-

Open Access Article

1 - A Response to an Old Problem about Mulla Sadra’s Encounter with Suhrawardi’s Arguments on Denying the Pre-Existence of the Soul
Ali Shirvani Mojtaba Afsharpour

There are some disagreements among philosophers on the pre-existence of the soul, that is, the existence of the soul before joining the body, whether it is originated or pre-eternal. Mulla Sadra maintains that the soul – the soul qua soul – originates in the trans-subst More

There are some disagreements among philosophers on the pre-existence of the soul, that is, the existence of the soul before joining the body, whether it is originated or pre-eternal. Mulla Sadra maintains that the soul – the soul qua soul – originates in the trans-substantial motion of the body (corporeal origination) through particular individuation. However, he agrees with its pre-existence and considers it to be a rational one. When discussing this issue, he investigates, criticizes, and rejects Suhrawardi’s arguments on denying pre-existence. The commentators of Mulla Sadra’s words have always asked the question of why he did not agree with Suhrawardi’s arguments on denying the soul’s pre-existence based on his own particular individuation so that they would appear unanimous with respect to this problem. At least, this is what one could understand from Suhrawardi’s words and arguments. Accordingly, some of the early and contemporary commentators criticized him and believed that his objections to Suhrawardi’s words were unfounded. In this paper, while briefly referring to the fundamental principles of Suhrawardi’s arguments and Mulla Sadra’s related criticisms, the writers explain the main reason why Mulla Sadra refused to accept Suhrawardi’s view about the pre-existence of the soul. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

2 - A Critical Study of the Applications of the Theory of the “Copulative Existence of the Effect” in Philosophical Problems
Ali Arshad Riahi Fattah Honarjoo

In Mulla Sadra’s view, the existence of the effect is identical with relation and dependence on its cause. This theory has created noteworthy changes in dealing with philosophical problems, so that some of Mulla Sadra’s commentators have employed this philosophical theo More

In Mulla Sadra’s view, the existence of the effect is identical with relation and dependence on its cause. This theory has created noteworthy changes in dealing with philosophical problems, so that some of Mulla Sadra’s commentators have employed this philosophical theory in order to demonstrate certain philosophical and even kalami problems. In this paper, 14 problems which have been demonstrated based on the identity between the effect and relation have been compiled and critically explored. The writers finally conclude that the effect of this theory is accepted on 10 cases but rejected on the rest of them. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

3 - A Review of the Nature of Modes and their Signification of the Composition of the Subject of the Modal (Focusing on Mir Damad’s Views)
Mohammad Hadi Tavakkoli

The importance of modes in philosophy is to the extent that some have considered them as the fundamental bases of philosophy. One of the philosophical issues connected with the discussion of modes is the discussion of “composition”. Mode of any type signifies the existe More

The importance of modes in philosophy is to the extent that some have considered them as the fundamental bases of philosophy. One of the philosophical issues connected with the discussion of modes is the discussion of “composition”. Mode of any type signifies the existence of some kind of plurality. This is because the criterion for being qualified by a mode is not exactly the same as the criterion for being qualified by another one. Therefore, the modes abstracted from a single subject (whether having real or mentally-posited unity) indicate the existence of a kind of multiplicity in the subject itself (in the conditional mode) or in the affairs outside the subject (in the causative mode). Being compound is one of the kinds of multiplicity in subject. In this paper, the author intends to provide a review of the problem of modes and the discussions prior and posterior to them. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

4 - Order of Being and Ought-tos in the Book of Creation and the Book of Religion
Seyyed Mostafa Muhaqqiq Damad

The discussion regarding the problem of order in Islamic wisdom are classified under two titles: “book of creation” and “book of divine legislation/religion”. The book of creation explains and describes the necessary order dominating the world. The book of religion cont More

The discussion regarding the problem of order in Islamic wisdom are classified under two titles: “book of creation” and “book of divine legislation/religion”. The book of creation explains and describes the necessary order dominating the world. The book of religion contains the rules which have been devised to grant order to Man’s process of perfection. The major feature of the book of religion is that it has been developed based on the idea of Man as a free-willed being. Therefore, it contains a collection of recommended rules rather than obligatory laws. In the Transcendent Philosophy, these two types of order match each other. Mulla Sadra, himself, refers to them as “genetic” and “religious” affairs. Based on this view, we can say that, even with regard to human and social laws, the order intended by Mulla Sadra is of the type of real and objective, rather than mentally-posited, affairs. In the Transcendent Philosophy, obeying religious teachings is considered to be the right path leading to human perfection. This is the same as obeying the principles dominating the system of being or, in ‘Allamah Tabataba’i’s words, obeying fitrah or the primordial nature. This path and order are shared by all individuals and societies at all times and in all places and provide the possibility for happiness and living a social life for all human beings. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

5 - The Relationship between Existence and Quiddity in the Transcendent Philosophy
Maqsud Mohammadi

The kind of the relationship between existence and quiddity in the Transcendent Philosophy has been propounded in the discussions on the principiality of existence and the mentally-posited nature of quiddity. Mulla Sadra has explained this relationship in two ways. On t More

The kind of the relationship between existence and quiddity in the Transcendent Philosophy has been propounded in the discussions on the principiality of existence and the mentally-posited nature of quiddity. Mulla Sadra has explained this relationship in two ways. On the one hand, he argues that existence is originally and essentially realized, and quiddity is realized by accident and through the mediation of existence, with which it is eventually united. On the other hand, he believes that it is only “existence” which is objectively realized, and quiddity never steps into the realm of existence and is merely a mentally-posited affair which the intellect abstracts from existence. These two apparently different interpretations seem to have created a confusion among the researchers in this field. That is why some of them have accused him of contradiction, and some others have tried to justify this contradiction in a way. However, a reference to Mulla Sadra’s collection of works makes it clear that these two interpretations are not contradictory. When he states that existence and quiddity are realized by essence and by accident, respectively, he is referring to the nature of the existent, and when he negates the existence and realization of quiddity, he is referring to quiddity in separation from existence. In this paper, the writer has tried to clarify this point by reference to the works of Mulla Sadra himself. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

6 - The Impact of the Theory of Trans-Substantial Motion on Mulla Sadra’s Kalami Thought
Mehdi Ganjvar Majid Sadeqi Hassanabadi Mohammad Bidhendi Furugh al-Sadat Rahimpoor

One of the most important ontological innovations of Mulla Sadra which exercised a huge influence over his philosophical and kalami thoughts was the theory of the trans-substantial motion. His magnificent discovery in this field demonstrated restlessness in the substanc More

One of the most important ontological innovations of Mulla Sadra which exercised a huge influence over his philosophical and kalami thoughts was the theory of the trans-substantial motion. His magnificent discovery in this field demonstrated restlessness in the substance of the world and human beings and proved the existence of continuous motion and change in the essence of all material existents. This was a view which the majority of pre-Sadrian philosophers considered to be irrational and impossible. The extent of the influence of this theory is so vast that, even after some centuries of research, there is still some room for further study regarding its various dimensions. However, what has been discussed and written concerning the outcomes of the trans-substantial motion so far are generally limited to ontological and philosophical results, and little research has been carried out regarding the effects and uses of this theory in the kalami-religious field. Accordingly, following an analytic and qualitative method, after posing the problem meticulously and explaining this theory, the writers have examined the data related to the influence of this theory on Mulla Sadra’s kalami thoughts while emphasizing the innovative nature of the theory of the trans-substantial motion. Hence, the findings of this research are based on inference and focus on explaining the most important kalami and religious concomitants of the trans-substantial motion. These findings include the knowledge of God, description of the eternal dependence of created beings on God, demonstration of the temporal origination of the world, intellectual explanation of corporeal resurrection, philosophical justification of the doctrine of the embodiments of deeds, falsity of the notion of transmigration, innovative explanation of the nature of death, and clarifying the universality of revivification. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

7 - Unity of Being, Unity of Intuition, and Speaking of God
Ghasim Kakaie Tayyebeh Masoumi

One of the most important discussions in Islamic philosophy, kalam, and gnosis is speaking of God. The “unity of being” and “unity of intuition” have been proposed as two approaches to the quality of the relationship between the wayfaring gnostic servant and God and spe More

One of the most important discussions in Islamic philosophy, kalam, and gnosis is speaking of God. The “unity of being” and “unity of intuition” have been proposed as two approaches to the quality of the relationship between the wayfaring gnostic servant and God and speaking of Him. Each of these approaches has some representatives in the tradition of Islamic gnosis and each has specific beliefs regarding gnostic unity. In this paper, through explaining the theories of the unity of being (based on Ibn Arabi’s ideas) and the unity of intuition (based on ‘Ala al-Dawlah Semnani’s views), the writers initially discuss their differences concerning unity. Then they explore the concept of “personal God” as one of the necessities and basic principles of the theory of the unity of intuition as opposed to the Absolute God of the theory of the unity of being. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

8 - The Relationship of Theory and Practice with Moral Habits and Man’s Essential Change in the Transcendent Philosophy
Esma’il S’aadati Khamseh

There is an accurate ontological relationship between theoretical and practical wisdom in the Transcendent Philosophy. Based on the principiality of existence and gradation of being, the trans-substantial motion, and the corporeal createdness and spiritual subsistence o More

There is an accurate ontological relationship between theoretical and practical wisdom in the Transcendent Philosophy. Based on the principiality of existence and gradation of being, the trans-substantial motion, and the corporeal createdness and spiritual subsistence of the soul, Mulla Sadra explains this relationship and the soulish change which results from it. The mutual influence of the thoughts, acts, intentions, and behaviors of an individual on each other in the course of the trans-substantial motion of the soul form the inner and real form of human beings. At the beginning of their creation, all individuals are from the same species; however, in their innermost and in the Hereafter, because of the domination of various habits over their souls, they turn into angelic, beastly, savage, or devilish human beings. The embodiment of Man’s otherworldly form and Ideal body are also proportionate to their soulish and moral habits. It is because in the Hereafter bodies are the shadows of souls. This is the same inner transformation or moral incarnation which has been mentioned in religious texts. Moreover, the soul’s trans-substantial motion, whether in the angelic path or in the, beastly, savage, or devilish path, is of the types of dressing after dressing. This is because the origin of inner and otherworldly wickedness is also a kind of gradedness in actuality. Therefore, it can be concluded that, based on the principles of Sadrian philosophy, Man’s inner and otherworldly transformation, is not of the type of impossible essential transformation. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

9 - The Role of the Ideal Level of the Soul in Establishing the Soul-Body Relation in Mulla Sadra’s Philosophy
Mohammad Miri

Unlike his preceding philosophers, Mulla Sadra believes that the distance between the rational soul and the corporeal body is too big to be filled merely with the steam-like soul. In addition to the steam-like soul, he considers the existence of Ideal existence as a lin More

Unlike his preceding philosophers, Mulla Sadra believes that the distance between the rational soul and the corporeal body is too big to be filled merely with the steam-like soul. In addition to the steam-like soul, he considers the existence of Ideal existence as a link between the rational and corporeal levels to be necessary. Mulla Sadra’s graded view of human existence led him, firstly, to introduce Man as having three supreme (rational), low (material), and mid (Ideal) levels. Secondly, he maintained that Man’s Ideal and imaginal level is the link connecting the two higher and lower levels. In order to explain the place of Ideal level in human existence, he resorts to the principle of the “conformity between the macrocosm and microcosm” and considers the two rational and Ideal levels in the human microcosm to be similar to the Heaven and Throne in the macrocosm. As acknowledged by Mulla Sadra himself, he is greatly influenced by gnostics regarding the discussion of Man’s Ideal level. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

10 - Spirit of the Theory of Reminiscence in Mulla Sadra’s View of Intellection
Ali Asghar J‘afari Valani

In his explanation of perception, especially intellectual perception, based on his own philosophical principles, such as the principality and gradation of existence, commensurability of existence with knowledge and the trans-substantial motion, Mulla Sadra follows an ap More

In his explanation of perception, especially intellectual perception, based on his own philosophical principles, such as the principality and gradation of existence, commensurability of existence with knowledge and the trans-substantial motion, Mulla Sadra follows an approach different from that of his predecessors. On the other hand, he considers Plato’s theory of the pre-eternity of the soul in line with his own view of the corporeal origination of the soul based on its creation in the world of separate beings. The reason is that this creation in the world of separate beings and immaterial intellects is not in a particular and imperfect form. Rather, in the arc of descent, the soul enjoys corporeal origination along with the body’s trans-substantial motion and returns to the world of intellects in the arc of ascent. This ontological process is the same as an epistemological one. Accordingly, the soul observes the world of intellect through intellectual perception; the same world in which it enjoyed a rational existence at the beginning of the arc of descent. Given the intertwinement of ontology and epistemology in Mulla Sadra’s philosophy, as the development of the human soul in the worlds of existence is followed by its ontological development, moving from each world to the next one is followed by the perfection of perception, from the sense and imaginal perception to the intellectual one. Regarding intellectual perceptions, unlike sense and imaginal perceptions, Mulla Sadra believes in the flow of intellectual concepts from immaterial intellects into the soul and the soul’s contemplating them from a distance. Therefore, although Mulla Sadra does not agree with Plato’s theory of reminiscence, his particular view of intellectual perception can be a kind of reminiscence and recollection. However, given the differences between the philosophical principles of Plato and Mulla Sadra, we cannot consider them to be completely compatible with each other. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

11 - Abscess and Butterfly or Bird and Cage? A Comparative Assessment of the Ideas of Ibn Sina and Mulla Sadra on the Body-Soul Relation
Abdolrazzaq Hesamifar

’s philosophies and the way its relationship with the body is explained and justified. It also asks the following questions: Do these two philosophers have the same view of the nature of the soul and its relationship with the body or do they hold different views? Whose More

’s philosophies and the way its relationship with the body is explained and justified. It also asks the following questions: Do these two philosophers have the same view of the nature of the soul and its relationship with the body or do they hold different views? Whose view is more compatible with the Islamic-Qur’anic style of thinking? Here, the writers argue that, while Ibn Sina has adduced some strong arguments in order to justify the immateriality and spiritual subsistence of the soul, a great part of them, if not all of them, are influenced by the Platonic-Neo-Platonic approach to the nature of the soul and the soul-body relation. They also emphasize that, although Ibn Sina has offered some subtle ideas and innovations in this regard, the general framework and structure of his discussion is what we have seen in the Platonic-Neo-Platonic tradition. On the other hand, although Mulla Sadra pays particular attention to Ibn Sina’s arguments regarding the immateriality and subsistence of the soul and provides a new interpretation of the issue, through relying on the theories of the trans-substantial motion, the corporeal origination of the soul, and its spiritual subsistence, he provides an approach that can only arise from the magnificent tree of the Transcendent Philosophy. This approach is consistent not only with the rational transcendent view, but also with the Qur’anic-Islamic view concerning the nature of the soul and its relationship with the body. Ibn Sina and Mulla Sadra’s view of the soul-body relation can be assimilated to the relationship between the “bird and cage” and the “abscess and butterfly”. In other words, in Mulla Sadra’s eyes, at the moment of origination, the soul is at the final stage of the development of material forms and the first stage of perceptive forms. Moreover, its being at this final moment is considered to be its last corporeal crust and the first spiritual core. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

