Khajeh Nasir al-Din Tusi and Allameh Tabatabaei on Decoding the Occurrence of Error in Sensory Perceptions

Abstract

Error occurs frequently in everyone's sensory perceptions, and decoding the error quality and origin could influence many issues in epistemology. Reading the works Allameh Tabatabaei and Khajeh Nasir al-Din Tusi, one finds out that both philosophers believe that sensory perception is the effect of sensible on the sensory organ. In Khajeh and Allama's words, error in sensation is impossible. The origin of sensory perceptions errors has to be traced back to the correspondence of sensible with external reality which is itself a task fulfilled by human reason, though according to Khajeh and Allameh, sensory perception is among the conditions of rational judgment. Sensory perceptions, Allameh argues, have to be traced back to presential knowledge and this is an indication of their essential infallibility. However there is no sign of this view in Khajeh's works.

Keywords

• Error
• Sensory Perception
• Khajeh Nasir al-Din Tusi
• Allameh Tabatabaei