assistant professor of Research Center of Islamic Culture and Thought
Abstract
Of important problems in epistemology as well as philosophy of science is the fact-mirroring nature of historical accounts. This is one of the results of the branches of "epistemology of narrative reason" referred to as the "problem of reductionism and non-reductionism" among western epistemologists.
This paper is to explain the way and degree of knowledge obtained accordingly and show that representation is a matter of degree; that the accounts of the trustworthy can yield knowledge to the degree of assurance and certainty. In addition to the degree of reliability, it is essential to pay due attention to both internal and external contextual indications. Rational self-evident truths and their conclusions as well as undeniable truths gained through narratives and experimental sciences can be appealed to as criteria for examining the contents of historical accounts.
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