The Comparative Investigation of Non-Existence in Views Presented by Mulla Sadra and Heidegger

Although philosophy is responsible for investigating the general ordinances of existence, investigation of the ordinances of non-existence are also organized in philosophy. Mulla Sadra and Martin Heidegger have both paid special attention to investigating the ordinances of non-existence. The present article deals with a comparative investigation of this issue in these two great philosophers’ view. In this query, it is clarified that in Mulla Sadra’s thought, while non-existence has a conceptual unity, it has two applications: (a) contradictory of existence, and (b) lack of perfection. Heidegger, however, regards four meanings for non-existent as follows: (a) non-existence as the total negation of beings; (b) non-existence as the indeterminate existence; (c) non-existence as the total poverty of beings; (d) non-existence as nothingness.