Journal Of Religious Thought
Year:2006 | Volume:- | Issue:17|Papers Count:8

What has been analyzed in the enquiry is to Show how multiplicity has been issued from the unity in the domain of Lordship's Names and Attributes. By the way of deliberating the problem of namable and attributive multiplicity and their differences, we criticized the viewpoints of theologians, philosophers and gnostics in this respect and have partially alluded to the nature of the Names and Attributes. It is mentioned that the Names and Attributes of Lordship in accordance with their essential and spiritual quest are appropriate to manifestation, upon which the world took step out from the unity to appearance of multiplicity. This essential quest will infinitely continue without any pause. For the reason that God’s essential completeness is infinite, the state and rulership of His Names and Attributes are also limitless, so that, at the end of the state of any Name, the other Name succeeds in doing its charge, that is, the prior Name has been returned to the exoteric one, which is superseding, begins to govern strongly upon the exoteric Name and continues its determined dominant. The Names and Attributes never stop functioning, and are continuously engaged to disclose the rulership of the Names and Attributes which are appropriate to their essential exigency and they have been introduced individually by the Holy Quran in their especial and apt station. It can be observed by intuition that the secrets of creation which are disclosed in the domain of sciences finally lead to exploration of one of God’s Names and Attributes.

In this essay, we have a glance on the history of explanation and survey inferential and non- inferential views of the nature of explanation. Then, we divide theories of the object of explanation into linguistic and non-linguistic. Finally, we deal with the different types of explanation which can be found in Philosophical literature.

Ethnocentrism of Thoughts, formation of knowledge within history and culture, is one of the epistemic difficulties of postmodernism. To overcome the epistemic problems and violence of Enlightenment, modernism was in search of an objective rationality and a value-free empiricism. Critiques of modernism showed that all branches of knowledge are ethnocentre. From the postmodern point of view, all observations are theory-laden, and scientists, research methods and problems, all are social constructions.  Some scientists concluded that in the postmodern framework every scientific movement will fail. Some tried to account the influence of special rationalities on the process of investigation, and thus to be nearer to the objectivity. According to Watson, the beginning of this effort is to regard the ideological elements in the scientific researches. Therefore, the ideologies of the observed can be used to develop both normative and sociological hypotheses. Tests of these hypotheses, then, could be conducted with either an apologetic or an ethnocentric intent. The advantages of this approach would be the defense of rationality, a balanced objectivity, and the establishment of scientific democracy. Neglecting the difference between empirical and non-empirical studies in this research model can lead to reductionism.

This essay deals with the divine command theory of ethics.  After a short explanation about the status of this theory among different ethical theories, a short history of the subject is given. It is also illustrated how the writers of the philosophy of religion and ethics have paid special attention to this issue. The other parts of the article deal with the different versions of this theory and explain how its proponents, have given new and more sophisticated versions of that theory in order to respond to the objections. Yet there remains an essential objection. This objection is based on the Autonomy of ethics. The autonomy of ethics has been discussed with greater detail in regard to Copernican revolution of Kant in ethics. In addition, a short comparison has been made between Kant's theory and the theory of Muslim scholars on the objective and rational character of moral values (Husn va ghobh a'qli dhati). This comparison shows how the theory of Muslim scholars can be corresponded to Kant's views.

Each of the Imams (PBUT) carried the message of their leadership and hard times and difficult conditions never prevented them from doing their duties.  Due to the conditions of his times, Imam Sajjad carried out his message through prayers. He managed to develop a culture of education, defiance and propagation through his prayers thus leaving an invaluable heritage for the relationship between God and man. This article tries to show the efforts of Imam Sajjad through his prayer towards education, training, propagation and political defiance.

David Kaplan divides indexicals into pure indexicals and true demonstratives, and holds that pure indexicals have character (linguistic meaning) and they can determine their referents (contents) only in a context. But true demonstratives lack the character unless they are used in a context and in this case they gain a character and can determine their referents. In this latter view, Kaplan has followed Frege. In bare bone theory both kinds of indexicals have character independently of context. But in this theory context has demonstratum as one of its ingredients. Nathan Salmon, too, agrees with bare bone theory except he holds that context has demonstration instead of demonstratum. I believe that among these three views, Salmon’s is more logical and matches more with our intuition.

Ibn Arabi’s thoughts about the unity of being, especially in the phrase "سبحان من اظهر الاشیاء و هو عینها", excited many opponents.  The most famous of these aversions is Ala al Dowla Semnani’s letter to Abdol Razzaqh Kashani. These discords between the two theories brought Semnani and his followers to opposition with Ibn 'Arabi, which is quite manifested in the ideas of authorities such Sayyed Gisudiraz and Shaykh Ahamad Serhendi specially after the presence of Semnani's well- known disciple, Amir Sayyed Ali Hamadani in India. Traces of the Unity of Being in the Upanishads, and the insistence of Indian Islamic authorities in making a distinction between Islamic and Hindu beliefs are among other important factors which brought about the criticism of Ibn 'Arabi's theory of Unity of Being in India and on inclination towards the Unity of Witness. This article is an explanation of Serhendi’s opinions,one of the greatest critics of Ibn 'Arabi and a believer in the unity of witness, whose ideas not well- known in Iran.