The Relation between Soul and Temperament in the Islamic Philosophy and the Philosophy of Mind

Mind and discussions about it are the most significant and valuable ones in philosophy. Hence and due to the emergence of philosophy of mind, the study of mind and its relation to mental temperament are very important. As the genealogy of this study, the belief in man’s temperament might be traced back to ancient physics and peripatetic philosophy, thus can be studied in the tradition of Islamic philosophy, too. In such a tradition, however, the mind-temperament dualism might be vindicated through many arguments. Accordingly, all Muslim philosophers have regarded mind and temperament two separate issues. Nonetheless, despite its nature of study that concerns physics, the study of temperament has not been proposed for discussion in the philosophy of mind, and yet somehow, it has an approach of physicalism. This negligence might be due to the difference of nature between ancient and modern medicine that marginalized the issue. Consequently, the question of temperament cannot be found in modern physics, thus their psychology went different.