The Typology of Life in Seligman's Thoughts and its Comparison with the Views of Muslim Thinkers

Life and its types is one of the topics studied and analyzed in the humanities, especially psychology. A careful study of various views on this topic can help to choose the desired type of life and strengthen it. The aim of this study was to investigate the types of life from Seligman's point of view and compare it with the views of Muslim thinkers. For this purpose, using the descriptive-analytical method, the first-hand sources of Seligman's views and the works of Muslim commentators and thinkers such as Allameh Ja’fari, Ayatollah Javadi Amoli and Murtaza Mutahhari were referred to and compared with each other. The research findings show that by choosing the Aristotelian model of simple and complex plot development, Seligman states four types of life: enjoyable, committed, meaningful and complete. According to the commentators of the Holy Quran, three types of life can be extracted: "humiliation-based", "pleasure-based" and "happiness-based". The concepts of the quick passing world, worldly life, and enjoyment of delusion express pleasure-based life that is referred to as public life. The concept of miserable life is an unrealistic life that refers to the humiliation-based life. People in these two types of life fail to reach the highest levels of perfection. Good life in the Hereafter, which is the happiness-based life, is the only true life. The spirituality of the origin of life types, the purposefulness of life types in achieving eternal post-material happiness, the role of divine motivation in achieving the goal of life, and the transcendence of the value realm of life types according to the Islamic view are among the significant differences with Seligman's view.