Oneness of Knowledge in Islamic Philosophy

Abstract

Oneness of knowledge played a basic role in shaping many Islamic philosophical theories. It led many Muslim philosophers to aim at unifying different traditions of knowledge, paving the way for the development of their unique philosophical accounts. Only through unifying diverse traditions of knowledge and philosophy can one account for the oneness of knowledge, which states that the seemingly competing disciplines of research and sources of beliefs constitute one single and coherent set of knowledge. For example, the philosopher Al-Farabi attempted to unify Plato’s idealism with Aristotle’s realism. And the main reason behind his endeavor is to account for the belief that apparently distinct philosophical systems of beliefs which are in fact consistent and form a single body of knowledge. Similarly, one dominant school of Sufism, i.e. Islamic mysticism, endorses the idea of the oneness of the universe, which considers that all things are just one single entity. And the basic reason behind maintaining that all beings, including cultures and religions, are one is to express the belief that all kinds of knowledge are one. When all things or entities are one, they will provide a consistent set of beliefs, leading to the oneness of knowledge.