The Methods of Intellect in Semiotic Knowledge from the ‎Perspective of Verses and Narrations

Semiotic knowledge (sign-based knowledge) refers to the intellect’s recognition of God or its attainment of any religious and spiritual cognition through cosmic signs  and individual/inner signs . While numerous attempts have been made by thinkers to elucidate semiotic knowledge through the cognitive performance of the intellect, the process of semiotic knowledge with specific reference to Quranic verses and narrations has received less attention. The central question of this research is: Through what process does the intellect transcend signs to arrive at a signified meaning  that sometimes lacks even an implicative signification with the sign itself?
Utilizing a descriptive-analytical method applied to verses and narrations, this paper achieves distinct results. It first addresses the most prominent existing perspectives regarding the intellect's process of semiotic knowledge and how it reaches the signified after encountering a sign . Subsequently, by analyzing narrations and verses issued in the domains of ontology, anthropology, and the functional dynamics of the intellect, it explains how the intellect transitions from a sign to its signified.
An ayah means a sign or indication, and it invariably points to something beyond itself; hence, semiotic knowledge means passing from the sign to the Owner of the sign. But through what process and stages does the intellect attain knowledge via signs? We know that in semiotic knowledge, the intellect performs a cognitive movement from the sign to the signified, which is often an epistemic proposition. An examination of verses and narrations reveals that the intellect utilizes three methods to attain these signified meanings.
The first path of the intellect to attain signified propositions is through the knowledges bestowed upon it by God. According to certain narrations, the intellect was created from knowledge, and its subsistence in the celestial realm (malakut) is perpetually accompanied by knowledge. That is, intellect and knowledge are never separated, even within the human realm, because the very existence of the intellect is derived from knowledge. The propositions inherent in the intellect actually constitute a portion of its buried treasures, which are brought to light through the reminders of prophets and the exposition of clear signs. This method is usually utilized by the intellect in the domain of theology (cognition of God), because the signified propositions obtained from verses and signs are intrinsic to the intellect in the realm of knowing God.
The second path of the intellect involves perceiving implicative significations through the interaction between the intellect  and the heart . Based on the theory of innate knowledge , verses and narrations introduce certain cognitions for the heart that exist as propositions within it—such as the proposition: "There is a Sustainer/Governor for human beings." These propositions are the very signified meanings of the signs. However, this knowledge often resides in the depths of hearts and in obscurity, and humans are usually oblivious to it. When a person encounters signs, the intellect radiates its light into the heart; this is because the intellect is created from light and resides in the heart. Following the illumination of the intellect's light, the innate cognitions of the heart—which are in reality doctrinal propositions—become clear and manifest to the human view. This method can be utilized by the intellect in multiple domains, as the realm of the heart's innate cognitions is exceedingly vast.
The third path available to the intellect in perceiving signs is that it actively produces other propositions through signs, utilizing an inherent, innate ability. In narrations, this method of the intellect in understanding signs is termed "reasoning", and it functions in the domains of recognizing divine attributes, the relationship between human beings and God, and receiving information regarding the Prophet, the Imam, and the Resurrection. The production of a true proposition through signs occurs via a cognitive tool known as conceptual metaphor. Conceptual metaphor is considered a cognitive tool of the mind for understanding, and is one of the functions of the human mind in cognizing the unknown. Humans consistently and subconsciously bridge the gap from domains with which they share an inseparable familiarity toward the understanding and conceptualization of other domains. Therefore, metaphor is an inseparable part of thought, without which new cognitions would not be achieved by humans. This tool, however, can be placed at the service of the intellect.
The process that occurs in producing a true proposition through conceptual metaphors is as follows: first, an allegory or example  is stated by God. Subsequently, on the human side, a form of knowledge is obtained. This knowledge is the very existence of a relationship between the two sides of the metaphor. The two sides of the metaphor are, in fact, the domains of the signifier  and the signified . The Quran terms the establishment of mappings and resemblances between the two domains and the transition to the conclusion—which is another proposition—as "intellection" . Based on numerous narrations, the intellect benefits from a priori knowledge in its very creation. These a priori cognitions include concepts such as relation, similarity, parity, opposition, and generalization. Therefore, by establishing mappings between the source domain and the target domain, and by applying the target domain to the source domain—an ability it possesses due to the existence of its a priori knowledges—the intellect can produce true propositions that are, in reality, the very signified meanings of the signs.