Ibn Sina’s Influence on Mulla Sadra’s Ontology

 Prof. Kiki Kennedy

 

According to Ibn Sina, the Necessary of Existence (wajib al-wujud) has no essence apart from its existence; possibles of existence have essences separate from their existence. The Western commentators since medieval days have interpreted this statement by Ibn Sina as meaning that existence is an accident. This remains the legacy of poor Latin translation and Thomas Aquinas’s interpretation; it’s absurd to believe Ibn Sina thought existence was an accident.

 Ibn Sina is the first in a transition, culminating in Mulla Sadra, to focus on existence rather than essence, as the ultimate reality. The primacy of existence is the final transition in a long movement from Aristotelian essences. Looked at this way, Ibn Sina provides an important and pivotal step in directing attention from essences to existence.

 This paper will explore the relationship and influence of Ibn Sina’s ontology to that of Mulla Sadra. For this topic, the base texts will be Ibn Sina’s al Shifa, al Ilahiyyat and Mulla Sadra’s Kitab al-masha'ir.

 

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