Al-Hikmat al-muta'aliyyah fi al-asfar al-arba'ah, vol. 3

This book continues the first journeys of al-Asfar al-arba'ah and involves four parts on the important issues in prime philosophy: the first part (seventh stage) is on faculty, act, and a part of the discussions related to motion. The second (eighth stage) is entitled the "Remainder of the States and Principles of Motion" and explains the philosophical theory of Mulla Sadra's trans-substantial motion. In the third (ninth stage), the issues in relation to pre-eternity and origination have been propounded. One of the complicated issues in the philosophy of metaphysics, which also enjoys particular gravity, is solving the problem of the origination and pre-eternity of the world. Although one of the basic issues in ontological philosophy, it is also in conflict with theological (kalami) problems. This is an unpleasant incident in the history of Islamic philosophy and one of the cases for which Islamic theologians have denigrated philosophers and accused them of blasphemy and atheism. Mulla Sadra solves the problem of the origination of the world based on the theory of the Trans-substantial motion, which is itself based on the principiality of existence.

Finally, the fourth part (tenth stage) deals with the issues related to knowledge, the knower, and the known. The most important of the topics tackled in this part include the following: quiddity and explaining the importance of knowledge, types of knowledge and perception, quality of the acquisition and presence of knowledge, and the role of the mind in the process of acquiring knowledge.

The third volume of al-Hikmat al-muta'aliyyah fi al-asfar al-arba'ah has been published with the glosses by Haj Mulla Hadi Sabziwari and edition, research, and Introduction by Maqsud Muhammedi under the supervision of Professor Seyyed Mohammed Khamenei in 749 pages, accompanied by different indexes of cited verses, hadiths, poems, etc, by the Sadra Islamic Philosophy Institute.