From Plato to Rumi: A Philosophical Account of Human Forgetfulness

Ensha'allah Rahmati, explaining views from Plato to the Islamic wisdom and mystical tradition, describes the forgetting of modern man as an ontological crisis, the way out of which is recognizing the existential truth of humanity.

According to Ambassador Arjan's reporter, under the initiative of the Iranian Philosophers' Assembly and with the participation of the City of Philosophy of Iran, the "Ontology of Memory and Forgetting" meeting was held yesterday evening, October 21, with the presence of Insha Allah Rahmati, the head of the Bo Ali Sina Scientific and Cultural Foundation, and Hekmatullah Molla Salehi, a veteran professor of archeology at the University of Tehran.

In this meeting, Inshallah Rahmati, referring to the importance of memory and forgetting in the contemporary world, formulated his discussion in three general axes: first, explaining the importance of the issue of forgetting in the present day; Second, examining the Greek narrative of remembrance based on Plato's thought; And third, the explanation of the Islamic narrative and its place in the ruling and mystical tradition.

At the beginning of his speech, referring to the resumption of meetings of the Iranian Philosophers Assembly, he considered the selection of the topic of memory and forgetting to be meaningful and stated that his speech should be considered as a complement to the topics raised by Hikmatullah Mullasaleh.

Forgetfulness of modern man; From individual crisis to collective oblivion

Rahmati stated that man has always faced the problem of forgetting due to his human existence, and stated: Some commentators have associated the word human with the concept of oblivion and forgetfulness. Regardless of the etymological discussion of this word, forgetfulness can be considered one of the fundamental aspects of the human condition; Because a person may forget the truth he was once familiar with and gradually imagine his current situation as the whole truth of life.

To explain this situation, he pointed to Ibn Sina's treatise "Hay bin Yaqzan" and especially "The Bird Treatise" and said: In Ibn Sina's narration, humans are likened to birds that are caught in a trap. These birds used to live in gardens and parks, but after being caught, they gradually lose the memory of their previous life and captivity becomes the natural rule of life for them. They get used to the existing conditions as if basically life is nothing but this situation.

According to him, this narrative presents an image of the human condition in which forgetting the truth of one's past leads to accepting the current situation as the whole reality. However, in Ibn Sina's narration, it is still possible to remember; Because seeing the birds that have been freed from the trap revives the memory of freedom in others and arouses the desire for liberation in them.

The president of Bo Ali Sina Scientific and Cultural Foundation added: "The human problem is not simply that he forgets something, but whether it is still possible for him to return to the truth that he has forgotten." In Ibn Sina's narrative, remembrance can provide the ground for liberation; In such a way that man, despite being in this world, no longer sees himself limited to the state of captivity.

By distinguishing individual forgetting from collective forgetting, he stated: In individual forgetting, a person may forget a truth, but there are others who remember it and can provide him with a context for remembering. The problem of modern man is that we are faced with a kind of collective forgetfulness; A situation in which not only the person has forgotten a truth, but also the intellectual and philosophical infrastructures necessary to remember that truth have been weakened.

Rahmati likened this situation to a person who has lost his past due to memory damage and cannot easily restore it even if he wants to. According to his interpretation, the crisis of contemporary man is more acute because the problem is not only inattention or reluctance to remember, but the theoretical and metaphysical frameworks that provided the possibility of this remembrance in the past are no longer effective in the text of his intellectual life.

Modern philosophy and the forgetting of metaphysical infrastructures

Referring to the position of the subject in the new philosophy, this professor of philosophy stated: In many modern philosophical formulations, man is considered as a self-based subject whose starting point of knowledge and thought is himself. In such a framework, the possibility of communicating with a truth beyond the current state of man and remembering his relationship with that truth becomes a difficult issue.

Referring to the concept of "thrown" in Martin Heidegger's thought, he explained: Heidegger speaks of man as a being thrown into the world. This interpretation, in terms of philosophical foundations, is different from the image presented in the religious tradition of the fall of man. In the concept of descent, we are talking about a previous and original relationship from which man has distanced himself; But the concept of thrownness, by itself, does not provide us with such a specific metaphysical account of the origin of man.

