The Soul Perfection in Mulla Sadra’s Thought and that of Neo-Sadraids

The doctrine ‘soul perfection’ as one of the most important aspects of philosophical study of the soul suggests the existential perfectionism of the soul in the theoretical and practical spheres. The present article uses a descriptive-analytical method to explore this idea in Mulla Sadra’s thought and that of the New-Sadraids. From this inquiry, it is clarified that in the system of transcendental philosophy, the soul perfection is realized – in the theoretical sphere, in the light of the philosophical doctrine of ‘unity of the knower and the known’; and along with it, there exists the doctrine of ‘unity of actor and the action’. Among the most important anthropological foundations of soul perfection, one can refer to the ‘substantiality of the soul’, ‘corporeal originality and spiritual eternity of the soul’, and ‘substantial motion of the soul’. Among the most important achievements of the soul perfection in the sphere of anthropology, one can refer to the ‘critique of regarding the man as the infima species’ and ‘the soul’s lacking quiddity’.