Ma`rifat Falsafi
Year:2008 | Volume:5 | Issue:4 (20)|Papers Count:7

The literal meaning of "gradation", the reason for its denomination, and its technical meaning in logic and philosophy are the requirements for a discussion on this concept. This article deals, in its first part, with the issue of the beginning of such an idea in philosophy, and its relation to the field of logic. Since each one of the three major schools of Islamic philosophy had their share in the development and evolution of this term, the author then turns to a discussion of their unique impact on the progress and the maturity of this subject. Critically analyzing each theory, the author tries to come up with an acceptable idea, and brings forward his reasons to support his choice.

According to the Islamic philosophy, body is an instrument for the immaterial human soul through which it can thrive and realize its potentialities. After detaching from body, soul continues its life in another world called the "intermediary" world (Barzakh) or the world of subtle substance (Mithal), which is made possible for the soul by attaching to a "subtle form" or "intermediary matter". This new life accompanies certain pleasures and displeasures as a result of one's beliefs, thoughts, actions, characteristics, and fixed moral qualities acquired in the material world.This article begins with arguments establishing the existence of the intermediary world according to the transcendent philosophy, the Qur'an and the sunnat. It goes on to explaining some features of that world and those residing therein. The author criticizes the view of some philosophers who believed that no perfection could be gained in the intermediary world. He argues that philosophy can never claim the impossibility of accomplishment or abandonment in that world. Furthermore, such a view contradicts the exoteric meaning of some verses in the Qur'an as well as many narrations in this regard.

"Metempsychosis" has been a preoccupation for those who have worked in the area of philosophical psychology since a long time. It has resonance in other philosophical investigations, as well as in theological discussions. Muslim philosophers have dealt with this issue from different perspectives, and most often have come to the conclusion that it is philosophically impossible. Shaykh Ishrāq, however, says something different in this regard. This article is an attempt at explaining Shaykh Ishrāq's idea with reference to his original works. At the outset, the author presents a history of the idea of metempsychosis, different approaches to this theory, its various terminologies, its foundations, and the reasons behind its rejection by some scholars. At the end, he tries to elaborate on Shaykh Ishrāq's viewpoint on the issue, as well as his evaluation of the philosophical and narrative arguments regarding the question of metempsychosis.

The study of the varieties of right is an important issue in understanding "rights". Questions that arise in this regard include: is there only one type of right or has it various forms? If there is more than one type of forms, what are the criteria for differentiating among them?According to the author, from a general perspective, one can distinguish eleven classifications for "right", each of which brings with it a set of subdivisions. In this article, however, some of these classifications and their divisions are discussed.

An analysis of "good and bad" and "value statements" is an important issue in analytic ethics (meta-ethics) as one of the most disputed branches of philosophy of ethics. Although such issues in their current form are new to the field, their roots can be found in the history of ideas in different disciplines. In the history of Islamic thought, one can trace such issues in a variety of disciplines such as ethics, principles of jurisprudence (usūal-fiqh), philosophy, and theology.Muhaqiq Khurāsāni (Ākhūnd), a prominent figure in usūl, has analyzed this issue and came up with a theory that is regarded by many as an innovation without any precedent. According to him, "good" and "bad" means "sympathy and antipathy to the faculty of reasoning". This article is an attempt to present, analyze, and evaluate this theory, while differentiating three domains of semantics, ontology, and epistemology.

The theory of human nature (lip-at) occupied the central stage in the philosophical investigations of many 17th-century Western philosophers. It appeared as a philosophical, psychological, and epistemological theory that included a variety of elements and ideas. This theory is also considered as one of the challenging points of contact and philosophical criticism between Islamic and Western philosophies.This theory, on the one hand, had a historical background, and on the other, manifested itself differently in the viewpoints of the next philosophers and thinkers. This article is an attempt to shed light on the historical background of the theory before 17th century Europe, and to follow its course of development in the next period (without engaging in a discussion on the Cartesian and Kantian philosophers). Such an historical review is meant to achieve two goals: first, it can show the width of such a theory in the mind of different philosophers, and second, it may help better understand the challenge, between Muslim and some Western philosophers, revolving around the issue of Fitrat.

The normal idea about analytic philosophy is that it is of an English- American origin, and its founders are Russell and Moore. Michael Dummett considers Germany to be the real origin of analytic philosophy, and Frege to be its founder. That is because philosophical analysis is nothing more than an analysis of thought through language, and this is exactly what Frege suggested for the first time. Dummett believes that by proposing the theory of "linguistic turn" in his works such as The Foundation of Arithmetic and Begriffsschrift, Frege prompted a change of epistemic question from thought-things relation to that of language-meaning. The Basis of this theory is the "context principle", in which a word is meaningful only in the context of a sentence; which in turn, means that thoughts are transformed in sentences, and speaking of the structure of thought is to speak of the semantic relation between the components of a sentence. Such an approach by Frege triggered the appearance of analytic philosophy; although other German-speaking thinkers such as Bolzano, Meinong, and especially Husserl (with his theory of "intentionality") had their share too.