five predicables, primacy of existence, gradation of existence, Avicenna's Philosophy, transcendental philosophy

Aristotle was up to categorize fundamental types of beings. His followers and commentators, then, tried to come up with the theses of five predicables. According to this theses, all material beings share the same genus while differing in respect to their differentia. Avicenna, the great Muslim philosopher, in the light of the proposed distinction between existence and quiddity by Al-Farabi, built his new philosophical syst em. He organized philosophical problems somehow differently. Following Avicenna, traditionally som e philosophical problems were discussed under the title of existence and some of them under the title of quiddit. Mulla Sadra, the founder of transcendental philosophy, however, changed the philosophical scenery radically. Although, Mulla Sadara respected pedagogical tradition of philosophical writings, his revolutionary views on this matter has not been fully explored. One of this unexplored area is the topic of five predicables. In Islamic Peripatetic tradition, the title of five predicables is being discussed under the general topic of quiddity. If the principality of existence is true, quiddity is not real and therefore its related problems lose their intellectual importance. In this article, first, I take a brief look at five predicable and its importance in Avicennas. Then, I trace its evolution in transcendental philosophy. At the end, I argue that there is a tension between this doctrine and the theses of principality of existence and quiddity irrealism.