Place of the Faculty of Imagination in the Emanation of Acts with a Reference to its Educational Consequences (with an Emphasis on Mulla Sadra’s Self-Knowledge)

The emanation of acts, according to Muslim philosophers, occurs at two stages: “perceptive principles” and “provoking principles”. The analyses of the place of the faculty of imagination in the perceptive principles of act are of the type of epistemological discussions which explore the effects of perceptive faculties, particularly the faculty of imagination, on the scientific principles of the emanation of acts. The main purpose of this study is to explain how the faculty of imagination affects the emanation of acts at its different stages of emanation. The approaches supporting Mulla Sadra’s views indicate that, firstly, this faculty holds an important place in the development of the principles underlying the perception, visualization, and affirmation of acts. Secondly, they argue that the effective sources of the visualizations of the faculty of imagination include the perceptions of the five-fold senses, ontological representations of Man, and, even beyond them, Man’s essence, so that, through the change, control, and transcendence of such sources, some positive educational outcomes arise in relation to human behavior. Thirdly, given the analysis of the stages of the emanation of act, “intention” can be considered compatible with the stage of concept and judgement in the process of emanation of act, which, considering Mulla Sadra’s meta-approach (stating that perception is emanated at the level of imagination) can directly affect the soul.