Durham E-Theses Mulla Sadra's philosophy and its epistemological implications Khorassani, Said Rajaie How to cite: Khorassani, Said Rajaie (1976) Mulla Sadra's philosophy and its epistemological implications, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/8116/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk {S PHILOSOPHY AND ITS EF1STHMOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS BY Said F.ajais Kliorasaani Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy to the Faculty of Arte at Durham University. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived _ Jan x v_ 1 9/jo from it should be acknowledged. r 3^ iii. ABSTRACT This is a study of the epistemological implications of Mulla Sadra's philosophy. It has four major parts, as follows: Part I. Mulla Sadra's life and works. Part II. A brief account of his Sufism, with reference to his mystical teachings and his attitude toward Sufism and the Sufis. An attempt has been made to delineate his Suf i~~per spective and to spotlight some Isf his my9tical ideas and assumptions which have epistemological significance. Part III. A study of Mulla Sadra's major philosophical doctrines. His ontological doctrines, such as the doctrines of the Primordiality . the Unity, and the gradation of existence as well as his account of the unequivocality of existence and mental existence have been examined critically. His doctrine of substantial motion has been studied and some of its major implications have been considered. His psycho• logical ideas which explain Mulla Sadra's view of man's nature, his doctrine of the unity of the intelligent and the intelligible, which is Sadra's analysis of the human mind, and also his eschatological doctrine of bodily resurrection have been studied. Part IV presents an epistemological account of Mulla Sadra, with reference to his philosophical and mystical ideas#/^6 definition of knowledge has been critically examined, and the criteria of truth and falsehood which iv. are either implicitly or explicitly advocated by Mulla Sadra. are specified and examined. At the end a conclusion has been provided which puts the general structure of Mulla Sadra's system in perspective and presents an overall epistemological evaluation of it. This work is dedicated to the memory of the late Professor M. I15hl Qumshi and the late Professor M. I. 'Ayati, both of Tehran University. vi. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I should like to express my sincere thanks to Dr. R. W. J. Austin for taking a special interest in my research. Having accepted very kindly to supervise my work. Dr. Austin devoted a considerable amount of his time to reading this thesis. His valuable dis• cussions and constructive criticisms have been of great help to me. My special thanks are also due: to Mr. F. R. C. Bagley for his reviewing my translation of Shaykh Baha'x's poetry quoted on page 11 of the work and for his encouragement; to Dr. P. J. Fitzpatrick and Dr. B. S. Gower of the Philosophy Department for permitting me to attend their lectures; to the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Iran for the financial assistance; to Azarabadigan University for granting me leave of absence, my colleagues in the Philosophy Department of the School of Letters and Humanities of Azarabadigan University for undertaking extra duties and responsibi• lities to compensate for my absence; the Library of the School of Oriental Studies and University Library, Palace Green, for putting their facilities and sources at my disposal; and Mrs. C. Bates for typing the work. To all of them I express my deep gratitude. Vll . TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .... vi TABLE OF CONTENTS . vii PREFACE ..... 1X • • • • " PART I - LIFE AND WORKS ^BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH _._ -m . # 1 Mulla Sadrl Gets into Trouble . 5 Mulla Sadra Goes into Exile . 18 Mulla Sadra'8 Works .... 22 A Few Remarks about Mulla Sadrl's System and its Sources ...... 33 PART II - MULLA SADRA AND SUFISM A BRIEF HISTORICAL ACCOUNT .... 53 Mulla Sadra's Sufism ..... 63 Mulla Sadra's Concept of God's Word or Speech ...... 77 Mulla Sadra's Concept of Prophethood 80 Mulla Sadra's Opposition to Sufism . 84 PART III - SADRA'S MAJOR PHILOSOPHICAL IDEAS PHILOSOPHY OF EXISTENCE ..... 97 The Primordiality of Existence . 110 The Unity of Existence .... 120 The Gradation of Existence . 126 viii. Page Mental Existence ..... 129 The Qualification of Essence to Existence 133 Existence and Axiology .... 138 Substantial Motion ..... 140 Substance . 141 Motion ...... 144 Sadra's View ..... 