Ma`rif Aqli

The nature of knowledge has long been debated between theologians and philosophers. Al-Rāzī defines knowledge as a categorial relation (iḍāfa) between knower and known to avoid material forms inhering in immaterial substances. However, this theory faces internal impasses regarding knowledge of nonexistents, error, self-awareness, and the unity of consciousness. This study provides a foundational critique of the relation theory and proposes an alternative model, using a descriptive-analytical and comparative method between al-Rāzī and Transcendent Philosophy. The findings show that the theory's failure stems from reducing the existential reality of knowledge to categorial accidents. In contrast, Transcendent Philosophy, based on the primacy of existence and substantial motion, conceives knowledge as the soul's intensive perfection (kamāl ishtidādī)—not an accidental relation. In this model, perception is a process wherein the soul, through encompassing simplicity and unity with the intelligible, expands existentially. Thus, knowledge is elevated from an external relation to an existential disclosure, explaining the dynamism of cognition.