors' organizational affiliation shows that 112 articles (%28.1) were written by researchers of Qom University and Tehran University, Azad Islamic University, Isfahan University and ' Allamah Tabatabaii University researchers are the next, respectively. Thematic analysis shows that %25.6 of articles is on Islamic philosophy, %19.8 on West philosophy and %7 on modern theology. The content analysis and thematic classification of the articles on each domain show its research priorities as well as its weaknesses and defects in producing scientific information. Given the fact that there is no research conducted on philosophy using content analysis method and two other researches were a kind of citation analysis, it can be hoped that the findings of this research inform those in charge about the quantity and quality of published articles and help them design macro-policies.