12 - A Study of Abulhassan Jilwah’s Criticism of Mulla Sadra’s Trans-Substantial Motion
Behzad Mohammadi Mehdi Dehbashi

Mulla Sadra’s trans-substantial motion, which is rooted in the specific philosophical principles of the Transcendent Philosophy, is one of the most fundamental innovative theories in the history of Islamic philosophy, which has succeeded in solving several philosophical More

Mulla Sadra’s trans-substantial motion, which is rooted in the specific philosophical principles of the Transcendent Philosophy, is one of the most fundamental innovative theories in the history of Islamic philosophy, which has succeeded in solving several philosophical complexities and ambiguities. However, Mirza Abulhassan Jilwah has advanced some criticisms against this theory, the most important of which include the return of all changes in the world to earth’s rotation, instantaneous generation and corruption of motions in the world, the dependence of the trans-substantial motion on a fixed subject, and essential transformation in case of accepting the trans-substantial motion. This paper explores and discusses these criticisms in terms of their principles and methods of reasoning. It concludes that Jilwah has advanced these criticisms based on a peripatetic approach, without referring to the fundamental principles of Mulla Sadra’s philosophy. In fact, like Ibn Sina, in all of his criticisms of the trans-substantial motion, he has confused the principles of existence with those of quiddity. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

13 - A Study of the Relationship between the World of Pre-Existence and Platonic Ideas in Mulla Sadra
Ali Muhammed Sajedi

According to al-I‘raf Chapter: 172 of the Qur’an, known as verse of Mithaq (pledge), before his presence in this world, man had witnessed in an immaterial, simple, and all-intuitive realm some pure truths, following which he acknowledged the divinity of his God. However More

According to al-I‘raf Chapter: 172 of the Qur’an, known as verse of Mithaq (pledge), before his presence in this world, man had witnessed in an immaterial, simple, and all-intuitive realm some pure truths, following which he acknowledged the divinity of his God. However, after his fall in the human world and attachment to the body and cover of nature, he buried those pure jewels in worldly oblivion. This point is manifested in the works of Plato, the Greek divine philosopher, in his theory of the “Ideas” and the “theory of reminiscence”. The question rising here is: Can we find a relationship between the world of pledge (world of pre-existence) and Platonic Ideas, which have played an important role in explaining the differentiated knowledge of Almighty Truth of other than Him? The present research investigates the view of Mulla Sadra, the founder of the Transcendent Philosophy, in this regard following a descriptive-analytic method and intends to provide his response to the above question. In his view, the quality of man’s presence in that world was like the presence of his soul (spirit) in the world of intellects or the world of divine knowledge before its attachment to the body. At this level of being, he enjoys intellectual unity and all particular plural souls in an epitomized and simple form. Therefore, in Mulla Sadra’s view, the world of pre-existence is the divine area (world of divine knowledge). Based on this idea, he justifies the theory of reminiscence and equates the world of pledge with Platonic Ideas. It is necessary to note that Mulla Sadra initially explains the theory of Platonic Ideas based on his own philosophical principles (particularly the principles of the principiality, unity, and gradedness of being) and then, as discussed in this paper, confirms it as an indication of the world of pre-existence. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

14 - Ontological Principles of Mulla Sadra’s Anthropology
Ali Arshad Riahi Hadi J‘afari

This paper is intended to investigate the effects of Mulla Sadra’s most important philosophical principles on his anthropological discussions. In line with this purpose, the writers have presented six philosophical principles which Mulla Sadra has employed in explaining More

This paper is intended to investigate the effects of Mulla Sadra’s most important philosophical principles on his anthropological discussions. In line with this purpose, the writers have presented six philosophical principles which Mulla Sadra has employed in explaining ontological issues, and almost 20 of such issues have been discussed based on these six principles. The writers have initially explained each of these principles in short and referred to the important points in relation to each of them. Then they have examined their places and applications in anthropological discussions from Mulla Sadra’s point of view. As a result, they have argued that he has philosophically analyzed and explained many anthropological problems based on his own ontological principles and succeeded in establishing a profound relationship between his own particular principles in philosophical ontology and anthropological discussions (so far as they can claim that the basic principles of Mulla Sadra’s anthropology are based on the principiality of existence). Moreover, the writers hold that, based on this particular relationship, he has managed to remove many of the intricacies and difficulties of anthropological problems which some philosophers have failed to solve or presented certain contradictory ideas about. They emphasize that he has even revealed some novel and innovative dimensions of anthropological discussions. Besides, by clarifying the relationship between Mulla Sadra’s anthropological discussions and ontology, the writers have also explained his claim as to man’s being the essence of existence (based on ontological principles) in this paper. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

15 - Philosophical Principles of Human Training in the Transcendent Philosophy
Seyyed Mehdi Mirhadi Hassanali Bakhtiyar Nasrabadi Mohammad Najafi

Following an analytic-deductive method, this paper is intended to provide a plan of the consequences of Mulla Sadra’s philosophical approach in the field of education. This plan can portray a framework and perspective of divine and religious training in the poisoned and More

Following an analytic-deductive method, this paper is intended to provide a plan of the consequences of Mulla Sadra’s philosophical approach in the field of education. This plan can portray a framework and perspective of divine and religious training in the poisoned and crisis-stricken atmosphere of secular educational system before our eyes. Feeding on the source of Qur’anic revelation and traditions and synthesizing reasoning and intuition have granted a particular status to Sadrian philosophy. Mulla Sadra’s innovation with regard to posing the attached identity of the soul, while solving the secret of the relationship between the body and the soul, demonstrates the possibility of the essential change of the soul (as opposed to the changes in the accidents of the soul) and clarifies the rational necessity of training. In his plan of philosophical anthropology, the soul needs the body not only for its origination but also for the realization of its identity. The body is the realm of the appearance of the soul, the loci of its acts, and Man’s only asset for creating their own identity. It also plays a complex and unique role in the process of human training. Developing a clear picture of the quality of the change of a material existent (seed) into an eternal and immaterial human could decipher his theory of the trans-substantial motion and explain the truth of education. Eventually, through presenting the theory of corporeal origination and spiritual subsistence of the soul, Mulla Sadra demonstrates that the realm of human training enjoys an amazingly profound and infinite magnitude. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

16 - Negative Theology in Qadi Said Qummi
Ensha’allah Rahmati

A study of the roots and history of negative theology in the world of Islam traces the background of this discussion back to Isma‘ilite philosophy. Hence, it is necessary to cast a glance at the views of Isma‘ilite philosophers in this regard. Among the twelve Shi‘ite p More

A study of the roots and history of negative theology in the world of Islam traces the background of this discussion back to Isma‘ilite philosophy. Hence, it is necessary to cast a glance at the views of Isma‘ilite philosophers in this regard. Among the twelve Shi‘ite philosophers, Qadi Said Qummi and his master, Mulla Rajabali Tabrizi, can be considered as the theoreticians of this school of theology. Their approach, in a sense, signifies a revived form of neo-Platonic school, particularly, the one represented by Proclus. Qadi Said Qummi believes in negative theology; however, he cannot be viewed as an advocate of agnosticism. Here, the writer explains his arguments on demonstrating negative theology and, at the same time, illustrates how, based on a theory which can be called an epiphany-oriented theology, he finds a way to exit the dead-end of agnosticism. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

17 - Mulla Sadra’s Gnostic Explanation of the Theory of the Individual Unity of Existence
Monireh Sayyid Mazhari

Mulla Sadra’s profound philosophical deliberations, which were accompanied by his intuitive contemplations, regarding the truth of being, finally led him to the theory of the individual unity of existence. In line with gnostics, he explicitly acknowledges the necessity More

Mulla Sadra’s profound philosophical deliberations, which were accompanied by his intuitive contemplations, regarding the truth of being, finally led him to the theory of the individual unity of existence. In line with gnostics, he explicitly acknowledges the necessity of believing in this theory in some of his works, particularly, in his gnostic treatise of Iqaz al-na’imin. In order to provide a gnostic explanation for this theory in the realm of ontology, Mulla Sadra resorts to ontological terminology, describes the relationship between existence and quiddity, and discusses the validity of quiddities in terms of both their fact-itself individuation and ontological descent. In doing so, he initially propounds the theory of the graded unity of existence and states some delicate points in relation to its content. Then, based on the eternal and pre-eternal non-existential nature of possible things, he uses a gnostic language to clarify the individual unity of existence. Finally, he concludes that the unity or oneness of existents in their ontological essence is of an individual and permeating type rather than a specific one. In his view, true existence is exclusively limited to the existence of the Almighty, and all possible beings are the manifestations, appearances, and modes of the attributes of the existence of the Truth and enjoy a shadow-like existence in comparison to Him. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

18 - Ibn Sina and Mulla Sadra on the Soul-Body Relation: An Evaluation of the Efficiency of their Principles in Attaining their Ends
Furugh al-Sadat Rahimpoor

One of the differences between Ibn Sina and Mulla Sadra in the field of anthropology pertains to their approach to soul-body relation. This difference is rooted in the principles underlying the philosophical school of each of them. The soul-body relation, according to M More

One of the differences between Ibn Sina and Mulla Sadra in the field of anthropology pertains to their approach to soul-body relation. This difference is rooted in the principles underlying the philosophical school of each of them. The soul-body relation, according to Mulla Sadra, is an essential and existential relation, which is the reason why he argues for the elemental body functioning as the material cause of the soul’s physical level. In contrast, based on Ibn Sina’s views, the soul needs the body merely for the acquisition of existential perfections and not for its very existence. Moreover, he maintains that there is no essential causation between the body and the soul. Next, Ibn Sina holds that the soul and the body enjoy composition by way of unification, and so does Mulla Sadra; however, he maintains that it is only through accepting some of the basic principles of the Transcendent Philosophy that one can justify this union. The next problem is that if the body and the soul have an ontological relationship with each other rather than an accidental one, is it possible for the soul’s dependence on the body to be disrupted? Besides, if it is certainly obvious that the soul is graded, should one not consider the body to be graded so that it could maintain its unity with the soul at its different levels? Due to the differences between the underlying principles of their philosophies, Mulla Sadra and Ibn Sina provide different responses to the above questions. This paper aims to study such responses analytically and evaluate the efficiency of these underlying principles in addressing their intended targets. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

19 - Particular Gradation of Being in the View of Aqa Ali Mudarres and its Difference from other Kinds of Particular Gradation
Seyyed Shahriyar Kamali Sabziwari

In the Transcendent Philosophy, the basis of particular gradation is the return of the shared element to the distinguishing factor. This is a general rule and criterion for particular gradation, based on which at least three types of such gradation can be defined. In th More

In the Transcendent Philosophy, the basis of particular gradation is the return of the shared element to the distinguishing factor. This is a general rule and criterion for particular gradation, based on which at least three types of such gradation can be defined. In the first type, plurality dominates oneness so that all beings and plural things in the world merely share the aspect of being in existence. In the next type, oneness dominates plurality so that all the multiple beings of the world comprise the stages of a single being. The third type of particular gradation is midway between the other two types. Based on the particular gradation discussed by Aqa Ali Mudarres in the book of Bidayah al-hikam, oneness dominates plurality among possible multiple beings because all of them comprise the different grades of a single and absolute being. However, between the Almighty Necessary and the collection of possible multiple things, it is plurality which dominates oneness. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

20 - Mulla Sadra’s View of Philosophy
Mansure Rahmani Ahad Faramarz Gharamaleki Faramarz Gharamaleki

In the view of some philosophers, philosophy has been reduced to mental wayfaring and conceptual exchanges. In contrast, based on certain practical aspects, some other philosophers consider philosophy to be the same as ontological wayfaring. In Mulla Sadra’s view, philo More

In the view of some philosophers, philosophy has been reduced to mental wayfaring and conceptual exchanges. In contrast, based on certain practical aspects, some other philosophers consider philosophy to be the same as ontological wayfaring. In Mulla Sadra’s view, philosophy reflects the process of the perfection of the human soul in an essential and graded sense in the light of ontological wayfaring rather than in a quantitative or qualitative sense. He maintains that the end of philosophy is to become similar to God, and this similarity is realized through attaining all-inclusive knowledge and becoming separate from corporeal things. Assuming the sameness of philosophy and wayfaring results in pluralism in philosophizing, limitless philosophizing, separation of epistemological promotion from ontological promotion, methodological pluralism, and go togetherness of the purification of the soul and philosophy. Based on equating philosophy with wayfaring, Mulla Sadra tries to organize the structure of the Transcendent Philosophy based on the model of the four-fold journeys. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

21 - Mulla Sadra’s View of Philosophy
Mansure Rahmani Ahad Faramarz Gharamaleki Faramarz Gharamaleki Ghasim Kakaie

In the view of some philosophers, philosophy has been reduced to mental wayfaring and conceptual exchanges. In contrast, based on certain practical aspects, some other philosophers consider philosophy to be the same as ontological wayfaring. In Mulla Sadra’s view, philo More

In the view of some philosophers, philosophy has been reduced to mental wayfaring and conceptual exchanges. In contrast, based on certain practical aspects, some other philosophers consider philosophy to be the same as ontological wayfaring. In Mulla Sadra’s view, philosophy reflects the process of the perfection of the human soul in an essential and graded sense in the light of ontological wayfaring rather than in a quantitative or qualitative sense. He maintains that the end of philosophy is to become similar to God, and this similarity is realized through attaining all-inclusive knowledge and becoming separate from corporeal things. Assuming the sameness of philosophy and wayfaring results in pluralism in philosophizing, limitless philosophizing, separation of epistemological promotion from ontological promotion, methodological pluralism, and go togetherness of the purification of the soul and philosophy. Based on equating philosophy with wayfaring, Mulla Sadra tries to organize the structure of the Transcendent Philosophy based on the model of the four-fold journeys. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

22 - Mulla Sadra’s View of Philosophy
Mansure Rahmani Ahad Faramarz Gharamaleki Faramarz Gharamaleki Ghasim Kakaie

In the view of some philosophers, philosophy has been reduced to mental wayfaring and conceptual exchanges. In contrast, based on certain practical aspects, some other philosophers consider philosophy to be the same as ontological wayfaring. In Mulla Sadra’s view, philo More

In the view of some philosophers, philosophy has been reduced to mental wayfaring and conceptual exchanges. In contrast, based on certain practical aspects, some other philosophers consider philosophy to be the same as ontological wayfaring. In Mulla Sadra’s view, philosophy reflects the process of the perfection of the human soul in an essential and graded sense in the light of ontological wayfaring rather than in a quantitative or qualitative sense. He maintains that the end of philosophy is to become similar to God, and this similarity is realized through attaining all-inclusive knowledge and becoming separate from corporeal things. Assuming the sameness of philosophy and wayfaring results in pluralism in philosophizing, limitless philosophizing, separation of epistemological promotion from ontological promotion, methodological pluralism, and go togetherness of the purification of the soul and philosophy. Based on equating philosophy with wayfaring, Mulla Sadra tries to organize the structure of the Transcendent Philosophy based on the model of the four-fold journeys. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

