The Limits of Reason and the Search for Certainty: Al-Ghazali’s Epistemology in Deliverance from Error

Abu-Hamid Al Ghazali found himself in a crisis of doubt and skepticism, which led him to question the foundations of his faith. Through his pursuit of the divine truth, he started to question the validity of reasoning and turned to mysticism and spiritual experience as a means of understanding the nature of God. According to Ghazali, reason is an essential tool in the pursuit of knowledge and the truth, but it also has its limitations as it cannot be trusted to reveal the divine truth. Since human cognition is limited and prone to error, reason guides us toward probable knowledge rather than certain knowledge. The basis of reason that leads to probable knowledge, according to Ghazali, is the senses, which he claims are unreliable and fallible. The only method for realizing the divine and reaching certain knowledge is through direct experience.

 Ghazali uses doubts to assess the presence or absence of systematic truth. “To begin with, what, I am looking for is knowledge of what things really are, so I must undoubtedly try to find what knowledge really is.” (Ghazali, Deliverance, 4) He does this by putting scenarios to the test; if one of them survives, he draws the absolute, conclusive conclusion that it is true. This approach is known as the method of doubt, which is a fundamental aspect of Ghazali's epistemology. By subjecting beliefs to rigorous scrutiny, he aimed to arrive at a certain and reliable understanding of reality. Ghazali distinguishes between intellectual truth and truths obtained through the senses. Examples of intellectual truth can include the fact that ten is greater than three and that a person cannot be in two places at once. If one were able to miraculously make that happen, it still would not change one's mind. “No doubts about what I know are raised in me, the only result is that I wonder how he is able to produce this change. Of doubt about my knowledge, there is no trace.” (Ghazali, Deliverance, 4) Such examples rely on logic, while on the other hand, truths obtained through the senses are often subject to error and deception, as our senses can be easily fooled or misled. 

 Inducing doubt led to Ghazali no longer trusting sense-perception. He explained that the limitations of sense perception and relying solely on sense-perception can lead to false beliefs and errors. He believed that the intellect should be used to discern truth from falsehood and that doubt can be a useful tool in this process. Our intellect is the only tool we have to question and correct our judgments, as it allows us to analyze and evaluate objectively. However, we must also acknowledge that our intellect is not infallible and can also be subject to biases and limitations. To effectively perceive and form opinions, our intellect and senses are both necessary.

 Dreams are a unique phenomenon that challenges this notion, as they occur during a state of unconsciousness and often involve sensory experiences that are not grounded in reality. Because of the stimulation of our senses, we occasionally mistakenly believe that we are actually experiencing things when we are not. Ghazali realized that his senses and logical reasoning were the only sources of knowledge he could rely on. In addition, he acknowledged that due to the limitations of human perception and comprehension, nothing could be known with complete certainty. Ghazali concludes that “[in]…similar cases of sense-perception, the sense as judge forms his judgments, but another judge, the intellect, shows him repeatedly to be wrong; and the charge of falsity cannot be rebutted,” (Ghazali, Deliverance, 5) meaning that while our senses may give us information, it is ultimately up to our intellect to determine the truth, and that even then, we may still be mistaken due to the limitations of our understanding. The example of dreaming is used to show how our senses can trick us because while dreaming, we may see things that aren't actually there, and it's only when we wake up and use our intellect that we realize that they were false perceptions. This situation, where the dreamlike state blurs the lines between reality and non-reality, challenges both intellect and senses. “And it is not the case that when you awake, you know all that you imagined and believed [is] unfounded and ineffectual? Why then are you confident that all your waking beliefs, whether from senses or intellect, are genuine?” (Ghazali, Deliverance, 5) This philosophical question highlights the fragility of our perception of reality and the limitations of our understanding. It encourages us to question our assumptions and to approach the role of reason when it comes to knowledge with doubts. 

 The sun in itself has a huge role in questioning our reasoning as a whole, both intellectually and through sense-perception. The ideas that we hold true are based on what we see and what we perceive as logical, however, the sun's role can sometimes deceive our sense-perception and lead us to false conclusions, highlighting the importance of critical thinking and empirical evidence in forming our beliefs and understanding of the world around us. Ghazali talks about how the sun, to the human eye is small, but in reality it is so much larger than we can comprehend. This is the same with the shadows that the sun casts, Ghazali uses this analogy to explain that our limited human perception may not always reflect the true nature of things, and that there may be aspects of reality that are beyond our understanding. Both intellect and senses are unreliable, and since reason is dependent on these two elements, we can say that reason can lead us humans to probable knowledge but cannot be the sole source of truth. Therefore, Ghazali suggests that we should also rely on divine revelation and spiritual intuition to gain a deeper understanding of reality, which is why he made the decision to do his immense research on the four different ways of pursuing knowledge until he reached his own conclusion as to which was the most efficient way to achieve truth. “I now hastened to follow out these four ways and investigate what these groups had achieved, commencing with the science of theology and then the talking way of philosophy, the ‘authoritative instruction’ of the Batiniyah, and the way of mysticism, in that order.” (Ghazali, Deliverance, 7)

 Ghazali first identifies the defect of unbelief as affecting the various philosophical schools. He contends that relying only on reason and intellect is constrained and that denying the existence of a divine being makes it impossible to offer true ethical guidance. The materialists' flawed worldview is unable to account for the complexity and order of the universe because they reject the idea of a creator or "disposer of the world." Many of the claims made in this denial of a higher power lack support. The wonders of God's creation are acknowledged by naturalists, who also accept evolution and the empirical data from scientific research that supports natural processes. They do not, however, believe in an afterlife, which conflicts with their faith in a divine being. 

  Ghazali emphasizes the importance of balancing reason and faith, and argues that relying solely on reason can lead to skepticism and doubt. For the natural sciences, he boldly states that the “basis of all objections is the recognition that nature is in subjection to God most high, not acting of itself but serving as an instrument in the hands of the creator.” (Ghazali, Deliverance, 12) According to Ghazali, reason should be used to understand the world, but not at the expense of faith in a higher power. This belief is reflected in his perspective on the natural sciences. He emphasizes the importance of humility in the face of divine knowledge and views nature as proof of God's existence. He gives the example of how He controls the sun, moon, and stars, none of which are actually generating activity from their own essence. Ghazali frequently reiterates the notion that philosophers are unable to satisfy the requirements of proof because they are unable to do so in logic.

 Ghazali is renowned for his criticism of philosophers who, in his view, placed an undue emphasis on reason and logic while undervaluing the role of revelation and spiritual experience in comprehending the nature of reality. Ghazali contends that while reason is a crucial tool in the search for knowledge and the truth, it is also constrained because it cannot be relied upon to reveal the divine truth. Reason steers us away from certain knowledge and toward probable knowledge due to the limitations and error-proneness of human cognition. He argued that divine revelation and intuition, which enable us to know things that are outside the realm of our senses, are the only ways to get around the limitations of reason through logic and our senses. He argued that true knowledge could only be attained through a combination of reason and intuition through divine guidance, which allows us to reach an understanding of things beyond our senses. 

---

Al-Ghazali, Abu Hamid. Deliverance from Error. Translated by W. Montgomery Watt. London:

George Allen and Unwin Ltd., 1953