Coherence of Philosophical Principles of Mulla Sadra's Eschatology
(This paper has been derived from the corresponding author's PhD dissertation.)
Demonstration of corporeal resurrection, as a philosophical problem, has always attracted the attention of Islamic philosophers. Through employing eschatological principles, Mulla Sadra has tried to demonstrate corporeal resurrection and explain the post-resurrection states in his own philosophical school. Discovering the coherence among eschatological principles and their consequences results in a more desirable clarification of Mulla Sadra's theory of corporeal resurrection. While concentrating on eschatological principles and inferring their theoretical foundations, this study investigates the internal and external coherence of such principles and their consequences and proves that all eschatological principles and some of their consequences bear strong coherence (creating relation) in relation to each other, although some other consequences possess a weaker coherence. Moreover, some of the principles which play a fundamental role in the process of demonstrating corporeal resurrection, such as the union of the intellect and intelligible, corporeal origination and spiritual subsistence of the soul, and simplicity of being, have not been explicitly referred to as affirmative principles of resurrection. Not distinguishing among ontological and anthropological principles and not observing any priority or posteriority in setting the principles could count as the defects of Mulla Sadra's demonstration of this important philosophical theory.
Key Terms: Coherence, eschatological principles, consequences of principles, corporeal resurrection, Mulla Sadra
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Place of the Faculty of Imagination in the Emanation of Acts with a Reference to its Educational Consequences (with an Emphasis on Mulla Sadra's Self-Knowledge)
The emanation of acts, according to Muslim philosophers, occurs at two stages: "perceptive principles" and "provoking principles". The analyses of the place of the faculty of imagination in the perceptive principles of act are of the type of epistemological discussions which explore the effects of perceptive faculties, particularly the faculty of imagination, on the scientific principles of the emanation of acts. The main purpose of this study is to explain how the faculty of imagination affects the emanation of acts at its different stages of emanation. The approaches supporting Mulla Sadra's views indicate that, firstly, this faculty holds an important place in the development of the principles underlying the perception, visualization, and affirmation of acts. Secondly, they argue that the effective sources of the visualizations of the faculty of imagination include the perceptions of the five-fold senses, ontological representations of Man, and, even beyond them, Man's essence, so that, through the change, control, and transcendence of such sources, some positive educational outcomes arise in relation to human behavior. Thirdly, given the analysis of the stages of the emanation of act, "intention" can be considered compatible with the stage of concept and judgement in the process of emanation of act, which, considering Mulla Sadra's meta-approach (stating that perception is emanated at the level of imagination) can directly affect the soul.
Key Terms: Mulla Sadra, faculty of imagination, act, training
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An Analysis of Resurrection and its Relationship with Voluntary Death in Mulla Sadra
The present paper provides an analysis of the meaning of resurrection and its relationship with voluntary death in Mulla Sadra's view. Resurrection is of five types, two types of which, the Lesser and Greater Soulish Resurrections, are among the stages of voluntary death. The soulish type of resurrection involves the ontological changes of the soul which occur at different stages of voluntary death. Its initial stage is called the Lesser Soulish Resurrection, and its final stage is called the Greater Soulish Resurrection. Through benefitting from his fundamental metaphysical principles, such as the principiality of existence, graded unity of being, individuation of being, ontological motion, corporeal origination and spiritual subsistence of the soul, and the union of the intellect and intelligible, Mulla Sadra analyzes the different types of resurrection. He believes that going through the stages of practical mystic journey is necessary for the realization of the Lesser Soulish Resurrection. In his view, the Greater Soulish Resurrection means attaining the station of mortality. This station can be analyzed within the two systems of the graded unity and individual unity of being. In the system of the graded unity of being, in the course of the graded ontological motion, the soul reaches the station of approximation to God after going through the stages of sensation, imagination, and intellection. Later it reaches the station of fixity after change or survival after annihilation. Within the system of the individual unity of being, Man's being is the same as relation to God's being, and they see Almighty Truth manifested in truths. At this station, the individual becomes the manifestation of the names describing the beauty and glory of the Truth and reflects all these names in their acts. In fact, a wayfarer whose Greater Resurrection has been actualized in the world experiences all kinds of annihilation.
