hoseyn kalbasi ashtari
Abstract
In the present article, the author tries to comparatively study capacities of two Asian and European philosophical systems concerning a particular issue- i.e. the faculty of reason-; and, in this way, to contemplate the possibility of a dialogue among philosophical traditions as an inexorable priority ...
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In the present article, the author tries to comparatively study capacities of two Asian and European philosophical systems concerning a particular issue- i.e. the faculty of reason-; and, in this way, to contemplate the possibility of a dialogue among philosophical traditions as an inexorable priority of the present time. Though no limitation was recognized for reason in the space of Enlightenment (Aufklarung) and by the Newtonian physics, and in Kant’s critical philosophy, unity and complementarity of understanding were provided by reason; limitation of reason and its realm is emphasized practically. "Fallacies", "Antinomies", and "Ideal" of the "Pure Reason" were proclamations of failure of the reason in three fields of knowledge of the truth of Soul, Nature, and God; and" transcendental dialectic" was introduced as a critical situation stemmed from transcendence of the reason. The inevitable result of such approach was duality between subject and object, noumenon and phenomenon, understanding and reason; and Kant’s successors had to overcome such duality. In Islamic philosophy- and in particular in Sadrian philosophy- “Reason” contains, on the one hand, levels of knowledge and in fact levels of "Being", and on the other hand - unlike Aristotelian and Kantian traditions- there is no conflict between levels of knowledge; thus, “Reason” is introduced as a form of levels of Being and as corresponding to these levels. Though, lately in the 18th Century and early in the 19th Century, Kant’s successors- and in particular Hegel- focused their attempts to remove duality between subject and object and noumenon and phenomenon, no philosophical system based on traditional metaphysics managed to overcome the difficulty of critical philosophy. (It was only in the mid-20th Century that a new window was opened by the help of Husserl’s Phenomenology and Heidegger’s Hermeneutics). In the present article, through a comparative study between philosophical system of Kant and Mulla Sadra, the author is trying to open a road to dialogue and critical exchange of ideas between two great philosophical traditions in the West and East.
