Necessary Conditions for the Realization of the Union of the Intellect, the Intelligent, and the Intelligible in the Transcendent Philosophy

The principle of the union of the intellect, the intelligible, and the intelligent is one of the most important principles of the Transcendent Philosophy. It was a philosophical problem long before the history of Islamic philosophy, but Muslim philosophers have adopted different approaches in dealing with it. Mulla Sadra, in addition to accepting this principle, made great efforts in order to demonstrate it and, in doing so, benefitted from the divine blessing. Moreover, owing to the fundamental principles of his own system of philosophy, he founded a new approach for explaining this principle at two levels which brought in its wake several important results. The acceptance of the idea that the rational soul wishes to become identical with its own intelligible at the time of absolute intellection initially seems to be impossible, and the human mind hesitates to accept any convincing proof in this regard without some necessary preparation and introductory explanations. That is why the writers have not examined the related proofs and arguments concerning this principle. Rather, they have presented eleven necessary premises before demonstrating it. In doing so, in each section, they have explained the intention of the Sadrian philosophers who believe in the union of the intelligent and the intelligible. After analyzing these premises and necessary conditions, the mind is ready for accepting an argument that can prove the related claim.