23 - انگارة‌ ملاصدرا از فلسفه‌
Mansure Rahmani Ahad Faramarz Gharamaleki Faramarz Gharamaleki Ghasim Kakaie

In the view of some philosophers, philosophy has been reduced to mental wayfaring and conceptual exchanges. In contrast, based on certain practical aspects, some other philosophers consider philosophy to be the same as ontological wayfaring. In Mulla Sadra’s view, philo More

In the view of some philosophers, philosophy has been reduced to mental wayfaring and conceptual exchanges. In contrast, based on certain practical aspects, some other philosophers consider philosophy to be the same as ontological wayfaring. In Mulla Sadra’s view, philosophy reflects the process of the perfection of the human soul in an essential and graded sense in the light of ontological wayfaring rather than in a quantitative or qualitative sense. He maintains that the end of philosophy is to become similar to God, and this similarity is realized through attaining all-inclusive knowledge and becoming separate from corporeal things. Assuming the sameness of philosophy and wayfaring results in pluralism in philosophizing, limitless philosophizing, separation of epistemological promotion from ontological promotion, methodological pluralism, and go togetherness of the purification of the soul and philosophy. Based on equating philosophy with wayfaring, Mulla Sadra tries to organize the structure of the Transcendent Philosophy based on the model of the four-fold journeys. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

24 - انگارة‌ ملاصدرا از فلسفه‌
Mansure Rahmani Ahad Faramarz Gharamaleki Faramarz Gharamaleki Ghasim Kakaie

In the view of some philosophers, philosophy has been reduced to mental wayfaring and conceptual exchanges. In contrast, based on certain practical aspects, some other philosophers consider philosophy to be the same as ontological wayfaring. In Mulla Sadra’s view, philo More

In the view of some philosophers, philosophy has been reduced to mental wayfaring and conceptual exchanges. In contrast, based on certain practical aspects, some other philosophers consider philosophy to be the same as ontological wayfaring. In Mulla Sadra’s view, philosophy reflects the process of the perfection of the human soul in an essential and graded sense in the light of ontological wayfaring rather than in a quantitative or qualitative sense. He maintains that the end of philosophy is to become similar to God, and this similarity is realized through attaining all-inclusive knowledge and becoming separate from corporeal things. Assuming the sameness of philosophy and wayfaring results in pluralism in philosophizing, limitless philosophizing, separation of epistemological promotion from ontological promotion, methodological pluralism, and go togetherness of the purification of the soul and philosophy. Based on equating philosophy with wayfaring, Mulla Sadra tries to organize the structure of the Transcendent Philosophy based on the model of the four-fold journeys. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

25 - انگارة‌ ملاصدرا از فلسفه‌
Mansure Rahmani

In the view of some philosophers, philosophy has been reduced to mental wayfaring and conceptual exchanges. In contrast, based on certain practical aspects, some other philosophers consider philosophy to be the same as ontological wayfaring. In Mulla Sadra’s view, philo More

In the view of some philosophers, philosophy has been reduced to mental wayfaring and conceptual exchanges. In contrast, based on certain practical aspects, some other philosophers consider philosophy to be the same as ontological wayfaring. In Mulla Sadra’s view, philosophy reflects the process of the perfection of the human soul in an essential and graded sense in the light of ontological wayfaring rather than in a quantitative or qualitative sense. He maintains that the end of philosophy is to become similar to God, and this similarity is realized through attaining all-inclusive knowledge and becoming separate from corporeal things. Assuming the sameness of philosophy and wayfaring results in pluralism in philosophizing, limitless philosophizing, separation of epistemological promotion from ontological promotion, methodological pluralism, and go togetherness of the purification of the soul and philosophy. Based on equating philosophy with wayfaring, Mulla Sadra tries to organize the structure of the Transcendent Philosophy based on the model of the four-fold journeys. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

26 - Mulla Sadra’s View of Philosophy
Mansure Rahmani Ahad Faramarz Gharamaleki Faramarz Gharamaleki Ghasim Kakaie

In the view of some philosophers, philosophy has been reduced to mental wayfaring and conceptual exchanges. In contrast, based on certain practical aspects, some other philosophers consider philosophy to be the same as ontological wayfaring. In Mulla Sadra’s view, philo More

In the view of some philosophers, philosophy has been reduced to mental wayfaring and conceptual exchanges. In contrast, based on certain practical aspects, some other philosophers consider philosophy to be the same as ontological wayfaring. In Mulla Sadra’s view, philosophy reflects the process of the perfection of the human soul in an essential and graded sense in the light of ontological wayfaring rather than in a quantitative or qualitative sense. He maintains that the end of philosophy is to become similar to God, and this similarity is realized through attaining all-inclusive knowledge and becoming separate from corporeal things. Assuming the sameness of philosophy and wayfaring results in pluralism in philosophizing, limitless philosophizing, separation of epistemological promotion from ontological promotion, methodological pluralism, and go togetherness of the purification of the soul and philosophy. Based on equating philosophy with wayfaring, Mulla Sadra tries to organize the structure of the Transcendent Philosophy based on the model of the four-fold journeys. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

27 - -
Seyyed Mohammad Khamenei

-

- Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

28 - Foreword
Seyyed Mohammad Khamenei

Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

29 - An Analytic Study of Mulla Sadra’s Responses to the Questions of Khwajah Nasir al-Din Tusi and Mulla Muzaffar Hossein Kashani about the Subsistence of the Soul
Abollhasan Ghafari

The subsistence of the soul after its parting with the body is one of the most challenging problems in the field of philosophy. This problem has been discussed by both philosophers who consider the soul to be pre-eternal and immaterial and philosophers who believe in th More

The subsistence of the soul after its parting with the body is one of the most challenging problems in the field of philosophy. This problem has been discussed by both philosophers who consider the soul to be pre-eternal and immaterial and philosophers who believe in the spiritual origination of the soul, and both groups have adduced various arguments in this regard. Khwajah Nasir al-Din Tusi, who is a Peripatetic philosopher, has posed the following question: Why, in the view of philosophers, are the body and bodily preparedness concomitant at the beginning of the origination of the soul but not at the stage of subsistence and separation? He has probed the response to this question in a treatise which he wrote about the subsistence of the soul. At the same time, he asked this question from his contemporary philosopher, Shams al-Din Khusrawshahi, but he did not receive a response. Mulla Muzaffar Hossein Kashani, who was contemporary with Mulla Sadra, asked him the same question, since it seems that the problem of the subsistence of the soul is apparently inconsistent with Mulla Sadra’s theory of corporeal origination. He provided a response to the question of Khwajah Nasir al-Din Tusi and Mulla Muzaffar on the basis of the fundamental principles of his own philosophy and defended the problem of the subsistence of the soul after its separation from the body. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

30 - A Study of the Logic of Mulla Sadra’s Four-Fold Journeys and their Implications for a New and Comprehensive Pattern for Explaining the Stages of Intellectual Thought
ابراهیم خانی Majid Sadeghi Hasan abadi Mehdi Emam Jome

The four-fold gnostic journeys provide a well-known model for explaining the stages of tawhidi (monotheistic) wayfaring. However, a study of the logic of such journeys and an investigation of the reasons for dividing mystic wayfaring into these four-fold stages reveals More

The four-fold gnostic journeys provide a well-known model for explaining the stages of tawhidi (monotheistic) wayfaring. However, a study of the logic of such journeys and an investigation of the reasons for dividing mystic wayfaring into these four-fold stages reveals that this model enjoys a desirable capacity for clarifying the stages of thinking in theoretical wayfaring. In this paper, in order to provide an extensive explanation of the model of four-fold journeys for thought, the writers initially explore their logic through referring to the background of the four-fold gnostic journeys. After clarifying the essence of these journeys, they demonstrate that the stages of desirable thinking in the process of solving any scientific problem could consist of the same stages as the four gnostic journeys. Following a detailed explanation of this similarity, the four journeys of thought in Sadrian philosophy and in relation to the problem of anthropology are briefly explored. Finally, the writers examine some of the general principles of the model of the four-fold journeys in the realm of thinking and elaborate on the educational advantages of using this particular model. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

31 - An Analytic Study of Motion in Mulla Sadra and Neo-Sadrian
Mehdi Najafiafra Zeynab Nadi

The issue of motion in philosophy has been discussed from different angles. One of them is the discussion of the existence and survival of the subject of motion, particularly, in the trans-substantial motion, which was viewed as one of the concomitants of motion and one More

The issue of motion in philosophy has been discussed from different angles. One of them is the discussion of the existence and survival of the subject of motion, particularly, in the trans-substantial motion, which was viewed as one of the concomitants of motion and one of the elements of its individuation in pre-Sadrian philosophies. Through presenting his innovative principles, Mulla Sadra transformed the view of motion and its concomitants, including the subject of motion, to a large extent. The problem of motion in the trans-substantial motion has always provoked controversial debates and conflicts in Mulla Sadra’s philosophical school and among neo-Sadrians. In certain cases, Mulla Sadra emphasizes the need of trans-substantial motion for a subject, and in some other cases he overlooks it. The same point has always created some conflicts among the advocates of Sadrian school, including ‘Allamah Tabataba’i and Mutahhari. In this paper, while investigating different views and their strengths and weak points, the writers conclude that the trans-substantial motion does not need a subject; rather, motion in accidents is also needless of its subject. They also maintain that, given the Sadrian principiality of existence, one can support a single fluid existence in the real world which is by itself the same as motion, the mover, and the moved, and that distinguishing them from each other would only be possible through analysis. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

32 - “Oughts” and “Ought-nots” of Islamic Philosophy in the View of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran
Mohammad Rahmani Gooraji Fatemeh Masjedi

This study was conducted to explore the thoughts of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran regarding Islamic philosophy and the required concomitants for its expansion and development based on his speeches. The researchers’ main purpose here was to develop a More

This study was conducted to explore the thoughts of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran regarding Islamic philosophy and the required concomitants for its expansion and development based on his speeches. The researchers’ main purpose here was to develop and present a desirable model for the development of Islamic philosophy based on the grounded theory. In doing so, they studied the speeches, sermons, messages, decrees, orders and interviews of Imam Khamenei between 1981-2008 and, through employing three open, axial, and selective types of coding in the grounded theory methodology, they found 111 codes/concepts, 24 categories, and four dimensions. In the conclusion section, while presenting a paradigmatic model dominating the categories, they provide some responses to the research questions based on the research findings. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

33 - Mulla Solayman Gilani’s Explanation of Ibn Sina’s Kinematics: An Analytic Introduction to the Treatise of Motion, Rest, and Time (al-Harakat wal-Sukun wal-Zaman)
Mohammad Javad Esmaeili

Ibn Sina’s kinematics, particularly based on his book of al-Shifa, has greatly influenced the thinkers of the Islamic period. Al-Shifa (The Book of Healing) is a philosophical encyclopedia, which, in Ibn Sina’s words, consists of four sections on logic, physics, mathema More

Ibn Sina’s kinematics, particularly based on his book of al-Shifa, has greatly influenced the thinkers of the Islamic period. Al-Shifa (The Book of Healing) is a philosophical encyclopedia, which, in Ibn Sina’s words, consists of four sections on logic, physics, mathematics, and metaphysics. The comprehensive and detailed nature of this work persuaded later scholars to write glosses, rather than comments and interpretations, on it. However, there are some short treatises whose writers have tried to explain some of the complexities regarding Ibn Sina’s kinematics in al-Shifa without making a direct reference to the title of this book in their own works. Hakim Mulla Solayman Gilani, a philosopher of the 11th century (AH), has explored some of the difficulties regarding the definitions of motion, types of motion, continuous motion, and cutting motion in a short treatise entitled Motion, Rest, and Time. In this treatise, in addition to paying particular attention to the views of Ibn Sina and Mulla Sadra, Hakim Gilani has also considered the views of some other thinkers such as Fakhr al-Din Razi, Athir al-Din Abhari, Khwajah Nasir al-Din Tusi, and Mir Seyyed Jurjani concerning the problem of motion. Hakim Gilani’s treatise consists of three parts: 1) An introduction to the definitions of motion, rest, and time; 2) Types of motion; 3) Responses to raised criticisms and objections. This treatise is published for the first time as an appendix to this paper. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

34 - An Analytic Study of Ibn Sina’s Argument of the Righteous Based on its Logical Structure and Limits

Ibn Sina’s argument of the righteous is one of the most important arguments on demonstrating the existence of God in Islamic tradition. After Ibn Sina, a number of prominent Muslim philosophers and mutakallimun welcomed this argument and carried out some profound studie More

Ibn Sina’s argument of the righteous is one of the most important arguments on demonstrating the existence of God in Islamic tradition. After Ibn Sina, a number of prominent Muslim philosophers and mutakallimun welcomed this argument and carried out some profound studies in this regard in order to reveal its strengths and weaknesses following a critical approach. In spite of such efforts, there are still some ambiguities about this argument which demand more scientific research. In the present paper, the author has analyzed the form, content, and limits of the argument of the righteous based on logical principles and has demonstrated that it is an existent-oriented (not the concept of existent) and apriory argument on the basis of the impossibility of infinite regression and distinct from the argument of possibility. He also acknowledges that the argument of the righteous is no different from creature-oriented arguments in terms of epistemological value. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

35 - A Study of the Views of Two Commentators (Meybodi and Mulla Sadra) of Hidayah al-Hikmah Concerning the First Emanated
Maqsud Mohammadi Mehdi Najafiafra

Both Qadi Kamal al-Din Meybodi and Mulla Sadra have written comments on the chapters of Tabi‘iyyat and Ilahiyyat of Abhari’s Hidayah al-hikmah and have often provided their own critical views of the existing ideas regarding the discussed problems, one of which is the pr More

Both Qadi Kamal al-Din Meybodi and Mulla Sadra have written comments on the chapters of Tabi‘iyyat and Ilahiyyat of Abhari’s Hidayah al-hikmah and have often provided their own critical views of the existing ideas regarding the discussed problems, one of which is the problem of the first emanated. Meybodi has objected to considering the “intellect” as the first emanated relying on “the mentally-posited (negations and additions) modes as the origins of the emanation of multiple things from Almighty Necessary” and the “emanation of acts from the soul without the mediation of the body”. He believes that the soul can be directly emanated from the first origin. When rejecting Meybodi’s reasoning, Mulla Sadra states, “Initially, the realization of negations, similar to additions, regarding the truth of negative propositions is posterior to the realization of Almighty Necessary”, and “Secondly, the soul, as such, is accompanied by weakness and strength and needs the body in activity and disposition.” This view of Mulla Sadra about the soul’s not being qualified for being the first emanated is more consistent with the approach and principles of the Transcendent Philosophy as to the soul’s being “corporeally originated and spiritually subsistent” than with the approach and principles of the Peripatetic philosophy as to the soul’s being “spiritually originated and spiritually subsistent.” Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

