مجله تاملات فلسفی
پیاپی 11 (پاییز و زمستان 1392)

Rich and poor are the two terms of theological, mystical and religious, discussed by muslim philosophers, following the theologians and mystics. Absolute Rich in the view of Ibn Sina and Suhrawardi, is someone who is not in need of anything in his essence, acts and qualities, and also all creatures need him. Absolute Rich in the view of Suhrawardi; Like Ibn Sina; is the same of true king and by this way he argues to the unity of It. He makes Absolute Rich the same as Light of lights on the basis of his illuminationist theosophy. Mulla sadra also defines rich and poor on the basis of principality of existence. In the transcendental philosophical thought, by the analysis of the principle of causality and based on the principality of existence, this result is concluded that all things at the root of their existence are essentially poor and dependent to the Origin of the universe. The “effect”, which is considered all that is not God, in its existence is indiscriminately needy to its true Cause; meaning that other than dependency to the essence of God, no other truth is imagined for it. Since according to the principality of existence, in the outside world there is no other than Existence, all creatures are destitute to a true reason which is unique to the independent essence of Uniqueness. They have no existence separate from their reason and are entirely relevance and belonging to His Right, which is expressed using phrases such as absolute poverty of existence in itself, existential poverty and copulative existence. Therefore, just as mentioned in the word of God, poverty is an intrinsic property of creations, and wealth is unique to God.

As one of the most important conceptual tools for human beings, imagination plays an important role in mans’ behavior and his felicity. The present paper aims to explain the nature of imagination and the will, discussing how to relate imagination andthe will in the human soul (ego, self). Analyzing and inferring Sadarian texts is the method used in this paper. Imagination, as the mediator between emotion and reasoning (ratiocination) is responsible for preserving, restoring, and fabricating (composing) the mental images. Will, as the desire, intention, and purpose in individuals, suitability to do or leave an action, is affected by the mind (reason, wisdom) or opinion (assumption). Will, like knowledge, is absolutely intentional; that is, it should belong to something or issue (wish). Imagination or mental image is a template and framework for intentional aspect in the will, thus explaining the relationship between imagination and the will. Imagination of an act, acknowledging its usefulness, enthusiasm to do that act, determination, and the act are the stages of the formation of a voluntary act. Mulla Sadra is one of the few philosophers who successfully highlighted the issue of imagination and its relation to the will, proposing novel perspectives in this regard.

The theory of the influence of "practical philosophy and ethics" in the evolution of the soul, not only announces its supreme importance in going "beyond intellectual abstraction" in Sadra's philosophy, but also heralds a connection between these two concepts in his perspective. This article focuses on the philosophical contemplations of Mulla Sadra, and some of the concepts introduced by him (including corporeality of the soul in origination, substantial movement, levels of the soul, unity of intelligence and intelligible) – which in turn has a great importance in introducing and understanding the abstraction of the soul. According to Sadra, obliging to practical philosophy along with theoretical philosophy, are as wings to help mankind attain a level beyond intellectual abstraction, helping him in the path towards the divine and making him the book of divine transcendence. Mulla Sadra believes that both kinds of philosophy are equally significant: whereas theoretical philosophy is superior to practical philosophy in his book, Mulla Sadra regards theoretical and practical philosophy as complementary, in the sense that their combination leads to mankind's eternal felicity as well as the soul's resemblance to God. On the other hand, Mulla Sadra believes that "God has created mankind similar to Himself in nature, attribute, and deed." Thus we may conclude that to him adaptation of the soul to the acquired conceptions as well as moral purgation will result in an evolution of the soul beyond intellectual abstraction.

Aristotelian ethics is closely connected to the concept of virtue. In order to obtain virtuous qualities in the Aristotelian tradition, the person needs to act with a full awareness towards the circumstances. From Aristotle’s point of view, awareness is the key ingredient for virtue. After Aristotle, some interpreters of Nicomachean ethics as well as some contemporary Aristotelians often emphasized the importance of such an awareness. In the tradition of philosophical ethics in the Islamic world, this factor has also been emphasized. Julia Driver, however, rejects awareness as a necessary ingredient for virtue, believing that a great emphasis by Aristotle on rationalism and awareness limits the scope of virtues and numbers of virtuous people. She believes that although awareness is important, it is not necessary because sometimes things which the agent does not see or know are as important as the awareness for endowing the action with virtue. As examples, she brings up some virtues with no awareness in them, while the agent for attributing to bevirtuous needs to act ignorantly about them. Because of the element of ignorance in these virtues, Driver calls them virtues of ignorance and regards modesty as the most important instance of such virtues. Authors of this essay investigate Driver's criticism on Aristotelian understanding.

Internalism has been the dominant attitude in the historiography until mid-20th century. According to this approach, the task of historiographer is to report an intellectual history for scientific theories and depicting that history of science is the history of accumulation of personal discoveries and inventions. The works of Kuhn, however, make a revolutionary turn in the historiography. Under the influence of historians like Butterfield and Koyré, Kuhn investigates science as a social institution and on this ground presents history of science as a history of separation of totality of paradigms. Kuhn believes that literature in history contains a positivistic philosophy and emphasizes the revising of this literature by a new historic attitude. Kuhn’s critics recognize some relativist and antirational elements in his attitude. This article will examine some of the main problems in the basic elements of Kuhn’s points of view.

The subject of this paper is an investigation of the concept of nothingness in Heidegger and Nishida's philosophies. Heidegger discusses the concept of nothingness in his famous book What Is Metaphysics. He points out that not only nothingness is not from negation, but also it is earlier than the latter. According to Heidegger, nothingness is related to Dasein's existentials. Nothingness comes from anxiety, and then when all entities fall into a whole, it becomes clear. Nishida also addresses the concept of nothingness in his philosophy. According to him, nothingness is a mystical situation. He believes that nothingness is the foundation of everything. Nothingness is a concrete meaning, but it is beyond any other entity. This article compares the main arguments in these two philosopher's perspectives.