Rahmati added: If today's human being is supposed to remember the truth of his existence, he cannot start the work only with moral and spiritual recommendations. Before that, it is necessary to deal with the metaphysical foundations that provide the possibility of such a reminder. These foundations may be studied in the history of philosophy, but the main question is whether they are still present in the position of philosophy of our life or have become mere historical issues.

Emphasizing the importance of this distinction, he pointed out: When the metaphysics that supports remembering is removed from human intellectual life, talking about memory and forgetting also acquires a different meaning. In this situation, remembering may be reduced to a psychological or educational issue, while the main issue is the relationship of man with his existential truth.

Plato and the theory of remembrance, knowledge as the recognition of truth

Referring to Henry Carbone's view on the fate of Platonism in the West, Rahmati said: Carbone believes that after the Cambridge Platonists in the 17th century, Platonism lost its previous position in the face of Cartesian philosophy. According to him, this development did not mean merely changing a philosophical theory, but it led to the forgetting of a kind of metaphysics whose theory of knowledge was based on remembering.

Stating that Plato's theory of remembrance is one of the most important foundations of this intellectual tradition, he explained: In this view, knowledge does not simply mean acquiring new information; Rather, knowledge is, in a way, a return to the truth that the soul had a relationship with before. Based on this, education and dialogue have the duty to provide the basis for the emergence and actualization of this knowledge.

Referring to the difference between three views on how knowledge is formed, this philosophy researcher said: According to one point of view, the human mind is like an unwritten tablet on which experiences are imprinted. In another view, the mind has a power and talent that is actualized in the process of cognition; An approach that can be seen in Aristotelian philosophy and the theory of reason in Avicenna's thought. However, in the Platonic theory of recollection, it is not simply a matter of recording experience or actualizing a mental faculty, but of recognizing facts with which the ego was previously familiar.

Rahmati pointed to Plato's treatise "Menon" to explain this point of view; A treatise in which Socrates talks to Meno about what virtue is. During the conversation, Meno's answers are criticized, but Socrates does not claim that he already has the final answer to the problem. From here, a basic question arises: if a person has no knowledge of something, how can he search for it?

Referring to what is known as "Menon's Paradox" in philosophy, he said: If a person knows something completely, there is apparently no need to search for it; And if he has no knowledge of it, how can he actually look for it? To answer this question, Plato proposes the theory of remembrance. According to this theory, knowledge does not start from zero, but there is a kind of foreknowledge of the truth that is revealed in the process of questioning, dialogue and education.

Referring to the simile of Socrates to a midwife, Rahmati added: Socrates compares his role to a midwife who helps the birth of thought. Just as the midwife does not create the child, but rather assists in its birth, Socrates does not claim to introduce the truth to the mind of the audience from the outside; Rather, it tries to help actualize the knowledge that can appear in the audience.

Referring to the dialogue between Socrates and the young slave in the treatise "Menon", he stated: In this dialogue, Socrates tries to show that the slave, without receiving direct instruction in mathematics, can solve a mathematical problem through questions and answers. Plato uses this example to support the theory of remembrance; A theory based on which knowledge cannot be reduced to the transmission of information from teacher to student.

According to Rahmati, the theory of remembrance in Plato's thought, in addition to the epistemological consequences, also leads to an anthropological conclusion: the human soul existed before the current life. Hence, knowledge is linked with some kind of existential background and education becomes a process to recognize the truth.

Continuity of the Platonic tradition in three religious traditions

Referring to the influence of Plato's thought on the Jewish, Christian and Islamic intellectual traditions, the head of the Boali Sina Scientific and Cultural Foundation said: Platonism, despite the extensive changes in the history of philosophy, has continued in different forms in these three religious traditions. From Philo of Alexandria in the Jewish tradition to Augustine in the Christian tradition and figures such as Ibn Arabi, Suhrawardi and Mulla Sadra in the Islamic tradition, we can see the influence of this legacy.

