The unifying idea
This axis brings together a set of theses that see human knowledge as progressively ordered: it begins with sensation, extends to language and symbols, and then to abstraction and precision. At the same time, perception remains threatened by illusion, and therefore requires distinction and regulation.
Theses included in the axis
- Knowledge begins with sensation and ends with discernment
- Human knowledge is relative and progresses from sensation to mathematics
- Sensory interpretation and theoretical interpretation
- Dialectic and contradiction are two foundations in constructing abstract understanding
- Satan distorts perception between illusion and truth
Supporting atoms for the axis
- The fu’ād is an initial stage of sensory perception
- Hearing, sight, and the fu’ād are primary sources of knowledge
- Human knowledge is relative and evolving
- The development of knowledge from sensation to mathematics
- Miracles before Muhammad are temporal leaps
- Dialectic is a law based on opposites
- The principle of non-contradiction is the basis of abstract thought
- Satan has two different usages
- Satan turns truth into illusion
Reading method
This page is read as a path from direct perception to abstract understanding. The criterion here is the distinction between what the senses first apprehend and what later requires a mental and linguistic construction.