A Critical Study of the Doctrine of Unveiling and the Doctrine of Cleaving on Knowledge Acquisition Based on Sadrian Works and Principles

The quality of the realization of knowledge in Man’s rational soul is one of the central discussions in the field of epistemology. This discussion has been explained following a novel approach based on Sadrian principles, particularly the principle of the unitary system of essence-manifestations or the same individual unity of being. The doctrine of unveiling is the newest doctrine in this respect; however, some objections have been raised against it, including the confusion of universal soul with particular souls, contradiction of simplicity with innermost and manifestation, the soul’s incompletion, inexplicability of undifferentiated and differentiated knowledge, and the contradiction of simplicity with existence of veils. In this paper, through an accurate reading of Sadrian works and particular attention to his innovations regarding the problem of the soul, the authors present a new doctrine called “cleaving”, while trying to respond to the criticism advanced against the doctrine of unveiling. The doctrine of cleaving generally indicates that, based on the ontological immateriality, simplicity, and gradation resulting from the trans-substantial motion, existence is a continuous glowing entity that is involved in becoming at each “moment” exactly in the same way that existence itself is a kind of becoming and manifestation of the universal divine soul. Each level of this becoming, is a kind of knowledge acquisition that, given the kind of facilities, is called acquired or presential. Unveiling depends on “being”, but cleaving represents “becoming and flourishing”.