The Use of Intellect and Reasoning in Demonstrating Divine Attributes in Mullā Ṣadrā’s View

Mullā Ṣadrā states in his works that the employment of the intellect and intellectual reasoning is efficient in the independent demonstration and understanding of divine attributes. By explaining Mullā Ṣadrā’s method of using the intellect, it becomes clear that he has formulated his discussion based on proof and has presented some extensive and cohesive discussions about divine attributes so that the most important of which have been clearly explained and demonstrated. Based on the present study, the most important philosophical arguments and principles which Mullā Ṣadrā has explained and demonstrated in this field include ontological proof, principle of “Truth in its simplicity contains everything”, principle of “The giver of something cannot lack it”, and principle of “The Necessary Being is necessary by essence from all aspects, and providence. Mullā Ṣadrā’s extensive discussions on divine attributes, which are based on rational arguments, indicate his belief in the truth of the intellect’s independent function in this field, on the one hand, and confirm its capability in the field of epistemology of divine attributes in an independent form, on the other hand. The result of this study is the development of an approach based on distinguishing the two independent and instrumental functions of the intellect, which has not been considered in other studies previously. Not distinguishing between these two functions has resulted in attributing an irrational and unverifiable or even eclectic nature to the methodology of the Transcendent Philosophy. As a case study on divine attributes, the present study explains the rational, verifiable, and philosophical dimensions to the Sadrian Transcendent Philosophy.