Studies in Baha'i Philosophy: Selected Articles

Depending upon their epistemological foundations philosophical systems can be divided into five types: empiricist (Locke), rationalist (Descartes), intuitivist (Bergson), traditionalist (Confucius), and scriptural (Aquinas). In the history of philosophy there were five major waves of scriptural reasoning—Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim. In this context Bahá’í philosophy represents the sixth wave, and it finds itself in a fruitful dialogue not only with the traditional forms of religious philosophy but also with modern Western thought which is based solely on reason and empirical observation.

In this collection the reader will find articles on various aspects of Bahá’í philosophy—philosophical anthropology, philosophy of science, philosophy of culture, epistemology, ethics, philosophy of religion, comparative and political philosophy, and, finally, history of philosophy. The authors of those articles—Bahá’í and non-Bahá’í scholars—reflect global aspirations of this religion by representing diverse countries of the world—USA, Canada, France, Italy, and Sweden. This collection of articles also introduces a Global Faith Book Series which publishes works on various aspects of the Bahá’í Faith and globalization.