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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Philosophical Instructions Lesson Eighteen: The Role of the Intellect and Sensation in Affirmations Points about Affirmations Before speaking about the role of the senses and the intellect in affirmations ( taṣdīqāt ) it is necessary to make some points about affirmations and propositions, points which are related to logic. We shall discuss them here briefly and to the extent necessary.

As was indicated in the definition of idea , each idea has no more than a capability to show that which is beyond itself, that is, imagining a specific matter or a universal concept does not mean that what corresponds to it actually takes place. This capability for real representation becomes actual when it takes the shape of a proposition and affirmation, which consists of judgment and represents belief in its purport.

For example, the concept of ‘man’ by itself does not denote the occurrence of man in the external world. But when it is combined with the concept of ‘existent’ and the relation of unity, it gives it the form of an affirmation, whose actuality is to be discovered in the external world, that is, one can consider this proposition, “Man exists,” as a proposition which describes the external world.

At least two concepts are obtained even from simple presentational knowledge, which is never compound or multiple (such as the feeling of fear), when reflected in the mind: one is the whatish concept of fear, and the other the concept of being, and by their composition they are reflected in the form of “There is fear,” and sometimes by adding other concepts, it takes the form of “I am afraid,” or “I have fear.” It must be noted that sometimes an idea which seems to be simple and without judgment really breaks down to an affirmation, for example, the purport of this proposition, “Man searches for truth,” is this, that man, who is an existent in the external world, has the property of searching for truth.

So, in reality, the subject of the proposition, ‘man’, which apparently is a simple idea, breaks down into this proposition, “Man is an existent in the external world,” and so the predicate, ‘searches for truth’ applies to this. This sort of proposition which breaks down into implied components is called by logicians*‘aqd* al-waḍ‘ .