The Connexion of Imagination with Identity in Mullā Sadrā's Philosophy

By exploiting the method of analysis and inference, this article tries to put forward a precise sketch of Mullā Sadrā's philosophical perspective on the connexion of human imagination with her identity. Such an accurate sketch can provide a framework of and an outlook on the characteristics of genetical intermediations of imagination in shaping/constituting human identity. (Human) species-based form, (hāl) fluid form, and (habitus/malakāt) ultimate form are all the key concepts to explain human identity and its intrinsic fluidity. Imagination has been utilized to refer to a set of the soul's capabilities to encounter and deal with imaginary forms including remembrance (musavira), manipulation (mutisarifa), form-making of rationals (maqūlāt), and rationalization of forms (mutifakkira). Mullā Sadrā's arguments for imaginary forms to be a) abstract, and b) being-oriented and issued by nature, and his arguments for the soul to be a matter (capacity) to be united with and receptive to these forms have been taken as his philosophical preliminaries to explain the connexion of imagination with identity. Imagination gets hold of an intrinsic mutual unitary connexion with identity. With its intermediation and trihedral presence, imagination can be realized as constitutive of, origin of preservation of, and intermediary to the awareness of identity. Having been shaped in the commencement stage, identity is an entire requisite for imaginative processes like formation, preservation, manipulation, and recall of imaginary forms (takhayyūl).