MAQALAT WA BARRASIHA
Year:2005 | Volume:37 | Issue:76 (2)|Papers Count:18

Aristotle can be treated as a pioneer of Logic of Preference. In modern times some such distinguished researchers as Soren Hallden, CH. Von Wright, R. Chisholm, N. Rescher and R. Jeffrey have contributed considerably in reviving and developing this part of logical science. Among logical relations playing fundamental role in the Logic of Preference, one is that of P and S: P meaning "P is preferred to q" or "P is better than q" and S meaning "P is equivalent to q in terms of value". While presenting a brief historical itinerary of development of the Logic of Preference, in this article it is attempted to survey, criticize, and modity some of its axioms introduced by Hallden. In correction of the said axioms, we have used notion of "necessity" as well as "S5" system in the modal logic in order to make relations of P and S more logically plausible.

Material implication is the special relation between components of conditionals, i.e. a conditional is false if its antecedent is true and its consequent is false, otherwise the conditional is true. Therefore every conditional with false antecedent or true consequent is true and no relevance between its components is needed. The paradoxes of material implication raise from this truth-functional version. The essential character of truth-functional view is its violation of impossibility of contradiction. If we replace material implication with the natural one, the problems such as above violation and counter factuals will not occur.

Relativism is treated as the epistemological pluralism. It is believed that its roots lie in the second half of modern times and a Kantian-Poperian commentary of development of science is led to such crisis. Feyerabend is caIled a heretic because he revealed that crisis. Pluralism is raised by the contextual thesis of human knowledge and experiences and its results in the field of knowledge, ethics, religion, and politics are a threat which leads to relativism and anarchism in the thought. In order to prevent and cure that calamity, different positions are taken among which one is the return to the traditional thought. The present research holds that methodological pluralism can prevent and cure reductionism as well as relativism based on pluralism while retaining contextuality of knowledge. Methodological pluralism in two patterns of incorporative and dialectical studies can change pluralism from a threat into a chance and guarantee for universality of knowledge.

Spirituality is a frequently used and vague construct, which is tied to being religious while also being differnet from it. Spirtuality is more experiential and personal, whereas religiousness is more institutionalized and social. The rationality and empricism of modernism conflicts with traditional understanding of religion, and spirituality represents a compromise position that differnetiates the substantive and accidential aspects of religtion from individulaism of modernism. More specifically, spirituality is an experiential, substantive, and individualistic approach to religion that is pychological in nature. Configurations of spirituality theoretically serve as existential regulators of human action and operates as a personality factor, intelligence, or motivation that can be developed. The concept "spirituality" is described and explained in terms of a model emphasizing interactions between the zeitgeist and configurations of functioning within the human psychological organization.

Love is among major concerns of Kierkigard; as he has assigned an importance to it calling it works of love. A love which is valuable, according to him, is the Christian love in contrast to natural love and friendship. The Christian love is the love for mankind and hence there is no discrimination or preference in it. One whose heart is purified from diversity and who has penetrated the infinite mode of his existence into moments of his existence wishes nothing but good in the purity of Heart, as Kierkigard says, and manifestation of this good is, at least from the aspect of relation with others, love. Taking into consideration most significant facets narrated by Kierkigard as Christian love, we attempt in this research to explain the evolution of the meaning of love in his opinion and to indicate that for him, the genuine love can be nothing but sensation and motion in addition to the awareness of having duties in relation to mankind.

Faith is among significant, complicated problems in the realm of theology. It is significant because whatsoever God demands from man is around the axis of faith and in fact the key to salvation in all divine religions is the faith, and it is complicated because it is a reality which is endowed with various dimensions as a subsequent of which so different viewpoints are presented in relation to it. In the Christian tradition, faith is among most significant problems of religious ethics and, following saint Paul, Christians consider the faith among theological virtues in contrast to natural virtues. This essay surveys the said virtue from the viewpoint of Thomas Aquinas (1225 1274) and investigates such questions as the nature of faith, belongings of faith, status of faith, epistemology of faith, and causes of faith from his perspective.

Both Mawlawi and Ekhart believe in going beyond superficial and formal meaning of their religious books, i.e. the Quran and the Bible, and also in the comprehension of their esoteric meaning. Ekhart sometimes speaks of unity of superficial meaning but believes in its multiplicity, and Mawlawi apparently believes in the unity of superficial meaning. Mawlawi recommends interpretation of words of the Truth from the Truth while in Ekharts opinion the meaning and reality of the Bible should be researched through the spirit through which it is said and written different from what Mawlawi has said concerning the Quran, Mawlawi, of course, emphasizes that the interpreter should not be overcome by his lusts.

Ibn al-Sikkit al-Ahwazi asked Imam Rida (the eighth Shia Imam) some questions concerning essential differences of miracles of prophets. Imams perspective concerning variable conditions of time and proportionality of miracle to such conditions is investigated in this essay.According to variable conditions of time, the miracle of Moses was refutation of sorcery, that of Jesus was healing the diseased as well as reviving the dead, and that of the holy prophet of Islam was the Quran. Quran is an eternal miracle which can always satisfy needs of mens developed minds.

Despite the privilege of an idea after Mulla Sadra, the well-known problem of subjective existence has been known to Ibn Sina; he not only delt with that problem, but offered a lucid solution to it. The solution is ,in fact, the same one given by Mulla Sadra some centuries later with an invocation to Mirdamads separation between two kinds of primary essential prediction and common technical prediction without making any reference to Ibn Sina. Contrary to what Mulla Sadra thought, Ibn Sinas solution not only deals with all facets of the problem, but solves some other problems of the later solution, caused by neglecting identity of subjective existence, through clarifying the meaning of occurrence of quiddity to the mind when something external is known and through explaining the meaning of object and objects.

