Mulla Sadra’s Philosophical Approach to the Divine Will
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Abstract :
The Divine Will, as the first manifestation of the essence of the Truth, which is beyond time and place, is the window towards the emergence of other creatures from the Origin of being. In the Transcendent Philosophy, the Divine Will is propounded under some themes such as God’s Power, Knowledge, and Free Will. These attributes differ from the Essence of the Truth only in concept; however, they are the same as God’s Essence in terms of their referent and existence. To justify the objectivity of His Essence and Attributes, Mulla Sadra reasons that God is simple truth and pure existence, and that is why we cannot accept the otherness and the ontological multiplicity of attributes in relation to each other and to the Essence of the Truth. God’s Power is the same as this Free Will and Pre-eternal will, and that is the reason why acts are emanated from the Essence of the Truth without delay. Therefore, the acts of the Almighty God, unlike the view of mutakallimun, who define it as the truth of act and abandonment, are accompanied by the Divine Will. In fact, the thrust of being omnipotent makes it necessary for the Divine Will to be the cause of the emanation or abandonment of act. Moreover, God’s Providence is the same as Almighty Truth’s differentiated knowledge of His Essence and the order of good, which is the cause of the emergence of acts. The Divine Will along with His Providence result in the external realization of God-pleasing acts. The objective realization of existents follows the same features determined by God’s Knowledge and Pre-eternal Will. It is the same decree and ordinance and the highest level of the Divine Knowledge that appears following the Pre-eternal Will, which includes Providence, Knowledge, Causality, and Satisfaction of the Truth’s Essence. All possible things, such as man’s will, are included in this Divine Will, Decree, and Ordinance.
