معرفت شناسی سعدیا گائون

الامانات و الاعتقادات و تفسیر سفر یصیرا دو اثر فلسفی سعدیا گائون، به‌عنوان تبیین‌هایی از دو ساختار متفاوت معرفت‌شناسی مطرح می‌شوند. سعدیا گائون متکلمی نوفیثاغورثی است که به تشریح دو صورت شناخت می‌پردازد. او اشاره می‌کند ذهن انسان قادر است واقعیت را در دو حالت تبیین کند: یکی مبتنی بر عقل‌گرایی تجربی و دیگری براساس اشراق و خودآشکاری الهی بر ذهن است. ذهن انسان توانایی ذاتی دارد تا حقیقت را در بیش از یک روش درک کند: با ادراک حسی یا شهود اشراقی. نزد سعدیا مدل عقلی کلام و تمثیلی نوفیثاغورسی می‌تواند درب‌هایی را به سوی عالم غیب فراسوی قلمرو مشهود باز کند. به عبارت دیگر، ذهن انسان همانند عمل دیالوگ می‌تواند در دو حالت عمل کند: بحث کند و استدلال بیاورد یا اینکه ساکت باشد، مراقبه کند، گوش کند و ببیند. سعدیا این دو مکتب اندیشه را به‌عنوان دو منظر فکری بر پایۀ دو نظام معرفت‌شناسی متفاوت در دو اثر الامانات و الاعتقادات و تفسیر سفر یصیرا به کار گرفته است تا دریچه‌های متفاوتی را به واقعیت باز کند.

epistemology of saadia gaon

epistemology is a science that discusses human knowledge, including its nature, possibility, ways, types, territory, etc. of knowledge. it is a field that philosophers, theologians, and religious scholars have taken more effective steps in deepening and developing it. jewish thinkers have also paid special attention to this issue. sadia bin yusuf al-fayoumi, nicknamed sadia gaon, the father of jewish philosophy and the head of the rabbinical religious school sura, is considered one of the most important theologians in the history of the tradition of rabbinical judaism. he is known as the first jewish philosopher and exegete in the middle centuries due to his innovative and systematic ideas. he is the first person who, in addition to his detailed views on theology and cosmology, has also raised important opinions on epistemology in two works ‘kitab al-amanat wa'l-'tiqadat (the book of beliefs and opinions)’ and ‘tafsir sefer yetsira (commentary on the sefer yetzira)’. the two works suggest two different structures of epistemology. sadia points out that the human mind is able to explain reality in two ways: one is based on empirical rationalism and the other is based on divine illumination and self-revelation in the mind. in other words, the human mind can act in two modes like the act of dialogue (i.e. arguing and reasoning or being silent, meditating, listening, and seeing). considering the unique role of knowledge arising from reflection and revelation, in reaching the complete truth, sadia plans and examines it from various angles in his important works. along with al-amanat wa'l 'tiqadat, he makes a detailed discussion in the commentary on the sefer yetzira about epistemology. its study helps a lot to understand his thought. sadia's thinking in religions and beliefs has a controversial nature. in the commentary on the sefer yetzira, he has relatively deep and esoteric thinking. this study, using the analytical comparative method, investigates the topics related to epistemology raised in the two mentioned works of sadia. in his works, knowledge has different meanings: in al-amanat wa'l- 'tiqadat, it is shown as the correspondence between external reality and its concept in the human mind, while in commentary on the sefer yetzira, knowledge is related to the origin and nature of creation. in ‘the book of beliefs and opinions’, sadia, in a positive answer regarding the possibility of acquiring knowledge, considers his goal to be certain and removes all doubts. in this book, while proving the same validity of knowledge and results that can be achieved through revelation and rational reasoning, he cites verses from the bible to prove the foundations of his epistemological teachings. he considers the factor of knowledge to be the intellectual power of the soul, which only god has rightly placed in the person's existence. despite the fact that the cognitive process relies on sensory perception, the intellect includes a system of principles and generalities that exist independently of sensory data. the commentary on the sefer yetzira considers the goal of the author of the book to be the representation (portrait) of how things come into being and find their existence so that the knower can understand them and the wise beings can learn them. therefore, while confirming the possibility of acquiring knowledge, this work emphasizes the role of revelation in this connection. al-amanat wa'l-'tiqadat presents the elements of the ‘cognition process’ in the form of a hierarchical model in three steps: 1) a complex and vague idea that is only a vague and confused idea of the nature of the research subject, 2) an analysis of this idea, and 3) accepting the ultimate truth by a belief freed from doubts. here we witness a process of gradual internalization of knowledge that occurs in the mind, a process during which sensory perception turns into belief. in this process, reason gradually removes the factors that cause doubt and