IMAM ALI A.S. ON THINKING AND HUMAN EVOLUTION

We humans, the species Homo sapiens, are gifted with a great faculty called ‘thinking’. It is the only tool which has made us superior to all the other species on earth, and is responsible for our complete dominance over them. But recent research on Apes, Lemurs and Monkey has shown that even they have the ability to think, but to a lesser degree (The Dragons of Eden: Carl Sagan). It was found that Chimps and Apes use sticks in order to get the termites out of their holes (The Dragons of Eden). All the Primates (Lemurs, Apes, Monkey and Humans) have this special gift (thinking) to some degree. But we, humans, differ from the other Primates in having a highly developed faculty of “thinking”.

Fig.1.All the monkey like mammals including humans are called primates.

All the Primates use thinking to fulfill their materialistic requirement. But human beings are the only Primates to have the faculty of Philosophical and Mathematical thinking. This kind of thinking is Peculiar to humans and is absent in other Primates. The Apes cannot ponder over the creation of heavens and the earth, and completely lack the capacity to ask questions like: Who are we? Why do we exist? What is the reason behind the existence of this cosmos? Is there a creator? Etc. This difference between other Primates and human beings is because of the difference in weight and the anatomy of their brains (The Dragons of Eden). The Primates (Apes, Lemurs, Monkey and humans) have the heaviest

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brain in the animal Kingdom. And among Primates we, humans, have the heaviest brain; as because a large number of neurons are packed in a very small volume. And with regard to the anatomy of the brain, we all (all Primates) follow the triune brain model.

Fig.2. Figure showing the triune brain model of primates (The Dragons-of-Eden.page-59).

TRIUNE-BRAIN-MODEL

A sagittal section of brain from the middle shows three areas.

1. R-Complex(Reptilian-complex)

2. Limbic-system

3. Neo-cortex

The human beings differ from Primates in having a highly developed neo-cortex, whereas the neo-cortex of all the other Primates is feebly developed (The Dragons of Eden).
Coming to the triune model of brain; the R-complex is the Reptilian complex found in Reptiles & Mammals and is absent in Amphibians and Fishes, it is the seat of sex and aggressive behavior. The Limbic system is well developed in mammals, feebly developed in reptiles, and is the seat of strong emotions like, love, fear and olfaction. A well-developed Neo-cortex is found only in human and is present in the other Primates in rudimentary stage; it is made of a left and right cerebral hemisphere and is the seat of thinking, balance etc. The left cerebral hemisphere is associated with mathematical and analytical

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thinking, and the right cerebral hemisphere is associated with philosophical thinking and pattern-recognition-(The-Dragons-of-Eden).

A well-developed Neo-cortex is peculiar to humans and hence, the qualities associated with it (Mathematical and philosophical thinking). The other primates have a feebly developed neo-cortex; they use their thinking only to fulfill their food requirements.

Fig.3.Human beings are primates.

If we, humans, are busy thinking of the ways of earning a livelihood, then we are no greater than Apes and Lemurs. To be a human , we have to ponder over the creation of the heaven and the earth then, and then only, we have the right to be called as human being. And this is the only ways which makes our Neo-cortex work & develop further. Regarding this sort of thinking Quran says:

“Verily! In the creation of the heaven and earth and in the alteration of night and day there are indeed signs for men of understanding. Those who remember Allah (God) standing, sitting, lying down on their sides and think deeply about the creation of heaven and earth, saying “our Lord! You have not

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created this without a purpose, glory to be you! Give us salvation from the torments of fire.” Quran:3:190/191

Fig.4. Portrait of Rene Descartes, the father of co-ordinate geometry

In this article, the word ‘thinking’ refers to pondering over the creation of heaven and earth and whatever is exists in it. The first western philosopher who gave importance to this sort of thinking was Rene Descartes.