Key Terms: Resurrection, voluntary death, ontological change, annihilation, Mulla Sadra
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An Analytic-Comparative Study of the Theory of the Simplicity of Derivation in Sayyid Sanad and Mulla Sadra
In some disciplines such as logic, usul al-fiqh, and philosophy, there are two main theories regarding the derivative and the truth of its component parts: conceptual superimposition of the derivative and its simplicity. Each of these two theories provides a different interpretation of philosophical problems. Hence, similar to other thinkers in the field of religious sciences, philosophers have exercised extreme care in choosing one of these stances. Among the related approaches, Sayyid Sanad has provided a different view and believes in the limitedness of the derivative. He maintains that this concept potentially (not actually) consists of three components. A study of Mulla Sadra's views indicates that the theory which has been rejected in the name of Sayyid Sanad in Mulla Sadra's works is not compatible with what we find in the words of Sayyid Sanad himself. Mulla Sadra is mainly interested in the view of Sayyid Sanad's rival, that is, Muhaqqiq Dawani.
Key Terms: derivative, superimposition, simplicity, Sayyid Sanad, Mulla Sadra, Dawani
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Ontological Analysis of the Problem of Weakness of Will in Transcendent Philosophy
This paper focuses on the weakness of will or the distance between theory and practice. Thus it tries to explore the quality of the ontological analysis of this problem based on the theory of the graded unity of being. In a quiddative analysis, the principles of willful act enjoy causal and temporal sequence; however, in an ontological analysis, they are the levels of the single truth of being. Accordingly, knowledge and act are the different aspects of a single truth which, upon being originated in essence, is called knowledge at one stage and will or desire at another stage. As a result, knowledge and voluntary act are two ends of the same continuum which has a single root in human essence; a root of the type of love and bliss. In a quiddative approach, weakness of will is rooted in the weakness of the components of the causal chain preceding it, such as the concept of act and affirmation of its advantages. Nevertheless, in an ontological approach, the weakness of voluntary act is directly related to Man's ontological weakness and the weakness of the knowledge which is commensurate with it. The ontological view differs from the quiddative view in that it does not consider voluntary act to be at the end of a chain of basic principles in separation from knowledge. Rather, it views act as one of the manifestations of an ontological truth which is commensurate with knowledge.
Key Terms: will, weakness of will, voluntary act, Transcendent Philosophy, Bliss, Mulla Sadra
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Ibn Sina's Encounter with Suhrawardi Concerning the Problem of Divine Knowledge and the Rise of a Supreme Wisdom
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.
Key Terms: fore-knowledge, imprinted forms, illuminative relation, simple truth, Ibn Sina, Suhrawardi, Mulla Sadra
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An Analytic Study of Mulla Sadra's Final View on Divine Knowledge of Immaterial Things
Mulla Sadra has adopted different standpoints regarding the acceptance of material forms as a level of divine knowledge in his various works. He has sometimes explicitly agreed with this idea, sometimes remained neutral, and sometimes denied it. This paper is intended to shed some light on Mulla Sadra's final view in this regard based on his different standpoints in his works. In doing so, the author has investigated his various descriptions of God's knowledge of material things and his justifications and arguments for each of them. One of the justifications for such a variety of ideas is rooted in his shift from the divine Ishraqi knowledge to transcendent knowledge, while another one sees the root of this diversity in separating the receptacles of perpetual duration and time from each other. Here, the author demonstrates that both of the justifications are defective and argues that the only acceptable explanation for Mulla Sadra's final view of the knowledge of material things is the relative nature of the division of beings into material and immaterial ones. This solution conforms to the two fundamental approaches which Mulla Sadra has adopted regarding the necessity of gradation in existence and its perfections as well as the same-as-relation identity of possible things.
Key Terms: divine knowledge, material, immaterial, Mulla Sadra