Philosophy of Mulla Sadra and Theory of Meaning: a Semantical Research on Some Arguments on Mental Existence Theory

Since the language, thought and reality are closely tied together, any statement on the realm of epistemology and ontology also implicates some statement in the philosophy of language. Accordingly, the study of epistemology and ontology of the past philosophers reveals their principles of the philosophy of language. This paper seeks to examine Mulla Sadra’s arguments of mental existence, based on which to reveal his view on the theory of meaning. According to results obtained in the study of Premises taken by arguments of mental existence, it seems that Mulla Sadra’s theory of meaning is similar to ideational theory of meaning. Because in his opinion, the meaning of a statement is the assumption or judgment the statement implies; the meaning is the mental existing; words are legislate for meanings; language portraits the world.