A Comparative Study of External Realization of Motion from the Viewpoints of Mirdamad and Mulla Sadra

The problems of the nature of motion and how it exists in the external world are among the most important philosophical discourses that have preoccupied the philosophers from the ancient Greece up to the Islamic era. The philosophers have brought up four theories in response to the question whether motion, while maintaining its unity, is a discontinuous or a continuous matter in the external world. Contrary to the philosophers before him, Mirdamad is the first Muslim philosopher who has openly talked about the external realization of motion in its both famous forms: mediating and intersect. Mulla Sadra although not as openly as his master, has defended this theory with a criticism of the proofs of those who deny intersect motion. In this paper we will compare the viewpoints of these two philosophers on this subject.