Knowledge by Presence and the Rationality of Belief in God: A Reassessment of Plantinga's Reformed Epistemology in Light of Mullā Ṣadrā's Transcendent Philosophy

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Faculty Member of the Department of Islamic Studies, Faculty of Basic and Applied Sciences, Kermanshah University of Technology, Kermanshah, Iran

prt/prt.2026.72826.1011

Abstract

The rationality of belief in God is a central issue in contemporary philosophical theology and religious epistemology. Against evidentialist approaches that regard religious belief as rational only when supported by sufficient evidence, Alvin Plantinga, within Reformed Epistemology, defends the rationality of non-inferential belief in God through the concepts of properly basic belief and the sensus divinitatis. Nevertheless, the ontological basis of such knowledge remains an open question. Using an analytical-comparative method and drawing on the works of Plantinga and Mullā Ṣadrā, this study examines the potential of knowledge by presence (ʿilm al-ḥuḍūrī) in Transcendent Philosophy for a reinterpretation of Reformed Epistemology. The findings show that although both thinkers affirm the possibility of non-inferential knowledge of God, knowledge by presence, grounded in the primacy of existence, the gradation of being, and the unity of the knower and the known, offers a deeper ontological account of such knowledge. Accordingly, it may serve as an ontological foundation for reinterpreting the sensus divinitatis, shifting the discussion from epistemic justification to the existential disclosure of divine knowledge. From this perspective, Transcendent Philosophy contributes to a richer understanding of direct and non-inferential knowledge of God in dialogue with Reformed Epistemology.

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History

  • Receive Date: 04 June 2026
  • Revise Date: 16 June 2026
  • Accept Date: 17 June 2026

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