نشریه خردنامه صدرا
پیاپی 111 (بهار 1402)

According to Aristotle, a number of philosophers in ancient Greece theorized that the “one” is an independent substance that performs a causal role in relation to other substances. Through clarifying the predicative nature of the “one” and referring to the false consequences of the above theory, he tried to reject it. Ibn Sīnā has extensively investigated the theory of the one’s being a substance and Aristotle’s related criticisms in the ilāhīyyāt section of al-Shifā’. Unlike Aristotle, he has not merely referred to the one’s being a predicate and, rather, through a lengthy and complex argument, has tried to demonstrate that unity, as the source of the derivation of the one, is a necessary accident. Ibn Sīnā’ argument is prone to criticism from different aspects, the most important of which is the confusion of categorical and analytic accidents with each other. Unity is merely an analytic accident, and Ibn Sīnā’s argument is incapable of demonstrating its being a categorical accident.

In the view of Ibn Sīnā and Mullā Ṣadrā, the Prophet’s ascension was an indisputable truth, and those who deny it are among unbelievers and deviators from the right path. Ibn Sīnā believes that the Prophet’s ascension was not corporeal because the body cannot traverse a very long distance in a moment. Thus, it was intellectual and spiritual. In other words, as the route of the Prophet’s ascension passed through immaterial worlds, one cannot consider this journey a corporeal one. However, Mullā Ṣadrā explicitly speaks of the corporeal quality of the Prophet’s presence in ascension. He believes in the corporeal presence of the Prophet (ṣ) in his heavenly journey as well as the corporeal nature of what happened to him in the night of ascension. Nevertheless, their corporeality is in proportion to the worlds in which the Prophet (ṣ) travelled. Mullā Ṣadrā considers three types of body for human beings: rational, Ideal, and elemental. He maintains that earthly journey is of the elemental type, and heavenly journey is of the Ideal and rational types. He also believes that the Prophet (ṣ) wore the corporeal attire in conformity with the worlds to and through which he travelled. This paper investigates and analyzes the quality of the Prophet’s presence in the night of ascension and the otherworldly things that happened to him during that night following a descriptive-analytic approach and based on the views of Ibn Sīnā and Mullā Ṣadrā.

The environmental crisis of the last two centuries is one of the most important problems threatening the human society and life. Accordingly, human beings should find a way to control the wrong and sometimes immoral acts that damage the environment. Mullā Ṣadrā believes that nature, objects, and inanimate bodies enjoy knowledge and intelligence; therefore, the Transcendent Philosophy follows a holy approach to nature. Accordingly, in this paper, the authors have tried to highlight the moral beliefs that could lead to sustainable development in the environment by emphasizing their divine-philosophical bases through resorting to firsthand sources by and on Mullā Ṣadrā and employing rational analysis and explanation. The findings of this study indicate that a scrutinizing rereading of the sources on the Transcendent Philosophy, which provides a comprehensive philosophical interpretation of various issues based on Qur’ānic verses and traditions, can contribute to protecting the environment. This is because, based on some principles such as the principiality of existence, gradedness of existence, commensurability of the cause and effect, and the nature’s being a manifestation of higher worlds, it is possible to regain the lost respect for nature and its dignity, which have been developed based on the holy perspective of religions and philosophical schools, and prevent the destruction of nature and, following it, the death of human life.

