Listener (Locus of Manifestation) and Source (Emanator) Intellects in Jawadi Amuli (with an Emphasis on Misbah Yazdi’s Views)

The discussion of intellectual perception and the quality of intellection holds an important place in epistemology. Islamic philosophers have followed various approaches to explaining the mechanism of intellection. Mullā Ṣadrā has also used different expressions for clarifying the process of general perception. He views the intellect sometimes as a locus of manifestation or epiphany (listener) and sometimes as an emanator (source) of intellectual forms. Accordingly, each of the researchers and commentators of Sadrian philosophy has tried to justify the differences between the words he has used in some way. As a neo-Sadrian philosopher, Jawadi Amuli posits some discussions in his works that can introduce a new view of the process of rational perception. Following a descriptive-analytic method, the present study demonstrates that, Jawadi Amuli has directly referred to two types of rational perception and the necessity to separate them from each other. In one of them, the intellect is a listener, and the general perception is the result of conscious rational intuition and passivity of the soul. Here, perception is limited to a special group. In the other one, the intellect functions as a source, and the general perception is the outcome of mental and soulish activities. All people are capable of this kind of intellectual perception.