Rene Descartes was born in England in 1650.AD. A mathematician and a philosopher, he invented the coordinate geometry and is known as the father of Modern Philosophy (History of Western Philosophy: Bertrand Russell). His cogito ergo sum: I think, therefore I exist came as a fresh breath to exhausting, materialistic western Philosophy. He is known as the discoverer of cogito. His philosophy is popularly known as the Cogit, I think. The cogito, opened new avenues in the western philosophy and saved it from an abrupt end. It also solved forever, the problem relating to the hierarchy of matter and mind, which was existing since the time-of-Plato.

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Descartes started with a method called Cartesian doubt, doubting every possible thing, till you reach the certainty; apart from skepticism, it was actually a method which knew the result before hand. He declared that every sensible thing can be doubted. Senses are deceptive; the eyes deceive, by falsely showing a straight rod in water to be bent. Hence Knowledge gained through senses is not fool proof. He was in search of something which cannot be doubted. He was in search of a concrete and fool proof method by which Knowledge could be gained, so he went on to say: Everything I see is deception, this world, its people, my body etc. May be this world is a magic, and all that exist in it. May be a Satan has charmed me (History of Western Philosophy). My body may also be a deception. May be, it is a dream. But there is one thing in which there is no doubt: My thinking; Thinking is the sole proof of one’s existence. Hence he declared Cogito ergo sum: I think, therefore I must exist. Through ‘Cogito’ Descartes established the superiority of ‘mind’ over ‘matter’. When ‘mind’ which is the seat of thinking is the proof the material, (his body) then it means the invisible is superior to the visible. It was finally established that the knowledge gained through thinking is superior to the knowledge gained through the senses: Newton’s laws of motion, Einstein’s theory of relativity and Planck’s quantum theory are examples of knowledge gained through thinking; they have indeed changed the world. The senses give you knowledge of the visible world, whereas thinking gives you the hidden knowledge of the laws governing the world. Hence real knowledge comes from inside, not from outside. The Knowledge gained through the senses acts only as a media to reach-the-Real-knowledge.

Descartes Philosophy is a preference of mind over matter; soul over body and God over the universe. Just as mind exists in us, God exist in the universe. There can be no body without a ‘Mind’ and hence there can be no universe without a ‘God’ this is what Cogito ergo sum has given to the western philosophy. (Those who wish to know more of Descartes philosophy can refer to Bertrand Russell’s-History-of-Western-Philosophy).

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Descartes’s philosophy of Cogito can be visualized in the following sayings of Imam Ali (a.s),

1) Perception by the eyes is not real observation because the eyes sometime deceive people: but wisdom does not deceive whomsoever-it-counsels. NahjulBalagha: saying No:281

Here Imam Ali (a.s) says that senses, especially eyes, deceive. And hence the Knowledge gained by senses is not completely reliable. Wisdom is nothing but a kind of thinking. And it never deceives.

2) Thinking is a clear mirror. Nahjul Balagha:saying-no:4

Imam Ali (a.s) says that thinking is a flawless tool for gaining genuine knowledge; just as a clear mirror which gives a clear image to the observer. He means to say that the knowledge gained through thinking is credible.

3) There is no Knowledge like thinking.

4) There is no honor like knowledge. NahjulBalagha-saying-no: 112

Here Imam Ali (a.s) says that greatest knowledge is that which is gained by thinking.

All the great theories in Physics, which describe the functioning of the universe as well as the subatomic particles, were achieved through the thinking of great minds. All the computers and other modern equipments work on the principle of Planck’s quantum theory, which describe the behavior of the subatomic particle whereas, the general theory of relativity is responsible for the functioning of the nuclear power plants, and describes the functioning of the cosmos. Both the theories are the outcome of

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thinking. The greatest knowledge is thinking and the greatest honor is knowledge. It means that the greatest honor for the man is ‘thinking’. If you don’t ponder, you are-not-a-human-being.

Imam Ali (a.s) has said what all Descartes has said, but Ali (a.s) said it a thousand years before Descartes, and apart from that, Ali (a.s) did not have free time to ponder and think like Descartes, to the contrary Ali (a.s) was a man of God, a man of letters, the ultimate warrior, a king, a caliph and a administrator.

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