Abstract

The interaction between the body and soul is one of the topics that has always attracted the attention of scientists and philosophers. Mulla Sadra has propounded the problems related to the body and soul in the 8th and 9th volumes of al-Asfar in an independent form and in the 3rd, 4th and 6th volumes of this book under other topics such as knowledge, substance, accident, and so on.The present paper first refers to Mulla Sadra's principles and theories in this regard in short and then examines the interaction between the body and soul from three perspectives.The writer first explains the effect of the interaction between the body and soul on the genesis of each of them and concludes that the soul is the cause of the combination of elements and formation of the body, and the body, which is of a specific quality and balanced temperament, is the cause of the emanation of the soul. Then he proceeds to discuss the effects of the soul and body through the faculties of the vegetative, animal, and human souls. The vegetative soul is responsible for the nutrition, growth, and reproduction of plants; the animal soul is responsible for perception and stimulation, and the human soul draws on its theoretical and practical faculties to reason about general and particular issue and explain ethical or other types of propositions.Finally, the writer deals with the body-soul interaction in terms of their states and argues that physical characteristics and states, e.g. health, sickness, and pain, affect the soul, and some mental states such as anger and sorrow lead to some changes in the body.