The discussion of divine activity and the quality of the creation of existents has always been a challenging discussion, and different thinkers have provided different views, each based on their philosophical thoughts. Among them, Mullā Ṣadrā has sometimes acknowledged agent-by-foreknowledge and sometimes agent-by-self-manifestation regarding the quality of God’s Agency in his various works. These two apparently contradictory views have made the commentators of his works to try to reveal his ultimate intention. This paper, which has been written following a descriptive analytic method, discusses the views of Mullā Hādī Sabziwārī and Ḥassanzādeh Āmulī as two of the important commentators of the Transcendent Philosophy and concludes that, through referring agent-by-self-manifestation to providence in its general sense, Sabziwārī tries to reconcile these two views. However, with his particular interpretation of the Peripatetics’ view of God’s agency, Ḥassanzādeh Āmulī equates agent-by-foreknowledge with agent-by-self-manifestation. Nevertheless, the authors believe that the main basis of agent-by-foreknowledge that has persuaded Mullā Ṣadrā to acknowledge it is active knowledge. For this reason, by accepting agent-by-foreknowledge, he agrees with such affairs as the addition of knowledge to essence, which the Peripatetics have suggested in this regard. Accordingly, we can conclude from Mullā Ṣadrā’s different statements about the quality of divine agency that his view is based on active knowledge, which also exists in agent-by-foreknowledge. Hence, he speaks of agency-by-foreknowledge in relation to God’s Activity, which is consistent with agent-by-self-knowledge.

In Plato’s philosophy and Islamic gnostic tradition, the world and Man enjoy two corporeal and spiritual dimensions. Man’s spiritual dimension can have ascending and descending journeys in the worlds of being. In Islamic gnosis, going through the levels of being – the five divine presences – has been explained by resorting to the four-fold journeys, which include moving from the creature to the truth, traversing the truth, moving from the truth to the creature and, finally, travelling with the truth in the creature. The spiritual journey in Plato’s philosophy can be explained by using the dialectical wayfaring, analogy of the divided line, and the allegory of the cave. Plato generally dealt with this spiritual journey and did not intend to classify its levels. However, his views can be formulated in a way to conform to these four journeys. In this way, spiritual journey in Plato’s philosophy will include the following four stages: moving from shadows to the world of Ideas, traveling through the Ideas, moving from the world of Ideas to the world of sensibles and, finally, traveling with the Ideas in shadows. Therefore, given the differences between these two schools of thought regarding their views of the highest levels of being and the perfect Man, the first, second, and fourth journeys can be more clearly matched with each other. The third journey can also be matched with one of them but not as clearly as the other three. Gnostics’ religious views, their emphasis on ascetic practice and purification of the soul, and the long time interval between these two systems of thought have resulted in a number of great differences between them.

The common view is that philosophical concepts, such as existence, unity, causality, and necessity, have no objective existence and, even if they have, Man is not capable of perceiving them. This is because Man’s encounter with the world of sensibles is through the senses, which can only perceive sensible qualities of objects and are not even capable of perceiving all accidents. Based on these two points, the abstraction of philosophical concepts from external sensible realities seems to be totally impossible. Following a descriptive-analytic method and based on some of the principles of the Transcendent Philosophy, including the subsistence and affirmation of philosophical concepts in the outside and the quality of the existence of the soul and the quality of perceiving it, this study is intended to demonstrate that philosophical concepts are attained directly and without any intermediary from the heart of sensory perceptions. Although this theory does not exist in Mullā Ṣadrā’s works, his philosophical principles fittingly provide the context for such an explanation.

The present study investigates Mullā Ṣadrā’s strategies for treating death anxiety and its philosophical foundations. It also aims to suggest some philosophical and ontological strategies to decrease modern Man’s anxiety when thinking about death based on some of Mullā Ṣadrā’s philosophical principles, such as the principiality of existence, the union of the intellect with intelligible, the trans-substantial motion, theism, religiosity, and believing in the Hereafter. According to Sadrian philosophy, Man’s life is meaningful and purposeful, and being has been created based on divine emanation. The human soul is corporeally-originated; however, its essence changes because of its union with the intelligible and its own trans-substantial motion and attains higher levels of being though going through different existential grades. This developmental move continues until reaching the origin of being and does not end with death. It also grants meaning to Man’s life and decreases their death anxiety. Mullā Ṣadrā is an existential philosopher who advocates a supernaturalist, theistic, and procedural approach to death. The reality of death in Mullā Ṣadrā’s philosophy is a part of Man’s process of existential development. Some of the strategies that can be inferred from his philosophy to reduce death anxiety include following a teleological approach to the world, being’s view of God as pure connection, believing in the Hereafter and Man’s resurrection after corporeal death, advocating ontological evolution, and having a developmental view of death.