Mehdi Akhavan; Seyyed Amin Moosavizadeh
Volume 4, Issue 1 , January 2015, Pages 1-14
Abstract
William Clifford in the essay ‘The Ethics of Belief’, claimed that to believe on the basis of insufficient evidences is wrong, anywhere, anytime and for everyone. In the article ‘will to believe’, William James, replying this claim, argued that religious belief is a genuine decision ...
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William Clifford in the essay ‘The Ethics of Belief’, claimed that to believe on the basis of insufficient evidences is wrong, anywhere, anytime and for everyone. In the article ‘will to believe’, William James, replying this claim, argued that religious belief is a genuine decision and in such decisions, Faith justification is will to believe. The principal claim of James in the essay is to define genuine choice and to assign monotheistic faith to it. Believing in God if be a genuine decision must meet three characteristics: a) the inevitability; b) being alive; and d) being risky. In this paper, after reviewing a summary of the most important ideas of James and criticisms of him, we will check the validity of the assignment of the three characteristics to Faith.
Farajollah Barati; Mohsen Javadi
Volume 4, Issue 1 , January 2015, Pages 15-37
Abstract
In Islamic tradition, one of the important and basic discussions on miracle is its denotation on the prophethood. It is so important that some of Islamic thinkers believe that if this relationship is not clarified, then its epistemological values are ruined. Islamic thinkers introduce different methods ...
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In Islamic tradition, one of the important and basic discussions on miracle is its denotation on the prophethood. It is so important that some of Islamic thinkers believe that if this relationship is not clarified, then its epistemological values are ruined. Islamic thinkers introduce different methods to know prophets. One of these methods is through miracle. Although some of Islamic thinkers have different attitudes toward miracle, they often consider miracle as a reason to approve prophethood not to approve prophet’s teachings. They believe that there is no relationship between a supernatural act and the rightfulness of teachings. The common point of view among Islamic thinkers is the denotation of miracle on the truth of prophecy. Western thinkers’ attitudes toward this matter do not have enough clarity and coherence. In Western theosophy, miracle denotes the existence of God. They emphasize the denotation of miracle on the truth of special religious teachings. It also indicates the superiority of one religion over other religions. Although most Western thinkers consider the denotation of miracle on the existence of God and the truth of prophet’s teachings, we can also say that they justify the prophethood by means of miracle. As Allameh Tabatabai, unlike many other Islamic thinkers, holds that miracle is the only way to know prophets. Among Western thinkers, Swinburne considers the referent of miracle to be the approval of prophethood of the miracle performer. This study is aimed to compare the ideas of these two thinkers.
Abbas Yazdani; Mahdi Paaaknahaad
Volume 4, Issue 1 , January 2015, Pages 39-56
Abstract
This study follows Heidegger's position regarding the relationship between religion and morality. Heidegger in various positions have talked, not in an entirely coherent and systematic way, about morality and religion, in a commonly known meanings, and in most cases he has criticized them. In this research, ...
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This study follows Heidegger's position regarding the relationship between religion and morality. Heidegger in various positions have talked, not in an entirely coherent and systematic way, about morality and religion, in a commonly known meanings, and in most cases he has criticized them. In this research, we have attempted to examine Heidegger’s attitude toward religion and morality and the relationship between them. The results showed that Heidegger places religion and morality in a larger context (metaphysical tradition) and denies them as the consequences of ontic thinking of Western metaphysics.
masoomeh Salari Raad; reza Akari; Mohammad Housein Mahdavinejad; Alireza Ajdar
Volume 4, Issue 1 , January 2015, Pages 57-76
Abstract
Among the three traditional religious language in Stiver's claims on religious language, Fakhr Razi's approach can be found in the negative method one, because his view in the field of affirmation and knowledge of the divine essence and semantics of some names, qualities and divine acts is based on negative ...
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Among the three traditional religious language in Stiver's claims on religious language, Fakhr Razi's approach can be found in the negative method one, because his view in the field of affirmation and knowledge of the divine essence and semantics of some names, qualities and divine acts is based on negative method. One of the negative approach components to religious language is ineffability, this issue is visible in Razi's approach where, in the area of theology and semantics of some names and divine qualities such as implicit names of Allah, qoddus name, seeing God, the hearing and seeing and some of divine acts, he emphasizes mystical method and Quran 's way. Therefore, in this realm, the human reason is not able to understand some of the divine secrets; even if some apprehensions are achieved through endeavor and revelation, language is not able to express and describe them. In this article we will attempt to explain the positions of Fakhr-e-Razi in the field, with an emphasis on epistemological and linguistic foundations.
shima shahriyari
Volume 4, Issue 1 , January 2015, Pages 77-95
Abstract
One of the most important criticisms that nowadays threatens the rational belief in the existence of a benevolent, omniscient and omnipotent God, is the problem of evil. Linda Zagzebski is one of the contemporary philosophers who attempts to consider this subject with a new sight. She suggests Divine ...
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One of the most important criticisms that nowadays threatens the rational belief in the existence of a benevolent, omniscient and omnipotent God, is the problem of evil. Linda Zagzebski is one of the contemporary philosophers who attempts to consider this subject with a new sight. She suggests Divine Motivation Theory to show that God is the ontological foundation for all goods and his motivational states are ontologically and metaphysically the basis for all moral properties and values. By adopting this theory, Zagzebski proves that the logical and the evidential arguments from evil are not justified. She tries to suggest her theodicy to outline God's possible reasons for permitting evil. She shows that god has permitted some evils because of his love for persons.
Amir Nasri; Atiye Keshtkaran
Volume 4, Issue 1 , January 2015, Pages 97-115
Abstract
Negative theology, which manifests in linguistic negation and can be studied in terms of its ontological, epistemic and linguistic dimensions, answers the question of how to speak about God’s essence and possibility of knowing Him. Pseudo-Dionysius is a medieval Christian philosopher and mystic, ...
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Negative theology, which manifests in linguistic negation and can be studied in terms of its ontological, epistemic and linguistic dimensions, answers the question of how to speak about God’s essence and possibility of knowing Him. Pseudo-Dionysius is a medieval Christian philosopher and mystic, whose negative theology exerted a great influence on his subsequent mystics. His theological method consists of four stages as follows: 1. Affirmative stage which ascribes the general and abstract attributes of transcendent entity to creatures through a descending movement from them; 2. Negative stage which purifies God from attributes and concepts in an ascending movement; 3. Refusal stage which denies both negative and affirmative attributes from God by negating the negation; 4. Mystical stage which regards silence as a true way of talking about God and considers language as an incapable means to explain divine entity. Each of these stages is based on one of the dimensions of negative theology and leads to next stage due to some problem. In affirmative method, he starts with an existential and ontological basis and resorts to negative method due to created epistemic problem and determination of God. The negative stage leads to the ascription of negated opposite attributes and determination of God again, so he resorts to refusal method. In the refusal method, the simultaneous negation of affirmative and negative attributes leads to linguistic confusion. So Dionysius resorts to mystical method and holds that language is unable to describe God.
