حکمت متعالیه

For years, biological species were referred to as natural types and essences in Islamic logic and philosophy. Philosophy before Mulla Sadra also conformed to the traditional view of species in biology. However, with the acceptance of the theory of evolution in biology, the essentialist image of biological species in the philosophy of biology was distorted, and now almost all common definitions and explanations in the philosophy of biology conflict with this essentialist image by raising issues such as speciation and common descent. Mulla Sadra, by raising new principles such as the originality of existence, the doubt of existence, and substantial motion, overturned the foundations and foundations of the philosophies before him. Professor Motahari, taking into account these fundamental changes and while explaining these principles, has presented some scattered topics. The collection of these topics indicates that by accepting the principles of transcendental wisdom, one must inevitably abandon the essentialist image of all natural types, including biological species. In addition, principles such as doubting the existence and movement of substance are remarkably consistent with the image that the theory of evolution has created of species.

The station of the Holy Prophet(s) and Imam Ali(a) within the cosmic order is a significant topic in both philosophical and mystical ontology. Numerous narrations identify the "Light of Muhammad" as the first creation, while certain narrations speak of the unity of the light of Holy Prophet(s) and Imam Ali(a). This study seeks to elucidate the perspective of transcendent philosophy regarding the station of these holy personalities at the inception and conclusion of the circle of existence, as well as during their connection to material form. It further aims to demonstrate the compatibility of philosophical principles with Shia scriptural sources. Among the key findings of this research is that Sadrian philosophy (unlike Peripatetic and Illuminationist schools) has successfully evaluated this station through its rational foundations and reconciled reason (ʿaql) and revelation (naql). According to Mullā Ṣadrā, the First Emanation is the spirit of the Holy Prophet(s) and Imam Ali(a), existing as one at the level of the First Intellect (ʿaql al-awwal). There is no contradiction between the corporeal origination (jismānīyyat al-ḥudūth) of their individual souls in the material world and the precedence of their spirits at the beginning of creation. This is because the sacred spirit belongs to the realm of divine command (ʿālam al-amr), distinct from the self (nafs). Although these two holy personalities were separated in material bodies, they reunite at their original station in the Arc of Descent after traversing the path of perfection in the Arc of Ascent.

Based on the Quranic teachings and Islamic education, everything in the existential world is oriented towards God and return to Him. In this return, which is known as divine proximity (qurb ilā Allāh), every being attains closeness to the Almighty and meets Him according to its existential capacity. Hence, divine proximity constitutes the ultimate aim of man’s journey towards perfection, for which specific requirements and foundations are mentioned in transcendent philosophy and Islamic mysticism.  Based on the gradational understanding of existential reality in transcendent philosophy, divine proximity denotes man’s existential growth through existential ranks, and his existential development by elevating himself towards God’s attributes and embodying them - a process without end. However, based on the particular unity (waḥdat al-shakhṣiyyah) of existence, which is the ultimate outcome of transcendent philosophy and aligns with the unity of being (waḥdat al-wujūd) in mysticism, existential proximity lacks a productive meaning. Rather, it is the divine proximity that signifies attaining higher and more comprehensive degrees of manifestation of God’s names and attributes, as God is the Absolute Reality of Being. Indeed, existence is exclusive to Him, and all created beings are His manifestations. Thus, the level of every being’s proximity to God depends on its level of manifestation of divine names, attributes, essence, and acts. This proximity begins with self-knowledge (ma‘rifat al-nafs) and culminates in the witnessing of the annihilation (fanāʾ) of the wayfarer’s actions, qualities, and essence.

Critical realism is a contemporary approach in the philosophy of science and the philosophy of social sciences, founded by Roy Bhaskar. In the philosophy of science, this approach emerged in opposition to the empirical realism of positivists and Kant's transcendental idealism. Contrary to Kant's view, critical realism asserts the existence of an objective reality independent of the mind; and unlike the viewpoint of the positivists, it maintains that this reality is not limited to the observable and empirical level. In the philosophy of social sciences as well, this approach developed in contrast to both empirical realism and interpretivism. It acknowledges that while social realities differ from natural realities due to human purposefulness, their principles and methodologies are the same owing to the presence of causal mechanisms in both. Transcendent philosophy critiques critical realism for its restriction of existence to the material level, its substitution of truth by practical adequacy, its portrayal of knowledge as a social product, and its neglect of the influential factors on action. This study is based on library research and presented through descriptive-analytical methodology. At the first stage, it analyzes the foundational principles of critical realism in the philosophy of science and social sciences, and at the second stage, it critically evaluates them based on the principles of transcendent philosophy.

