Hakim Sahba's Innovative Interpretation of Ibn Arabi's View of the Seal of Sainthood
Hossein Kalbasi Ashtari; Philosophy Professor, 'Allamah Tabataba'i University
Mas'ud Mohammadi; MA student of Islamic Philosophy and Wisdom, 'Allamah Tabataba'i University
There are some disagreements among the commentators of Ibn Arabi's works regarding his idea of the seal of saints, and various interpretations have been put forward in this respect. The reason for this variety is that he has introduced different people as the seal of sainthood. Among his commentators, only Aqa Mohammad Reza Ghomshei (known as Hakim Sahba, 1234-1306 AH), the theologian philosopher, has succeeded in presenting a reading of Ibn Arabi's idea of the problem of the seal of sainthood based on an innovative interpretive plan while using a new way of expressing the problem. This interpretation clearly reveals who and what the seal of sainthood is. Hakim Sahba believes that Ibn Arabi considered various applications for the seal of sainthood, and wherever he introduced a specific person as the seal of sainthood, he had a particular application in mind. In Hakim Sahba's view, Ibn Arabi considered two applications for the seal of sainthood and divided each into two types which are against each other. In the first application, he divided sainthood into absolute and limited ones, and in the second application into general and particular ones. Then he introduced a seal of sainthood for each of these types. By limited, he meant being limited to a name and a limit and, by absolute, he meant being free from any kind of limitation so that the saint would be inclusive of all names, attributes, and essential epiphanies. General sainthood is for all believers; however, particular sainthood is exclusively for Prophet Muhammed (s) and his heirs.
Key Terms: sainthood, seal of sainthood, seal of saints, Muhammedan truth, Hakim Sahba, Ibn Arabi
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Methods of Reviving Morality in Society in Mulla Sadra
A study of the methods of reviving morality in societies which are dominated by moral vices or are distancing themselves from the divine moral virtues could play a significant role in their survival. Given the inappropriate social and political conditions of his time during the Safavid era, Mulla Sadra criticized the social atmosphere of that time and explained the various factors that might lead to the realization of utopia. In this paper, the writers have tried to introduce some strategies that can be used to lead the society towards utopia. Some of them have been directly mentioned by Mulla Sadra, and some have been inferred from the fundamental principles of the Transcendent Philosophy, as follows:
1. Correcting religious beliefs and observing religious laws; 2. Paying simultaneous attention to jurisprudence, wisdom, and gnosis as the bases of religion; 3. Subordinating politics to religion; 4. Spreading the culture of devotion, altruism, and love of human beings; 5. Disseminating exact and subtle sciences in society; 6. Having jurists, philosophers, and gnostics pay attention to their political and social duties; 7. Avoiding superficiality, petrification, and shallowness on the part of the public, philosophers, and gnostics, and 8. Demolishing the idols worshipped by ignorant people (these idols include pseudo-gnostics, pseudo- philosophers, pseudo-jurists, and deceptive politicians).
Key Terms: morality, Mulla Sadra, jurists, philosophers, gnostics
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Principiality of Existence and Change in the Logic of Definition
Musa Malayeri; Associate Professor, Philosophy Department, Islamic Azad University, Tehran Central Branch
Hamzeh Nadalizadeh; PhD candidate of Islamic Philosophy, Islamic Azad University, Tehran Central Branch
One of the main concerns of Aristotelian logic is to find a way for defining quiddities in order to attain a conceptual knowledge of them. Aristotle founded his system of logic of definition in harmony with his own worldview. In this system, true definitions were divided into term and description. After Aristotle, the logic of definition was accepted by philosophers and logicians in its same primary form for a long period. Muslim Peripatetics followed almost the same trend until, in the course of the development of philosophy in the Islamic world, Mulla Sadra established the School of the Transcendent Philosophy through explaining and demonstrating the principiality of existence as well as developing some other ontological principles.
One of the specific features of the Transcendent Philosophy was to harshly challenge the ontological bases of the logic of definition. Based on the theory of the principiality of existence, quiddities which, according to early philosophers, represent the objective reality of things, are reduced to mental concepts, and existence, which is the objective reality of things, cannot be perceived unless through direct observation. On the other hand, in this system, differentia, which is the basis of each quiddity and is considered to be the whole truth and actuality of each object, is not a quiddative thing and cannot be known through quiddative concepts. In this way, the basis of the five universals as the underlying foundation of the logic of definition became unstable. Following such changes, we expect to witness a fundamental review of Aristotelian logic and, particularly, of the concept of definition therein. The outcome of this overall change would be nothing but attaching more importance to the conceptual definition of truths, which is one of the significant consequences of the theory of the principiality of existence.
Key Terms: change of the logic of definition, principiality of quiddity, consequences of the principiality of existence, attaching differentia to existence, conceptual definition, definition by concomitants
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A Study of the Problem of Ontological Indigence in the Transcendent Philosophy
Hamid Talebzadeh; Associate Professor, Philosophy Department, University of Tehran
Marziyeh Afrasiabi; PhD candidate of Philosophy, University of Tehran
This paper examines the problem of ontological indigence given its conceptual development from the earliest stages of the formation of Islamic philosophy to the time of Mulla Sadra. In doing so, the writers have tried to study some traces of this discussion in pre-Sadrian philosophy in addition to explaining Mulla Sadra's intended meaning of the essential indigence of beings. To this end, they have initially explained some of the related points by highlighting certain hints to this discussion in the words of certain prominent pre-Sadrian philosophers such as Farabi, Ibn Sina, and Suhrawardi in their treatment of such problems as the criterion of the dependence of the effect on the cause and the continuity of this dependence. Finally, the authors have dealt with Mulla Sadra's view of this problem, its consequences and concomitants in Sadrian philosophy, and its distinctions from similar discussions in pre-Sadrian philosophy. The main objective here is not only to unfold the development of the discussion of ontological indigence but also to pay attention to the changes in this regard in the light of Sadrian philosophy. In this way, the writers hope to demonstrate the significance and supreme place of this problem in the Transcendent Philosophy more than ever before.
