A Semantic Analysis of "By-accident Subsistence" and "By-consequence Subsistence" in the Domain of Divine Attributes from Sadr-al-mutallihin's Viewpoint

The establishment of the Divine attributes of Almighty Lord is considered as the subsistence of being for quiddity. This affirmation is sometimes considered as a "by-accident subsistence" and sometimes as a "by-consequence subsistence". "By-accident subsistence" is a non-factual and metaphorical subsistence from the viewpoint of the logicians and Mulla Sadra, while "by-consequence subsistence" schematically proves a predicate for a subject. A belief in these two types of affirmation for the Divine attributes and quiddity initially seems impossible and paradoxical. This paper is a semantic analysis of "by-accident subsistence" and "by-consequence subsistence" from the viewpoint of Mulla Sadra and comparing the two to inquire about the aforementioned paradox. Using a logical-analytical method and concentrating on Sadra's works, this paper explains two possibilities in the meaning of "by-consequence subsistence" considering two different perspectives in terms of the quiddities and Divine attributes, none of which is incompatible with "by-accident subsistence".