From Emotional Experience to Moral Judgment: An Analysis of the Role of Emotions in Moral Knowledge in Mantiq al-ʿUshshāq Based on Noël Carroll's Theory 

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Department of Persian Language and Literature, Bon.C., Islamic Azad University, Bonab, Iran.

Abstract

This study bridges moral aesthetics and the philosophy of emotions to examine the emotional-moral mechanisms in Awhadī Marāghaʾī's Mantiq al-ʿUshshāq (The Logic of Lovers). The central question is how the emotional experiences narrated in this poetic work transcend mere personal feelings to become instruments for the production, transmission, and consolidation of moral knowledge. Drawing upon Noël Carroll's theoretical framework concerning the "cognitivity of emotions" and the "moral function of emotional responses," and employing a qualitative analytical method, this study demonstrates that Awhadī formulates love as an emotional-epistemic experience aimed at self-purification, moral refinement, self-knowledge, and loving responsibility. The findings indicate that emotion in this work functions as a normative and educative mechanism for moral reflection and the cultivation of spiritual virtues. The fusion of lyric and mystical elements in this text provides a context in which moral knowledge is attained through emotional experience. Mantiq al-ʿUshshāq stands as a distinguished example of the intersection of ethics, mystical aesthetics, and virtue literature — a text that represents mystical love not as a purely aesthetic experience, but as a moral, educative, and knowledge-oriented process.

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References

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