Socrates
in Search of the
Truth
Mohammad Fanaii Eshkevari
Socrates is a name that has always associated with wisdom (theosophy).
To
illustrate his significance suffice it to say that he is Plato's
favorite master. Plato is a thinker that a philosopher like Whitehead,
when describing him, says that all western philosophy is nothing but
commentaries on his philosophy. Aristotle, who is known as "absolute
philosopher" and Islamic and western philosophy owe to him, is Plato's
indirect pupil. Socrates' status in wisdom and ethics is such that some
consider him as a prophet. There is a consensus that Socrates is the one
who claims to train others to have wisdom.
This
brief research aims at understanding Plato's life, familiarity with his
way of thinking, and his role in expanding wisdom. Through reflecting
in and analyzing the works left which include Socratic wisdom, we will
find that Socrates had been not only a thinker but also had internalized
wisdom and virtue as his inseparable personality traits. He put the
philosophical reflection in its true path by devising his own specific
inductive method and restless search to achieve the essence and reality
of things.
A
Spiritual Journey from Plotinus to Mulla
Sadrā
GholamReza
Rahmāni
Al-Asfār al-arba‘at al- ‘aqliyyah (“Four
Intellectual Journeys”) is among the issues discussed both in gnosis
and al-hikmat al-muta‘āliyah (transcendent philosophy). Gnostics believe
that a wayfarer makes four journeys, using a gnostical method. Divine
philosophers, too, believe that philosophical matters are kinds of
rational and reflective journeys. Therefore, Mulla Sadrā organizes
philosophical guestions within Four Journeys, based on a fact
that reflection is a kind of mystical journey, but a mental one. Gnosis
and divine philosophy has a feature in common and some differences. The
common feature is that both aim at knowledge of God.
The
present paper aims at explaining and analyzing a spiritual journey from
gnostical and philosophical perspective. Relying on viewpoints of such
thinkers as Plotinus, al-Ghazzāli, Ibn ‘Arabi and Mulla Sadrā, it
explains common features and differences in an aforementioned matter.
Reflection
on Avicenna's Seddiqin Argument
Fahime
Nikkhah
The
Proof of the Necessary Being, the possibility and quality of Knowing
Him is the most important issue in philosophy. The Seddiqin Argument is
considered a well-known and long-lasting one, among different arguments
presented by thinkers to prove the Necessary Being. In the history of
Islamic philosophy, Avicenna was the first thinker who proposed this
Argument . Many philosophers following him have dealt with it and tried
to develop a different version of it. Therefore, one of the main
objectives of proposing the matter is familiarity with Avicenna's
philosophical method of theology, for considering the early thinkers'
method of theology provide us with a very valuable historical experience
and helps us prepare a suitable modus operandi for some of today's
philosophical problems about theology.
The
present paper, through library research method, aims at extracting the
principles of Avicenna's argument from his philosophical works and
providing a clear illustration of "Seddeqin Argument" in order to put it
in its proper and real place.
Key words: Argument Seddiqin Argument, Avicenna, affirmation of the Proof the Necessary Being, cause, necessary and possible
Roots
of the “Illuminative School ( System)” in
Suhrawardi
Abbas Bakhshandeh Bali
Over
time, Islamic philosophy and wisdom have been flourished due to the
efforts of many different schools in philosophy. Taking into account the
limited and complicated resources (in philosophy), some eminent Muslim
thinkers such as al-Farabi, al-Kindi, and others took preliminary steps
in Islamic philosophy until they came to establish what is called the
“Peripatetic School” in philosophy.
The second influential school which played a significant role in
developing the Islamic philosophy was that of Shihāb al-Din Suhrawardi
in the sixth century A.H. which came to be known as the “Illuminative
School ( of philosophy)”.
The
main and clear characteristic of this philosophical school is that
it paved the ground for certain philosophical doctrines in the West and
East to incorporate into a coherent system. Having carefully studied
the teachings of the Qur’an, Islamic traditions (hadiths), the
Peripatetic School, the Ancient Greek philosophy, Islamic mysticism (
Gnosticism ), etc., Suhrawardi developed some innovations in his system
of philosophy.
The present research seeks to explore philosophical schools and
doctrines on which Suhrawardi based his philosophical system.
To sum up, the research concludes with the fact that Suhrawardi
developed a philosophical system called the ‘illuminative School’ which
was ,in a way or other, coherent and consistent with, though in some
ways different from, the Peripatetic School, taking crucial steps
towards flourishing the Islamic philosophy.
Key words:
Shihāb al-Din Suhrawardi (Sheikh-e Ishrāq), the Illuminative School (
System ), Hermes, Ancient Persia, Ancient Greece, the Peripatetic
philosophy, Islamic mysticism
The Comparative Study of Kant’s Antropology and Aristotle’s Knowledge of the Soul
Murtadā Ruhāni Rāwari
Man
has long been the focus of attention of thinkers and the cause of
developing different Sciences. Throughout history. These Sciences have
undergone changes, traditional knowledge of the soul and modern
anthropology with their completely different approaches have emerged.
However,
there has not been a sudden Semantic (content) gap between the two
disciplines, but in the Enlightenment, in agreement with the Copernican
revolution in the realm of philosophy, some changes occurred in methods
of knowing man, the Anthropology From Pragmatic Point of View was a case in point.
Taking
an analytical and theoretical approach, the article seeks to compare
Kant’s antropology with Aristotle’s knowledge of man. To sum up, Kant’s
anthropology seeks to explain human nature form pragmatic point of view
with its emphasis on some Social aspects such as civilization,
Sociability, education, tring to Provide an all-embracing explanation of
man’s individual and social aspects.
