The Analysis and Comparison of Two Different Approaches of Ṣadr al Muta'allihīn in the Philosophical Justification of the Diffusion of the Knowledge to Material Objects

All beings in the world according to Ṣadr al Muta'allihīn, benefit from awareness (consciousness) in accordance with their existential order. Therefore, material bodies such as elements, inanimate bodies and vegetable, which are generally considered to be devoid of consciousness even have knowledge and awareness in general usage (custom). Ṣadrā has tried by two different approaches to justify the diffusion of the knowledge to material objects philosophically. He has attributed knowledge to objects with the same material identity by proving the absolute objectivity of existence with knowledge in the first way, and he considered knowledge to be proved for them through the union of objects by intellectual principles (masters of species) in the second way. The main issue in this article is whether the same results can be obtained from these two approaches or not. And which of these two ways is stronger and superior than the other? Both approaches have been studied by analytical and comparative method in this article and it has been firstly proved that the results of these two approaches are not the same, and the awareness that is proved for material objects according to the first approach is different from the knowledge that is proved according to the second approach, secondly, the second approach is stronger and superior for some reason.