Key Terms: principiality of existence, ontological indigence; criterion for the effect's dependence on a cause; essential possibility, copulative existence
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Khoonaji's most Important Logical Innovations and Abhari's Role in their Development
Akbar Faydei; Instructor, Islamic Philosophy and Wisdom Department, Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University
Kamran Ghayoomzadeh; Assistant Professor, Philosophy and Logic Department, Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University
The roles of Khoonaji and Abhari in the development and growth of Sinan logic in the seventh century (AH) are undeniable. In addition to expanding and disseminating some of Ibn Sina's innovations and modifying some of Fakhr al-Din Razi's creative logical ideas, they had their own logical innovations in this respect. From among them, reference can be made to dividing the categorical defined proposition into four absolute factual, absolute external, factual-subject, and actual-subject propositions; adding the mental proposition to the binary division of the categorical quantified proposition into factual and external types; distinguishing the negative inverse conversion proposition from the positive one; discovering the physical proposition and separating it from the indefinite and singular propositions; discovering the reflection of the particular negative proposition on peculiar propositions, providing a detailed discussion of the conditions and the validity judgment of the fourth form in mingled propositions and adding three modes to its conclusive modes in compound modal propositions. This paper intends to explain and investigate such innovations.
Key Terms: conversion of peculiar proposition, mental proposition, physical proposition, modal proposition; Khoonaji, Abhari
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Man's Freedom and Divine Servitude in the Transcendent Philosophy
Alireza Javanmardi Adib; PhD candidate of Islamic Philosophy and Kalam, Islamic Azad University, Tehran Central Branch
Mehdi Najafi Afra; Associate Professor, Islamic Philosophy and Kalam Department, Islamic Azad University, Tehran Central Branch
Similar to other Islamic philosophers, Mulla Sadra views Man in the middle of the origin and the return. Accordingly, he speaks about the quality of their origination and return towards the Origin of all origins. Given his own particular philosophical principles, such as the principiality, gradation, simplicity, and the trans-substantial motion of existence, he studies Man on the path of being and maintains that, as wayfarers of the path of existence, they travel from existence in existence, with existence, and towards existence. In this approach, human freedom, as a soulis habitus and moral virtue, has an ontological meaning that can be perceived in the light of theoretical and practical types of wisdom. According to Mulla Sadra, this level of existence can be attained by those human beings who, firstly, manage to develop a correct knowledge of existence and their own ontological truth from the viewpoint of theoretical wisdom and prepare their souls for receiving and observing true teachings from the supreme origins. Secondly, from the view point of practical wisdom, through having their rational faculty dominate their faculties of appetite and anger, they need to establish a balance in satisfying the demands of these faculties. A divine philosopher is the same true believer who has succeeded in attaining the end of theoretical wisdom, that is, the light and end of practical wisdom or the same open-mindedness. Freedom, which means liberation from all limitations, becomes manifest in its supreme meaning, that is, the same divine servitude that equals desiring and paying attention to the Absolute in a way that the wayfarer is freed from the ties of what is other than the Truth and is mortalized in the Truth.
Key Terms: soul, freedom, servitude, wisdom, theoretical intellect, practical intellect
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A Comparative Study of Practical Faculty and Emotional Intelligence
Najaf Yazdani; Assistant Professor, Philosophy Department, Ayatollah Haeri University of Meybod
Ruhollah Razini; Assistant Professor, Imam Sadiq University
A theme which is commonly discussed in philosophical psychology and modern psychology is attaining the knowledge of the various dimensions of human existence through different methods. One of these dimensions is the non-cognitive dimension of human beings, which has been mentioned in philosophical psychology in the discussion of practical faculty. Today, it has attracted the attention of psychologists under the title of emotional intelligence (EI) or emotional quotient (EQ). Some philosophers advocate a cognitive approach and some a non-cognitive one to this faculty. Still, some of them basically deny the existence of an independent practical faculty. Among the interpretations provided for Man's practical faculty, the non-cognitive interpretation seems to be the correct one. In psychology, too, some capacity-based, non-cognitive, and competency-based models have been developed for EQ.
From among them, the second and third models are more consistent with the selected interpretation of practical faculty in philosophy. The non-cognitive dimensions of human beings affect many human acts, and even their epistemological dimensions are sometimes influenced by their non-ideological aspects. Therefore, it is of great importance to study modern psychologists' views of EQ and compare them with old psychological discussions of practical faculty. By comparing the views regarding this dimension in the two realms of modern psychology and philosophical psychology, this paper demonstrates that one of the important dimensions of Man's development is the non-cognitive one, attaining a thorough knowledge of which can provide us with a more complete knowledge of human beings.
Key Terms: soul, practical faculty, emotional intelligence, philosophy, psychology