Bibliography 2: #BIB28277

Key	BIB28277
Reference type	Journal Article
Title	'First We Must Speak of Logical Proofs' : Discourses of Knowledge in the Bahá'í Writings
Journal	The Bahá'í Studies Review
Author	Lewis, Franklin
Year	2001
Date	2001–2002
Volume	10
Abstract	This paper first suggests that many statements in the Bahá'í writings are couched in the terms of a particular discourse, or intellectual tradition, of the text's immediate audience. As such, these statements may assume some of the premises of the addressee, passing over them without necessarily seeking to challenge or affirm those premises in an absolute sense, in order to make an argument which the addressee can accept. Such premises may sometimes be factually true, in an empirical sense, while sometimes they may not be propositionally true, but may rather be true in a metaphoric and symbolic sense. This being the case, recovering the nature of the discourse being employed, or the intellectual context of the statement, can help to evaluate whether a given statement is meant to convey a propositional fact or a rhetorical truth. 'Abdu'l-Bahá often adopted the particular parameters of western modernist discourse about knowledge, specifically in terms of the debate of science versus religion, and his statements are germane to contemporary questions about academic, or materialist, methodologies and the Bahá'í view toward these modes of knowledge. 'Abdu'l-Bahá often appears to give precedence to logical proofs and scientific method over traditional religious modes or explanations of reality, particularly in questions of fact and information, though not necessarily where ethics and morality are concerned. He would therefore seem to assert the validity of western academic, or materialist, methodologies.
Language	English
Keywords	KNOWLEDGE; LOGIC; PROOF; SCIENCE; REASON; DISCOURSE
URL	https://bahai-library.com/lewis_discourse_knowledge
Pages	51–74

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