Thomas Aquinas and Mulla Sadra both criticized the previous theories on the soul-body problem, which held that the body is a mere instrument in the employ of the soul. Instead, they, following Aristotle, regard the connection between the soul and the body as form and matter since, they thought of it as an essential connection not accidental. Despite this initial similarity there are differences between Aquinas and Sadra on this problem which in the end lead them to two distinctive results.

Sadrean anthropology is required for two reasons:First- for understanding where the Sadrean anthropology in the frame of his thought's structure abides, as well as, for understanding the relation between the other issues such as knowledge of God and cosmology in Sadrean thought.Second- to propound it as an adequate alternative against the anthropologies, studied in today's world.Mulla Sadra regards the study of the soul, for its perfect-seeking relation with the body, as among the natural sciences, and puts it at the top (...) of these sciences. And since soul is a spiritual thing, proceeding toward its origin, he considers the knowledge of it as Divine science. Here one can conclude that Mulla Sadra has regarded anthropology as an interdisciplinary science. (shrink)

The creation of the human being is an issue that has arisen from time to time in both Western and Eastern philosophy. Does the human soul have an eternal preexistence, or was it, just like the body, created at a point in time? If created at a point in time, does the soul join the body as a created but incorporeal existence or does it join the body as a physical thing that changes into an incorporeal existence? Finally, does God (...) produce the human soul instantaneously? The present essay is a comparative investigation of the views of Thomas Aquinas and Mullā Ṣadrā on this topic.In his writings Thomas treated the problem of the creation of the human being from both philosophical and theological perspectives. His .. (shrink)

This research aims at investigating some specific metaphorical applications of the concept of causality in Suhrawardi's philosophy, basically referring to the theory of conceptual metaphor. Hitherto, two traditional and contemporary theories have been discussed in this regard. Regarding the traditional theory represented by Aristotle Metaphor, it can be regarded as the use of the name of something for something else. According to this view, the reason why one word is used instead of another is a pre-existing and objective similarity between (...) the two phenomena. Contemporary metaphor theory holds that, in addition to objective similarity, non-objective similarities, the creation of similarities by the mind and the correlation in experience are bases for the formation of metaphors. In Suhrawardi's philosophy, causality has been conceptualized as a key philosophical concept with the help of various metaphors. (shrink)

Regarding the classical theory, metaphors have been regarded as decorative things, belonging to the literary language and distinctive from philosophical and scientific language. Besides, according to this theory, the basis of the forming of metaphors is the similarity between two phenomena. However, considering the contemporary theory, not only the literary language but also the scientific and philosophical ones are metaphorical. Moreover, the basis of the forming of metaphors is not only the objective similarities, but also the non-objective ones and experiential (...) co-occurrences. In contemporary theory, a metaphor is the transition of the source domain structure to the target domain. According to this theory, philosophical concepts are conceptualized through metaphors. Lakoff and Johnson believe that mind is conceptualized through metaphors. The present article shows that Shaykh al-Isḥāq (Suhrawardī) would also structure the mind through metaphors. In Suhrawardī's Epistemology, different aspects of perception are formulated through concepts such as seeing, illumination, manipulating objects, Constructions, mathematical calculations, and motion. (shrink)