معرفت فلسفی

In the name of Allah

Ma‘rifat-i Falsafi Vol. 6, No. 1

A Quarterly Journal of Philosophical Inquiry Fall 2008

A publication by Imām Khomeini Institute for Education and Research

Editor in Chief: Ali Mesbah

Editor: Rizā Akbariān

Coordinator: Muhammad Fūlādi

Editorial Board:

Dr. Ahmad Ahmadi: Professor, Tehran University

Dr. Rizā Akbarīyān: Associate professor, Tarbīyat Mudarris University

Dr. Ghulām-Rizā A‘wāni: Professor, Shahid Beheshti University

Dr. Muhammad Fanā'i: Associate Professor, Imām Khomeini Inst. for Education and Research

Hoj. Ghulām-Rizā Fayyāzi: Professor, Imām Khomeini Inst. for Education and Research

Dr. Hussain Ghaffāri: Associate Professor, Tehran University

Hoj. Muhammad Husainzādeh: Associate Prof., Imām Khomeini Inst. for Education and Research

Dr. Muhsin Javādi: Associate Professor, Qum University

Dr. Muhammad Legenhausen: Associate Professor, Imām Khomeini Inst. for Education and Research

Dr. Muhammad Sa‘īdi Mehr: Assistant Professor, Tarbīyat Mudarres University

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Ma‘rifat-i Falsafi is a quarterly journal of philosophical inquiry, dedicated to research in philosophy. This journal covers issues concerning the comparison, critique, and analysis of the foundations and ideas of Muslim philosophers, as well as the juxtaposition, scrutiny, and evaluation of theories articulated by Muslim and non-Muslim philosophers. Academically exploring novel and unprecedented issues in comparative philosophy is among the aims of this journal.

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Table of Contents

Editor’s Foreword

The Possibility of Rational Knowledge in the Realm of Religion

Muhamad Hussainzādeh

Bodily Resurrection according to Theist Philosophers

Ja‘far Anvāri

An Inquiry into Substantial Motion or the Flowing Unit in the Category of Substance

Ahmad Hussain Sharīfi and Muhammad Taqi Yūsufi

An Inquiry into Mediating and Cutting Movements

Mahmūd Fat’ali and Rahmat-Allah Rezā’i

Paradoxes of the Principle of Indifference

Mojtabā Mesbah

The Understanding and Classification of the Expressions of Non-existence from a Semantic Point of View

Muhammad Rezā Ahmad-Khāni

The Rationality of Metaphysical Realism

Rezā Sādeqi

Abstracts

The Possibility of Rational Knowledge

in the Realm of Religion

Muhamad Hussainzādeh 1

The question of efficient means and sources for religious knowledge is a pressing issue in the realm of religious epistemology. Prior to this problem is the more fundamental question, as to whether there is a way to knowledge at all. Any answer to these questions depends on one’s stand on the theory of knowledge. If one rejects the role of reason in religious knowledge, one may introduce religious experiment, intuition, narration of revelation, or testimony to the content of revelation as ways of attaining religious knowledge. On the contrary, if one accepts the capability of reason for unveiling religious truth, one will consider reason a powerful means for establishing fundamental religious beliefs, and therefore, reason will serve as the most important source for religious knowledge.

The author in this article is to prove the possibility of rational knowledge in the realm of religion, and tries to review and criticize the opposing views.

Keywords: Rational Knowledge, Indispensability, Predicative Existence, Quiatic Proof, Propteric Proof, Noumenon, Phenomenon.

Bodily Resurrection according to Theist Philosophers

Ja‘far Anvāri 2

All theist philosophers and theologians believe in resurrection; however, they engage in debates over its nature and quality. According to Mullā Sadrā, those who think that it is impossible for human body to resurrect after it is perished, and only soul will be present in the hereafter, they are ignorant of the nature of the next world, and such an idea requires an esoteric interpretation of those verses in the Qur’an which explicitly indicate the physicality of resurrection.

Sadr al-Muta’alihīn argues that every person, who enjoys a sound and healthy psych, and looks into the premises of bodily resurrection, would certainly come to the conclusion that the same human body will revive in the hereafter. Shaykh Ishrāq emphasizes the idea of bodily resurrection with an imaginal form. Still other philosophers such as Ibn Sīnā establish bodily resurrection through narrations from the Noble Prophet (peace be upon him and his progeny), and Muhaqiq Tūsi considers it as an essential part of Islam.

Keywords: Resurrection, Spiritual Resurrection, Bodily Resurrection, The Nature of Bodily Resurrection, Imaginal Form, Physical Body, Other-worldly Body.

An Inquiry into Substantial Motion or the Flowing Unit in the Category of Substance

Ahmad Hussain Sharīfi 3

Muhammad Taqi Yūsofi 4

Muslim philosophers preceding Mullā Sadrā, generally denied substantial motion. Mullā Sadrā in his Transcendent philosophy, however, developed a sophisticated analysis of substantial motion. His view of this issue is unique, in which he employs some of the requisites of movement to establish substantial motion. This kind of motion plays a pivotal role in Mullā Sadrā’s system of philosophy.

