JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHICAL THEOLOGICAL RESEARCH
Year:2012 | Volume:14 | Issue:1 (53)|Papers Count:13

It is claimed that the principality and gradation of being, as elaborated in the philosophical thought of Mulla Sadra, lead to nominalism. This claim is raised in different ways. The rejection of natural universals and any kind of immaterial being such as Platonic ideas is one of the results of nominalism.Mentally-posited status of quiddities is the most important reason for those who believe that there is no distance between the philosophical system of Mulla Sadra and nominalism supporting their claim by two other ideas of Mulla Sadra: particular gradation of being and substantial motion. Also some of the commentators of Sadra philosophy, without alluding to the relation between the principality of being and nominalism, asserted that there is no place for natural universals in the philosophical system of Mulla Sadra and his occasional usage of this word stems from the sediment of the idea of principality of quiddity, which was current before Mulla Sadra. This article intends to reject this claim. A precise examination of Mulla Sadra’s philosophy will show that he uses the words such as natural universal, specific form, essence, and quiddity in a new way with a different meaning.Furthermore, he believes in Platonic ideas in a modified way. So, Mulla Sadra is not a nominalist; he is a realist that integrated the theory of Plato and Aristotle. In addition to Platonic ideas, he believes in specific form, natural universal, and quiddity; although they are subordinative beings.

In this article we intend to find out the main basis and features of analytical philosophy of religion, an approach raised by religious analytical philosophers against the movement of atheism and agnosticism in the second half of the twentieth century. This article mainly moves toward proving three features for this approach: 1. Trying to reach maximum clarity in language and endorsing common sense instead of logical atomism.2. Paying attention to the achievements of new empirical sciences and validating the value of religious experience instead of logical positivism.3. Trying to examine religious statements rationally and offering a criterion for their truth and falsity. As a result, the main challenging grounds of philosophy of religion and the parts of analytic philosophy used in philosophy of religion will be detected.

Idea, the principal term in Spinoza’s epistemology, is an indirect mode for the attribute of thought. Idea is a primary, active, and judgmental constituent of the human soul. Different kinds of idea entail: imagination, reasoning, and intuition. Having the same meaning, truth and adequacy are the criteria of its validity. Correspondence is an extrinsic mark of the truth of idea and explanation, whereas, evidence, clearness, and distinctness are the intrinsic marks of the adequacy of the idea. According to Spinoza, knowledge is divided to two kinds, complete knowledge and incomplete knowledge, the common feature of which is "justified belief". So knowledge is a belief (an idea with judgment) which has a justification (causal explanation or sensory evidence). Therefore, imagination, reasoning, and intuition are from the category of knowledge, however, only the second and the third are regarded as complete knowledge.

In general, there are two current views on the interpretation of the concept of objectivity in Frege. The first view addresses objectivity in the realm of ontology in which the objectivity is independent of everything even human reason. According to this view, one could call Frege’s philosophy a realist philosophy. On the contrary, the second view sees objectivity or the objective in the realm of epistemology, in which the objective is accessible to human reason as an intersubjective thing. Comparing these two views, we would show that every interpretation that regards the objectivity as intersubjectivity would lead to Kant’s transcendental idealism and introduces Frege as a critical philosopher in its Kantian sense. Besides entering theoretical inadequacy in the totality of Ferege’s thought, such an interpretation is incompatible with his philosophy of arithmetic, as, for example, Frege argues that arithmetic as a branch of logic cannot be based on intuition. Accordingly, believing in internal consistency of Frege’s philosophy of arithmetic, we make use of necessary evidence to emphasize on ontological interpretation of the objectivity of thought in his views.

Avicenna as one of the great commentators and teachers of Aristotelian philosophy is a rationalist philosopher setting the most emphasis on reasoning.In some of his works, however, he showed an inclination toward illuminative philosophy. Some of these works are as follows: Hayy Ibn Yaqdhan, Risalat al-Tayr, Risalat Salaman wa Absal, Qasidah ' Iyniyyeh, and Risalat fi al-' Ishq and most importantly the last three parts of Al-Isharat: speaking of happiness and felicity, the positions of mystics, and the secrets of the charismatic acts of the saints. Avicenna himself alluded to his interest in illuminative philosophy in the introduction of one of his works called, Mantiq Al-Mashriqiyyin, in which he writes of the a different tendency, separating him from peripatetic philosophers.

Philosophy has gained a new meaning from the Lipman point of view, which has a particular role in applied philosophy in educational programs for children. The word philosophy in "philosophy for children" is used as the way of thinking, intended to familiarize children with the skills of understanding such as reasoning, true judgment, and acquiring the skills of social cooperation by analyzing the concepts of ordinary language to ultimately solve the problems of life. Lipman, following the Socrates pattern of critical thinking, with relying on the pragmatism, analytical philosophy, social and epistemic psychology, has found a new method of philosophizing for children, which is regarded as an innovative method from the philosophy of education perspective. In this article, referring to the influences of philosophers on Lipman, we explain his views concerning these skills.

Rationalism in the Qur' an is regarded as an efficient and advanced method used by those who are interested in finding religious realities from the outset of Islam until now in order to discover various needful phenomena in different times and its various functions caused religious thought to be promoted.Investigating the nature of rationalism and its function in the Qur' an and its role in the evolution of religious thought, this article has explained its most important functions (evolution in social thought, revival of religious knowledge and its improvement, profound intellectual developments, evolution in the political system of Islam). Then by marking the viewpoints of religious thinkers, it proves these functions based on rational, Quranic, and historical basis.

By the emergence of Islam, the rate of the knowledge of the people living in Arabia was promoted, but after the death of the Prophet the Muslim nation experienced separation and disagreement by the appearance of some political parties with their particular ideology. In response to the Umayyads as the Arab party emphasizing on mastery of Arab race and enforcing anti-religious policies, an equalitarian thought rejecting racism emerged under the title of "Ashab Taswiyeh" (equalitarians). This group was involved in extremism and a party named "Excessive Shu' ubiyyah" emerged. Each of them had its own goals, motivations, and plans but they had some common mottos such as: justice, rejection of racism, and equality. Shu' ubiyyah which emerged in reaction to the extremism of Umayyads got themselves involved in racialism ideas. Believing in privileged status of the Iranian race, they tried to effect theologians by their specific interpretation of the Qur' an. Shi' a’s theological school originated from the Qur' an and the Sunnah of the Prophet was immune from their deviations. In this article we try to explain the formation and the rate of their impact on Shi' a theology.

It seems that "hurqaliya" is one of the key concepts in the thought of Sheikh Ahmad Ahsai which helps solve many difficulties and ambiguities of his works, for he endeavored to interpret things like the life of Imam Zaman, the bodily ascension of the Prophet, and bodily resurrection with the hurqaliyan life and body. This word was used and explained for the first time by Suhrawardi in his Hikmat al-Ishraq. Later, Sheikh Ahmad Ahsai promoted and extended this concept. In this article we try to explain the meaning of this word used by Ahsai, the founder of the Shaikhieh School, in his works. Then, we will criticize his interpretation of the bodily ascension of the Prophet and bodily resurrection, which is based on this concept.