نشریه خردنامه صدرا
پیاپی 63 (بهار 1390)

Mental existence refers to the existence of subjects in the mind, whether they are assumed alone or when they stand as subjects of predicates, and whether they enjoy external existence. The perception of mental existence is intrinsic, and everyone will perceive and accept in one’s conscience. The problem of mental existence is among the innovations of Muslim philosophers and is unprecedented in Greek. The discussion of this topic is important from two aspects: ontology and epistemology. In both of them, Mulla Sadra has some new and comprehensive views which have led to important consequences in resolving philosophical problems.In the present paper, the writer has dealt with the several aspects of mental existence, Mulla Sadra’s innovations in this regard, and the solutions to certain problems found in the light of his innovations.

This paper aims to demonstrate that, by negating the conformity between the subject and object and the theory of the disengagement of sensual and imaginal forms in order to attain the forms of universal intelligbles, Mulla Sadra has presented a new explanation for the universality of intellectual concepts and, accordingly, provided a new mechanism for the quality of perceiving the universals. In his view, universality is an intellectual concept; that is, it can firstly be applied to multiple things and, secondly, it must be shared by various human minds. The problems related to images and the mind’s unity with them are the only means that can provide this possibility. Thus, according to Mulla Sadra, the two basic and important factors in the perception of the universals are the images and the active intellect, and here the mind only plays a passive role. In this way, this paper explains the epistemological places of these two elements and introduces the process of the perception of the universals in Mulla Sadra’s view.

There are two views among the followers of the principiality of existence concerning the relationship between existences, namely, the difference and gradation views. The former is inconsistent with the principiality of existence, has been attributed to Peripatetic philosophers, downgrades the principiality of existence and equates it with the principiality of quiddity, and has led to some consequences such as silence before Ibn Kamunah’s objection, lack of congruence between the cause and effect, and the rejection of Platonic Ideas as well as the imagianl world and the intermediate world. By propounding the view of the graded unity of existence, Mulla Sadra solved many of the important problems of Islamic philosophy and explained them in a way to be consistent with Shar‘i rules. The gradedness view, in addition to considering the distinction among existences to be a graded distinction, negates any kind of ineffectiveness in the affairs of Almighty Necessary and lack of oneness in His attributes and acts. Finally, it provides a firm basis for demonstrating the world of Images, which some of the philosophers preceding him had failed to prove. The writer of this paper maintains that the graded oneness of existence leads to Islamic gnosis.

In the psychological schools of the twentieth century man is mainly analyzed as a possessor of intelligence. In such approaches, emotional intelligence, inner-individual intelligence, extra-individual intelligence, musical intelligence, spatial intelligence, etc. have been identified following an empirical-theoretical approach in the process of studying the brain. Therefore, they define man as a being possessing multiple intelligences.In Mulla Sadra’s philosophy, considering his ontological views and introducing man’s spirit as the noblest dimension of his soul, which is on the way towards transcendence and leaving sensible boundaries behind, man’s optimal situation has been defined as being free from the lower dimensions of the soul’s desires. Therefore, in this interpretation man’s flourishing is introduced in relation to the supreme levels of being and living in the holy presence of Allah.Through comparing Mulla Sadra’s approach and contemporary psychological schools, the purpose of this paper is to reveal the lack of ontological problems in these schools and drawing attention to such problems in the analysis of human values and development of ethical programs.

One of the important problems in the field of humanities is identity and developing an identity in Mulla Sadra’s view. Relying on the principle of the trans-substantial motion and the principle of the union of the intellect and the intelligible, he has placed the problem of the soul-body relation, which had been previously discussed by many thinkers, in a new field. As a result, he has reached some important conclusions and compensated for many of the defects of the previous approaches. He believes that the soul is “corporeal in origination” and “spiritual in subsistence”. Moreover, he states that the soul’s relation to the body is based on the perfection of ontological virtues and maintains that the perfection of each human soul lies in his attaining intellectual immateriality, which is realized after his going through the three-fold vegetative, animal, and human stages of the soul. The picture that Mulla Sadra presents from man’s identity and its process of development greatly emphasizes the inner and other-worldly dimension of human beings. Basically, he believes that presenting any kind of knowledge of human identity without paying attention to this other-worldly dimension will be incomplete.The purpose of this research is to investigate Mulla Sadra’s approach regarding the generation of the soul and, as a result, the process and stages of developing an identity by following an analytic-descriptive method and benefitting from library sources. The results of this study indicate that, on the basis of Mulla Sadra’s view of the generation of the soul, the development of man’s identity consists of three stages which are different for each human being considering the conditions of one’s soul at various ages and periods of one’s life.

The oneness of being is one of the most famous and, at the same time, most controversial problems in theoretical gnosis. It is also considered to be the most fundamental problem of this field. Researchers in the fields of philosophy and gnosis have always asked the question of whether the oneness of being is a gnostic problem, a philosophical problem, or both. Some believe that the theory of the “oneness of being” is a purely intuitive one related to revelation and unveiling and has no meaning for anyone except for the gnostic who feels it and perceives it by means of mystic taste. In fact, the human intellect and wisdom are incapable of perceiving it. Sometimes, it is referred to as “something beyond the level of the intellect”. Some others say that, if it is merely an inner and taste-related problem, why have its defenders tried so much to demonstrate it based on philosophical arguments and logical syllogisms and borrow the terminology of philosophers, mutikallimun (theologians), and logicians when explaining and interpreting it? On the other hand, if the theory of the “oneness of being” is a purely intuitive problem, what is the difference between a gnostic believing “in intuitive unity” and a gnostic believing in “ontological unity”? Another question is: what is the difference between the gnostics before the rise of Ibn Arabi and those after him? In this paper, the writer has presented the ideas of those who are for and against this issue and provided the answers to some of the related ambiguities. He has also indicated that this problem is both gnostic and philosophical.

There are four main views concerning metaphorical terms in the Qur’an: the view of Zahirites, the theory of univocality, the theory of the truth and metaphor, and the theory of the spirit of meaning. Based on the theory of the spirit of meaning, words are chosen based on the spirits of meanings, and characteristics and applications are not taken into account in their meanings. Therefore, their employment can also be true about intelligible cases. Thus the metaphorical words used in the Qur’an in relation to abstract and intelligible referents have been employed in their real meanings and not in a metaphorical sense.This view was first proposed by Ghazzali and has been discussed in the works of the great figures of Islamic philosophy since then. It has been dealt with particularly by some prominent scholars such as Fayd Kashani, Sabziwari, ‘Allamah Tabataba’i, and Imam Khomeini. Since Mulla Sadra has played an undeniable role in the development and dissemination of this theory. This paper specifically examines his interpretation of this theory.

Farabi has placed artists as the carriers of religion in the second place in utopia and after the prophetic (nabawi) government. He believes that the angel of revelation emanates all intelligibles to the rational faculty of the Prophet (s) and then to his imaginal faculty. Due to their low capabilities or habits, the public are incapable of the rational perception of happiness and the truth. Therefore, the Prophet (s), who himself enjoys intellectual mastery over all realities based on certain arguments, revealed their images and referents to people’s imagination. In Farabi’s philosophical system, an artist, in the general sense of the word, deals with the element of imagination, and the utopian or religious and prophetic art is an art that transfers intelligible happiness to the mind of the public through sensual and imaginal forms.