JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHICAL THEOLOGICAL RESEARCH
Year:2008 | Volume:10 | Issue:1 (37)|Papers Count:13

Contemplation and action is among important questions which can be traced back to the Greek era. First in Greek period and then in Medieval times, the question propounded under the topic of 'theoretical life' and 'practical life'. Christian thinkers usually explain the topic by referring to a story in Luke 10:38-42 about two sisters, Mary and Martha, who are considered as the symbols of contemplation and action. This writing is going firstly to present Thomas Aquinas's theological-philosophical explication, and then to explain the mystical account appeared in The Cloud of Unknowing, and finally to compare in brief the discussion continued in the middle Ages and the Modem times.

Man is a mixture of theoretical faculty and practical faculty, each of which play a basic role in the how of man's life. So the relation between contemplation and action is an important question, for which philosophers, whether Islamic or Western, have offered different responses. Thus, in spite of some similarities between their philosophical and anthropological foundations, Heidegger and Mulla Sadra have expressed different responses to the question. While Heidegger holds the primacy of action on contemplation, Mulla Sadra affirms the primacy of knowledge on action. The present paper is going to compare the two viewpoints in detail.

Kant has attempted to response Hume's objections on the relation of cause and effect. In this regard, most exponents have concentrated on the second analogy and probably on the transcendental deduction; however, the right thing to do is to call attention to the most of components of criticism including the concept of time, metaphysical deduction, transcendental deduction, constitution-making, and especially the second analogy. In response to Hume, Kant has made an attempt to show the synthetic relation of the cause and the caused in the concept of object, and thereby to demonstrate the objective validity of causality. The paper in the first place presents an account and explanation of Kant's view and then deals with the criticism of it.

Mystical exegesis is a kind of hermeneutic interpretation, in which the interpreter proceeds to state the non-manifest and hidden layers of the verses. According to Imam Khomeini, there are many mystic expressions and spiritual themes in the Koran and especially in the prayers transmitted by Islamic traditions, which can be interpreted only by using mystical principles. Based on mystical approach, he emphasizes two key points: the firs point is that mystics' terminology has taken from the Koran and Islamic traditions; the second point is the emphasis on observing Shariah as a necessary condition of attaining to spiritual stations and to the knowledge of esoteric meaning of the Shariah. Explaining the mystical approach and presenting some examples of his mystical exegesis, the article elucidates the principles and methods of valid interpretation from Imam Khomeini's viewpoint.

This paper is about one of the inner aspects of the realm of religion; that's, it discusses on the question whether the criteria of understanding religions should be based on the religions texts. There can be mentioned two viewpoints in this regard: the viewpoint that considers the criteria as components inside the religions, and the one that regards them as elements outside the religions. Presenting these two points of view, the author investigates into the proofs of each viewpoint. At the end, he shows some examples of the influences of the two viewpoints on the discussions related to the theoretical religion.

Despite of the undeniable advantages and surprising applications of them in training and industry as well as cultures of different countries, there have been many ethical issues concerning intelligent and computer systems. Presenting a definition of artificial intelligence and intelligent systems, the research paper deals with the shared ethical issues of intelligent systems, computer systems as well as the global network; and then it concentrates on the most important ethical issues of two types of intelligent systems, i.e. data-analysis system and expert system.

Start of Kant's thinking in critical philosophy is his theory on the antinomies. Kant found the origin of antinomies in transition from understanding to reason. In fact, theory of antinomy is considered as the basic pivot of his thoughts. Studying Kant's opinions in the domain of social life, one can clearly find that his philosophical opinions appeared in his valuable works Critique of Pure Reason and Critique of Practical Reason, are in close connection with his social opinions. To explain his educative and political views, Kant planned to offer an account of the historical life of human race. Thus, he regards peace as an important global issue and introduces concepts such as pacifism, self-awaking, theoretical reason, ratiocination, reflection, civic society among the basic goals of the Enlightenment.

From a long time ago, turning to Friends of God for assistance and asking for blessing of the sacred relics were regarded as recommended actions, and were prevalent among Muslims. Yet, some people, enjoying a superficial view on Islamic issues, consider such actions as polytheistic affairs. Explaining the relevant terms such as recourse, monotheism, polytheism and worship, the article shows that 'recourse to friends of God' is not against monotheism, and thus is a recommendable action. In addition, it emphasizes that friends of God are religious exemplars and signs of the Straight Path, and that connection with them is a main factor in ensuring safety of monotheistic faith of Muslim generations in the coming ages.

Looking a glance at the history and benefits of classification of sciences, the present essay firstly explains the viewpoints of some eastern philosophers (al-Farabi, Sa'in ad-Din ibn Turkah, Mulla Hadi Sabzawari) as well as western philosophers (Auguste Comte, Francis Bacon, Andre Ampere), and then enumerates some distinguished characteristics of Avicenna's classification. In addition to the features such as rationality, totalizing induction, differentiation of types, universality and property, his classification enjoys special orderliness, normativity, and value-regarding, and also it can exhibit a clear approach to the philosophy of science.

In the two recent decades, when the 'Philosophy for Children' has been included among the topics dealt by Iranian thinkers, there have been made different attempts by researchers to investigate into such a topic and to write some works about it. Thus, since there has been shown special interest in the Philosophy for Children (P4C) program, several conferences and instructional workshops have been organized, a number of scholarly books and essays have been published on it, and the P4C curriculum has been established in the PhD level. The author in this essay is going to examine the views of Matthew Lipman, the innovator of such a philosophical instruction, in comparison with the Islamic education system as well as to elucidate the station of teaching critical and creative thinking in the Islamic education. As a result, the author discloses the similarities between the ways of religious education and Lipman's methods in providing the elements of cognitive skills and critical thinking.

'Bliss' and 'misery' are among the main discussions in philosophy and theology. In fact, perfect happiness is the ultimate purpose of human beings; it is the same thing that men seek to obtain whether consciously or unconsciously. At any rate, bliss can be considered as what is compatible with the goal of creation and man's ultimate perfection. In this article, the author first of all expresses the lexical meaning of 'bliss' and 'misery', then deals with Mulla Sadra's and Allamah Tabataba'i's views on 'bliss', and "S finally responses a number of main questions concerning bliss.