A Comparative Study of the Theory of the Union of the Intellect and the Intelligible According to Plotinus and Mulla Sadra

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy and Islamic Wisdom, Faculty of Humanities, Shahed University, Tehran, Iran.

2 Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy and Islamic Theology, Faculty of Theology and Islamic Studies, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran.

3 Ph.D. student of Philosophy and Islamic Theology, Department of Philosophy and Islamic Theology, Faculty of Theology and Islamic Studies, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran.

Abstract

The union of the intellect (ʿāqil) and the intelligible (maʿqūl) is a significant philosophical concept introduced to Islamic thought through the translation movement, particularly via Neoplatonic sources. As one of the most influential figures of Neoplatonism, Plotinus extensively discusses this theory, asserting it through arguments rooted in the unity and actuality of the immaterial intellect, as well as the presence of the intelligible within the intellect. His conceptual framework was later echoed and expanded upon—albeit unknowingly—by Mulla Sadra, the eminent philosopher of the Islamic peripatetic tradition and the founder of Transcendental Philosophy (ḥikmat al-mutaʿāliyah). The present study offers that although in many cases Mulla Sadra's arguments are compatible with Plotinus's arguments, the former considers the unity of the rational with the intelligible to be present in the perception of other beings as well as sensory and imaginary perceptions. In comparison, Plotinus has explained and proven the unity of the intellect with the intelligible only in the perception of abstract essence.

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References

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