ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Philosophical Instructions Lesson Forty-Nine: The Reality of Knowledge Introduction Many issues, most of which have to do with epistemology, can be raised regarding knowledge, and in this book, as well, the most important of them were mentioned in the part on epistemology. However, other discussions of knowledge are also possible from an ontological perspective, and philosophers have mentioned these in various places in their philosophical discussions.

Ṣadr al-Muta’allihīn has set discussions about knowledge as an independent topic. Among these discussions is that of the immateriality of knowledge and the knower, which is appropriate to discussion of the ‘immaterial and material,’ and for this reason we mention it in this section, and following this, we take up the problem of the unity of the knower and the known.

Regarding the ontology of knowledge several questions may be raised, such as, what is the reality of knowledge and whether all types of knowledge have a single whatness, or at the very least, whether they all belong to a single specific category, and whether all types of knowledge are immaterial or whether they are all material, or are some of them immaterial and others material?

In order to answer such questions it is first necessary to take a glance at the types of knowledge, which were discussed to some extent in the part on epistemology.

A Review of the Types of Knowledge Awareness of an existent is either obtained without the intermediary of a form or concept, in which case it is called ‘presentational knowledge,’ or it occurs through the intermediary of a sensory or imaginary form or through a rational or prehensive ( wahmī ) concept, in which case it is called ‘acquired knowledge’ and is specific to souls attached to matter.

A level of the existence of the soul called ‘mind’ ( dhin ) is considered to be like a receptacle for acquired knowledge, and mind is said to have various levels and aspects. Some of its levels oversee others, so that the lower levels obtain judgments concerning external reality in relation to the mind and another knowledge corresponding to this is then obtained, as discussed in Lesson Nineteen.