Mulla Sadra’s two Arguments Mulla Sadra on the Role of Knowledge in the Perfection of Soul

Having considered Mulla Sadra’s innovative opinion about the existential attitude toward knowledge and his belief in the intrinsic perfection of soul, the authors have gone to mainly explain, in their essay, the role of knowledge in the perfection of soul and its existential transcendence. In Mulla Sadra’s point of view, knowledge is an existential matter and because existence is concomitant with perfection, having knowledge is regarded as perfection for the soul. Accordingly, apart from the field of knowledge and the level of what is known, every kind of knowledge is perfection for the soul when acquiring that knowledge. Nonetheless, it is to be noted that any kind of knowledge determines the kind of perfection; and because knowledge is graded, the stronger the grade of existence is, the loftier the soul will be. It is noteworthy that Mulla Sadra’s precise account of how forms of knowledge occurs for the soul is that in its existential recreation the soul develops those forms through the emanation to its very existence, rather than the concrete addition to it. Thus as a result of this emanation, the soul is promoted in its existence and by the traversing over the grades of existence comes to know the realities of those forms.