36 - Seyyed Hayadr Amuli’s Response to the Paradox of Non-Existence and Affirmation of the Loci of Manifestations in the Hadith of Truth
Mohsen Habibi Ali Yazdani

The “Hadith of Truth”, which Kumayl has narrated from Imam Ali (a), contains some sublime points, and on which some prominent figures such as Seyyed Haydar Amuli have written commentaries. When commenting on the first part of the hadith, “al-haqiqah …”, Amuli mentions t More

The “Hadith of Truth”, which Kumayl has narrated from Imam Ali (a), contains some sublime points, and on which some prominent figures such as Seyyed Haydar Amuli have written commentaries. When commenting on the first part of the hadith, “al-haqiqah …”, Amuli mentions that, according to this hadith, Almighty Truth is manifested in the forms of the loci of manifestations, which are, nevertheless, non-existent. This statement appears paradoxical and, thus, Seyyed Haydar has tried to resolve it. In his view, manifestations and entities are fixed in their non-existence and appear in the name of “divine light”, which is the same existence of Almighty Truth. They are permanently in non-existence, and it is, in fact, the name of the divinely manifested that grants them existence at each moment. Otherwise, if they enjoy continuous existence, granting existence to them would mean the attainment of what they have already attained. In response to this paradoxical affair, Amuli benefits from the allegory of the sea and the wave. He explains that the sea appears in the form of the wave; hence, the wave exists in one respect and does not exist in another one. In this way, Seyyed Haydar tries to remove the paradox involved in the first section of the hadith. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

37 - A Critical Study of Hakim Sabziwari’s Innovative Arguments on the Trans-Substantial Motion
Hussein Ali Shidanshid Mohammad Hadi Tavakkoli

Among the various arguments that Hakim Sabziwari has adduced in his Sharh-i manzumah for demonstrating the theory of the trans-substantial motion, five appear to be among his own innovations at first glance. They include reasoning through the qualitative motion of ideas More

Among the various arguments that Hakim Sabziwari has adduced in his Sharh-i manzumah for demonstrating the theory of the trans-substantial motion, five appear to be among his own innovations at first glance. They include reasoning through the qualitative motion of ideas in heavenly souls, reasoning through the renewal of Ideas, reasoning through the unified origination of the world, reasoning through the purposiveness of nature, and reasoning through the shadow-like unity of the soul. The present paper is aimed to report, analyze, and criticize such arguments. The conducted study indicates that four of these arguments can be considered to be among his innovations. The philosophical significance of these four-fold arguments mainly arise from the fact that they manifest the place of the theory of the trans-substantial motion, have mutual interactions with other problems in the field of the Transcendent-Philosophy, promote scrutiny regarding the different aspects and effects of this theory, and demonstrate the harmony and consistency among the various sections of Sadrian Transcendent Philosophy. However, the mentioned arguments are neither simple and explicit nor capable of proving this theory based on a few premises. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

38 - A Study of Mulla Sadra’s Ultimate View of the Meaning of the “Mentally-Positedness of Quiddity”
Seyyed Shahriyar Kamali Sabziwari

In Mulla Sadra’s works, two different meanings are provided for the “mentally-positedness of quiddity”. In the first one, it means the subordinate realization of quiddity through existence. However, in the second one, it means the mental and virtual existence of quiddit More

In Mulla Sadra’s works, two different meanings are provided for the “mentally-positedness of quiddity”. In the first one, it means the subordinate realization of quiddity through existence. However, in the second one, it means the mental and virtual existence of quiddity in the outside. In this paper, the author suggests three hypotheses as potential strategies in order to attain Mulla Sadra’s ultimate view regarding the meaning of “mentally-positedness of quiddity”. Finally, through the confirmation of the third hypothesis, he concludes that the first meaning of this concept is not acceptable because of its rational defects and argues that only the second meaning can be considered as the one intended in the Transcendent Philosophy. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

39 - Ibn Sina’s Encounter with Suhrawardi Concerning the Problem of Divine Knowledge and the Rise of a Supreme Wisdom
Yahya Kabir Hamid Maleki

Most of the debates on the topic of divine knowledge target Almighty Necessary’s knowledge of what is other than Him. This paper aims to provide an answer to the question of which model of explaining the divine knowledge could not only demonstrate all levels of knowledg More

Most of the debates on the topic of divine knowledge target Almighty Necessary’s knowledge of what is other than Him. This paper aims to provide an answer to the question of which model of explaining the divine knowledge could not only demonstrate all levels of knowledge for God but also be compatible with His being the Necessary Being. In order to provide an answer to this question, Ibn Sina provides a model with imprinted forms at its center and, in this way, demonstrates God’s acquired knowledge of what is other than Himself. To explain the quality of divine agency, Ibn Sina once more focuses on divine knowledge and, through posing the idea of agency through fore-knowledge, maintains that, the creation of existents is the result of God’s active knowledge of the world and His satisfaction with the best order. However, Suhrawardi challenges the Sinan model in his philosophy. He believes that Ibn Sina’s explanation not only contradicts the simplicity of the essence of Almighty Truth but is also limited to the demonstration of a single faculty for God. Nevertheless, Mulla Sadra criticizes both of them and, based on the principle of simple truth, presents a transcendent explanation regarding the issue which neither suffers from the problem of the subjectivity of the Sinan imprinted forms nor, similar to Suhrawardi’s explanation, is incapable of proving God’s fore-knowledge. He demonstrates that all existents and types of knowledge are included in God’s existence and His knowledge of His Essence. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

40 - Mentally-Posited Being in Mulla Sadra
Reza Mollaei

Mentally-posited things are the most important concepts in practical wisdom. The employment of the principles of Mulla Sadra’s Transcendent Philosophy, in line with the knowledge of the “being” of mentally-posited things, can open new horizons before contemporary practi More

Mentally-posited things are the most important concepts in practical wisdom. The employment of the principles of Mulla Sadra’s Transcendent Philosophy, in line with the knowledge of the “being” of mentally-posited things, can open new horizons before contemporary practical wisdom. Following the approach of the Transcendent Philosophy, the present study aims to provide an answer to the question of whether the being of mentally-posited things is fake or whether, similar to true being, it has a share of truth and fact-itself. Another purpose of this study is to reveal their methodological effects. In order to provide an answer to the posed question, one must employ the principle of gradation and analyze Mulla Sadra’s views in the field of essential vice and virtue and perception of practical intellect. Accordingly, the author demonstrates that, firstly, mentally-posited being is a lower level of true being and not something opposite to it; hence, mentally-posited things benefit from fact-itself and are not merely some fake phenomena. Secondly, mentally-posited things’ share of fact-itself being is exclusively limited to those which rely on religion and intellect and not to any other kind of mentally-posited thing. Finally, the promotion of mentally-posited being to the subtle level of true being paves the ground for the possibility of using demonstrative methods in the realm of practical wisdom. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

41 - A Comparative Study of the Whatness of Time and the Temporal Origination of the World in Fakhr al-Din Razi and Mulla Sadra
Seyyed Mohammad Esmaeil Seyyed Hashemi Seyyed Mohammad Javad Seyyed Hashemi

One of the most important issues which should be addressed before examining the arguments on the originatedness or temporal pre-eternity of the world is what mutikallimun and philosophers mean by originatedness and temporal eternity. This question by itself is based on More

One of the most important issues which should be addressed before examining the arguments on the originatedness or temporal pre-eternity of the world is what mutikallimun and philosophers mean by originatedness and temporal eternity. This question by itself is based on another question as to what they mean by time. Owing to his mastery of kalami and philosophical views and following a critical approach, Fakhr al-Din Razi analyzes and compares the views of mutikallimun and philosophers about the originatedness and temporal pre-eternity of the world and their arguments in this regard and critically reviews the roots and the conceptual and assertoric principles of the two sides with respect to this issue. He believes that mutikallimun’s interpretation of time and temporal origination is absurd. Moreover, he rejects philosophers’ definition of time as to the amount of motion and a continuous quantity and, unlike the common belief, maintains that time is a disjunctive quantity. In contrast to other mutikallimun, he doubts the temporal originatedness of the world of intellects and immaterial entities. Nevertheless, by criticizing the ideas of early mutikallimun and philosophers, Mulla Sadra tries to bring the views of Plato, Aristotle, and other Greek philosophers and followers of other religions in unison with his own ideas, while his interpretation of temporal origination and his fundamental philosophical principles are not consistent with such a unison. This is because the concept of Sadrian temporal originatedness is based on the principiality of existence and trans-substantial motion, which were discussed neither in Greek philosophy nor tackled by Islamic mutikallimun. This paper does not intend to evaluate the arguments on origination or pre-eternity; rather, it explores the whatness of origination or temporal pre-eternity in Mulla Sadra and Fakhr al-Din Razi. The authors believe that their shared objection to mutikallimun and Peripatetic philosophers concerns their interpretation of time and temporal origination. However, the difference between these two thinkers arises from their own conceptions of the whatness of time and temporal origination. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

42 - A Comparison of the Nature of Divine Word in Mutikallimun and Ibn Arabi
Zohreh Masoumi Fatemeh Mohammad

The question of whether the Divine Word is originated or pre-eternal has always challenged the minds of both the Mu‘tazilites and Ash‘arites. Gnostics refer to it as the Merciful Divine Breath, which is neither pre-eternal nor originated. The present paper discusses the More

The question of whether the Divine Word is originated or pre-eternal has always challenged the minds of both the Mu‘tazilites and Ash‘arites. Gnostics refer to it as the Merciful Divine Breath, which is neither pre-eternal nor originated. The present paper discusses the quality of the Prophet’s receiving revelation, and how the Divine Word, irrespective of its originated or pre-eternal nature, is manifested in the mould of words. Some of the Mu‘tazilites believe that it is of the type of sounds and words, while a group of the Ash‘arites conceive of it as a soulish truth transferred through sounds and words. Ibn Arabi distinguishes between God’s Book and God’s Word and attributes the difference between its being Arabic or non-Arabic to the Book and not to God’s Words. He believes that the words of the Holy Qur’an belong to God and not the Prophet (s) and argues that their descent to his heart were in the verbal from; in other words, the Prophet (s) received the Qur’an in its present Arabic version and did not change any part of it. In his commentary on this holy Book, Qunawi also writes that the concrete existential form of the Qur’an is similar to its perceptive form, thus, the Qur’an is light (nur) by essence. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

43 - A Critical Study of the Objections against Ḥakīm Ghomsheī’s Argument on Demonstrating the Necessity of God’s Existence
Reza Hesari Mojtaba Mirdamadi Abolfazl Rezai

Several arguments have been adduced on demonstrating the individual unity of being. Most of these arguments, which have been presented by such gnostics as Dāvood Qayṣarī, Ḥamzah Fanārī, and Ibn Turkah, suffer from some defects in terms of a confusion of concept and refe More

Several arguments have been adduced on demonstrating the individual unity of being. Most of these arguments, which have been presented by such gnostics as Dāvood Qayṣarī, Ḥamzah Fanārī, and Ibn Turkah, suffer from some defects in terms of a confusion of concept and referent. In his glosses on Tamhīd al-qawā’id (the section on the arguments on the demonstration of the individual unity of existence), Ḥakīm Moḥammad Rezā Ghomsheī has presented an argument which demonstrates the pre-eternal necessity of God. However, three criticisms have been advanced against it. The first concerns the meaning of the absolute nature of being, which has been stated ambiguously. The second criticism questions the confusion of concept and referent. The first part of the third criticism targets the whole argument, based on the presupposition of the realization of the essence of nature, and its second part objects to the consistency of the realization of the essence of the nature of existence with limited existences, as acknowledged in Ghomsheī’s argument. Finally, the fourth focuses on the absence of any kind of innovation in this argument. Following an analytic-comparative method, this paper examines all these criticisms and responds to the first three of them. Accordingly, the authors acknowledge the truth of Ḥakīm Ghomsheī’s argument by presenting a detailed discussion in this paper. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

44 - A Study of the Attribution of the Theory of Perpetual Createdness to Jalāl al-Dīn Dawānī
Hossein Najafi Hamed Naji Esfahani

The belief in the createdness of the world is the essence of a proposition which, after believing in the One God, is the most significant of all divine beliefs. Mīr Dāmād’s particular view in this regard entails the demonstration of a real commencement and trans-tempora More

The belief in the createdness of the world is the essence of a proposition which, after believing in the One God, is the most significant of all divine beliefs. Mīr Dāmād’s particular view in this regard entails the demonstration of a real commencement and trans-temporal origination for the world of being. Through referring to the failure of his preceding philosophers regarding the rational explanation of the problem of the appearance of the world, Mīr Dāmād maintains that the content of the modified version of the theory of “perpetual createdness” (ḥudūth dahrī) is among his innovations and the most important fruit of Yamani wisdom. On the other hand, Mullā Moḥammad Ismā‘īl Khwajūī in his treatise of Ibṭāl al-zamān al-mawhūm attributes this theory to Jalāl al-Dīn Dawānī, matches his view with the theory of perpetual createdness and, in this way, implies that Mīr Dāmād adopted this theory from Dawānī’s works. The present study examines Khwajūī’s claim through investigating a number of metaphysical analyses. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

45 - Politics and Ruler’s in Suhrawardī’s Political System
Nooshin Naziri khameneh Abbas Zahabi Baabak Abbasi Ahmad Beheshti

Conduct is a keyword in Suhrawardī’s political system. In his view, conduct or wayfaring begins with self-knowledge at the individual level and moves them ahead to the social and political level and, finally, to ruling over a society. Suhrawardī’s intended ruler is a ph More

Conduct is a keyword in Suhrawardī’s political system. In his view, conduct or wayfaring begins with self-knowledge at the individual level and moves them ahead to the social and political level and, finally, to ruling over a society. Suhrawardī’s intended ruler is a philosopher who, through self-knowledge, steps into higher worlds, including the world of Ideas, which is the first world higher than the world of bodies in Suhrawardī’s philosophy. Through wayfaring in this world, the philosopher turns into an intermediary between the world of human beings and the world of God and angels. Through self-knowledge, wayfaring in the world of Ideas, and obedience to God, the philosopher further reaches the level of the spiritual leader, Imām, and leadership of the world. By considering the ruler as the spiritual leader or Quṭb and as an individual who is capable of connecting with the world of Ideas and mediating between God and human beings, Suhrawardī investigates politics, governance, ideal governance, and utopia in the light of a new philosophy. His views in practical wisdom and, particularly, politics correspond to his views in theoretical wisdom concerning some principles such as gradation, nobler possibility, wrath and kindness, and gradedness of the world. For Suhrawardī, as the world of Ideas, which among his own innovations, mediates between the world of matter and the world of omnipotent lights, the philosopher-ruler is related to the world of Ideas and mediates between human beings and God and also angels. The ruling of a ruler with the characteristics intended by Suhrawardī is never idealistic, far-fetched, or limited to specific people; rather, it is quite real and possible. Such a ruler pays attention to people’s happiness not only in the material world but in the hereafter. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

46 - Ontology of Mentally-Posited Things: Consideration as the Mode of Man’s Being in the Physical World
Seyed Amin Mirhoseini