He added: The importance of this tradition is that it connects knowledge with remembering an eternal truth. On this basis, becoming wise does not simply mean accumulating information or learning a set of propositions, but requires recognizing the relationship that a person has with the truth.

Referring to Henry Carbone's view on the continuation of Platonism in Iran, Rahmati said: Carbone believes that Platonism in the West lost an important part of its position after the dominance of new philosophical currents; But the Platonic tradition continued in Iran in various forms. Here, Platonism is not simply a direct following of Plato's views, but a kind of metaphysical attitude that connects human knowledge, existence, and conduct.

Covenant verse and the ontological foundation of remembrance in Islamic thought

In explaining the Islamic narrative of memory and forgetting, Rahmati pointed to the covenant verse in Surah A'raf; The verse in which God takes a covenant from the children of Adam and they testify to His Lordship.

Referring to the Qur'anic phrase "Alasto barabikkum qalwa bali" he said: the covenant verse in the Islamic tradition is not understood simply as a moral allegory or a metaphor to express human responsibility; Rather, many Muslim commentators and sages have considered it to refer to a real event. According to this view, human history cannot be limited to worldly life and the tangible realm.

He added: If man is defined only in the framework of the tangible world and worldly life, talking about a previous covenant with God will be difficult to explain. But in the Islamic tradition, the worlds of existence are not limited to the world of property, and the domain of the kingdom also has a place in understanding the truth of man and the world. From this point of view, the covenant verse forms a part of the metaphysical foundations that enable the understanding of remembrance in the Islamic tradition.

Referring to the difference between this attitude and the views that limit human existence to worldly life, Rahmati clarified: When all reality is reduced to the tangible world, it becomes more difficult to understand the relationship of man with any reality beyond his current state. On the other hand, in the religious and mystical tradition of Islam, man is not a being whose whole truth of existence is summed up in worldly life.

He emphasized: the covenant verse can be considered one of the foundations of holy history in the Islamic world; A history that, along with the worldly and tangible history, tells about a field beyond the daily human experience. Such an understanding is of fundamental importance for understanding the meaning of remembering, which means recognizing the truth of human existence.

The antiquity of the soul and its existential consequences in human life

This professor of philosophy went on to discuss the issue of the antiquity of the soul in the Islamic tradition and said: The issue of the antiquity of the soul in the religious and mystical thought of Muslims is not just a theoretical issue in philosophy or theology, but has existential and practical consequences for human life. Believing that the human soul has a background beyond worldly life can affect the way of living, choices and relationship of man with the world.

Pointing to two outstanding examples of this attitude, namely, "Neynameh" by Rumi and the treatise "Gharbat Gharbiyeh" by Suhravardi, he said: In these works, the problem of human alienation turns from its reality into an existential experience. Man has moved away from the origin and is in a situation where he may forget his previous truth; But the same awareness of alienation also has the possibility of returning and recovering the truth.

Referring to the image of reed in Rumi's Masnavi, Rahmati said: Reed can be considered a story of separation and longing to return; A story in which the sound of reeds tells about alienation and remoteness. This homelessness is not simply a feeling of homesickness or a psychological experience, but refers to an existential relationship with the origin.

Explaining the place of this issue in Sohrvardi's thought, he added: In "Gharbat Gharbiyeh", man is depicted in the form of young people who are trapped in a dark well. The letter that comes to them from their father is a reminder of their previous identity and status. They realize that their current situation is not the whole truth of their existence and that they have a relationship with another world. This reminder provides the basis for getting out of neglect and moving towards liberation.

Rahmati emphasized: In this view, on the one hand, man must recover his eternal truth and on the other hand, consider his relationship with eternity. Life in the present world, if separated from these two horizons, may lead to accepting the status quo as the whole reality; But remembering the origin and paying attention to eternity opens another horizon for understanding life.