The aim of this article is to introduce a political science based on transcendent philosophy under the title of "Existential Political Science." For this, the present research claims that existential political science, nourishing from transcendent philosophy, presents a new form of political science that is distinct from political science stemmed from schools of "social essentialism" and "social nominalism." Existential political science is based on the approach of the primacy of existence (aṣālat al-wujūd) and exhibits the possibility of establishing a political science grounded in this doctrine. To examine this claim, the paper investigates the relationship between constructed matters and real ones, showing that existential political science addresses political issues from the perspective of this relation. The discussion employs the common methodology of Islamic philosophy concerning i‘tibārī (conventional or constructed) matters. One of the accomplishments of this article is the expansion of transcendent philosophy into the field of political science. The findings of this article can contribute to theoretical developments in Islamic humanities and indigenous political science.

In the course of history, art has always functioned as a tool for presenting human questions and a scene for posing philosophical discussions. Therefore, various schools have used art as a means of discovering the secrets of being in order to satiate the thirst of man’s knowledge-seeking intellect for the quality of displaying the manifestation of being. However, the art of today, while displaying visual manifestations, allows imagination flow and visualizes metaphysical and other-worldly concepts. The purpose of the present paper is to examine the ways the seventh art approaches immaterial worlds. To accomplish this task, the authors have tried to explore the world of meaning from the viewpoint of the Transcendent Philosophy in order to portray the mind’s processing of the soul’s imaginations based on Mullā Ṣadrā’s view in spiritualist cinema. The motive for this study was rooted in the necessity of presenting a model that could determine the borderline between right and wrong in the world of meaning and suggest a reliable philosophy on the meaning of the world to the addressees. Thus, the main question of this study is which facilities the world of meaning in Mullā Ṣadrā’s philosophy could offer to spiritualist cinema. Accordingly, the Transcendent Philosophy can represent the world of meaning in the light of viewing the perfect man as the source of truth based on a cognitive approach to soulish perceptions of the worlds of matter, Ideas, and intellect. In this way, it would be possible to provide an original image of the duality of meaning and structure on the silver screen through a profound narration of the appearance of phenomena and a dynamic analysis of inner worlds.

One of the most important challenges before contemporary Man is excessive use of natural resources. Technology is harshly destroying environmental elements, and industry has not only revealed Man’s lack of harmony with nature but also completely altered their metaphysical supremacy and is now threatening their health. The problem of environmental destruction and environmental ethics is a novel product of modern life; however, its principles can be inferred from some of the works of Islamic philosophers, particularly, Mullā Ṣadrā. Five principles in the Transcendent Philosophy could be considered efficient in this regard. According to the principiality of existence, the substance of the human soul and the substance of nature are two modes of the same single truth, and the pain of nature is followed by Man’s suffering. Based on the principle of the awareness and glorification of nature, nature is as respectable as a devout person. Moreover, as the principle of Man’s vicegerency suggests, since God is free from any kind of evil, His vicegerent should also perceive the relationship between nature and its true Owner, function as a good representative of His Beauty and Perfection, and glorify and preserve this manifestation of God to the best of their abilities. According to the principle of continuous creation, nature depends on God at every single moment and is illuminated by His Light, thus it does not deserve to be destroyed and abandoned. Finally, based on the fifth principle, Man acts based on their nature; blessed people lead nature towards heavenly forms, and malicious people lead it towards hellish forms. The first group are concerned about preserving nature, while the second group try to destroy it. In Islamic philosophy and, thus, the views of Islamic philosophers there is a right-duty relationship between Man and nature, according to which Man has the right to use nature conditionally and, at same time, has the duty of protecting and improving it.

