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        1 - Genealogy and Identity of the World of Suspended Ideas in Illuminationist Philosophy
        Seyyed Mohammadali  Dibaji
        The theory of suspended ideas is one of Suhrawardī’s most important philosophical innovations. Several challenging queries have been ventured regarding this theory; for example, questions have been raised about the identity of this world in the hierarchy of the realms o More
        The theory of suspended ideas is one of Suhrawardī’s most important philosophical innovations. Several challenging queries have been ventured regarding this theory; for example, questions have been raised about the identity of this world in the hierarchy of the realms of being. This question, in its Illuminationist sense, has been posed as follows: Is the identity of this world of the type of light, darkness, or a combination of both of them? Another question asks whether this theory is related to the legacy of Islamic philosophy, wisdom, and kalām, and to which views it leads in its genealogical sense in the history of these three disciplines. The findings of the present study indicate that the discussions of the faculty of imagination in Fārābī’s philosophy, imagination and spherical souls in Ibn Sīnā’s philosophy, the belief in Purgatory in Islamic kalām, and the theory of allegory in gnosis are the philosophical and ideological legacies which have influenced the explanation of this theory. On the other hand, resorting to Suhrawardī’s principles and arguments to explain this theory and the identity of the world of Ideas indicates that the existents of the world possess collective modal ideas and both luminous and dark identities. Manuscript profile
      • Open Access Article

        2 - Ontology of Imagination in Ibn Sina and Mulla Sadra
        Mohsen  Habibi
        The faculty of imagination is considered to be among the inner faculties of the soul by Ibn Sina and Mulla Sadra. Ibn Sina considered it material in nature, while Mulla Sadra maintained that it was immaterial, and both adduced some arguments to support their views in th More
        The faculty of imagination is considered to be among the inner faculties of the soul by Ibn Sina and Mulla Sadra. Ibn Sina considered it material in nature, while Mulla Sadra maintained that it was immaterial, and both adduced some arguments to support their views in this regard. In considering imagination as material, Ibn Sina had to deal with some serious philosophical problems such as corporeal resurrection and preservation of certain souls. While responding to his arguments, Mulla Sadra provided several arguments in order to demonstrate his own stand on this issue. On evaluating the arguments of these two philosophers, the author finds Mulla Sadra’s position to be more acceptable than that of Ibn Sina. Moreover, by confirming the immateriality of the faculty of imagination, Mulla Sadra had several achievements such as justifying the preservation of memory during old ages and some other meta-psychological problems and demonstrating ascension, corporeal resurrection, and subsistence of simple human souls, which Ibn Sina also sought to resolve. Therefore, it can be concluded that Mulla Sadra’s theory regarding the immateriality of imagination is more functional and can facilitate the process of adducing rational justifications and arguments for some religious beliefs. Manuscript profile
      • Open Access Article

        3 - A Critique of the Theory of Transmigration and Shahrzūrī’s Demonstrative Arguments Based on Ibn Sīnā’s Principles
        Mahmud Saidiy
        The theory of the transmigration of the soul is one of the oldest views that has been propounded in the history of thought in order to explain the quality of reward or punishment of human beings and the nature of the eternity of the human soul. Shahrzūrī is one of the m More
        The theory of the transmigration of the soul is one of the oldest views that has been propounded in the history of thought in order to explain the quality of reward or punishment of human beings and the nature of the eternity of the human soul. Shahrzūrī is one of the most prominent Illuminationist philosophers, who has presented a coherent theory for the demonstration of ascending and descending transmigration. He has initially criticized Ibn Sīnā’s arguments on refuting the theory of transmigration and, then, provides some reasons to prove it. The present study demonstrates that Shahrzūrī’s criticisms of Ibn Sīnā’s arguments are wrong because, given the capability of the body, the active intellect grants the soul to the body. To prevent the soul’s lingering for doing acts, there must be a temporal concurrence and equality between the numbers of previous and new between-body states of the soul. Shahrzūrī’s arguments for proving the theory of transmigration are defective because the problems of the inhibition of the gathering of two souls in a body and the lack of concurrence and equality between the previous body of the soul and its next body still remain to be solved. Manuscript profile