Journal of Imamiyyah Studies

Journal of Imamiyyah Studies

A Comparative Analysis of Human Knowledge and Scriptural Exegesis in the Works of Abdollah Javadi Amoli and Abdolkarim Soroush

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Hosayn Emami 1
Bijan Abdolkarimi 2
Enshallah Rahmati 3
1 PhD Student, Western Philosophy, Faculty of Humanities, Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran
2 Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Humanities, Islamic Azad University, Northern Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran
3 Professor, Department of Philosophy, Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch, Tehran, Iran.
10.22034/jis.2024.353192.1831
Abstract
For Soroush, words are not pregnant with meaning but hungry for it. Non-religious knowledge breathes meaning into words, making religious knowledge entirely dependent on and grounded in non-religious knowledge. He reduces the interaction between scriptures and human knowledge to the impact of human knowledge on scriptures, limiting the factors contributing to the development of religious knowledge to conceptual and metaphysical knowledge alone. Conversely, Javadi Amoli places reason alongside transmitted religious texts as part of religion, thus collapsing the wall separating reason and religion that undergirds Soroush’s approach to the relationship between extra-scriptural knowledge and the understanding of scriptures. Javadi Amoli rejects the notion that the influence of scriptural exegesis from extra-scriptural knowledge implies that religious knowledge is human and non-religious in its origins. This is because extra-scriptural knowledge is not equivalent to extra-religious knowledge. Through a comparative analysis of these two perspectives, we can develop a more tenable alternative perspective on the relationship between scriptures and extra-scriptural knowledge.
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Keywords
Abdollah Javadi Amoli
Abdolkarim Soroush
religious knowledge
scripture
human knowledge
Subjects
The Quran.
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Journal of Imamiyyah Studies
Volume 10, Issue 19 - Serial Number 19
September 2024
Pages 83-110