Despite the existence of different and, at times, contradictory views regarding ‘Allāmah Ṭabāṭabā’ī’s theory of mentally-posited things, almost all the studies carried out in this field unanimously presuppose that this theory is essentially of an epistemological nature More

Despite the existence of different and, at times, contradictory views regarding ‘Allāmah Ṭabāṭabā’ī’s theory of mentally-posited things, almost all the studies carried out in this field unanimously presuppose that this theory is essentially of an epistemological nature and is intended to justify a series of human perceptions that have no equal in the outside. Although this presupposition is not wrong, it fails to explain all the realities regarding the theory of mentally-posited things. Here, the authors try to demonstrate that this theory is basically of an ontological rather than epistemological nature. Given the quality of propounding this theory in al-Wilāyah and al-Insān treatises, it appears that consideration is one of the specific features of the being of an immaterial Man who lives in the physical world. This is a feature that makes some human acts which are in a way related to material affairs possible. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

47 - From Wisdom to Functionalism: A New Analysis of the Nature of Mullā Ṣadrā’s Philosophical Paradigm
Hassan Rahbar Hamid Eskandari

The nature of Mullā Ṣadrā’s philosophical paradigm as a comprehensive system of philosophy has always been investigated by researchers in related fields. So far, eight views have been proposed in this regard; some of them consider Mullā Ṣadrā’s school to be a philosophi More

The nature of Mullā Ṣadrā’s philosophical paradigm as a comprehensive system of philosophy has always been investigated by researchers in related fields. So far, eight views have been proposed in this regard; some of them consider Mullā Ṣadrā’s school to be a philosophical one; some others view it as a gnostic one, while others attribute a kalāmī nature to it. Nevertheless, his words and writings contradict these views. He mainly prefers to call his system of thoughts “wisdom”, which means the knowledge of God and His attributes and acts based on a mixed kalāmī-gnostic method. However, the writer believes that wisdom has no independent identity distinguishing it from philosophy, kalām, and gnosis and cannot be deemed as an independent school. Accordingly, in order to provide an accurate explanation of his system of thoughts, in addition to internal and content-based analyses, one should observe the external features of the world Mullā Ṣadrā lived in. Hence, from an external perspective, it apparently follows “consensus-creating functionalism”; that is, his school seeks to create functional unity among the three systems of thought. From an external perspective, it follows an anthropological life-course approach; in other words, one should consider the various philosophical, social, and political conditions of his time in explaining the discussions, problems, and methods embedded in his system of thinking. Accordingly, the writer believes that three points should be considered in adopting an optimal approach to examining the Sadrian system of thought: the distinction between the truths about the intellect and the truths about faith, omission of what is inconsistent with philosophical method, and distinguishing the borderlines of intellect from those of narration and gnosis. In this paper, while presenting Mullā Ṣadrā’s view of his own school, it has been tried to clarify Sadrian thoughts based on their internal content and external conditions in order to provide a new analysis of his thought system. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

48 - An Analysis of the “Transcendence of Wisdom” based on Sadrian Self-Knowledge and Methodology
Maryam Sadat Mousavi Mohammad Bidhendi Mohamad Mahdi Meshkati

Mullā Ṣadrā’s school of philosophy is known as the Transcendent Wisdom. Mullā Ṣadrā prefers the term “wisdom” to “philosophy” and chooses “transcendence, which, in his view, enjoys a dynamic status, as the general direction of his philosophical structure. This point con More

Mullā Ṣadrā’s school of philosophy is known as the Transcendent Wisdom. Mullā Ṣadrā prefers the term “wisdom” to “philosophy” and chooses “transcendence, which, in his view, enjoys a dynamic status, as the general direction of his philosophical structure. This point connects us to a system of factors which deal with the quality, direction, and nature of transcendence in this school. The present paper aims to clarify the process of creating this transcendence, as one of the several factors which contribute to the superiority of Sadrian wisdom, through investigating its psychological and methodological elements in two fields of the Origin and eschatology. Based on a Sadrian approach, if one seeks wisdom, they must become creative for themselves and in themselves and change their role from a spectator to a player in the realm of existence. Mullā Ṣadrā’s different view of the truth of the soul and expanding its perceptive levels are intertwined with methodology. This is because in his philosophy the knowledge of the soul is considered a method used in theology and eschatology. In his methodology, Mullā Ṣadrā begins with the recreation of concepts and, following a comprehensive and interdisciplinary approach, finds the correct method to be a combination of the intellect, transmission, and intuition. T’awīl (esoteric exegesis) and the use of a supreme language are among the other factors which are related to Mullā Ṣadrā’s specific methodology. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

49 - Views of Sayyid ‘Alī Khān Madanī and Mullā Ṣadrā on Divine Anthropomorphic Attributes Based on Ends
Narges Taheri Hasan Naghizadeh Mortaza Irvani Najafi

In spite of the long stay of Sayyid ‘Alī Khān Ṣadr al-Dīn Madanī Shīrāzī (1052-10120 AH) in India and his distance from Shiraz and Isfahan, his kalāmī principles underlying the explanation of God’s anthropomorphic attributes in Rīyāḍ al-sālikīn clearly demonstrate Mullā More

In spite of the long stay of Sayyid ‘Alī Khān Ṣadr al-Dīn Madanī Shīrāzī (1052-10120 AH) in India and his distance from Shiraz and Isfahan, his kalāmī principles underlying the explanation of God’s anthropomorphic attributes in Rīyāḍ al-sālikīn clearly demonstrate Mullā Ṣadrā’s influence. Nevertheless, despite his agreement with the principles of the Transcendent Philosophy, his method of interpreting divine attributes does not fully conform to the principles of Sadrian philosophy. While clarifying the attribution of a number of anthropomorphic features to God, he adopts an ends-oriented method in order to purify Him from human characteristics. This is because the reasons for the manifestation of some attributes such as mercy and wrath, which are rooted in inner excitement, compassion, and sorrow, are not true about God. In fact, they can only be used for Him based on ends and outcomes. Although he speaks of demonstrating attributes for God without assimilation, this strategy is not consistent with the principles of the Transcendent Philosophy, particularly with gradation of being and distinction of existential levels of God’s attributes from those of human beings as explicitly stated by Mullā Ṣadrā and his fundamental theories. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

50 - Validation of Sunnite Sect Historiographers’ Data on Early Imamite Mutakallimūn’s View of Capability
Seyyedeh Atiyyeh Feiz Esfahani Mohammad Ghafoorinezhad

This paper aims to present the views of four prominent Imamite mutakallimūn of the age of Imām Ṣādiq(‘a), which was considered to be the period of the flourishing and prevalence of kalāmī discussions, regarding the problem of capability based on rijālī books, indices, h More

This paper aims to present the views of four prominent Imamite mutakallimūn of the age of Imām Ṣādiq(‘a), which was considered to be the period of the flourishing and prevalence of kalāmī discussions, regarding the problem of capability based on rijālī books, indices, historical works on sects, and narrations. The findings indicate that some thinkers such as Zurārah Ibn A‘yan, Hishām Ibn Salīm, and Mu’min al-Ṭāq believed in capability before act and sometimes limited it to health. However, Hishām Ibn Ḥakam maintained that capability depends on five things, some of which are realized before the act and some during the act. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

51 - A Study of Ibn Barrajān’s View of al-Ḥaqq al-Makhlūq bih
Hamed Nazarpour

One of the gnostic expressions which is used in the discussion of God’s manifestations is al-ḥaqq al-makhlūq bih (the truth for which the world has been created). Ibn ‘Arabī believes that the origin of this expression is the works of Ibn Barrajān but does not provide an More

One of the gnostic expressions which is used in the discussion of God’s manifestations is al-ḥaqq al-makhlūq bih (the truth for which the world has been created). Ibn ‘Arabī believes that the origin of this expression is the works of Ibn Barrajān but does not provide any explanation regarding his view. Ibn Barrajān was an Andalusian gnostic and commentator who presented his views of al-ḥaqq al-makhlūq bih” in Sharḥ asmā’ Allāh al-ḥusnā, Tanbīh al-afhām, and Iḍah al-ḥikma. The present paper aims to explore the expression al-ḥaqq al-makhlūq bih in the view of Ibn Barrajan based on a documentary and descriptive-analytic method. The findings of the study demonstrate that Ibn Barrajān’s source of inspiration for creating this expression was the holy Qur’an. In his view, the main purpose behind the Qur’an’s invitation to thinking about the divine verses is attaining the truth for which the world has been created. He maintains that believing in al-ḥaqq al-makhlūq bih is necessary for all faithful people. He also holds that al-ḥaqq al-makhlūq bih is the manifestation of God. It is single; includes all manifestations of God in the world, in the hereafter, in the purgatory, in Man’s being, and in Qur’anic verses, and is also the origin of all creatures and the reason for their survival. According to Ibn Barrajān, al-ḥaqq al-makhlūq bih is a route which leads to God; it is traversed based on knowledge and practice and is the same direct path and guardian religion. He suggests that the method of learning about al-ḥaqq al-makhlūq bih entails thinking about and deliberating over divine verses along with faith and piety. The most important consequences of the knowledge of al-ḥaqq al-makhlūq bih include sensing the presence of God, learning about heavenly existents, acquiring wisdom, and acting upon divine orders. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

52 - Revelation in Mullā Ṣadrā’s View
Seyd Mohammad Musavi Mohamad Taghi Rajaee

Mullā Ṣadrā believes that, since a prophet’s duty is to transmit revelations to people and guide them, they must be expressed in detail within the framework of verbal propositions so that they are comprehensible and usable by people. The words comprising a revelation, s More

Mullā Ṣadrā believes that, since a prophet’s duty is to transmit revelations to people and guide them, they must be expressed in detail within the framework of verbal propositions so that they are comprehensible and usable by people. The words comprising a revelation, similar to their meanings, should have been descended from the intellectual world. When a revelation is sent, the prophet must ascend to higher worlds to receive it and, then, return to the natural world carrying the revelation. Sometimes the descent of revelation is accompanied with the sensual observation of the angel carrying it. In this case, the observation of the angel has occurred in the world of Ideas and the descent of the angel carrying revelation does not indicate separation from the station of divine proximity; rather, a small part of their existence is conceived by the prophet’s perceptive faculties. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

53 - Value and Efficiency of Acquired and Non-Acquired Sciences in Ibn ‘Arabī
Forough al-Sadat Rahimpour Nayereh Esmaeli

One of the most important and fundamental problems in theoretical gnosis is science. Ibn Arabi divides sciences into acquired and non-acquired types based on the way they are gained. Acquired types of science consist of the same discursive sciences which people attain t More

One of the most important and fundamental problems in theoretical gnosis is science. Ibn Arabi divides sciences into acquired and non-acquired types based on the way they are gained. Acquired types of science consist of the same discursive sciences which people attain through rational reasoning. In contrast, the perception and attainment of non-acquired sciences are not only impossible for the intellect but also demand another tool called the heart, which is responsible for receiving the blessings and effusions of divine lights. Ibn ‘Arabī believes that true and original knowledge is one which God imparts to the heart. Such a kind of knowledge, unlike rational and acquired ones, is immune against error, doubt, and forgetting. This is because here Man is merely the receiver of God’s manifestations and cannot manipulate them at all. This paper explains the efficiency of acquired and non-acquired sciences from the view point of Ibn ‘Arabī, evaluates them, and highlights the strengths and weaknesses of each in comparison to each other. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

54 - The Criteria for the Separation of the Truth from Mentally-Posited Values Based on ‘Allāmah Ṭabāṭabā’ī’s Works
Hossein Farzaneh

Human perceptions can be divided into two real and mentally-posited groups, each with their own specific features and principles. The inappropriate combination of these two perceptions has resulted in some mistakes on the part of thinkers and, sometimes, has even result More

Human perceptions can be divided into two real and mentally-posited groups, each with their own specific features and principles. The inappropriate combination of these two perceptions has resulted in some mistakes on the part of thinkers and, sometimes, has even resulted in doubting the basic principles of intellection. This incorrect combination is rooted in the lack of a clear criterion for the separation of these two types of perception. In his quest for the parameters of the separation of the truth from mentally-posited entities in ‘Allāmah Ṭabāṭabā’ī’s works, the author has proposed six criteria in this paper and then analyzed and criticized them. Finally, he concludes that although none of the mentioned parameters can be an absolute criterion by itself for the separation of real and mentally-posited perceptions from each other, the collection of the assumptions originating in the simultaneous use of a combination of such criteria could create a high confidence level regarding this necessary separation. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

55 - A Study of the Manifestation of the Theory of Four-fold Journeys in the Architecture of Naqsh-e Jahān Square in Isfahan
Ahmad Ali Namdarian Somayeh Khani Parisa Hashempour

20.1001.1.15600874.1400.26.4.7.6

Several studies have been conducted on Naqsh-e Jahān Square so far. However, there is still much to explore regarding the reasons behind its construction and development. Some of the many questions that require further research target the present sizes of its dimensions More

Several studies have been conducted on Naqsh-e Jahān Square so far. However, there is still much to explore regarding the reasons behind its construction and development. Some of the many questions that require further research target the present sizes of its dimensions, the setting of its elements, and the philosophy of using different colors and designs in the various corners of this square. Following two descriptive-analytic and historical-interpretive methods, this study investigated the thoughts and motives behind the architectural design and construction of Naqsh-e Jahān Square. The required data for this study was collected and analyzed through library and content analysis methods. The findings of the study indicate that, in addition to being the Safavid House of Government, this square functioned as a religious-political statement presenting the gnostic-Shi‘ite thoughts which had been hidden in Iranians’ unconscious mind. This square allegorizes the Holy Prophet’s night of ascension and visualizes gnostic wayfaring for wayfarers through reminding them of the different stations of the four-fold journeys. Since the time of Ibn ‘Arabī onwards and, particularly, in Mullā Ṣadrā’s philosophy, four stations have been referred to for this mystic journey called the four-fold journeys. The findings of this study show the correspondence between these four journeys with the four main elements of the square. The four journeys represent an allegory and visualization of the Holy Prophet’s journey on the night of ascension, when he travelled from Mecca to Jerusalem and then to heaven. The 1300-m2 circumference of Naqsh-e Jahān Square allegorizes the 1300 km distance between Mecca and Jerusalem. The designs of Qeysarriyah Bazar symbolize the different aspects of daily and worldly life. Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque has no courtyard and bed chamber, and the wayfarer only witnesses the manifestations of Almighty Truth by standing under the dome of the mosque. The Abbasi jām‘ Mosque is the symbol of the station of “jam‘ (reunion)” in gnostic journey. The second journey begins with traveling at the khafi (secret) and akhfi (most secret) levels, at which the wayfarer is mortalized. The third stage of wayfaring, which embodies a kind of shari‘at, is a confirmation of the idea of guardianship. At the end of the journey, the wayfarer returns to the threshold of Qeysarriyah again. However, this is not a vicious circle because the wayfarer returns to his true self through experiencing the previous stages. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

56 - Structure of Logical Propositions in the View of Muslim Philosophers and Logicians
Maqsud Mohammadi

