Ayeneh Ma‘refat
Year:2012 | Volume:10 | Issue:32|Papers Count:8

Over the last few decades, several important questions have been raised in the philosophy of science about the concept of explanation. The present article is an attempt to investigate the answers provided by the rationalistic approach to these questions. The rationalistic approach, which is the focus of the present article, makes the explanation of a phenomenon dependent on the uncovering of its causes. The main argument is that the problems in finding an explanation are originated from the predominance of an empiricist view in this field and the success of the rationalistic approach in solving these problems, even from a pragmatist standpoint, provides sufficient reasons for examining and revitalizing this approach as a real challenge to the empiricist view which has dominated the field of philosophy of science and has been more successful in creating problems than solving them.

The issue of matching mind with reality has been not only a concern for Islamic philosophers but it has also been the center of controversies among western philosophers. Among the theories related to this issue, one can refer to the theory of the mental mode of existence among the latest philosophers and the ghost theory among theologians. The rise of this theory has been due to the questions raised by theologians about the nature of objects in the mind. Theologian’s curiosity in this context led to the emergence of new theories one of which was the ghost theory. Among the Islamic philosophers, Allameh Tabataba’i was the first who proposed this theory and provided an independent critique of it. In the present article, subsequent to a brief introduction, the compliance of mind and reality is examined. The explanation of the ghost theory from Allameh Tabataba’i’s point of view comes next. The inevitability of adopting sophistry and the creation of a vicious circle are the objections made by Allameh against this theory. The article provides a critique of these objections as the basis for strengthening the ghost theory and by citing some of the objections raised by the Islamic philosophers adds to the significance of the defense provided for the ghost theory.

The present article is concerned with the study and precise investigation of Avicenna’s view of theoretical intellect and its ranks and the explanation of its educational consequences. The results of the research which was conducted adopting an analytical-deductive method, while explaining the characteristics of each intellectual rank, revealed that, in addition to the necessity to define two sets of objectives as gradual/intermediate and ultimate for education, the development of intellect should be a gradual process consistent with the age range of the individuals. The system of education should also be organized in such a way that it would assist the actualization of potential talents, would have the characteristics of recognizing the environment as a basic factor in intellectual growth, considering the individual differences, providing the right conditions for creativity to flourish and creating diversity in the curriculum and educational content. With regard to teaching methodology, the results show that the adopted methods, in addition to being consistent with objectives and age range, should be capable of facilitating the transition process from one rank of intellect to the other and enriching the ranks. The article concludes with a model of intellectual development based on Avicenna’s view of intellect and its ranks.

Aristotle is among the very few thinkers who have had profound thoughts on happiness and justice. He has acknowledged the influence of justice on the accomplishment of happiness to the extent that he considers access to justice impossible without the exercise of justice. In more specific terms, moderation is one of the basic virtues in the way of accomplishing happiness. There is a strong relationship between happiness and justice so that justice is considered as a necessary covenant for obtaining justice. This means that other issues such as having philosophy, chastity, bravery, external charities and friendship are, along with justice, the absolute cause of accomplishing happiness. This is due to the fact that each phenomenon has hundred of causes and happiness is not an exception. Therefore, justice, as the necessary covenant, is the medium and the first step for accomplishing happiness and the relationship between the two is absolute common and special.

The issue of the “relationship of God with the universe” in the system of thought of Aristotle and Avicenna is the question dealt with in the present study. The article tries to support the idea that the views of these two peripatetic philosophers with regard to this issue are different. Relying on the natural cause and the concept of movement, Aristotle accomplishes to prove the existence of an ultimate stimulus which he calls essence and his commentators God. From his perspective, essence is the ultimate cause of all possible movements in the universe. On the other hand, from Avicenna’s perspective, God is considered the necessary being from whom the existence of the universe is derived. Aristotle views God as the ultimate cause but his causality is instigatory while Avicenna views the causality as existential rather than instigatory. Dividing the existents into the necessary and the possible and proving the contingency of the existent possibilities to the necessary being, Aristotle provided an innovative model for the relationship of God and the universe with the feature that contingent existence is continually in need of the grace of the creator. According to Aristotle, God is not the creator of the universe and is unaware of its existence. While according to Avicenna, God possesses the ultimate knowledge of the universe. The present article presents a comparative study of the philosophical theology of these two peripatetic philosophers to show the supremacy of Avicenna’s theology.

The guidance of creatures is one of God’s traditions toward perfection. The system of creation has led the species to their proper perfection through evolution guidance, but with regard to man the perfection is brought about through guidance in the form of sending books and the messengers. From the viewpoint of the Quran, the Torah and the Bible man has been created on the image of God. Therefore, the purpose of his creation is movement toward spiritual perfection along with knowledge. Human resemblance to God is conditioned to divine mercy, the acquisition of God’s moral attributes and living a spiritual life. The present paper attempts to provide a recognition of the concept of purposefulness of human life and the type of spiritual life intended in the Quran, the Torah and the Bible. According to the Quran, man with the capabilities bestowed upon him through creation, is the epitome of manifestation of divine attributes and is supposed to acquire the qualification of being the Divine Caliphate on the Earth and to be the locus of manifestation of God’s names. The teaching of prophets in the Torah are based on sanctity which requires man to keep distance from what is contrary to God’s will and to be devoted to His worship. In the bibles, the purpose of human life is to follow the idea of Fall of Man and the original sin and to rely on the concept of the Christ sacrifice and resurrection. God’s grace through Christ is the main cause of human salvation. Whether the rescue of man and his being forgiven is the result of only faith in Christ or what is called the doctrine of grace or the need to its being accompanied with good deeds is controversial among the Catholics and the protestants. The paper intends to study the purposefulness of human life in the Quran, the Torah and the bible with a focus on the commonalities and differences.

Committing suicide, as a complex multidimensional problem, is on increase parallel with the rapid change of human societies. The present study is an attempt to study the impact of Islamic beliefs and rituals on the prevention of committing suicide and as a result its reduction. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of this problem, the research method incudes document analysis and meta-analysis. A review of related studies and available statistical documents and empirical evidence shows that there is a relationship between variables such as depression, illicit sex, alcohol and poor family morals on the one hand and committing suicide on the other. The impermissibility of committing suicide and its temptation in the Quran and Hadith, the role of Islamic beliefs (such as the blessing of life, repentance, hope and optimism, divine tribute, patience, trust, remembrance of death and the hereafter, relation with God and destiny) and the role of collective rituals and religious group social support networking in making life meaningful are very effective in preventing committing suicide. Altogether, the variable of religiosity with its individual and social aspects has an impact on this phenomenon directly or indirectly.