The Referral of Primary Propositions to Presentational Knowledge: A New Formulation of Ayatollah Misbah Yazdi's Theory

Various perspectives have been proposed regarding the mystery of the truth and infallibility of primary self-evident principles. The most recent of these is the theory of referral to presentational knowledge ('ilm huzuri), whose initial formulation can be considered one of the innovations of Ayatollah Muhammad Taqi Misbah Yazdi. According to this theory, the infallibility of primary self-evident principles is rooted in the infallibility of presentational knowledge, meaning that their correspondence with reality is apprehended through presentational knowledge. In the present article, through a precise analysis of the content and referent (mahki) of primary self-evident principles, I will offer a new formulation of this theory and defend its core principle against its most significant rival theory (the intrinsic nature of assent to primary propositions). The research findings indicate that the general framework of the theory of referral to presentational knowledge is not only entirely correct and robust, but without resorting to it, the mystery of the truth and infallibility of primary self-evident principles would not be revealed.