The role of food and its quality on human body and soul has been emphasized in religious and scientific sources. According to Mulla Sadra's unifying theory about the relationship between the soul and the body based on the essential movement and the theory of the unification of science and the world and the known, investigating the relationship between nutrition and knowledge in humans requires an interdisciplinary research. This article has been studied with a descriptive, analytical and comparative method to investigate the view of transcendent wisdom about the powers of the soul and its relationship with the physical powers and the function of the perceptive apparatus and the formation of knowledge and, accordingly, the impact of knowledge on the behavior and personality of a person. For this purpose, we have looked at some findings of old and new medicine about the relationship between the quantity and quality of food on human temperament, soul and emotions and we have concluded that in Sadra's anthropological opinions, due to the way the soul and body are related and their unity, nutrition and type It has a direct and effective effect on memory and intelligence from the point of view of nasuti and malakuti, and it indirectly affects the acquisition of knowledge and its levels, as well as mental health and morals, and vice versa, human mental health

The free will defense is a widely accepted response to the problem of moral evil, endorsed by many philosophers of religion. Alvin Plantinga, in contemporary times, reinforced this defense and, with a technical formulation, deployed it against the logical problem of evil—particularly moral evil. Despite its positive role in addressing the logical problem of evil, when evaluated through the lens of Transcendent theosophy (Hikma muta‘aliya), several of the presuppositions, foundations, and implications of Plantinga’s formulation of the free will defense encounter serious philosophical challenges—challenges that render its acceptance problematic, even as a mere defense rather than a full theodicy. This inquiry, employing an analytical method, examines several of these presuppositions and implications. These include: a questionable interpretation of the human–God relationship, an incompatibilist approach to the relation between free will and causal determinism, the affirmation of the principle of alternative possibilities (PAP) as essential to the notion of freedom, the denial of divine freedom, and its failure to respond effectively to the evidential problem of evil.

Understanding the concept of learning and its process is one of the most important foundations of the educational system. Transcendent wisdom has the ability to explain a new meaning of learning and its process. In this article, using descriptive-analytical method to explain the meaning of learning, levels, methods, tools and types of learning from the perspective of transcendent wisdom and after examining the learning process and curriculum content to explain the role of learning process in improving curriculum learning will pay. Accordingly, the levels of learning include sensory, exemplary and intellectual learning; Ways of learning through the senses, intellect, revelation and intuition, and learning tools include the powers of the senses, imagination, illusion, intellect, and heart. The learning process is based on the order of active perceptual and stimulating forces and the type of perceiver, the perceived subject and perception, which is based on the psychology of Mulla Sadra's philosophy. Observing, realizing a hypothesis, returning to God's creation, and testing a hypothesis and returning to the mind are the four stages of the transcendent learning process. On the other hand, the content of the transcendent wisdom curriculum includes Partial science, precision industries, good manners and fine arts. According to the principles of this philosophical system, the content of the curriculum is divided into three categories: exploratory content, construction sciences and creativity, and devotional content. According to the results of this study, understanding the content templates of the curriculum and accurate knowledge of the active forces in learning each part of this content can improve the learning process.

All theorizing about components of happiness requires determination of some criteria for prioritization to resolve practical inconsistencies. This result is affiliated to separation of dependent components (only instrument), independent components (only purpose), and semi-dependent components , providing the possibility to choose the right action like maintenance, reduction, or elimination in inconsistency situations.Using Mullasadra’s transcendent philosophy, solving this problem doesn't seem difficult. Although he considers the theoretical faculty as the main component of happiness and has strong reasons for it, he organized his theory by the ontological concept of perfection (instead of Aristotelian virtue and function concepts) and based its explanation on unity with active intellect (not only connection). By attaching these thoughts to his other basics, especially on the domain of the study of the soul, a new image of happiness components can be formed that, in addition to development of those components, provides a way for recognition of their relation for gaining the mentioned practical result.By conducting an analytical-descriptive examination of theories such as the profound connection between the soul and the body, the unity of the soul and its faculties, and the equivalence of existence with goodness and perfection, a new theory called "comprehensive happiness" can be inferred from Mullasadra's views using inferential-discursive methods. In this theory, all existential perfections (including bodily matters) are considered as ends by essence, constituting independent or semi-independent components of happiness. These components form a longitudinal and latitudinal network in which relationships and precedence among them are determined based on the ontological system of the world. The position of each perfection in this system provides a clear and practical criterion for determining its independence or dependence, enabling prioritization among the components of happiness and resolving potential practical inconsistencies, thus serving as an advantage of this theory over competing views.

