List of Articles Reza  Safari Kandsari

• Open Access Article
  • Abstract Page
  • Full-Text
  
  1 - The Relationship between Genetic and Religious Affairs in Theoretical Gnosis
  Reza  Safari Kandsari
  In theoretical gnosis, based on the principle of the oneness of being, it is only the Truth Who is one and from Whom a single entity called the first emanated and Muhammedan truth is emanated. On the other hand, the Divine Names (and their hidden and objective loci of m More

  In theoretical gnosis, based on the principle of the oneness of being, it is only the Truth Who is one and from Whom a single entity called the first emanated and Muhammedan truth is emanated. On the other hand, the Divine Names (and their hidden and objective loci of manifestations) are in conflict with each other because of their limitations, and the name of Allah and His loci of manifestation, the Muhammedan truth, establish balance and order between their names and manifestations. The order and balance among the conflicts of the hidden manifestations of names are established genetically through the fixed essence of the Muhammedan truth, whereas the same is done among the conflicts of objective manifestations through the external essence of the Muhammedan truth in the form of religious laws. The purpose of religious laws is to have people follow the Muhammedan religion in order to free themselves from conflicts and limitations and attain the level of limitlessness. Whenever they attain such a level, they unite with the Muhammedan truth, which is the manifestation locus of the name of God. It is through this union that they can dominate the realm of being and begin the act of creation there with the permission of the Truth and turn into a mediator between the Truth and creation in the same way that God’s Name and the Muhammedan Truth were the mediators between the Truth and creation at the beginning of the creation of existents. Therefore, religious law-making ends in creation. Manuscript profile
• Open Access Article
  • Abstract Page
  • Full-Text
  
  2 - The Relationship between the Graded Unity of Existence and the Theory of Perfect Man in Mutahhari
  Reza  Safari Kandsari
  Different philosophical and gnostic schools have each presented some theories regarding the perfect Man relying on their own specific worldviews. Believing in a worldview based on the “individual unity of existence”, gnostics maintain that it is only the Truth which exi More

  Different philosophical and gnostic schools have each presented some theories regarding the perfect Man relying on their own specific worldviews. Believing in a worldview based on the “individual unity of existence”, gnostics maintain that it is only the Truth which exists, and what is other than the Truth is only among the modes and manifestations of the Truth. In the view of this group, the perfect Man is a human being who has attained supreme glory. Such a person is indeed the locus of the manifestation of essential and nominal perfections of the Truth rather than having a different existence from the Truth. In his critique of gnostics’ theory of perfect Man, Mutahhari, based on the theory of the graded unity of existence, believes that the perfect Man is a human being who, while actualizing all goals and values to the level of moderation in oneself, has a single goal in mind which is the same proximity to God. According to the gradedness of existence, multiple goals and a single goal are the same but are different in their levels. In multiple goals, the intentions and the ultimate levels of divine proximity are also different. In other words, in the view of Mutahhari, as the graded unity of existence dominates the truth of being, a human being who has attained the graded goal is the same perfect Man. In this paper, the writer explains that none of Mutahhari’s criticisms of gnostics’ views are justified, and explicit references in the related texts demonstrate the falsity of his objections. Therefore, gnostics provide a more complete explanation of the perfect Man, and the existence of this human being is consistent with the individual unity of existence. Manuscript profile
• Open Access Article
  • Abstract Page
  • Full-Text
  
  3 - A Critical Study of Functionalism with a Glance at Mulla Sadra’s Self-Knowledge
  Reza  Safari Kandsari
  The relationship between the body and the soul is one of the complex issues in philosophy. The Cartesian and Platonic dualism is one of the solutions offered for this problem. Descartes and Plato believed that the soul and body are two different substances and enjoy the More

  The relationship between the body and the soul is one of the complex issues in philosophy. The Cartesian and Platonic dualism is one of the solutions offered for this problem. Descartes and Plato believed that the soul and body are two different substances and enjoy their own particular domains and features. Contemporary philosophers of the mind have also introduced a number of views in order to resolve the problems of substantial dualism. The theories of behaviorism and the identity of the mind and body deny the substantive nature of the soul and employ the words “mind” and “mental states” instead of the word “soul” and maintain that mental states are the same behavioral and brain-related states. However, while acknowledging the problems of dualism, the behavioral approaches, and the standpoint of the identity of the mind and brain, the advocates of functionalism provide an impartial interpretation of the mind (its being abstract or concrete) and believe that mental states are the same functional states which perform certain functional roles based on mental input and output and other mental states. Islamic philosophers and mutikallimun have also tackled the enigma of the soul and body and Plato’s substantial dualism. Ibn Sina and Suhrawardi deny the priority of the soul to the body (Platonic theory) but consider the essence of the soul and body to be immaterial and corporeal, respectively. Most mutikallimun reject the idea of the soul as an immaterial and self-subsistent substance and view it as a delicate kind of body. In line with functionalists, Mulla Sadra was well aware of the problems associated with considering the soul as an immaterial or corporeal substance and argued that the essence of the soul is not purely immaterial or material; rather, it is initially corporeal and then becomes immaterial through trans-substantial motion. He also stated that, based on the shadowy true unity, the soul is an intermediate world inclusive of both materiality and immateriality and becomes material and immaterial based on the states of its grades. Although both functionalists and Mulla Sadra reject the mind’s (the soul in Mulla Sadra’s view) being purely immaterial or corporeal, Mulla Sadra provided a more accurate explanation of the body-soul relation in comparison to functionalists, who hold a physicalist view of the mind. This is because he does not limit being exclusively to nature. Manuscript profile