Abstract

The philosophy of art explains the philosophical bases of art. Some of the fundamental questions that this discipline deals with are: what is art? And, what is the origin of art? As the origin of artistic works, imagination is considered one of the pillars and constitutive elements of art. Islamic philosophers, particularly Mulla Sadra, have paid special attention to imagination and its ontology. According to Islamic philosophers, in addition to the faculty of imagination, which is an area of the human soul and is called the conjunctive imagination, there is a world out of man's existence which is called the world of disjunctive imagination. There is a kind of connection and harmony between these two worlds. Moreover, they believe that imitation is one of the main bases of art. Accordingly, Islamic philosophy has presented some new and innovative interpretations of imitation which are unprecedented in previous schools of philosophy.This paper initially deals with the nature of art and the philosophy of art in brief. Then it presents a relatively extensive discussion of imagination and its place in art from the viewpoint of Islamic philosophers. Finally, it discusses "imitation" and Islamic philosophers' transcendent perception of this issue.