Essentialism in the Transcendent Philosophy: Principles and Concomitants

Essentialism indicates the independence of external objects from human interests and perceptions. In Islamic philosophy, based on an affirmative approach, objects are generally considered to be a collection of essential and accidental attributes which are independent from human thought. This problem has two major dimensions in Mullā Ṣadrā’s philosophy. In his own general approach, based on the common tradition of philosophers, particularly Ibn Sīnā, Mullā Ṣadrā also maintains that external objects are independent from human perception and consist of a series of essential and accidental attributes. Following a specific approach, Mullā Ṣadrā limits the essence of external objects to the single and unique truth of existence while emphasizing the ontological independence of external objects and based on the ontological and epistemological principles of his own philosophy. Moreover, through negating any kind of external origin for essential and accidental components as well as all quiddative consequents, he believes that existents’ possible synthesis of matter and form or genus and differentia is related to the world of the mind and subcategorized under the soul’s power of creativity.