Avicenna and Mulla Sadra on the Perception of Pleasure and Pain in Body and Soul

Experimental sciences and Islamic philosophy have different explanations for pleasure and pain and the role of the soul and the body in perceiving them. Scientists’ explanation of pleasure and pain is completely physicalistic, and for this reason, they reduce sensual states to purely physical states. Regarding sensual pleasure and pain, Avicenna believes in the equal role of the soul and the body but considers illusory and imaginary pleasure and pain to be among the properties of the physical soul. From his point of view, only intellectual pleasure and pain are properties of the soul as such. On the other hand, according to Mulla Sadra, since pleasure and pain are kinds of perception, and all perceptive powers are abstracted from matter, pleasure and pain are also abstracted from matter. Therefore, what is said in the experimental sciences about the mechanism and physiology of pleasure and pain doesn’t have any relevance in the true explanation of pleasure and pain; they only provide requirements and occasional causes. Examining Avicenna and Mulla Sadra’s explanations of pleasure and pain, we will discuss the positive and negative roles of the soul and body in their formation.