Issue 11 of 42 Magazine: Mysticism and Sufism

In the article "Mysticism in Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus," Brian McGuinness – the British philosopher – examines the early Wittgenstein's particular attitude toward mysticism and the influences of Bertrand Russell and Schopenhauer on this attitude. Furthermore, the question is raised as to whether Wittgenstein himself had a mystical experience. In another piece, Bertrand Russell's work "Mysticism and Logic" is examined.

In the article "Hegel and the Rationalization of Mysticism," Frederick Copleston points to Hegel's dissatisfaction with theism and describes and examines his attempt to provide a definition of God based on idealist philosophy. In his explanation of the relationship between God and the world, Hegel was influenced by mystics such as Meister Eckhart.

In the article "Ibn Arabi and Sixteenth-Century Spanish Mysticism," the author addresses the influences of Greek philosophers and Christian mysticism on the formation of Ibn Arabi's mystical outlook and "Islamic" mysticism. Examining the characteristics of Christian mysticism from its inception to what was prevalent in Andalusia, Ibn Arabi's homeland, helps us become aware of the influence of Christianity and Greek philosophy on Islamic mysticism.

One of the most important claims of mystics from a philosophical perspective is "mystical experience." They claim that through such an experience, they acquire knowledge that is not possible through reasoning, thinking, or scientific methods. Hence, the possibility of verifying such claims becomes epistemologically very important. On the other hand, mystical knowledge is presented as being beyond human reason; this claim also needs to be examined as to whether one can speak of a source of knowledge beyond human reason, or if this is an extravagant claim. And finally, one of the characteristics of mystical experience is said to be ineffability, meaning an experience that cannot be expressed and analyzed using words and concepts. In three articles titled "Mystical Experience and Public Verification," "A Faculty Beyond Human Understanding," and "Varieties of Ineffability," these three claims of the mystics are critiqued and examined.

In three other articles titled “In the Presence of the Divine,” “The Islamic Problem of Evil: Islamic Reactions to the Problem of Evil,” and “A Look at Ahmad Kasravi’s Book Sufism,” the life of Sheikh Jafar Mojtahedi is explored, the passivity of contemporary Muslim thinkers in the face of humanity’s most important question—human pain and suffering—is analyzed, and Ahmad Kasravi’s main critiques of mysticism and Sufism are explained and examined.

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