نشریه خردنامه صدرا
پیاپی 86 (زمستان 1395)

Following an analytic-deductive method, this paper is intended to provide a plan of the consequences of Mulla Sadra’s philosophical approach in the field of education. This plan can portray a framework and perspective of divine and religious training in the poisoned and crisis-stricken atmosphere of secular educational system before our eyes. Feeding on the source of Qur’anic revelation and traditions and synthesizing reasoning and intuition have granted a particular status to Sadrian philosophy. Mulla Sadra’s innovation with regard to posing the attached identity of the soul, while solving the secret of the relationship between the body and the soul, demonstrates the possibility of the essential change of the soul (as opposed to the changes in the accidents of the soul) and clarifies the rational necessity of training. In his plan of philosophical anthropology, the soul needs the body not only for its origination but also for the realization of its identity. The body is the realm of the appearance of the soul, the loci of its acts, and Man’s only asset for creating their own identity. It also plays a complex and unique role in the process of human training. Developing a clear picture of the quality of the change of a material existent (seed) into an eternal and immaterial human could decipher his theory of the trans-substantial motion and explain the truth of education. Eventually, through presenting the theory of corporeal origination and spiritual subsistence of the soul, Mulla Sadra demonstrates that the realm of human training enjoys an amazingly profound and infinite magnitude.

In spite of some disagreements, t’awil or esoteric exegesis can be considered to be Ibn Arabi’s methods of learning about the reality. This paper mainly discusses his principles and methodology in t’awil. Some of the principles dominating Ibn Arabi’s study of t’awil include obtaining interpretation from the Truth, favoring the intellect while considering it to be insufficient, emphasizing the meanings of words and structural rules underlying the formation of sentences, and paying attention to the text and outward meaning of Qur’anic verses. He maintains that t’awil is a multi-level task. For him, it only reveals one aspect of the meanings of words, and an ambiguous sentence does not lose its ambiguity through t’awil. Therefore, gnostics should always be cautious in expressing their allusions. Ibn Arabi calls this method of his and other gnostics as allusion as opposed to interpretation. While attributing this method of expression to Almighty Truth, he refers to two aspects in choosing it. He views interpretation the same as allusion form one aspect and different from it from another aspect. One of the important purposes of Ibn Arabi in t’awil is encouraging and prompting his addressees to become involved in spiritual wayfaring. Some of the other features of t’awili expressions of this prominent gnostic include stating gnostic principles and referring to Qur’anic verses, hadiths, and traditions.

A study of the roots and history of negative theology in the world of Islam traces the background of this discussion back to Isma‘ilite philosophy. Hence, it is necessary to cast a glance at the views of Isma‘ilite philosophers in this regard. Among the twelve Shi‘ite philosophers, Qadi Said Qummi and his master, Mulla Rajabali Tabrizi, can be considered as the theoreticians of this school of theology. Their approach, in a sense, signifies a revived form of neo-Platonic school, particularly, the one represented by Proclus. Qadi Said Qummi believes in negative theology; however, he cannot be viewed as an advocate of agnosticism. Here, the writer explains his arguments on demonstrating negative theology and, at the same time, illustrates how, based on a theory which can be called an epiphany-oriented theology, he finds a way to exit the dead-end of agnosticism.

Sadrian philosophy presents a new approach to human beings and their ontological dimensions, which can be used as a foundation for developing educational theories based on an Islamic point of view. Hence, while explaining Mulla Sadra’s view of moral training along with a short illustration of the related categories and using an analytic-deductive method, this study aims to draw on his theories regarding the soul as the basis for education and training in order to examine his educational denotations and conclusions with an emphasis on educational stages, objectives, principles and methods. Here, it is necessary to pay attention to the ultimate goal of moral training, that is, unveiling the truth and the related intermediate goals, including training human beings at the vegetative soul, animal soul, and human soul stages. To attain the purpose of this study, it is also of prime importance to explore the necessary interrelations between the philosophical principles of the Transcendent Philosophy and educational principles and also examine the different methods of moral training including the development of sensation, imagination, and rational faculties.

In Mulla Sadra’s view the rational soul has been created in such a way that, immediately after having the knowledge and the will, it can actualize its intention as one of its own modes. However, this ability is of different stronger and weaker grades at different ontological configurations and levels of the souls. In the Transcendent Philosophy, the domain of the soul’s creativity is divided into two inner and outer fields. The inner field refers to the hidden worlds of the soul and the outer field contains nature and metaphysics. A clear example of inner creativity is the making of mental forms, and one example of external creativity is the miracles done by prophets and favorites of God. Some of the anthropological principles of creativity in the Transcendent Philosophy which are examined extensively in this paper include the immateriality of the soul, the immateriality of the imaginal faculty, being a knowing agent, simplicity of the soul, and the soul’s being a supreme paradigm. Accordingly, the human soul, as a divine existent who is the vicegerent and perfect manifestation of God Almighty, in addition to its internal creativity can be everything which is rationally manifested to its mind under its control and grant external existence to mental existents provided that it becomes identical with perfect immaterial things in terms of knowledge and act.

The term “gradation” was used first in logical discussions. Later some thinkers such as Ibn Sina and Suhrawardi employed it in the realm of philosophy as well. A study of the collection of Ibn Sina’s works indicates that he only treaded on the path of general gradation. Suhrawardi, who paved the way for particular gradation in Mulla Sadra’s philosophy, considered existence to be mentally-posited. Thus he turned to gradation in essence and quiddity; a theory which was not accepted by Mulla Sadra and Peripatetic philosophers. If principiality, unity, and gradation of existence constitute the three main pillars of the Transcendent Philosophy, particular gradation and particularly particular gradation complete the Sadrian school of philosophy and signify the peak of its excellence. Mulla Sadra initially proposed particular gradation in order to reject general gradation and the theory of the difference of beings. Then he tried to provide a new interpretation for it in comparison to the Illuminationist particular gradation. While rejecting this kind of gradation and through being inspired by gnostic thoughts and the revealed Qur’anic verses, he introduced a particularly particular gradation to justify the multiplicity of existents and provide a new interpretation of oneness which is in line with gnostic oneness.

Mulla Sadra’s profound philosophical deliberations, which were accompanied by his intuitive contemplations, regarding the truth of being, finally led him to the theory of the individual unity of existence. In line with gnostics, he explicitly acknowledges the necessity of believing in this theory in some of his works, particularly, in his gnostic treatise of Iqaz al-na’imin. In order to provide a gnostic explanation for this theory in the realm of ontology, Mulla Sadra resorts to ontological terminology, describes the relationship between existence and quiddity, and discusses the validity of quiddities in terms of both their fact-itself individuation and ontological descent. In doing so, he initially propounds the theory of the graded unity of existence and states some delicate points in relation to its content. Then, based on the eternal and pre-eternal non-existential nature of possible things, he uses a gnostic language to clarify the individual unity of existence. Finally, he concludes that the unity or oneness of existents in their ontological essence is of an individual and permeating type rather than a specific one. In his view, true existence is exclusively limited to the existence of the Almighty, and all possible beings are the manifestations, appearances, and modes of the attributes of the existence of the Truth and enjoy a shadow-like existence in comparison to Him.