A Comparative Analysis of the Quiddity of Mental Forms in Price’s Philosophy and al-Ḥikma al-Mutaʿāliyah

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

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

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

Abstract

The present study focuses on the problem of the nature of mental images and seeks to clarify the relationship between the theory of H. H. Price and the explanations offered within Hikmat al-Mutaʿāliyah, particularly in the thought of Mulla Ṣadrā. It further evaluates the capacity of these two frameworks to interpret parapsychological phenomena such as telepathy, hauntings (or place-possession), and psychokinesis. The primary aim of the research is to identify points of convergence and divergence between the two approaches and to demonstrate the possibility of their mutual complementarity within a more comprehensive theoretical framework.
The study adopts a descriptive–analytical and comparative methodology. First, the methodological and ontological foundations of each perspective are reconstructed—namely, Price’s empiricism grounded in parapsychological evidence, and the rational–ontological argumentation characteristic of Hikmat al-Mutaʿāliyah. Subsequently, the principal components of their respective accounts of mental images are comparatively analyzed, including their intermediary status between matter and immateriality, persistence and vitality, symbolic expression, and the possibility of communication with other minds.
The findings indicate that both theories regard mental images as neither purely material nor merely subjective, but as possessing an intermediate ontological status. However, Price tends toward attributing a degree of relative independence to images and assigns properties such as a “telepathic character” to the ideas themselves. In contrast, Hikmat al-Mutaʿāliyah grounds such properties in the existential modalities (tashaʾunāt) of the soul and its hierarchical levels of being. The study concludes that a rereading of Price’s theory in light of Ṣadrian metaphysical principles may enhance its metaphysical coherence while preserving its responsiveness to the empirical data emphasized by Price.

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References

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