Prior Cognitive Information and An Islamic Argument From Reason

In this paper, i propose a specifically islamic iteration of an argument from reason (afr) that i have called the ‘argument from prior cognitive information’ (apci). the core claim is that ultimately, for any thinking in human rational agents to take place, an original cognitive input (i.e. of information) was necessary. in other words, for any thinking to take place in intellect-bearing agents like human beings (by 'thinking' here i define as the judgments we make about things we come across in the world [hukm 'ala al-shay']), there are necessary conditions that must exist and they are: 1) the existence of an external world, 2) properly functioning senses, 3) a functioning brain and 4) antecedent cognitive information or input (al-ma'lumat al-sabiqa). this last condition is extremely important, i argue, because without it, we cannot make judgments on things unless we are able to meaningfully link what we sense with what we already know. if there is a gap in our linkage between new sense data and our prior stored cognitive information about the world, we cannot make proper and accurate judgments on things in the world. i further argue that this original cognitive input required for thinking to take place (as so defined), must have a source. it must come from somewhere. hence, we ought to ask that causal question and not assume or settle on naturalistic explanations. i then demonstrate how naturalistic explanations for the origins of this original cognitive input fail leaving only a supernatural explanation and that supernatural explanation is best explained to be god. what makes this argument a specifically islamic iteration of afr is that i interpret god's reference to 'names' (asma') in the qur'anic verse 'he taught adam all the names' (q. 2:31) as referring to this very prior cognitive input necessary for making judgments about things in the world. hence, god taught adam all necessary knowledge that constituted a horizon of prior cognitive input that subsequently enabled thinking to place. therefore, if a necessary component of our thinking is the presence of prior cognitive information (input) then naturalist explanations of its origins fail. this leaves only a theistic explanation as the only plausible one. one implication i draw is that far from us possessing cognitive abilities to prove god’s existence, our cognitive abilities are the very proofs for the existence of of god.