The author in this article tries to provide a clear picture of substantial motion by explaining some requisites of movement such as “distance”, and by analyzing the flowing unit in the category of substance. Criticizing arguments revolving around the idea that motion needs a subject, he rejects such a need. At the end, the article puts the arguments for substantial motion in a new classification.

Keywords: Substantial Change, Substantial Motion, Accidental Motion, Distance of Movement, Time, Category, Subject.

An Inquiry into Mediating and Cutting Movements

Mahmūd Fat‘ali 5

Rahmat-Allah Rezā’i 6

Ibn Sina and his followers deny cutting movement. The denial of cutting movement first requires the denial of movement in the sense of a gradual emergence from potentiality into actuality, and secondly, it entails the acceptance of idea that time is illusory. This is while Ibn Sina acknowledges both. Mīr Dāmād and Mullā Sadrā have accepted cutting movement in order to dispose such a contradiction, and consequently, had to interpret Ibn Sina’s words in a way that matches such an effort.

This article tries to evaluate the classic interpretation of cutting and mediating movements, and to explore their reasons and causes. By enumerating their problems, the author wants to show the congruity of denying cutting movement with accepting the existence of time. In this way, he wants to dispose of the contradiction in Ibn Sina’s theory without any need for its re-interpretation.

Keywords: Movement, Cutting Movement, Mediating Movement, Time, Flowing Moment, Quiescence, Ibn Sina.

Paradoxes of the Principle of Indifference

Mojtabā Mesbāh 7

Recourse to “sample space” or “attribute space” is a requisite for probability calculation in some belief-related philosophical interpretations of probability such as classic, logical, and epistemological interpretations. On the basis of the principle of indifference, the probability of original elements is assumed equal in such calculations. There are, however, two questions about this principle to be discussed in philosophical debates about probability. First, what is the epistemological validity of this principle, and second, how to resolve paradoxes resulting from applying this principle? None of the questions have met sufficient answers till now.

The author, in this article, reviews various interpretations of probability in order to show which one of them is in need of this principle. Then he justifies the principle of indifference based on the principle of causality and with reference to knowledge by presence both in epistemological probability and in general. The main part of the article deals with eight paradoxes along with different suggestions for their resolution. The author finds all of them flawed, and suggests a new answer on the basis of an epistemological interpretation of probability.

Keywords: Epistemological Probability, Principle of Indifference, Probability Paradoxes, Paradoxes of the Principle of Indifference.

The Understanding and Classification of the Expressions of Non-existence from a Semantic Point of View

Muhammad Rezā Ahmad-Khāni 8

The expressions of non-existence are discussed in philosophy and linguistics since antiquity in both the West and the East. The main question in this debate pertains to how we can understand such expressions as “Rostam” in Farsi or “Superman” in English, and use them in sentences with different arrangements, while they do not refer to anything in the objective world.

Different philosophers have tried to answer this question in various ways. The author of this article tries to find an answer through semantic means, and to suggest criteria for classifying such expressions.

Keywords: Expression, Non-Existence, Referential, Non-Referential, Semantics.

The Rationality of Metaphysical Realism

Rezā Sādeqi 9

Contemporary analytic philosophers do not consider ontology a distinct branch of knowledge. For this same reason, they do not see any legitimacy, or even any meaning, in discussing metaphysical realism.

The author in this article takes sides with the meaningfulness of an inquiry about metaphysical realism. He takes a soft version of realism as his point of departure. The article points out to some historical backgrounds for the emergence of anti-realism, and suggests that all arguments supporting the idea of meaninglessness of realism are based on anti-realist suppositions, and therefore are self-destructive.

Keywords: Realism, Metaphysical Realism, Anti-Realism, Ontology, Semantics, Theology.

1 Associate Professor, Imam Khomeini I. E. R.; Received: 2008.10.17; Accepted: 2009.1.16

2 Assistant Professor, Imam Khomeini I. E. R.; Received: 2008.8.9 Accepted: 2008.12.1

3 Assistant Professor, Imam Khomeini I. E. R.

4 Ph.D. Student of Philosophy, Imam Khomeini I. E. R.; Received: 2008.10.16; Accepted: 2009.1.8

5 Assistant Professor, Imam Khomeini I. E. R.

6 Ph.D. Student of Philosophy, Imam Khomeini I. E. R.; Received: 2008.11.15; Accepted: 2009.1.14

7 Assistant Professor, Imam Khomeini I. E. R.; Received: 2008.10.10 Accepted: 2009.1.14

8 Assistant Professor, Payām-e Noor University; Received:2008.10.12 Accepted: 2009.1.14

9 Assistant Professor, Isfahan University; Received:2008.10.2 Accepted: 2008.12.31