Mullā Ṣadrā and the Theory of Muthul (Ideas)

Researcher at Cnter for Comparative Studies of Occultaion Era The origin of the duality of the world of creation from Plato’s point of view is based on the fact that he classifies the world into two categories: the world of senses (ideas = muthul, generalities = kulliyāt) and the world of intelligibles (image of ideas, particulars). Thus, by bringing up the issue of ideas and stating that these ideas are the realities of the beings of the intelligible world and the origin of the material world, he seeks to find an explanation for his philosophical and moral ideals. Plato’s luminous ideas, in terms of their reality of being, is not distinct from the reality of Ḥaqq (Truth, God), but is persisting in His essence (persistence by emergence) and is indeed one of the requirements of Divine essence and attributes. Mullā Ṣadrā’s different paraphrasing and arguments about ideas, explain the kind of the relation of ideas with Divine essence and attributes. Although immutable entities (al-a‘yān-i al-thabita) have many similarities to Plato’s intellectual ideas, they have significant discrepancies, as well. The theory of muthul, in general, is accepted by the Muslim philosophers; Mullā Ṣadrā, however, believes that none of the Muslim philosophers has been able to understand the theory of ideas. Based on his philosophical principles and with the help of such arguments as comprehension evidence and substantial motion, he tries to prove his impression of this theory. In this article, the writer tries to clarify the relation between Plato’s theory of ideas and Mullā Ṣadrā’s immutable entities through examining the Islamic philosophy’s interpretations of the theory of ideas and stating Mullā Ṣadrā’s arguments in proving this theory.