145 • The Implications of the Doctrine of Substantial Motion .... 150 Psychology ....... 153 Sadra's Concept of the Soul . 154 The Corporeal Origin of the Soul . 157 The Unity of the Intelligent and the Intelligible ...... 162 Bodily Resurrection ..... 171 PART IV - EPISTEMOLOGY EMPISTEMOLOGY . .180 The Definition of Knowledge . 182 Knowledge and the Categories . 187 The Classification of Knowledge . 190 A Critical Review of the Classification 194 Methodology ....... 201 The Correspondence Theory . 202 The Consistency Theory .... 204 Gnosis ......«• 206 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION ...... 222 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........ 242 IX. PREFACE The present research aims at the study of Mulla Sadra's philosophy in order to arrive at its epistemolo• gical implications. The study may contribute to a better understanding of Mulla Sadra's philosophy in two ways: Firstly, Mulla Sadra's philosophy contains certain doctrines which have significant epistemological impli• cations. In the traditional studies of Mulla Sadra these doctrines have been considered generally and not from the view point of the theory of knowledge; hence the epistemological aspects of 'Sadra's philosophy, which deserve special consideration, have remained obscure. It is hoped that the present study will shed some light upon the epistomological aspects of his philosophy. Secondly, there are special issues concerning Mulla Sadra's philosophy, which cannot be thoroughly examined unless they are tackled from the epistemological angle. The most important of these issues is the conviction that 'Sadra has finally achieved the reconciliation and unifi• cation of rational philosphy with spiritual and religious attainment. Mulla Sadra, being a very sincere and con• scientious Muslim, has, like many other Muslim philosophers, incorporated many religious ideas into his philosophy. His ontological discussions, for instance, are so skil• fully mixed with religious ideas, drawn from the revealed sources of Islam, as to convince many of his readers that whoever does not subscribe to the doctrine of the Primor- diality of Existence may be anything but not a Muslim. It is even maintained that without the doctrine of the Primordiality of Existence the Unity of God cannot be established; that is to say that every individual Muslim is either knowingly or unknowingly an advocate of the philosophical doctrine in question. A Muslim student of Mulla Sadra may, therefore, feel that to reject Mulla Sadra's philosophy is tantamount to contradicting his articles of faith, probably without having considered any possible incongeniality between the methodology and the cognitive content of religious and spiritual experience on the one hand and philosophy on the other. In the face of the religious aspect of Mulla Sadra's philosophy, what should have been seriously considered is the fact that when a philosophical system is converted to or tied up with a religious discipline, the student of that philosophy, instead of stressing its religious sig• nificance, should be always on the alert so as not to run the risk of subordinating his critical thinking to a dogmatic attitude; otherwise he may fail to consider the significance of the philosophy as such. A correct under• standing of Mulla "Sadra requires, first of all, a critical study of his philosophical doctrines, a study which aims at examining the validity of the arguments and the xi. soundness of the principles and assumptions involved in his philosophy, indeed without the student's being fascinated by their religious or gnostic implications. And to go one step further, such a study requires an examination of the epistemological network upon which the entire philosophy of Mulla Sadra is structured. Such a study becomes indispensable particularly in the face of the fact that the putative unification of philosophy and rel i g ious a_t_ta inme n t i s u 11 im a telyL_a n e p i s t om o logic a 1 matter. In order to study the epistemological ideas and implications of 'Sadra's philosophy, I have made a critical examination of his fundamental philosophical doctrines. The entire work consists of four major sections. The first section - Part I - covers the life of the philo~ sopher and his works followed by a few remarks about his system and the sources of his ideas. I do not claim to have presented a detailed account of his life. The available information concerning Mulla Sadra's life is very brief. Many historical facts about his life are not known. Of course, the possibility of finding more information about the details of his life is not ruled out.