A Reflection on the Estimative Faculty and Its Perceptions, Based on the Views of Sadr al-Mut'allihin

In Islamic philosophy, the estimative faculty is introduced as one of the esoteric powers whose function is the perception of partial meanings. Philosophers have usually attributed the function of this esoteric power to the perception of love and enmity and the like from the meanings hidden in the voluntary actions of man and animals. Sadr al-Mut'allihin has made two major changes in relation to this psychic power. He has viewed the faculty as the low degree of human intellect for partials, firstly and secondly, he has extended its scope specifically, from the perception of some meanings embedded in the voluntary actions of man and animal, to the absolute perceptual perception of philosophical second intellects. In this article, using the analytical-descriptive method, we have first expressed the views of previous philosophers about the truth of the estimative faculty and the realm of its perceptions. Then, while expressing the interpretation of Sadr al-Mut'allihin of the truth of it and the extent of its perceptions, we have answered the objections to this theory. Finally, we have mentioned its effect on the quality of achieving the criterion of philosophical second intelligibles. The aim of this research is to show that our knowledge to the objects of philosophical secondary intelligibles occured by connecting this faculty to the outside, and there is no need to the complex design to abstract these concepts from external truths as thought by some contemporary philosophers.