FROM COGNITIVE CLARITY TO ONTOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATION: PHILOSOPHICAL AND SUFI PARADIGMS OF SELF-REFLECTION
Fìlosofìâ ta upravlìnnâ. January 17, 2026 Nina Bilokopytova, Karim El Guessab
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.