The present study discusses the identity and referent of “I” and the criterion for distinguishing “true I” from the other in the views of Suhrawardī, Mullā Ṣadrā, and Descartes. According to these three philosophers, “I” is the external and self-revealing identity that
More
The present study discusses the identity and referent of “I” and the criterion for distinguishing “true I” from the other in the views of Suhrawardī, Mullā Ṣadrā, and Descartes. According to these three philosophers, “I” is the external and self-revealing identity that Man learns about through presential knowledge. The referent of true I in Suhrawardī’s view is immaterial light, which enjoys continuous self-awareness through the permanent manifestation of essence. In Mullā Ṣadrā’s philosophy, referent is a level of existence which is continually in a state of change in the cradle of the trans-substantial motion; it is a graded realm with no fixed identity. For Descartes, the referent is an immaterial dimension that is continually involved in a state of thinking. Therefore, all three philosophers believe that true “I” is in fact a perceptive, knowledgeable, and thinking “I”. The distinction criterion for true I is also the same for all of them. This is because Suhrawardī and Mullā Ṣadrā consider continuous knowledge and not neglecting the self, which is the same as self-awareness, to be the distinction criterion for true I. However, Descartes’ criterion is clarity and distinction, which seem to be the same thing that Suhrawardī and Mullā Ṣadrā call continuous presence or self-awareness. Hence, it seems that the distinction criterion for “true I” is the same in the view of all the three philosophers.
Manuscript profile
