FROM COGNITIVE CLARITY TO ONTOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATION: PHILOSOPHICAL AND SUFI PARADIGMS OF SELF-REFLECTION

This article compares Western philosophical and Sufi models of self-reflection to create an integrative metamodel of subject formation. In Western philosophy, self-reflection is a rational-analytical procedure for clarifying knowledge and securing subjective certainty. In Sufi spiritual anthropology, it is an existential, transformative path involving inner contemplation (murāqaba), self-examination (muḥāsabah), overcoming egocentricity (fanāʾ), and attaining a renewed being (baqāʾ). The study reconstructs ontological, epistemological, and procedural foundations from classical sources. It argues that reflection in philosophy is a cognitive procedure of clarification, while in Sufism it is an ontological event transforming the subject's mode of being. The proposed metamodel treats philosophical analyticity and Sufi transformability as complementary modes in subject formation, expanding self-reflection beyond pure rationality without irrationalizing mystical experience.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The article is devoted to a comparative analysis of philosophical and Sufi models of self-reflection to develop an integrative metamodel framework of subject formation. In the Western philosophical tradition, self-reflection is primarily understood as a rational-analytical procedure oriented toward clarifying the conditions of knowledge, conceptualizing experience, and securing the certainty of subjectivity. In contrast, within Sufi spiritual anthropology, self-reflection appears as an existential and transformative path that includes practices of inner contemplation (murāqaba), self-examination (muḥāsabah), overcoming egocentricity (fanāʾ), and attaining a renewed mode of being (baqāʾ). The methodological foundation of the study combines historical-genealogical and comparative-analytical approaches. Through a textual analysis of classical philosophical and Sufi sources, the ontological, epistemological, and procedural foundations of both models are reconstructed. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the comprehensive reconstruction and theoretical integration of philosophical and Sufi models of self-reflection within a unified processual conception of subject formation. For the first time, a systematic comparison of the philosophical, analytical and Sufi transformative models is conducted across interconnected ontological, epistemological, and procedural dimensions. The article substantiates the thesis that reflection possesses a different ontological status in each tradition: in philosophy, it functions as a cognitive procedure of clarification, while in Sufism, it constitutes an ontological event that transforms the mode of being of the subject. A meta model of self-reflection is proposed, in which philosophical analyticity and Sufi transformability are interpreted as complementary modes within a single dynamic process of subjectivity formation. By integrating cognitive and existential dimensions, the concept of self-reflection is expanded beyond a purely rational structure, while simultaneously avoiding an irrational interpretation of mystical experience. The results contribute to contemporary philosophical anthropology and to intercultural studies of mystical experience.