Examination of the Notion of Free Will in Transcendent Philosophy

In this paper, we seek to provide a clear picture of the notion of free will in terms of the principles of Transcendent Philosophy and remarks by Sadraean philosophers. The most important extant definitions of free will in Transcendent Philosophy consist in the following: “having multiple principles of knowledge, desire, will, and muscular movements,” “having dual principles of knowledge and will,” “possibility of both action and omission,” “wanting both action and omission,” and “independence of the agent and not being influenced by others.” The most comprehensive and common interpretation of free will is to say that it is to have will and knowledge, as this is interpreted in terms of the Transcendent Philosophy, according to which both knowledge and will are like existence: notwithstanding their conceptual distinction, they are present in all stages of being, and despite their synonymy, they are graded. The comprehensive notion of will which consists in delight, love, and consent begins with inferior instances such as desire in the natural world and extends to God’s essential delight and love. To refine the notion of will to existential love makes the acceptance of human free will more rational and plausible despite the dominance of causes over humans. Furthermore, consideration of human essential love and desire at the stage of his epistemic existence before God (the divine archetype, al-‘ayn al-thābit) accounts for the free will and answers some questions.