In the present essay, twelve proofs for affirmation of the unity of intelligent and intelligible presented by some most distinguished philosophers of transcendent philosophy such as Mulla Sadra, Mulla Hadi Sabzawari, M.Hosain Tabatabaee, and Morteza Motahhari are criticized and refuted through some proofs. Also all three problems of Mulla Sadras most important proof raised by Sabzawari and all three proofs of Ibn Sina and al-Razi against the theory of union are refuted. All criticisms and problems presented in this essay, with the exception of one or two in which some ideas of some contemporary thinkers are used, are new and innovative. The result of criticisms and analyses of this essay is that one should remain silent concerning the theory of union of intellect and intelligible, for most notable proofs in favor of and against it are refuted.

Ontology is considered a branch of philosophy, but the way a mystic looks at the being is different from that of a philosopher. While expounding mystical consideration of existence, perspectives of two outstanding Muslim mystics, Ibn al-Arabi and Abd al-Karim al-Jili, concerning knowledge of existence is discussed in this research. Abd al-Karim al-Jili (d. 826 AH.), who is a well-known follower of the school of Ibn al-Atabi, has presented anthropomorphic interpretation of Ibn al-Arabis viewpoints. Title of the book al-Insan al-Kamil fi Marifah al-Awakhir wa'l Await indicates that, in the authors opinion, the perfect man is the beginning and the end of existence. AI-Jili is in search for the perfect man in the level of Lordship, and even higher than that in the level of Identity of the Essence.

Acquaintance of any man with his "I" and its perception has constantly occupied mans mind, for its correct, accurate answer causes meaningfulness of reality of the life and mans life. In Mulla Sadras opinion, the reality of man, which is his very rational soul, is unknowable due to some reason and thus what philosophers have declared is not his reality although it expounds some characteristics of man. Mulla Sadra explains ways of achievement of that knowledge. Furthermore, he presents two kinds of essential definitions in first of which, although like previous philosophers using "rational animal", he bases his process of definition upon discussion of potentiality and actuality as well as of substantial motion and thus separates from his predecessors and in the second of which, following mystics and whom he calls "those firmly grounded in knowledge", he founds mans natural definition upon principles of unity of the reality of existence and gradation of its levels as well as comprehensiveness of man in relation to all existential worlds and realms. Having taken Quranic, traditional foundations of Mulla Sadras anthropology into consideration, the present essay deals with the said subject.

Some have not taken into consideration the principality of existence that much, while some outstanding researchers have supported it and emphasized its extraordinary role. Mulla Sadra, the founder of that theory, himself has seriously defended it and presented several demonstrations in order to prove it. He considers that issue among most significant philosophical objectives. Determination, categories, specific forms, combination -of matter and form, recognition of real affairs from mentally-posited ones, secondary intelligible and the problem of knowledge, universals, and natural universal are among questions revolutionarily intluenced by the principality of existence- which are to be surveyed in this article.

Abstraction of the soul is among major discussions in the Islamic philosophy which is paid less attention to by Islamic theologians. Philosophers defend this theory while most of theologians are against it. Some proofs for abstraction of the soul are presented in the prepeatutic philosophy which are retlected in the works of two distinguished theologians who criticized that school. Those two thinkers have adapted the position of philosophers in some of their works while going closer to that of theologians in some other. The said proofs, however, are not at same position in terms of strength and weakness. Some of them, such as the demonstration on the basis of simplicity of perceptions, is very strong while some others are refutable. Besides, critiques of al-Gazzali and al-Razi of those proofs are not void of some problems. Having referred briefly to ideas of al-Gazzali and al-Razi, their proofs concerning refutation or affirmation of abstraction of the soul is surveyed and criticized in this article.

Challenge of the mystic with philosopher is one form of opposition to philosophy. Philosophy is attacked throughout history through three regions of religious dogmatists, anti-religious emperisists, and devoted mystics with different intentions. Among most fascinating discussions in the history of human thought is the dispute between thought and intuition, reason and love, and knowledge and insight. Mystics are pessimistic of power of reason in the perception of problems of metaphysics and anti-rationality is observed in works of their majority. In such works, reason is put in opposition to three affairs: heart, love, and perplexity. Intellectuality and recommending impotence and perplexity is the central element of disagreement between mysticism and philosophy. Mystic is enamored of perplexity but philosopher is anti-perplexity. Perplexity primarily seems to be in contradiction to such categories as knowledge, guidance, faith, and belief. the nature of perplexity and expounding its proportion to the said catego.ries is the main object of this research.

Atomism, originated from early Greek philosophers studies on nature, owes its philosophical full form to Leucippus and Democritus. On this view. there are indivisible bodies, of perpetual movement and infinite both in number and variety of their shapes, of which everything else is composed. Fundamental particles in a definite sensible body are separated from one another by void and their association, their dissociation and their rearrangement leads respectively to coming- to -be, passing -away and alteration. Fkhr aI-Din al-Razi, in spite of his contradictory saying, has finally agreed with the existence of invisible substantial particles, like physical points, and void in sensible bodies. For him, these point-like substances are of no shape and dimension and their number in a certain sensible body is, contrary to what is said in atomism, finite. In this view, dimension is known to be due to the association of fundamental particles. This paper does not agree with atomism when it says that an infinite number of dimensional particles are found in a certain sensible body and neither does with al-Razi when he says that the dimensions observed in a certian sensible body are due to association and that the number of those point-like particles in every sensible body is infinite. Now during the last three centuries experimental sciences have been greatly developed and in this way quantum physics has occurred, a kind of study which proves no shape and dimension for fundamentals. Al-Razis view has been, therefore, strengthened and mathematical explanation has been preferred to geometrical one.