Adopting a Sadraean approach, this article studies the Ayatollah Khamenei’s mental framework as manifested in the Statement Second Step of the Revolution and tries to present a systematic understanding of this framework. To this end, firstly the true existential truth of the human being from Sadraean perspective is discussed. Following that, the anthropologic principles of the Statement Second Step of the Revolution and ideas of Ayatollah Khamenei as manifested in the statement are analyzed using descriptive- analytical approach and finally, a content analysis of the anthropological principles of Statement Second Step of the Revolution is presented using a comparative approach. The results show that Sadra, at least theoretically, managed to lay the foundations of an education system based on his analysis of existence and human being. Inspired by his ideas, his following scholars including late Imam Khomeni and Ayatollah Khamenie tried to bring concepts such as Islamic state, Ethical society and Islamic civilization into reality through Islamic Revolution and Statement Second Step of the Revolution and thus pave the way for actualization of Sadra’s idea of Man as Khalifat-Allah as introduced in Quran.

In his book “A System of Logic,” John Stuart Mill proposed a view of the development of moral and social sciences that had specific methodological requirements. Based on the general logic of empiricism, he outlined the path of development of moral and social sciences based on the science of general rules of mind or pure psychology. However, since the general rules of mind were not sufficient for explaining human and social phenomena, the path of scientific explanation needed a mediator to connect this higher-level knowledge to the human and social phenomena. Mill introduced into his model of explanatory logic an area of knowledge called ontology, which acted as a mediator between the upstream science of knowing the human mind and the fluid social and human phenomena. The presence of ontology at the center of Mill's idea of moral sciences has logical and methodological outcomess. He called the logical method of inference in moral sciences the historical method or reverse syllogism. Sadr al-Mutalahin also created the conditions for the realization of a specific type of social science by elevating the issue of science of the soul (ilm al-nafs) from natural sciences to ontology. The ontological foundations of transcendental wisdom will also have a special logic for this social science. Using an analytical-critical comparison, in this article, we will criticize John Stuart Mill's idea as the origin of positivist social science based on the philosophical ilm al-nafs of Sadra'i wisdom.

The article contends that personal identity and numerical unity throughout one's life are certain and directly observable. In the philosophy of Transcendent Wisdom, the human soul is the criterion for this identity. Due to the body's constant changes and metabolic processes, it is deemed ineffective in explaining personal stability. Despite this, Transcendent Wisdom acknowledges the essential motion of the soul and its invisibility, which can challenge the concept of personal stability both ontologically and epistemologically. The article's analysis suggests that motion only disrupts personal stability if it entails annihilation and recreation. However, in Transcendent Wisdom, the soul's motion is depicted as non-spatial, ensuring the previous self persists in subsequent moments, with only its boundaries changing. Additionally, considering the body as a lower level of the soul and the impossibility of material reincarnation, the body, due to its connection with the soul, can serve as an indicator of the identity of other individuals. Therefore, the stability of personal identity in Transcendent Wisdom is a credible and defensible theory.

The following article aims to criticize the principles of the Dawani “Divine Taste” and the mystical “Oneness of existence” of Ibn Turki with a view to the principles of Sadr’i transcendental wisdom. It seems that Sadr’i’s fundamental objection to these principles has not been properly understood, in such a way that Haji Sabzevari and Allama Hassanzadeh Amoli, two Sadr’i philosophers, intend to correct and prepare the Divine Taste and extend it to the point of proving the view of the mystics, although Allama Javadi Amoli places the “Divine Taste” in the line of intuitive mysticism and considers it in the theoretical field of the type of “psychological certainty”. The question arises as to what fundamental problem Mulla Sadra saw in the taste-mystical views of the Mahowīs’ originality that he turned away from and repeatedly warned about?Our task in the present article is to examine the foundation of metaphysics. This foundation has always reminded itself from the beginning that the simple unit separated and isolated from the multiplicity deprives it of truth, emptiness and provides the ground for the emergence of nihilism. Hence, philosophers in different eras have warned about the dialectic of the one and the many or, in other words, the objectivity of unity and multiplicity, and have perhaps called it the most fundamental principle of philosophy, and the lack of attention to this principle traps metaphysics in the trap of a rigid and unresponsive foundation (mono-logue) that is indifferent to human life.

