Epistemological Validity of Convention in Avicennian Ethics

Document Type : Original Article

Author

• Hasan Mohiti Ardakan.

Faculty of Ethics Department, University of Islamic Education, Qom, Iran

10.22067/epk.2024.87398.1323

Abstract

The emergence or dominance of conventional approaches in ethics and their inevitable consequences on human interactions and ultimately on the true happiness of mankind require analytical and critical examinations of such approaches. The issue of convention (‘urf) can be examined from various dimensions. This article aims to reread the opinions of Islamic scholars and, focusing on the epistemological dimension of convention, to analyze and infer the perspective of the great thinker of the Islamic world, namely Avicenna based on authentic sources. This scrutinizing of Avicenna's works and thoughts negates any necessary correlation between conventional beliefs and ideas on the one hand and the achievement of a morally blissful reality on the other. Avicenna's explicit expressions, which indicate the possibility of falsity of conventional beliefs, the lack of validity of their origins, their conditional validity, and the incompatibility of their absolute validity with the goal of morality, highlight the negation of absolute validity of convention. From Avicenna's perspective, conventional moral beliefs are theoretical and their moral justification requires proof.

Keywords

• Avicenna
• convention
• conventional beliefs
• epistemological validity
• moral goal

Main Subjects

• Islamic Philosophy and Kalam

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