حکمت معاصر (Jan 2021)
Inquiry into Some Metaphors of Causality in Philosophy of Suhrawardi
Abstract
Inquiry into Some Metaphors of Causality in Philosophy of Suhrawardi Introduction This research aims at investigating some specific metaphorical applications of the concept of causality in Suhrawardi's philosophy, basically referring to the theory of conceptual metaphor.Hitherto, two traditional and contemporary theories have been discussed in this regard. Regarding the traditional theory represented by Aristotle Metaphor, it can be regarded as the use of the name of something for something else.According to this view, the reason why one word is used instead of another is a pre-existing and objective similarity between the two phenomena.Contemporary metaphor theory holds that,in addition to objective similarity,non-objective similarities, the creation of similarities by the mind and the correlation in experience are bases for the formation of metaphors. In Suhrawardi's philosophy, causality has been conceptualized as a key philosophical concept with the help of various metaphors. Research Questions This research tries to answer basic questions: How Suhrawardi used metaphor in conceptualizing causality?What metaphors have been used in Suhrawardi's philosophy to conceptualize causality?And, finally,what is the connection between the symbol in Suhrawardi's philosophy and metaphor? Research Hypothesis -Suhrawardi has used metaphor in conceptualizing causality. -In Suhrawardi's philosophy, the metaphors of "causality is Illumination","causality is the Forced Movement","causality is the Transfer Of Possessions"," causality is to generate" and"causality is to build" were used to conceptualize causality. -The basis of metaphor formation is different.In Suhrawardi's philosophy,a metaphor whose formation is based on the inherent similarity between the two phenomena is regarded as symbol. Accordingly, the metaphors of "causality is Illumination", "causality is to generate” and"causality is to build” are symbolic metaphors. Method The research method in this paper is analytical, comparative and somehow critical.The research tool is the authoritative books and articles.Through these references, we first obtained the principles and foundations of the theory of conceptual metaphors.In the next step, we extracted the conceptual metaphors of causality.Afterwards, we studied the conceptual metaphors of causality in Suhrawardi philosophy.In the final step, the relationship between the theory of conceptual metaphor and the discussion of symbol in Suhrawardi's philosophy is examined. Results Suhrawardi has used various metaphors to describe and conceptualize causality. The introduced metaphors are only a part of the metaphors of causality in Suhrawardi's works. in fact, he is a descriptor in some of the causal metaphors.In some causal metaphors, causality is described by illumination.Immaterial effects such as ray and material effects such as shadoware depicted. Motion schema is one of the most widely used image schemas for conceptualizing abstract concepts. In the philosophy of illumination, the Forced Movement is used to illustrate causality.The metaphor of "causality is the transfer of Possessions " can also be seen in the works of Shaykh al-Ishrag.The experience of creating/generating is also one of the conventional experiences that Shaykh al-Ishrag uses to describe causality.In this metaphor, causes are conceptualized as parents and effects as child.Causality is also depicted by the metaphor of "causality is to build".According to the metaphor of "causality is illumination ", there is a similarity between cause and effect.But, according to the metaphor of "causality is the transfer of Possessions " which has three components, a kind of demarcation between cause and effect is associated.The use of the metaphor of "causality is to build" also associates inconsistency and dissimilarity between cause and effect. The most widely used metaphor in Suhrawardi's philosophy for conceptualizing causality is the metaphor of "causality is illumination".The discussion of metaphor is also related to the discussion of symbol. In Suhrawardi's philosophy, a metaphor whose formation is based on the inherent similarity between two phenomena is called symbol.The metaphors "causality is illumination","causality is to generate"and "causality is to build” are of this type. The sun and human in the material world are similar to Immaterials and are symbols of Immaterial.Thus, the causality of Immaterials is conceptualized in the following terms:sunshine and human characteristics such as generating and construction. But, the basis of metaphor is not always the inherent similarity betweenthe two phenomena. On the contrary; sometimes, the human mind creates similarities.The human mind depicts attributes as objects and causality as the transfer of objects, and on this basis the metaphor "causality is the transfer of Possessions " is formed.The basis of metaphor can also be co-occurrencein experience.The co-occurrence between change and motion in conventional experience causes that causality, which is a kind of change in the state of effect to be illustrated as motion. Besides, based on this, the metaphor of "causality is Forced Movement" is formed.
Keywords
