سخن سردبیر

One of the enduring characteristics of philosophical thought is its capacity for continuous questioning and reconsideration of the most fundamental issues of being, knowledge, and the human being. This issue of the journal, by bringing together seven studies in various areas of philosophy, presents a clear picture of this vitality in philosophical thinking, a thinking that seeks a renewed understanding of freedom, truth, rationality, and language.
     First, the article “Freedom and Necessity: From the Abyss of the Ungrund to Foundational Perfection” offers a comparative assessment of Schelling and Mulla Sadra and explains freedom not in opposition to necessity but as the highest degree of ontological manifestation. Moving beyond the reductive dualism of determinism and absolute free will, it opens a new horizon for a paradoxical understanding of freedom. After that, “Scientific Realism Meets Accounts of Scientific Representation” adopts an analytic approach to examine the relation between scientific realism and similarity-based, agent-based, and hybrid accounts of scientific representation, and shows that the presumed compatibility requires further reconsideration and assessment.
    In the article “Heidegger’s Ontical–Ontological Criticism on Descartes’ Ontology” the Cartesian division between subject and object is reexamined in light of Heidegger’s concept of Dasein. Focusing on Heidegger’s five major ontical–ontological critiques, the author proposes a way to reconsider modern metaphysics and to restore the existential connection between human beings and the world.
     In the field of the philosophy of religion, the article “Internal Rationality in Religious Disagreement: A Critique of John Pittard’s Theory” addresses the question of how religious commitment can be maintained in a pluralistic world. By critically examining Pittard’s theory of “internal rational defense,” the author points to its limitations and implications, and with the aim of contributing to a better understanding of religious rationality and enhancing interfaith dialogue, emphasizes the need for a more precise articulation of the criteria of rationality and epistemic responsibility.
    The article “The Self and Metaphoric Identity: An Ontological Development of Ricoeur’s Theory of Metaphor in Relation to Heidegger’s Thought” establishes a connection between semantics and ontology and shows that metaphor is not merely a linguistic ornament but a fundamental feature of the ontological structure of the self. Following this, “Knowledge in the Mirror of Language from the Perspectives of Heidegger and Gadamer” introduces language as the constitutive field of truth, a domain in which knowledge arises and at the same time is limited by historical and cultural presuppositions. In this view, language is both reflective and constitutive of knowledge.
     Finally, the article “Critical Analysis of Graham Oppy’s Criteria for a Successful Argument” takes a methodological approach to the evaluation of argumentation in the philosophy of religion. The author shows that although Oppy’s rigorous criteria contribute to greater precision in philosophical reasoning, they may at the same time overlook the complexity and intuitive dimension of theological arguments and therefore require modification.
     This collection of seven studies, despite their thematic diversity, attests to the continuity and vitality of philosophical thought, from the reexamination of the relation between freedom and necessity to the reconsideration of the relation between scientific realism and scientific representation, from the critique of modern metaphysics to the analysis of the interrelation among language, knowledge, and being. It is hoped that reading these articles will invite readers to deeper reflection on these fundamental issues and foster new scholarly and critical dialogues within the sphere of philosophical thought.