Mentally-Posited Being in Mulla Sadra

Mentally-posited things are the most important concepts in practical wisdom. The employment of the principles of Mulla Sadra’s Transcendent Philosophy, in line with the knowledge of the “being” of mentally-posited things, can open new horizons before contemporary practical wisdom. Following the approach of the Transcendent Philosophy, the present study aims to provide an answer to the question of whether the being of mentally-posited things is fake or whether, similar to true being, it has a share of truth and fact-itself. Another purpose of this study is to reveal their methodological effects. In order to provide an answer to the posed question, one must employ the principle of gradation and analyze Mulla Sadra’s views in the field of essential vice and virtue and perception of practical intellect. Accordingly, the author demonstrates that, firstly, mentally-posited being is a lower level of true being and not something opposite to it; hence, mentally-posited things benefit from fact-itself and are not merely some fake phenomena. Secondly, mentally-posited things’ share of fact-itself being is exclusively limited to those which rely on religion and intellect and not to any other kind of mentally-posited thing. Finally, the promotion of mentally-posited being to the subtle level of true being paves the ground for the possibility of using demonstrative methods in the realm of practical wisdom.