A Schema for the Islamic Epistemological System

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Associate professor at Research Center for Islamic Culture and Thought, Tehran, Iran

2 TTeacher of Advanced level of Fiqh and Usul al-Fiqh in seminary centers and full professor at Research Center for Islamic Culture and Thought, Tehran. Iran

3 . Associate professor at Research Center for Islamic Culture and Thought, Tehran, Iran

10.22081/jti.2023.66761.1036

Abstract

Today, ‘system-generation’ in the sphere of religious sciences and teachings as well as other basic affairs is among the important and critical issues now seriously considered by the elite. In regard with religious sciences and knowledge, one can achieve perfection, comprehensiveness, and good epistemic logical structure (moving from generalities and foundations to specifics and results) when the findings of those spheres are formulated in the form of an ‘intellectual system’ or ‘behavioral system’ like a general system with specified goals, enjoying coherent constituents and interactive and related components. One of the philosophical and religious sciences of great importance with a basic role in other religious sciences and an accumulated background in the works and texts of earlier, later and contemporary Muslim philosophers is ‘(Islamic) epistemology’. The present study claims that it can offer a systemic image of Islamic epistemology. Thus, it has tried to offer a schema for ‘the System of Islamic epistemology’ and explain its nature, components and features in short, based on the process of Islamic system-generation. According to the present study, the theoretical framework and the main axes of the discussions on formulating an Islamic epistemological system can be suggested to be as follows: concepts and definitions, features and characteristics, status and importance, goals and ends, foundations and presuppositions, components and constituents, method and sources, usage and efficiency. In addition, for instance, the authors of the present article consider the usage of the System of Islamic epistemology in the ‘Islamic methodology’. The research method in this study is substantially a rational one, and it has used library sources in data collection.

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