معرفت فلسفی

Causality can be divided into external and analytical ones. In external causality, cause and effect have separate and independent existences. In analytical causality, however, they do not have separate existences, whether both of them exist as a unique simple being or are of non-existent meanings. Philosophers have not explicitly referred to this division; however, there are issues in their texts that cannot be justified except by accepting analytical causality. These issues can be considered as the implicit acceptance of analytical causality by Islamic philosophers. Maybe the most important evidence proving analytical causality is the a priori demonstration in categorical syllogism. In a priori demonstration, the middle term causes the major proposition for the minor one, while in categorical syllogism, all terms of the demonstration have come to existence by the same existence. The present article investigates this reason and other reasons for analytical causality.