Ma`rifat Falsafi

"Foundationalism" is an epistemological perspective that views the relationship between beliefs as unidirectional and hierarchical, with some beliefs serving as the foundation for the rest. In one reading of this view, known as "empirical foundationalism", basic beliefs in the empirical sciences are considered to be those based on experience and observational propositions. This approach has also been applied to religious knowledge, suggesting that religious knowledge depends on religious experiences. In contrast, Muslim philosophers, while being foundationalists and understanding the relationship between beliefs as unidirectional and hierarchical, mostly regard the fundamental foundations of human knowledge -whether in secular (empirical and non-empirical) or religious knowledge -not as sensory or religious experience in the so-called Western sense, but as self-evident propositions. From this perspective, Western empirical foundationalism, which considers sensory or religious experience as the foundation of knowledge, is not acceptable. However, their critique is not leveled against the principle of foundationalism nor against the hierarchical relationship between beliefs, but rather against the nature of the foundational beliefs in empirical foundationalism. Recently, under the title "critique of empirical foundationalism," one Muslim and committed researcher has questioned the principle of foundationalism and the unidirectional and hierarchical relationship of beliefs. Emphasizing Quine's holistic view, which entails skepticism, this researcher has proposed a theory called "holistic textualism" within the structure of religious epistemologies. With an analytical-descriptive approach, this article defends the epistemological foundations of Islamic thought and the value of human and religious knowledge, answering the critiques of empirical foundationalism.