نوع مقاله : مقاله پژوهشی
نویسنده
دانشیار گروه معارف اهل البیت (ع)، دانشکده الهیات و معارف اهل البیت (ع)، دانشگاه اصفهان، اصفهان، ایران
چکیده
کلیدواژهها
موضوعات
عنوان مقاله [English]
نویسنده [English]
This article explores the epistemological role of analogy (tamthīl) and analogical reasoning as a shared cognitive strategy across the domains of science and religion, emphasizing its crucial function in the development of theories and conceptual models. Grounded in the framework of critical realism, it argues that neither scientific knowledge nor religious understanding is the product of pure observation or abstract theorization. Instead, both rely on imaginative reasoning and analogical structures to interpret experience and construct conceptual frameworks. In science, theoretical models function as heuristic tools built through analogy with familiar phenomena, extending theoretical domains and linking unobservable entities to empirical data. In religion, symbolic models derived from sacred narratives enrich spiritual experiences, rituals, and the formulation of doctrines. Classical Islamic thought systematically employed analogy—in logic as tamthīl, in jurisprudence as qiyās, and in theology and religious discourse—despite ongoing debates over its epistemic validity. The study contends that scientific observation is shaped by theory and religious understanding by belief, and in both realms, analogical models mediate between experience and conceptual insight. Thus, analogy is not merely a rhetorical device but a generative method embedded in the progression of knowledge. Through a comparative analysis of scientific and theological modeling, the research reaffirms the centrality of analogical imagination in epistemology and presents analogy as a powerful, though not sufficient, tool for developing interdisciplinary concepts. While historically marginalized in logic and the philosophy of science, analogy remains a productive element in explaining complex ideas across science, religion, and philosophy.
کلیدواژهها [English]
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