Problem of Gender in Mullā Ṣadrā’s Epistemological Approach

The problem of gender has not been explicitly discussed in Islamic philosophy, in general, and in Transcendent Philosophy, in particular. However, through examining the principles of Islamic Philosophy and the work of philosophers, one can learn about their views and different interpretations of this problem. This paper is intended to reveal the relationship between the intellect and gender based on Sadrian philosophy and explain whether men and women share the same or different levels of intellectual perception. According to Mullā Ṣadrā, the most fundamental characteristic of human beings is rationality, particularly theoretical intellect, and men and women are the same in terms of their faculty of intellection. In other words, there is essentially and naturally no difference between them regarding their intellect. Mullā Ṣadrā stipulates that reaching the level of intellection – putting the intellect into practice – is an acquisitional affair, and the difference observed between men and women and even among men or women themselves in the process of knowledge acquisition is accidental and the outcome of contextual factors. Mullā Ṣadrā has demonstrated this problem in the classification of the intellect and the stages of intellection – from intellectus materialis (material intelligence) to intellectus acquisitus (acquired reason).