جايگاه معرفتي علت از منظر ابن سينا

The Epistemological Place of Cause In Ibn Sinaʹs View

Given the epistemological features of the principle of "essences of causes", Ibn Sina claims that the certain knowledge of those affairs which require a cause can only be attained through the knowledge of their causes. Accordingly, the other possible ways for attaining this knowledge, such as resorting to "absolute posteriori demonstration" or the argument of "cause", are apparently invalid. However, he explicates that whenever the middle term and the positiveness of the major premise for the minor premise are two necessary premises for the minor term, it is possible to adduce a kind of certain posteriori proposition. Thus emphasizing the epistemological role of the cause does not negate the attainment of any kind of certain knowledge through other ways. Moreover, he maintains that particular intellection in general is similar to perception through relying on causes and concomitants and believes that it is useful for universality and certainty. On the other hand, according to Ibn Sina, the knowledge of the cause does not necessitate the presence of the actual knowledge of the effect. He asserts that, in order for potential knowledge to become actual knowledge, two conditions are necessary: 1) the necessary relation between the cause and effect must be stated based on the predication and convention and in the form of a proposition, 2) in addition to the knowledge of cause, other types of knowledge must be provided in the propositions so that a certain conclusion can be derived. The present paper investigates the epistemological role of the cause in various discussions in Ibn Sinaʹs philosophy.