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The Problem of Knowledge

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The Problem of Knowledge

Al-Ghazali, a philosopher from the 11th century claimed, after he embraced the beliefs of Islam, that all causal events and interactions are not the product of material conjunctions but rather the immediate and present will of God. The idea of occasionalism, the theory about causation which presents that created substances can’t be efficient causes of events, instead the will of God causes it to happen, is indeed something to think about. His claim of causation being linked to the will of God can be refuted easily, saying that because the will of God has purpose in the theory, it is a belief and so not knowledge according to the criteria of knowledge. To what extend can we refute his claim and what is the problem of knowledge in this context?

In relation to the theory of knowledge the step of answering the question is to find a way of getting the most certainty to prove or even disprove that causal events and interactions are not the product of material conjunctions. The way of finding the knowledge that is needed to confirm the thoughts of causation can be language, perception, reason or emotion. The way of getting the knowledge we need is from perception or reason, perhaps even both. The knowledge of the process of causation cannot be acquired by language or emotions. Reason seems a compelling way of acquiring knowledge, but it has its flaws with abstract thinking, while perception has his flaws with abstract pictures. So perhaps combining these two might give us the certainty of the knowledge. Perception may in this case be the most reliable one and reason tries to explain.

Every day we see causal events happening around us, at least that is the claim of today’s knowledge. Keep in mind that when discussing the idea of causation it is about the material conjunctions. When watching football causation is happening all the time. A

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