Philosophy for Children (P4C) is an educational program based on reasoning and logical deduction in children. The characteristic of P4C is its active teaching method. The philosophical content of P4C can be differentiated and analyzed based on ontological, anthropological, epistemological, and axiological foundations. The origin of humanity is one of the fundamental anthropological issues in P4C. In this article, the origin of humanity in P4C is extracted through the analysis of its narrative literature and critiqued based on Transcendent Theosophy. The claim of P4C is a kind of free thinking without the imposition of any particular belief; however, the content of the program, under the guise of a specific philosophy, aligns with pragmatic foundations. Based on the principles of Transcendent Theosophy, the formulation of the issue of human origin in P4C program is incomplete without considering the immaterial aspect of humanity, and the human being is not interpreted solely as a physical entity. Based on this, the foundation of discovering educational perceptions is not limited to the physical senses and has the potential for enhancement. The ranking of perceptions and the non-exclusivity of them to sensory experience are components that lead to the denial of a biological origin in P4C.

This article uses a descriptive-analytical method to explain the nature of ignorance and its types in Mulla Sadra's works. Sometimes, ignorance is referred to as (1) lack of knowledge, sometimes (2) lack of true belief, and sometimes (3) lack of knowledge or true belief. Mulla Sadra's view on the relationship between knowledge, imagination, and affirmation shows that, from his perspective, ignorance cannot be limited to a lack of knowledge (imagination) or a lack of belief (affirmation). Mulla Sadra classifies ignorance into three categories: (1) simple ignorance, (2) compound ignorance, and (3) ignorance opposed to reason. In Mulla Sadra's intellectual system, different types of ignorance exist in contrast to justified true belief: (a) false belief, or belief in things that are contrary to reality; (b) unjustified true belief, such as imitative true beliefs without justified reason; (c) disbelief—the failure to acknowledge and denial of justified true belief due to prejudice, stubbornness, or concealment of the truth; (d) suspension of judgment regarding a true belief in a state of doubt and uncertainty; (e) light inattention (negligence) toward a true belief that can be resolved with attention; (f) heavy inattention (negligence) toward a true belief that cannot be resolved with attention (deep ignorance); (g) lack of talent or ability to pay attention, understand, and acknowledge a true belief (complete ignorance). Based on the doctrine of transcendental wisdom regarding doubt, the types of ignorance can be considered as different levels and degrees of severe and weak ignorance.

The issues of meaningfulness and meaninglessness are among the contemporary philosophical concerns that philosophers face today. Islamic philosophy, which aims to uncover the truths of the world, is not exempt from this issue and must provide an answer to it. The purpose of this research is to reconstruct the perspective of Transcendent Theosophy on this issue using a descriptive-analytical method. The findings of this research, based on the principles of Transcendent Theosophy, can be summarized as follows: Transcendent Theosophy considers meaningfulness and meaninglessness to be secondary philosophical concepts that are derived from human life, and the goals present in human life lead to the emergence of these concepts. The philosophy of Mullā Ṣadrā claims that the more real and aligned with human life the goals are, the more meaningful human life becomes. The solution proposed by Transcendent Theosophy is to return to human nature and redefine the theistic goals and eternal life for humans, as these concepts make human life meaningful.

One of the issues that has preoccupied the human mind from the beginning and has instinctively sought an answer to is the expression of the relationship between phenomena. Each philosopher, according to their own foundations, perspectives, and different theories, has discussed and attempted to answer it. These discussions are usually gathered under the topic of causality. In this article, the author has tried to use the library method to, after stating the general preliminary foundations, conduct a comparative study of the views of two of the world’s great philosophers, namely Immanuel Kant and Sadra al-Din Shirazi. Ultimately, the writer concludes that Kant, given his cognitive view and mental structure, speaks of causality as one of the categories of understanding and mind, and Mulla Sadra, given the realistic view that he has set as his intellectual background, presents causality as a real relationship between longitudinal levels in the form of hierarchical existence.