Logical propositions are divided qualitatively into affirmative and negative types, and each of them is also divided into three attributive-predicate, privative-predicate, and negative-predicate types. Nevertheless, there are serious disagreements among philosophers and More

Logical propositions are divided qualitatively into affirmative and negative types, and each of them is also divided into three attributive-predicate, privative-predicate, and negative-predicate types. Nevertheless, there are serious disagreements among philosophers and logicians regarding their structure and content, which demands more research. Neither is there any unanimity as to the number of the constitutive components of the truth of propositions and the components necessary for their realization. The number of components of a proposition is determined based on the difference between simple questions and affirmative and negative compound questions. Moreover, some thinkers maintain that the judicial relation is an affirmative and ontological relation in all propositions, whether affirmative or negative. However, some others believe that it is affirmative only in affirmative propositions, while it is negative and non-existential in negative propositions. Furthermore, the conditional or non-conditional nature of the actualization of modified affirmative propositions has been propounded, and the negative-predicate proposition has been debated. The structure of a negative-predicate proposition, when pronounced, is similar to a negative attributive proposition but is different from it regarding its content and signification. The content of a negative attributive proposition pertains to the elimination and interruption of the affirmation judgment, while the content of a negative-attributive proposition focuses on affirmation of negation. Khwajah Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī and ‘Allāmah Ṭabātabā’ī, the contemporary philosopher, do not accept such aproposition as a logical proposition. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

57 - Place of Intellect in Shaykh al-Mufīd’s Kalāmī Thoughts with an Emphasis on a Critical Analysis of Existing Views
Nafiseh Ahl Sarmadi

The value of reason and rational perceptions is indisputably obvious in Shaykh al-Mufīd’s view. However, it is his view of the authority of reason which is to some extent debatable. His statement as to “reason requires to give an ear to knowledge and its consequences” h More

The value of reason and rational perceptions is indisputably obvious in Shaykh al-Mufīd’s view. However, it is his view of the authority of reason which is to some extent debatable. His statement as to “reason requires to give an ear to knowledge and its consequences” has given rise to some debates. Commentators have interpreted such statements of Shaykh al-Mufīd in different ways, which can be classified into two categories with the second one consisting of two approaches by itself. It is worth noting that both of them are inconsistent with a part of Shaykh al-Mufīd’s ideas. Based on a critical analysis of existing views, the author believes that theory and practice are separate from each other. In other words, it seems that, Shaykh al-Mufīd believes in the independent authority of reason in practice; however, he has different theoretical views, and one cannot find any idea regarding the authority of autonomous reason which has not been challenged. This paper discusses the problem of reason and a number of related issues such as the definition, function, authority of reason, and the relationship between reason and revelation. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

58 - A Philosophical Reading of the Social Dimension of Perfect Man in Nahj al-Balāghah Based on Transcendent Philosophy
sayyed mohammad ali mirdamadi , sayyed mahdi emami jomae Majid Sadeghi Hasan abadi

20.1001.1.15600874.1400.26.4.8.7

This paper aims to provide a general picture of the social dimension of perfect Man based on the statements in Nahj al-Balāghah and their philosophical analysis relying on the principles of the Transcendent Philosophy. This social dimension includes the characteristics More

This paper aims to provide a general picture of the social dimension of perfect Man based on the statements in Nahj al-Balāghah and their philosophical analysis relying on the principles of the Transcendent Philosophy. This social dimension includes the characteristics of a perfect Man in interaction with other human beings within his social and this-worldly structure. The knowledge of perfect Man in this area reveals his civilizational role in the human society and in the actualization the Transcendent society. This study was carried out following a descriptive-analytic method. According to the teachings of Nahj al-Balāghah and the principles of the Transcendent Philosophy, beginning a philosophical revolution in society and leading it in the right direction are accomplished through intrinsic awakening and flourishing of human beings and revealing their intellectual treasures. Such treasures provide the basis for the social activities of perfect Man which, along with his other ontological perfections and because of people’s obeying him, result in the social, cultural, political, and economic development and prosperity and the establishment of transcendent society. Hence, the centrality and leadership of perfect Man and people’s obedience for him are the foundations and most important pillars of the realization of the idea of transcendent society. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

59 - “I” and the Criterion for its Distinction from “others” in Suhrawardī, Mullā Ṣadrā, and Descartes
Sakineh Gharibi Sohrab Haghighat mansour Imanpour

20.1001.1.15600874.1400.26.4.6.5

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

Open Access Article

60 - A Comparative Study of Mullā Ṣadrā’s and William Craig’s Views of Temporal Origination of the World
Monireh Sayyid Mazhari Alireza Esmaeli

One of the most profound ontological problems which has occupied the minds of thinkers and philosophers is the discussion of origination or eternity of the world. In Islamic tradition, through introducing the theory of trans-substantial motion, Mullā Ṣadrā has tried to More

One of the most profound ontological problems which has occupied the minds of thinkers and philosophers is the discussion of origination or eternity of the world. In Islamic tradition, through introducing the theory of trans-substantial motion, Mullā Ṣadrā has tried to portray the renewing origination of the material world in such a way that, while enjoying consistency, it does not contradict any religious teachings. According to Mullā Ṣadrā, renewal is the same as existents’ being, and each renewal is an independent origination which ceaselessly occurs in the essence of existents in the course of time. The chain of events will never stop at a specific point due to the continuity of emanation; therefore, all components of the world are temporally originated. As a result, the world, as a mentally-posited whole, has no independent existence and is temporally originated as well. William Craig, the Christian thinker, has also based his cosmological argument on a new approach to the temporal origination of the world in the contemporary Western philosophical atmosphere. He maintains that the world and all its constituent parts, including time, have been created from nothing at a specific moment on divine free will and, since then, God, who existed prior to the creation of the world in an ethereal state, is now exposed to time because of His true relationship with temporal origination of things. The present study aims to reveal the efficiency of Mullā Ṣadrā’s interpretation of the temporal origination of the world in comparison to Craig’s new approach. The findings of this comparison indicate that Craig’s attempts at presenting this new approach deserve due attention; however, comparing to Mullā Ṣadrā’s view, it not only lacks the necessary consistency but is also in clear contrast to some of the most fundamental religious theorems including the impossibility of attributing change to God’s essence, His eternity, His everlasting simultaneity with the created, and continuity of emanation. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

61 - Applications of Mullā Ṣadrā’s Psychological Principles in Education
Mahdi Rezaei

20.1001.1.15600874.1400.27.2.2.0

The basis of education, in general, and Islamic education, in particular, is the human soul (psyche). In order to educate the soul and psyche, there are some principles that are employed to achieve the predetermined goals and objectives. Given the religious approach of More

The basis of education, in general, and Islamic education, in particular, is the human soul (psyche). In order to educate the soul and psyche, there are some principles that are employed to achieve the predetermined goals and objectives. Given the religious approach of this study and the potentials of the Transcendent Philosophy in this regard, the author has tried to identify and examine the applications of the principles of educating the soul (psyche) based on Mullā Ṣadrā’s philosophical thoughts. Some of these principles include the substance of the soul’s immateriality, the corporeal origination and spiritual subsistence of the soul, and its graded trans-substantial motion in its process of development. Following this, he has dealt with the educational principles inferred from the mentioned principles and the purposes of this study, such as graded transcendence and graduation and transformationalism, reform, and recreation in the process of educating the soul (psyche). This study was conducted following a combination of descriptive-analytic and inferential methods while using library resources in order to describe the concepts and analyze and clarify the problem. The author has specifically referred to Mullā Ṣadrā’s books (particularly al-Asfār, VIII and IX) and the works of some of his commentators in order to extract and infer the related principles employed in the education of the soul. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

62 - An Evaluation of the Common Interpretations of Fact Itself and its Whatness Based on Mullā Ṣadrā’s Final View
Seyedeh Zahra Mousavi Baygi Seyd Mohammad Musavi

20.1001.1.15600874.1400.27.1.2.8

One of the discussions that has attracted great attention in scientific-philosophical societies is epistemology and its related problems such as the problem of the “criterion for the truth of propositions”. Muslim thinkers believe that the criterion corresponds with naf More

One of the discussions that has attracted great attention in scientific-philosophical societies is epistemology and its related problems such as the problem of the “criterion for the truth of propositions”. Muslim thinkers believe that the criterion corresponds with nafs al-amr (fact itself); however, they have provided different views and interpretations of this concept. The required data for the study were collected through the library method. After describing and analyzing them, while evaluating three famous views regarding the truth of fact itself, reporting the related criticisms, and emphasizing the incomprehensiveness of these views, the researchers try to demonstrate that fact itself means “God’s essential differentiated knowledge”. Their standpoint is in conformity with gnostic and Sadrian philosophical principles. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

63 - The Relationship of Poetry with Consideration and Truth Based on ‘Allāmah Ṭabāṭabā’ī’s Theory of Mentally-Posited Things
Jamal Ahmadi Seyyed Mehdi Emami Jume Emami Jume Mohammad Javad Safian

20.1001.1.15600874.1401.27.3.2.6

In ‘Allāmah Ṭabāṭabā’ī’s view, poetry and mentally-posited perceptions have such a close relationship with each other that he describes such perceptions through using poetic similes, allegories, and metaphors in his book of The Principles of Philosophy and the Method of More

In ‘Allāmah Ṭabāṭabā’ī’s view, poetry and mentally-posited perceptions have such a close relationship with each other that he describes such perceptions through using poetic similes, allegories, and metaphors in his book of The Principles of Philosophy and the Method of Realism. This study explores the relationship between poetry and mentally-posited perceptions through referring to those works of ‘Allāmah Ṭabāṭabā’ī in which he discusses the theory of mentally-posited things. The significance of this relationship lies in the fact that, by investigating the relationship between these two variables in different philosophical, gnostic, and interpretive works of ‘Allāmah, one can inquire about the relationship of poetry and positedness with fact-itself truth. The findings of this study indicate that mentally-posited things are the same as Man’s poetic view of the world or an eye with which Man can see everything. This poetic world, while being irrational and non-inferential, can speak of truth through allusions. Accordingly, it can be claimed that the theory of mentally-posited perceptions in Islamic philosophy has opened a new window to attaining the knowledge of truth. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

64 - Philosophy of Imāmah and its Place in Mullā Ṣadrā’s Philosophy with an Emphasis on Sharḥ Uṣūl al-Kāfī
Abdollah Mirahmadi Mona Amanipoor

20.1001.1.15600874.1400.27.2.5.3

A study of the discussions of the book Sharḥ uṣūl al-kāfī reveals that Mullā Ṣadrā has tried in this book to interpret Imāmah (leadership) and its nature – as a position appointed by God – based on the truths in the words of the Infallible Imams. In spite of the rationa More

A study of the discussions of the book Sharḥ uṣūl al-kāfī reveals that Mullā Ṣadrā has tried in this book to interpret Imāmah (leadership) and its nature – as a position appointed by God – based on the truths in the words of the Infallible Imams. In spite of the rational and shar‘ī nature of the concept of Imāmah and the different approaches to it, Mullā Ṣadrā has never provided a human-oriented and non-divine interpretation of this position. Rather, through granting principliality and attending to the narrative and Kalāmi beliefs in Shi‘ism, he emphasizes the ultra-human and divine status of this position when explaining the narrations in kitāb al-ḥujjah as a section of al-Kāfī. When discussing the concept of Imāmah and while posing and criticizing the views of various Islamic sects regarding the problem of appointment, Mullā Ṣadrā acknowledges that the existence of Imam is necessary based on the principle of the noblest possibility. Moreover, he refers to certain features and privileges in order to demonstrate that Imām is the proof of God. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

65 - A Comparison of the Body-Soul Relationship in Philosophical Behaviorism and Sadrian Philosophy
Naeimeh Najmi Nejad Morteza Rezaee

20.1001.1.15600874.1400.27.2.6.4

The discussion of the relationship between the soul and body has always been a challenging problem. The most important problem with this discussion is the quality of the relationship between the soul as an immaterial existence with the body as a material existence. Many More

The discussion of the relationship between the soul and body has always been a challenging problem. The most important problem with this discussion is the quality of the relationship between the soul as an immaterial existence with the body as a material existence. Many thinkers have presented some theories in response to this problem. Following a descriptive-analytic approach, the present study examines and compares behaviorism, which provides some of the important theories in the philosophy of the mind, with the view of Mullā Ṣadrā as the most prominent Islamic Philosopher. The findings of the study indicate that both behaviorist and Mullā Ṣadrā believe in the oneness of the soul and body. However, behaviorists conceive of the soul and mental states as nothing but external human behavior. This approach in fact rejects the immateriality of the soul and its mental states, while Mullā Ṣadrā considers the relationship between the body and the soul as integration through unification based on some of his own principles including the graded trans-substantial motion and the soul’s corporeal origination. In his view, the soul, while being a single substance, enjoys both a material and corporeal level and different levels of immateriality – including Ideal and rational types – because of its graded nature. In other words, there is a single conjunctive truth that appears in the form of the body at lower levels and as the soul at higher levels. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

66 - A Critical Study of Ibn Sīnā’s Arguments on the Materialism of Particular Perceptive Experience with an Emphasis on the Problem of “Explanatory Gap”
Ahmad Va’ezi Mehdi Karimi

20.1001.1.15600874.1400.27.2.7.5

By doubting the materiality of perceptions based on the problem of explanatory gap, a rational basis is provided for criticizing Ibn Sīnā’s arguments regarding the impossibility of the immateriality of particular perceptions, the demonstration of possibility, and also t More

By doubting the materiality of perceptions based on the problem of explanatory gap, a rational basis is provided for criticizing Ibn Sīnā’s arguments regarding the impossibility of the immateriality of particular perceptions, the demonstration of possibility, and also the necessity of the immateriality of different types of perception. The material interpretation of particular perceptions – whether sensory or imaginal – is among Ibn Sīnā’s views in the ontology of perception. Through providing some arguments on the impossibility of the immateriality of particular perceptive experiences, he believes that the only possible state with respect to such experiences is their immateriality. On the other hand, hypothesizing the existence of a possible world in which a metaphysical state such as pain can be imagined in the absence of a neural process makes the distinction between mental state and neural process possible. This explanatory gap between them makes the immateriality of perception possible through negating the identity of these two phenomena. Given the distinction between physical and metaphysical states and the necessity of the immateriality of perception based on various philosophical arguments, the materiality of particular perception is debatable. Therefore, Mullā Ṣadrā’s idea of the immateriality of sensory and imaginal perception, similar to rational perceptions, presents a more comprehensive explanation of perception and the soul. This paper focus on a study of the whatness and ontology of particular perceptions, the discussion of which is subcategorized under the problem of the soul-body relation in the process of perception. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

67 - Solutions of Mullā Hādī Sabziwārī and Ḥassanzādeh Āmulī to the Dilemma of Agent-by-Foreknowledge in Mullā Ṣadrā’s Philosophy
Naeimeh NajmiNejad Ahmad Ghafari

