Analytical examination of the arguments establishing the intellectual incorporeality of the soul through the intellect’s functional independence from the body according to Mulla Sadra’s Perspective

Mulla Sadra has categorized incorporeality into two types: imaginal incorporeality and intellectual incorporeality. Accordingly, he has differentiated the arguments for the incorporeality of the soul into two categories. In the context of proving intellectual incorporeality, Mulla Sadra relies on arguments grounded in the perception of universals. While these arguments are valid and acceptable, they do not apply universally to all human souls according to him.Another group of arguments for the intellectual incorporeality of the soul is presented by the previous philosophers. In these arguments, an attempt is made to prove the incorporeality of the faculty of reason through the independence of the intellect from the body and bodily faculties. This conclusion is made through different means such as: by negating the occurrence of cognitive disabilities concurrent with the aging process of the body, by relying on the unequal effects of thought on the soul and body, and by the independence of certain cognitive functions of the intellect from bodily faculties.The truth is that these arguments, apart from being inadequate in establishing the intellectual incorporeality of the soul, are rooted in the common understanding or experimental knowledge of previous centuries. Therefore, a final judgment regarding them depends on their reinterpretation based on the findings of cognitive sciences. However, some of these arguments can at least be applied in proving the imaginal incorporeality of the soul.