The relation between “Simple Reality” Rule and “the Soul, Whole faculties” in Sadra’s philosophy

Simplexity is a perfection attribute and determines the existential rank to which it belongs. The scope of this attribute in God is expressed in terms of the “simple reality is everything and in the meantime it is none” while in the human soul it is expressed through “the soul in its unity is whole faculties”. The importance of explaining the relationship between the two rules is that it is a way of knowing God through one’s soul. In addition, it reasonably illustrates the causal relationship between God and the universe as well as the soul. The problem is to determine the relationship between the two rules in terms of concept and representation. In Sadra’s philosophy the soul is the God’s successor and His great representation and there are both similarities and differences between them while maintaining their hierarchies. Similarly, the “simple reality” rule is an alternative of the “whole faculties” rule.   Given the above, there are special existential and epistemic issues between these two rules which are elaborated on in this paper.