Unlike
the traditional Knowledge of the soul, Kant’s approach to the Subject
in question was in no way essentialist but a mediator between the
traditional approach and modern humanities.
The Explanation of the Knowledge of the Soul, from 'Alāme Tābatabāi's Viewpoint
Mustafa ‘Azizi ‘Alawije
One
of the most fundamental issues in practical mysticism is "the intuitive
knowledge of the soul". Philosophers and gnostics have long focused
their attention on the knowledge of the soul. Perhaps, the roots of the
issue can be found in Socrates' works. Socrates always emphasized on the
well-known sentence:" Know yourself". Philosophers after him, from
Aristotle to al- Farabi, Avicenna (Ibn sina) Suhrawardi, MirDāmād, Mulla
Sadrā, Mulla Hādi Sabzevāri, and `Allāme Tabātabāi, have specifically
discussed the issue in their works.
The
main question of this research is whether man can intuitively attain
all stages and ranks of his existence to arrire at virtue? And what is
the way to achieve this favorite aim? The method of the research is
rational-analytical.
Inspired
by gnostic basic principles and his own personal experience in "the
intuitive knowledge of the soul", ‘Allame Tābatabai, has proposed a
systematic explanation of the knowledge of the soul. To sum up, the
present paper is an effort to reinvestigate and reexamine ‘Allāme's
viewpoint. Furthermore, in the light of the works of the gnostics "the
stages of knowledge of the soul" are explained, which are divided into
four stages: "imaginal", "rational", annihilation in God" and “spiritual
sobriety after self-effacement” (Sahw ba'd almahw)
Key words: intuitive knowledge, manifestation, absoluteness, determination, world of Ideas, world of intellect, annihilation in God.
A Comparative Study of al-Ghazzali’s and Kant’s Ideas on the Cognition of Metaphysics
Muhammad Ibrahim Bakhshandeh
There
are some similarities and differences between al-Ghazzali and kant on
the cognition of metaphysics. Seven centuries before kant developed his
philosophy, al-Ghazzali had written Critiques on Philosophy. However,
both Philosophy have thought of reviving religion, though
al-Ghazzali thought of reviving a comprehersive non-secularist Islamic
thought and kant thought of a secularist, humanistic, and rational
Protestant thought.
Of Criticism raised against al-Ghazzali’s
system of thought, one is the thre is less or no coherence and
consistency in his ideas. On the one hand, he accused some thinkers
whose Philosophical arguments have been used by him in metaphysical
subjects. On the other hand, What he has incorporated into his system of
thought as the combination of discursive arguments and inner intuitions
is crude when compared with what Mullā Sadrā incorporated in his
philosophical system which was taken to be on firm foundations and
methods.
Moreover,
what al-Ghazzali refuted in thoughts and works of the early
philosophers was nto, in fact, wrong, but refuted in favor of Ash‘ari
and Sufi’s teachings.
Kant
did not succeed to justify the breach between noumenon and phenomenon
on the basis of his own philosophical system. His practical moral code
was influenced by the Protestant teachings, independent from religion,
abstract and imaginative in nature.
The
ethics be proposed was deficient and had no relationship with religion.
His argument that one can assume obligation without taking God into
consideration is flase. His Critiques of rational proofs of metaphysical
matters are biased and illogical.
The article has dealt with the subject in question drawing upon a documentary method.
An
Investigation into Bentham's
Utilitarianism
Mojtaba Jalili Moqaddam
Utilitarianism
can not be considered as Bentham's innovation. However, he offered
evidence to substantiate it and proposed an everlasting interpretation
of it. "Pleasure" and "pain" are two fundamental concepts in
utilitarianism, because utility (good) means increase in pleasure and
decrease in pain, and because utilitarianism, as the word itself
signifies, considers the principle of utility as the main principle.
Utility does not mean a personal utility, but a collective one, so that
Bentham considers "the greatest good for the greatest number of people"
as the measurement for any moral acts. The research method is
documentary analysis. The result is that the greatest advantage of
utilitarianism is that it provides an objective and practical
measurement. In other words, utilitarianism claims that only the
principle of utility, i.e., "the greatest happiness of the greatest
number", provides the measure of right and wrong actions. Bentham, even,
provides seven-fold measurement to evaluate the pleasures which are
single and the result of action. These measurements fit into quantity
aspect. Finally, the objections raised against Bentham's theory on
utilitarianism are discussed.
The Basic Principles of Critiques of Modernity in Seyyed Hussein Nasr's thought
‘Abdollah Mohammadi
Seyyed
Hussein Nasr, like other traditionalists, is a serious critic of
modernism. He considers this criticism of modernism as Something divine
and a duty of all Islamic thinkers and theologians. He not only
criticizes the negative consequences and effects of modernism, but also
believes that its theoretical foundations are shaky. According to him,
the amnesia of Divine Reality, the loss of the sense of the sacred in
human knowledge, replacing theocentrism with humanism, and lacking of
spirituality are fundamental critiques of western civilization.
Undermining religion, promoting fundamentalism, destroying environment,
scientism, individualism, creating moral crisis, losing family
identity, and changing the concepts of freedom, human rights, etc. are
Dr. Nasr's other critiques of western civilization. He is unable to
present a proper alternative for modernism, and considers the goodness
of modernism as accidental and its badness as essential. He proposes
traditionalism as the alternative for modernism, which itself is created
by the West and has some problems. This paper, using a documentary and
analytical method, investigates modernity from his point of view.
Key words: modernity, traditionalism, Seyyed Hussein Nasr