20.1001.1.15600874.1402.28.3.1.2

The discussion of divine activity and the quality of the creation of existents has always been a challenging discussion, and different thinkers have provided different views, each based on their philosophical thoughts. Among them, Mullā Ṣadrā has sometimes acknowledged More

The discussion of divine activity and the quality of the creation of existents has always been a challenging discussion, and different thinkers have provided different views, each based on their philosophical thoughts. Among them, Mullā Ṣadrā has sometimes acknowledged agent-by-foreknowledge and sometimes agent-by-self-manifestation regarding the quality of God’s Agency in his various works. These two apparently contradictory views have made the commentators of his works to try to reveal his ultimate intention. This paper, which has been written following a descriptive analytic method, discusses the views of Mullā Hādī Sabziwārī and Ḥassanzādeh Āmulī as two of the important commentators of the Transcendent Philosophy and concludes that, through referring agent-by-self-manifestation to providence in its general sense, Sabziwārī tries to reconcile these two views. However, with his particular interpretation of the Peripatetics’ view of God’s agency, Ḥassanzādeh Āmulī equates agent-by-foreknowledge with agent-by-self-manifestation. Nevertheless, the authors believe that the main basis of agent-by-foreknowledge that has persuaded Mullā Ṣadrā to acknowledge it is active knowledge. For this reason, by accepting agent-by-foreknowledge, he agrees with such affairs as the addition of knowledge to essence, which the Peripatetics have suggested in this regard. Accordingly, we can conclude from Mullā Ṣadrā’s different statements about the quality of divine agency that his view is based on active knowledge, which also exists in agent-by-foreknowledge. Hence, he speaks of agency-by-foreknowledge in relation to God’s Activity, which is consistent with agent-by-self-knowledge. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

68 - Circularity of the Definitions of Nature and Truth of Time in Ibn Sīnā’s View
Hamid Shahriari

20.1001.1.15600874.1401.27.4.4.0

Ibn Sīnā has provided two definitions for time, which Khwājah Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī believes to be circular. The first definition has appeared in Ibn Sīnā’s al-Ishārāt and introduces time as incompatible priority and posteriority. Some philosophers, such as Āqā Ḥussayn Khān More

Ibn Sīnā has provided two definitions for time, which Khwājah Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī believes to be circular. The first definition has appeared in Ibn Sīnā’s al-Ishārāt and introduces time as incompatible priority and posteriority. Some philosophers, such as Āqā Ḥussayn Khānsārī, believe that the circular nature of Ibn Sīnā’s definition of time in this book poses no problem because the concept of time is an axiom, and the existence of circularity in the definition of an axiom is natural. His other definition has been given in al-Shifā. Here, the nature of time is defined in the sense of a measure of motion as divided into prior and posterior components. In this definition, time contains disjunctive quantity (time as the number of motion) in addition to continuous quantity (time as amount of motion). The present paper aims to provide a clear picture of the definition of the nature of time in Ibn Sīnā’s view in his al-Ishārāt and al-Shifā in al-Ṭabi’iyyāt chapter. Following an analytic comparative study of Ibn Sīnā’s works, the author concludes that Khwājah Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī’s perception of Ibn Sīnā’s definitions of the nature of time were not inconsistent and, rather, he intended to provide another analysis of the truth of time. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

69 - A Comparative Judgement of the Views and Principles of Mullā Ṣadrā and Fakhr al-Dīn Rāzī on the Problem of Corporeal Resurrection
Seyyed Ali Razizadeh Seyyed Abbas Zahabi

20.1001.1.15600874.1401.28.1.1.4

Both Fakhr al-Dīn Rāzī and Mullā Ṣadrā believe in corporeal resurrection; however, they follow different approaches in this regard. A comparison of their views shows similarities in some of their principles but fundamental differences in some others. The origin of their More

Both Fakhr al-Dīn Rāzī and Mullā Ṣadrā believe in corporeal resurrection; however, they follow different approaches in this regard. A comparison of their views shows similarities in some of their principles but fundamental differences in some others. The origin of their difference is their philosophical principles and, particularly, the discussions of “identical restoration of the non-existent” and “immateriality of faculties”. The rational demonstration of Fakhr al-Dīn Rāzī’s corporeal resurrection was based on his belief in identity with the identical restoration of the non-existent, which has led to some incorrect conclusions such as the materiality of the immaterial dimensions of the soul in the process of resurrection. On the other hand, in contrast to Fakhr al-Dīn Rāzī’s claim as to philosophers’ lack of belief in corporeal resurrection, Mullā Ṣadrā tried to prove it philosophically for the first time. Although his philosophical approach gave rise to some criticisms against him, the same approach was the secret behind his immunity against repeating the same mistakes committed by mutikallimun, including Fakhr al-Dīn Rāzī. Mullā Ṣadrā rejected the theory of the restoration of the non-existent and believed in other worldly and not elemental corporeal resurrection. Therefore, to demonstrate the restoration of individuals’ acts, he did not have to resort to mutikallimun’s theory of the “return of dispersed components” of human beings. One of the other differences between the views of these two philosophers concerns the problem of the multiplicity and immateriality of faculties. Both thinkers believed in the immateriality of the soul, but Fakhr al-Dīn Rāzī maintained that soulish faculties lack multiplicity and tried to bring it in line with the idea of the identical restoration of the non-existent. However, Mullā Ṣadrā believed that the solution to the problem of corporeal resurrection, similar to many other problems, must be sought in the specific method of the soul’s knowledge, particularly, the immateriality of imagination. This paper aims to explain and evaluate the fundamental differences between the views of Fakhr al-Dīn Rāzī and Mullā Ṣadrā regarding the problem of corporeal resurrection. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

70 - Myth of Peripatetic Hyle in the Transcendent Philosophy
Mohammad Reza Noornohammadi

20.1001.1.15600874.1401.28.1.4.7

The philosophical analysis of the changes in natural bodies led Peripatetic philosophers to the notion of hyle, which is a substance that essentially lacks actuality and remains fixed in the process of change. Peripatetic philosophers have employed this notion in many p More

The philosophical analysis of the changes in natural bodies led Peripatetic philosophers to the notion of hyle, which is a substance that essentially lacks actuality and remains fixed in the process of change. Peripatetic philosophers have employed this notion in many philosophical debates, including the famous division of existents into material and immaterial groups. Nevertheless, despite their emphasis upon this notion, Suhrawardī denied the existence of the Peripatetic hyle. Mullā Ṣadrā has not explicitly explained his views of hyle in any of his works; however, a careful study of his works and, particularly, philosophical principles indicates that the peripatetic hyle is not acceptable in the Transcendent Philosophy. In fact, some contemporary philosophers have even found the idea of the Peripatetic hyle to be self-contradictory within the framework of the Transcendent Philosophy. At the same time, the words hyle and matter are frequently used in Mullā Ṣadrā’s works because, apart from cases in which he explains the views of earlier philosophers, he also believes in a kind of hyle that should be called the “analytic hyle”. This kind of hyle is a secondary philosophical intelligible that is abstracted from the analysis of the trans-substantial motion. It bears a unity with from and can be used as a basis for the division of existence into fixed and fluid categories. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

71 - Trans-Substantial Motion of the Soul and its Consequences in the Sadrian Study of the Soul
Rouhollah Souri Hamed Komijani

20.1001.1.15600874.1401.28.1.5.8

The soul goes through elemental, natural, mineral, vegetative, animal (Ideal immateriality), and rational (intellectual immateriality) stages in the cradle of its fluid existence. Therefore, the soul’s belonging to the body is a part of its identity and, thus, it can be More

The soul goes through elemental, natural, mineral, vegetative, animal (Ideal immateriality), and rational (intellectual immateriality) stages in the cradle of its fluid existence. Therefore, the soul’s belonging to the body is a part of its identity and, thus, it can be said that the soul is a material-immaterial substance. Given the existential fluidity of the soul, Mullā Ṣadrā has reinterpreted its various characteristics. Accordingly, the soul’s faculties are levels of its continuous truth that flourish one after each other. Moreover, natural death is the result of the soul’s ontological gradedness and losing interest in elemental body. At some stages of this ontological becoming, the soul attains immateriality and, hence, its survival after death become necessary. Because gradedness and, as a result, attaining immateriality are essential to the soul, its incarnation and return to elemental body is unjustifiable. Therefore, after death, the soul begins its purgatorial life in an Ideal body that is created based on its moral habits, and the natural form that is created in the matter of elemental body opens the path towards purgatorial perfection before it. One of the most important consequences of the soul’s trans-substantial motion is its entrance into divine worlds and annihilation in active, attributive, and essential oneness. Interestingly enough, based on the trans-substantial motion, this significant achievement is possible at the moment of the soul’s belonging to elemental body and is not necessarily limited to the moment of occurrence of natural death. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

72 - Laws of Nature as Strategies for Man’s Happiness
S. Mohammad Khamenei

20.1001.1.15600874.1400.27.1.8.4

The world and nature have been created relying on certain divine rules and principles. Based on the Divine Will and pre-ordination, there is a mutual relationship and interaction not only between all the components of the world of being but also between them and the who More

The world and nature have been created relying on certain divine rules and principles. Based on the Divine Will and pre-ordination, there is a mutual relationship and interaction not only between all the components of the world of being but also between them and the whole world of creation. As a member of this world, Man can both affect it and be affected by it. This process has been predestined based on the main law and principle of this world, that is, the commensurability of “being” and “good”. Where there is good, there is being (and vice versa), and where there is no good, there is evil or non-being (and vice versa). The only way of attaining true happiness for Man is living in harmony with the system of nature and its governing rules. The divine tradition or the laws of nature are such that any deviation from them will lead to evil, misery, loss, calamity, disease, etc. The world (macro-anthropo) reacts to the good and bad deeds of human beings (micro-anthropo). Sin, which means any disobedience to the Divine orders or transgression from the laws of creation and nature, results in human misery and cruelty and will be followed by Divine punishment and torture. This is the point at which God’s glorious names and attributes are manifested. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

73 - Immutable Archetypes and their Place in Divine Apriori Knowledge in the Eyes of Ibn ‘Arabī and Mullā Ṣadrā
Amirhossein Kiani Zohreh Hosaini Khamenei

20.1001.1.15600874.1400.27.1.9.5

The notion of immutable archetypes is one of the most important pillars of Ibn ‘Arabī’s ontology, and its acceptance greatly influences one’s view of the problem of God’s knowledge. In fact, God’s knowledge prior to the creation of existents is an important challenge th More

The notion of immutable archetypes is one of the most important pillars of Ibn ‘Arabī’s ontology, and its acceptance greatly influences one’s view of the problem of God’s knowledge. In fact, God’s knowledge prior to the creation of existents is an important challenge that various epistemological, kalāmi, philosophical, and gnostic systems have tried to analyze and explain each in its own way. The Mu‘tazilites and Ibn ‘Arabī have tried to solve this problem by accepting the existence of pre-eternal archetypes. However, some thinkers, such as Mullā Ṣadrā, have disagreed with Ibn ‘Arabī’s view. Mullā Ṣadrā has harshly criticized the structure of immutable archetypes in his works. Nevertheless, through a more detailed investigation and based on a comparative approach, it can be concluded that Mullā Ṣadrā has tried to solve the problems that are in contrast to his philosophical principles through presenting a new view of the problem of archetypes and providing a new interpretation of Ibn ‘Arabī’s standpoint. This study aims to demonstrate that Mullā Ṣadrā agrees with Ibn ‘Arabī’s view of immutable archetypes but differentiates between his view and the idea of the subsistence of non-existents, which is favored by the Mu‘tazilites. He also believes that the first view is in conformity with his own unveilings and intuitions. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

74 - A Critical Study of the Book, The Bezel of Infallible Wisdom in the Word Fatemi
Mahmoud Saidiy

20.1001.1.15600874.1401.28.1.6.9

Faṣṣ ḥikmat ‘iṣmatīyyah fī kalimat fāṭimmīyyah is the title of a book by Hassanzadeh Amuli, which has been written following the method of Ibn ‘Arabī’s Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam and as a supplementary to this book. In this book, the writer has dealt with the mysterious and all-inc More

Faṣṣ ḥikmat ‘iṣmatīyyah fī kalimat fāṭimmīyyah is the title of a book by Hassanzadeh Amuli, which has been written following the method of Ibn ‘Arabī’s Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam and as a supplementary to this book. In this book, the writer has dealt with the mysterious and all-inclusive character of Lady Fāṭimah (‘a) as a perfect and infallible human being. Such a discussion is an innovative move in theoretical gnosis from certain aspects; however, it suffers from some defects: 1) the related ḥadīths and their narrative proofs have not been quoted with sufficient accuracy; some of the mentioned ḥadīths cannot be found in narrative sources, and some others have been quoted from invalid ones; 2) the attribute of the queen of virtue is not solely applied to Lady Fāṭimah (‘a); therefore, it seems wrong to limit such a chapter to her; 3) Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam begins with the chapter of humanity and ends with the chapter of Muhammedan. Since the true heirs of the Holy Prophet (ṣ) depend on him in their nominal manifestations, the gnostic principles and problems regarding Lady Fāṭimah (‘a) can be sub-categorized under the chapter of Muhammedan and do not need an independent section. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

75 - Mullā Ṣadrā’s Strategies for Reducing Death Anxiety and its Philosophical Principles
Manouchehr Shaminezhad Hossein Atrak Mohsen Jahed

20.1001.1.15600874.1402.28.3.3.4

The present study investigates Mullā Ṣadrā’s strategies for treating death anxiety and its philosophical foundations. It also aims to suggest some philosophical and ontological strategies to decrease modern Man’s anxiety when thinking about death based on some of Mullā More

The present study investigates Mullā Ṣadrā’s strategies for treating death anxiety and its philosophical foundations. It also aims to suggest some philosophical and ontological strategies to decrease modern Man’s anxiety when thinking about death based on some of Mullā Ṣadrā’s philosophical principles, such as the principiality of existence, the union of the intellect with intelligible, the trans-substantial motion, theism, religiosity, and believing in the Hereafter. According to Sadrian philosophy, Man’s life is meaningful and purposeful, and being has been created based on divine emanation. The human soul is corporeally-originated; however, its essence changes because of its union with the intelligible and its own trans-substantial motion and attains higher levels of being though going through different existential grades. This developmental move continues until reaching the origin of being and does not end with death. It also grants meaning to Man’s life and decreases their death anxiety. Mullā Ṣadrā is an existential philosopher who advocates a supernaturalist, theistic, and procedural approach to death. The reality of death in Mullā Ṣadrā’s philosophy is a part of Man’s process of existential development. Some of the strategies that can be inferred from his philosophy to reduce death anxiety include following a teleological approach to the world, being’s view of God as pure connection, believing in the Hereafter and Man’s resurrection after corporeal death, advocating ontological evolution, and having a developmental view of death. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

76 - A Study of Ibn Sīnā’s Argument on the Accidental Nature of Unity in Ilāhīyyāt al-Shifā’
Mihammadhadi Tavakoli

20.1001.1.15600874.1402.28.3.5.6

According to Aristotle, a number of philosophers in ancient Greece theorized that the “one” is an independent substance that performs a causal role in relation to other substances. Through clarifying the predicative nature of the “one” and referring to the false consequ More

