Ibn Taymiyya’s Epistemology: The Fitra
Ibn Taymiyya’s Epistemology: The Fitra Ibn Taymiyya (1263-1328)’s epistemology is based on sense perception, reason, and report/revelation i.e. the Quran and Sunnah, with sense perception being the most straightforward as it provides and immediate sense of particulars while reason works with abstraction and inference. Therefore, he may be classified as an empiricist. However, the centerpiece of Ibn Taymiyya’s epistemology is the concept of the fitra. The fitra can be described as the natural disposition given to mankind created by God to recognize Him along with other a priori truths. Without the fitra, neither speculative reasoning would be possible, nor demonstration, discourse or language. Ibn Taymiyya allows that certain beliefs be sufficient for knowledge independent of inference with the fitra as the God given apparatus to do so. For Ibn Taymiyya, the best argument for the existence of God is not through syllogisms but through the signs recognized by the fitra. The syllogis...