The Relation of soul and Knowledge (Critique of Acquired Knowledge) with an Emphasis on Suhrawardi’s Criticism of Mashayeans

As a problem statement, it must be indicated that the subject of soul has been the centerpiece of many philosophers’ attention which has led to the creation of diverse concepts about it. In this article, Farabi and Ibn Sina are referred to as the representatives of Masha Philosophy and Suhrawardi as the representative of the Philosophy of Illumination.  This research, in the first part, describes Farabi's and Ibn Sina's views on definitions, and then describes Suhrawardi's critique of the Masha Philosophy in this regard, and at the end he explains the point of view of Suhrawardi; since soul -cognition and its manifestations are the foundations of creatures’ cognition. As a necessity, it can be asked how our soul gains cognition? Mashayeans claim that they are capable of object cognition through its limitations, an idea which is criticized by Suhrawardi, believing such definitions to be incorrect while providing his own point of view regarding world cognition based on the light. In his opinion, soul is a manifestation on its own for its nature of light, and the brighter the light is, the more soul -cognition it will possess. He believes that Reasoning methods are not sufficient enough for gaining cognition and Intuitive knowledge is required instead. He furthermore supports his theory by holding soul and light equal to one another.