Horizons of Thought

Vol.1, No.2, Spring & Summer 2015

AbbasAli Shameli \ Assistant Professor, Almustafa International University aashameli39@gmail.com

Received: 2015/5/27 - Accepted: 2015/10/5

Abstract

This paper will partly compare the approaches and ideas of two pioneers in Islamic philosophy in relation with the soul-body problem: the philosophical psychology of Mullā Sadrā (Sadr al-Muta'allihīn Shīrāzī 975-1050 AH/1571-1640 AD) and that of Ibn Sīnā (370-428 AH/980-1037 AD). In order to investigate the issue of the soul-body problem in the works of Mulla Sadra compared with those of Ibn Sīnā, we firstly need to gain a general perspective of their respective approaches to Islamic philosophical psychology. Such a perspective could help us to arrive at a more precise understanding of what each has contributed in this area and their differences. Although psychology occupied a vital role in Ibn Sina school of philosophy and his theories in this regard were of great importance in the history of Islamic thought, some major differences nevertheless separate his psychological doctrines from those of Mulla Sadra that appeared in the post-Ibn Sina period. These differences are significant even if we admit that Ibn Sina’s writings were not merely an imitation of the Aristotelian tradition. His ideas, indeed, provided the ground for the later developments of the Iranian mystical philosophy or gnosis ('irfān). This transformation of falsafah is rooted in the philosophical investigation of the soul, or perhaps in the implications that psychological doctrines have yielded for all areas.

Keywords: Philosophical psychology, soul-body problem, duality of soul and body, soul-body relationship