Marife Dini Araştırmalar Dergisi

Abstract

Knowledge is a relationship between subject and object. From the very first moment that human beings exist, they have found an activity related to knowledge. Therefore the history of knowledge is as old as the history of mankind. Knowledge theory examines knowledge, one of the three main themes of philosophy, together with its ontology and value. In the history of philosophy there have been those who think that knowledge is possible, and who claim that knowledge is not possible. Those who think that knowledge is possible have accepted that there are four sources of it: sense, experiment, reason and intuition. Although there is no general belief in Western and Islamic thought it is thought that in mysticism and sufistic schools the senses and intelligence are inadequate and even deceptive to obtain knowledge. While the way of obtaining definite knowledge is called intuition in the Western thought, in Islamic thought is used for such information inspiration (kashf) or heart knowledge. One of the advocates of inspiration (kashf)/heart knowledge both theoretically and practically is Abu’l-Hasan al-Harakânî. According to him, one can obtain such knowledge. This article aims to examine Harakânî’s knowledge understanding from philosophical and sufistic perspective.