According to Aristotle, a number of philosophers in ancient Greece theorized that the “one” is an independent substance that performs a causal role in relation to other substances. Through clarifying the predicative nature of the “one” and referring to the false consequences of the above theory, he tried to reject it. Ibn Sīnā has extensively investigated the theory of the one’s being a substance and Aristotle’s related criticisms in the ilāhīyyāt section of al-Shifā’. Unlike Aristotle, he has not merely referred to the one’s being a predicate and, rather, through a lengthy and complex argument, has tried to demonstrate that unity, as the source of the derivation of the one, is a necessary accident. Ibn Sīnā’ argument is prone to criticism from different aspects, the most important of which is the confusion of categorical and analytic accidents with each other. Unity is merely an analytic accident, and Ibn Sīnā’s argument is incapable of demonstrating its being a categorical accident. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

77 - Spiritual Journey Based on Dialectical Wayfaring in Plato’s Philosophy and its Compatibility with Gnostic Journeys
Atiye Zandieh Leila Eftekhari

20.1001.1.15600874.1402.28.3.7.8

In Plato’s philosophy and Islamic gnostic tradition, the world and Man enjoy two corporeal and spiritual dimensions. Man’s spiritual dimension can have ascending and descending journeys in the worlds of being. In Islamic gnosis, going through the levels of being – the f More

In Plato’s philosophy and Islamic gnostic tradition, the world and Man enjoy two corporeal and spiritual dimensions. Man’s spiritual dimension can have ascending and descending journeys in the worlds of being. In Islamic gnosis, going through the levels of being – the five divine presences – has been explained by resorting to the four-fold journeys, which include moving from the creature to the truth, traversing the truth, moving from the truth to the creature and, finally, travelling with the truth in the creature. The spiritual journey in Plato’s philosophy can be explained by using the dialectical wayfaring, analogy of the divided line, and the allegory of the cave. Plato generally dealt with this spiritual journey and did not intend to classify its levels. However, his views can be formulated in a way to conform to these four journeys. In this way, spiritual journey in Plato’s philosophy will include the following four stages: moving from shadows to the world of Ideas, traveling through the Ideas, moving from the world of Ideas to the world of sensibles and, finally, traveling with the Ideas in shadows. Therefore, given the differences between these two schools of thought regarding their views of the highest levels of being and the perfect Man, the first, second, and fourth journeys can be more clearly matched with each other. The third journey can also be matched with one of them but not as clearly as the other three. Gnostics’ religious views, their emphasis on ascetic practice and purification of the soul, and the long time interval between these two systems of thought have resulted in a number of great differences between them. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

78 - Mullā Ṣadrā and the Problem of Imaginary Time
Huda Habibimanesh shamsollah seraj Maijd Ziaei

20.1001.1.15600874.1402.29.1.2.2

One of the most controversial philosophical-kalami issues in the history of Islamic philosophy has always been the analysis of the problem of the origination and pre-eternity of the world. Most Muslim mutikallimūn believe in the temporal origination of the world and con More

One of the most controversial philosophical-kalami issues in the history of Islamic philosophy has always been the analysis of the problem of the origination and pre-eternity of the world. Most Muslim mutikallimūn believe in the temporal origination of the world and consider the pre-universe time to be “imaginary”. As the most supreme philosopher of the Transcendent Philosophy, Mullā Ṣadrā has also discussed imaginary time in different places in his works. He has adopted two different approaches to this theory but does not express his view explicitly. The present study explains Mullā Ṣadrā’s opinions regarding the theory of imaginary time and his two approaches in this respect in order to answer the question of what his ultimate standpoint regarding imaginary time is. In order to accomplish this task, the authors have referred to the scattered discussions in his works and, after studying and explaining the relationships between them and combining them with each other, have provided a description of Mullā Ṣadrā’s ultimate view. Although in some places he tries to justify the theory of imaginary time based on his own principles, given his explicit statements on negating an intermediary between the world of being and Almighty Necessary as well as his demonstration of the existence of time and rejection of the arguments of deniers of time, it can be concluded that his ultimate view here is the negation of imaginary time. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

79 - A Critical Analysis of the Five Arguments of the Falsity of Infinite Regress of Efficient Causes in al-Asfār al-Arba‘ah
Maryam Khoshnevisan Seyyed Sadr al-Din Taheri Babak Abbasi

20.1001.1.15600874.1401.27.3.8.2

This study investigates and criticizes five of Mullā Ṣadrā’s main arguments for the falsity of the infinite regress of efficient causes. Given the fact that many philosophers use this principle in order to demonstrate the existence of the Necessary Being, a study of the More

This study investigates and criticizes five of Mullā Ṣadrā’s main arguments for the falsity of the infinite regress of efficient causes. Given the fact that many philosophers use this principle in order to demonstrate the existence of the Necessary Being, a study of the objections targeting its arguments is of great importance because of its relationship with proving the existence of God. In order to achieve the purpose of this study, four arguments have been examined and criticized separately, and the fifth argument has been referred back to the fourth in terms of content and method. These arguments include “limit and middle”, “conformity”, “the most concise and precise”, “correlation 1”, and “correlation 2” arguments. The criticisms of the arguments of the falsity of regress and the importance of the falsity of the regress of efficient causes in developing some of the arguments adduced to demonstrate the Divine Essence have provoked philosophers, both Islamic and Western, to seek for other arguments to prove the existence of God in order not to rely on the falsity of the regress of causes. It is worth noting that they have had some success in this regard. At the end of this paper, without discussing the arguments and while summarizing and concluding the remarks, the authors refer to two famous arguments: Mullā Ṣadrā’s argument of the righteous in Islamic philosophy and Anselm’s ontological argument in Western philosophy. These two arguments are semi-casual and semi-analytical because they are not based on any premise that needs to be proved. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

80 - Mullā Ṣadrā’s Defense of two Dialetheic Challenges in the Trans-Substantial Motion
Gholamali Hashemifar Mahdi Azimi

20.1001.1.15600874.1402.29.1.7.7

Although the problem of motion has created various challenges in the history of philosophy by itself, the trans-substantial motion as the turning point of the Transcendent philosophy is prone to some additional challenges that can be followed in the manifest of dialethe More

Although the problem of motion has created various challenges in the history of philosophy by itself, the trans-substantial motion as the turning point of the Transcendent philosophy is prone to some additional challenges that can be followed in the manifest of dialetheism. One of these challenges is the loss of the identity of subject in the context of motion and, following this, the realization of borderline-states and the appearance of a paradox known as the problem of ambiguity in philosophical literature. Such debates themselves lead to paradoxes that contemporary dialetheists consider as evidence for the existence of contradiction in the outside world. The manifestation of such challenges and their relationship with the trans-substantial motion is the focal problem of the present paper. Since any change in archetypal forms in the cradle of trans-substantial motion is of the gradual and continuous type rather than the sudden type, the absence of a borderline at various stages of motion paves the way for the truth of two different quiddities at the same time for one subject, which necessitates contradiction by itself. Following a critical descriptive analytic method, this study reveals that Mullā Ṣadrā has responded to both challenges. He has answered the identity challenge based on the idea of “matter with form” and referred the challenge of ambiguity to our perception’s negligence in matching quiddity to all modes of being. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

81 - A Critical Study of the Definition of Practice in Mullā Ṣadrā
Fatemeh Sadat Ketabchi Keramat Varzdar

20.1001.1.15600874.1402.29.2.3.5

Mullā Ṣadrā maintains that the distinction of practice from other acts pertains to its “intentional” nature. In his view, “intention” includes the free will accompanied with the second level of consciousness acting based on the purpose of practice. Therefore, not each v More

Mullā Ṣadrā maintains that the distinction of practice from other acts pertains to its “intentional” nature. In his view, “intention” includes the free will accompanied with the second level of consciousness acting based on the purpose of practice. Therefore, not each voluntary act is called “practice”; rather, practice is a voluntary act that emerges along with the second level consciousness based on the purpose of act. The results of this study, which was conducted following a descriptive-analytic method and through the analysis of conceptual concomitants of practice, indicate that Mullā Ṣadrā’s definition is not mutually exclusive. This is because, based on the example of “self-conscious” robot, one can assume an agent that enjoys free will and consciousness but its act is not intentional. Therefore, to complete the definition of practice, in addition to free will and consciousness, one needs a third element or the same “choice”. Mullā Ṣadrā does not officially recognize “choice” as the third element of practice and reduces it to the same consciousness and the free will. Nevertheless, the present study demonstrates that he is wrong, and “choice” in the sense of “the freedom to use the free will” must be added to the definition of practice. This study mainly aims to examine the quiddative structure of “practice” in the Transcendent Philosophy and distinguish “practice” from other similar affairs. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

82 - Mullā Ṣadrā and the Role of Perfection-Seeking in the Rise of an Optimal Civilizational System
Ali Mostajeran Goortani Mahdi Ganjvar Seyyed Mahdi Emami Jome

20.1001.1.15600874.1402.29.2.6.8

Perfection-seeking is one of the important features and principles in the development of an optimal civilizational system. Relying on the human truth, which consists of appearance and innermost, Mullā Ṣadrā aims to portray a social system based on Man’s ontological pote More

Perfection-seeking is one of the important features and principles in the development of an optimal civilizational system. Relying on the human truth, which consists of appearance and innermost, Mullā Ṣadrā aims to portray a social system based on Man’s ontological potentials. The reason is that human beings, due to their primordial nature, are in pursuit of civil life, and their worldly and otherworldly goals can only be achieved in the context of a civilizational system. The purpose of the present study is to present a plan in relation to the development and reinforcement of a civilizational system relying on three principles that originate in Sadrian philosophy. The first deals with the origin of perfection-seeking and its effect on social life. The second is related to the issue of property and law, which pave the context for the rise of a civilizational system. The third principle pertains to the identification and suggestion of philosophical strategies for resolving civilizational crises. The purpose of examining these principles is to pay attention to human capabilities and potentials and discover how a perfection-seeking human develops the ability to attain supreme goals. The findings of this study indicate that the Transcendent philosophy, on the one hand, seeks to introduce a plan and program for optimizing the civilizational system through paying attention to Man’s ontological levels and potentials of a civilizational system. On the other hand, it can provide a desirable model for the flourishing of civilizational life through organizing Man’s achievements in nature in the light of science, power, and creativity. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

83 - Use of Logic in Discovering the Argument of the Righteous in Mullā Ṣadrā’s Reading of al-Fuṣṣilat Chapter: 53
Ahmad Maleki

20.1001.1.15600874.1403.29.3.2.0

The argument of the righteous is intended to demonstrate the existence of Almighty Truth without the mediation of creatures. Fārābī propounded this approach, and Ibn Sīnā actualized it through interpreting the argument of ‘possibility and necessity’. Mull More

The argument of the righteous is intended to demonstrate the existence of Almighty Truth without the mediation of creatures. Fārābī propounded this approach, and Ibn Sīnā actualized it through interpreting the argument of ‘possibility and necessity’. Mullā Ṣadrā objected to its being righteous in Ibn Sīnā’s reading and presented an argument based on the same method. Now, the question is whether this argument, which is the result of the efforts of some distinguished Islamic philosophers, from Fārābī to Mullā Ṣadrā, can be logically inferred from the Holy Qur’ān and, thus, claim that this holy Book expressed this truth many centuries before all of them. Following a descriptive-analytic method and through employing logical principles, this study has discovered and inferred this argument from verse 53 of al-Fuṣṣilat Chapter. Moreover, through explaining the major and minor propositions of the argument, it has revealed how each of them can be inferred from this verse. The findings of this study indicate the rationality of Qur’anic concepts, manifest the inseparability of the Qur’ān and this argument objectively and based on proof, and introduces one aspect of the scientific miracle of this Heavenly Book. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

84 - Comparative Study of the Quality of the Soul-Body Relation in Mullā Ṣadrā and E. J. Lowe
Parvin Nickseresht Ghasem Kakaie Mohammadbagher Abbasi

20.1001.1.15600874.1403.29.3.4.2

One of the fundamental questions in philosophical anthropology pertains to the quality of the relationship between the soul and the body as two separate substances. This question has also been targeted in both Islamic philosophy and the philosophy of the mind. In Isl More

One of the fundamental questions in philosophical anthropology pertains to the quality of the relationship between the soul and the body as two separate substances. This question has also been targeted in both Islamic philosophy and the philosophy of the mind. In Islamic philosophy, through propounding the principle of the corporeal origination and spiritual subsistence of the soul, Mullā Ṣadrā has tried to provide a decisive answer to this question. On the other hand, Edward Jonathan Lowe, one of the distinguished authorities in the field of the philosophy of the mind, has tried to resolve this challenge through negating the absolute immateriality of the soul. Following a descriptive-analytic method and through library research, the present study was carried out to investigate and evaluate the views of these two philosophers in order to find out whether they have been successful in solving this problem. The findings of the study indicate that, although it initially appears that both of them have been able to overcome this dilemma through providing similar responses, some deliberation over their approaches reveals that their answers suffer from certain problems that must be resolved. Manuscript profile

Open Access Article

85 - Transcendence and Man’s Existential Width in the Ontological Systems of Mullā Ṣadrā and Heidegger
Fatemeh Ghadimi Paindeh Monireh Sayyid Mazhari Zeinab Sadat Mirshamsi

20.1001.1.15600874.1401.28.2.6.1

Heidegger has provided some innovative interpretations regarding several topics particularly in relation to human existence. His views about human beings are comparable to those of Mullā Ṣadrā in certain respects. One of them is their belief in man’s transcendence and e More

Heidegger has provided some innovative interpretations regarding several topics particularly in relation to human existence. His views about human beings are comparable to those of Mullā Ṣadrā in certain respects. One of them is their belief in man’s transcendence and existential width. Both thinkers maintain that man is not an entity imprisoned in itself; man, who is the source of many possibilities and is aware of them, is subject to “becoming” and can become what they are not at the present time. In other words, man can go beyond the existing situation and attain transcendence. Although there is a similarity in this regard between the thoughts of these two thinkers, it should be considered that in Mullā Ṣadrā’s ontological system, the human soul, owing to its essential immateriality, always enjoys a perception and understanding of its identity as connected to an unlimited being and infinite truth. The human soul, which entails the whole limits of being in itself, tries to grant meaning to its existence through gaining proximity and similarity to that infinite truth in the course of traversing its out-of-itself stages. The soul’s developmental journey for reaching the ultra-rational stage also continues after death. By contrast, in Heidegger’s ontological system, truth is based on Dasein, whose being real indicates that it is the only existence in the world. It also means that, without being connected to a mysterious and transcendent power, Dasein always possesses a pre-knowledge of everything that comprises the world and continually perceives things with no cover at highest levels of clarity. Therefore, Dasein relies on itself in transcendence, the continuation of which is motivated by actualizing its existential possibilities until it dies. Death is the last existential possibility of Dasein upon which it attains its end. Manuscript profile

Current Issue

Published Issues

Menu

Browse

List of Articles -