Philosophy
fateme soleimani
Abstract
Introduction
An action is an external behavior formed through an interplay between knowledge and inner tendencies, and then actualized via will or volition. On this picture, an action begins from a conception and assent (affirmation) within an epistemic process, leading to decision-making and will. ...
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Introduction
An action is an external behavior formed through an interplay between knowledge and inner tendencies, and then actualized via will or volition. On this picture, an action begins from a conception and assent (affirmation) within an epistemic process, leading to decision-making and will. Several factors, such as the imaginative faculty, the faculty of theoretical and practical reason, the craving faculty, and will, contribute to this process. Accordingly, various types of human action are formed given the order of functioning as well as the intensity and strength of these faculties. Hence, the existence of various possibilities and circumstances for the interactions of these principles demand different models for human action. A consideration and comparison of these factors can play a role in analyzing and explaining the human action as well as presenting various solutions to change, modify, or even reinforce human behaviors. To do so, a survey was conducted in the works of Mullā Ṣadrā deploying the descriptive-analytic method to identify various models of human action and pinpoint their differences and the conditions in which they occur. The main problem of this research is:
What is the fundamental and basic model of the human action and what are the models branching from them?
The secondary questions include the following:
How do models of human action differ from each other and from the model of action in animals?
What is the role of temperament in the model of human actions?
Research Background
Thus far, several studies have been carried out concerning the philosophy of action and how an action is produced within the framework of Mullā Ṣadrā’s philosophy. Rezaee and Houshangi (2013) in “The process of the production of human voluntary action,” Shahgoli (2019) in “Principles of action in the views of Fārābī and Mullā Ṣadrā,” and Mirhadi (2018) in “Philosophy of action in Transcendent philosophy” aim to introduce the principles and preliminaries of action and the stages of the production of an action from the perspective of Muslim philosophers, particularly Mullā Ṣadrā. Vafaeian and Gharamaleki (2017) in “An ontological analysis of the process of the production of actions from the perspectives of Avicenna and Ṣadr al-Mutaʾallihīn” assert that they are concerned with the ontological status of the principles of the production of action. Soleimani (2020) in “The place of action in human existence in Mullā Ṣadrā’s view” provides an account of the formation of action and the longitudinal relationship between its principles, stating that Mullā Ṣadrā views the inner reality of an action as its longitudinal principles, while external action is solely a manifestation and expression of this longitudinal chain of the functioning of perceptual and motive faculties of the soul. Varzdar and Ketabchi (2022) in “The study of the function of practical reason in the process of action production in Transcendent philosophy” are focused on the role of practical reason in the process of the production of actions.
The contribution of the present research, which sets it apart from the above-mentioned studies, is that it addresses the numerous models and schemas of the order and mode of the functioning of the formative principles and elements of action.
Conclusion
When doing an action, the human individual employs the numerous faculties and powers of their soul, including perceptual and motive faculties. Given the order of functioning as well as the intensity and strength of these faculties, various types of human action are formed. Thus, a model and schema can be determined for each type of human action. All conceivable models of human action involve a transition from the cognitive principle to determination, will, and production of the outer overt action. In other words, all varieties of human actions are formed based on a basic model. This foundational model shows the general course of the soul’s linear motion from the highest to the lowest principles that contribute to the actualization of action.
Regarding the basic fundamental model of human action, stages can be devised as follows:
In the first stage, the desired goal and objective are determined by theoretical reason. In the second, the proper action to fulfil the goal is selected and confirmed by practical reason. In the third, the requisite proper urge and motivation are produced by the craving faculty under the governance of practical reason. In the fourth, rational urge prevails and intensifies and then determination and will are formed for doing the action.
In the model of deterministic action, the urge resulting from the confirmation by practical reason is not agreeable to nature, but the action is selected and preferred by the cognitive system and then confirmed by reason. Accordingly, an action not being agreeable is compatible with its volitional and free character.
In the model of animal action, humans just like animals have a presence-based comprehension of an instinctive impulse and need within themselves, then conceive a particular action in their imaginative faculty as well as the pleasure or pain associated with the action, and then through appetitive or irascible faculties, an urge or repulsion towards the action ill be produced in the individual. If the urge is bolstered and prevails, the will to do or omit the action will be formed.
In any event, Ṣadrā believes that urge and will in humans are governed by reason. It is only in this case that the will can be rational and human. However, if the urge and will are governed by instincts, senses, and imagination, which yields a speculative judgment by reason, the will is animal.
When the action occurs, its wanted or unwanted consequences can have an effect on the constitutive elements of the action. This means that they have a reinforcing or undermining effect on instincts and inner impulses, knowledge, desire, and will. Nevertheless, this effect is only indirect. In case there is a positive effect, which reinforces the principles of an action, the action will be repeated frequently. This will lead to a particular psychological habit in the individual, which is called a “temperament” or “character.” According to the principles of Sadraean philosophy, a soul that possesses a temperament changes its substantial form, and given the new stage of its psychological forms, it comes to have new and stronger faculties and powers. Later, the principles of the action will be further solidified and their functioning in inducing actions will be quicker, such that the actions associated with that stage of the soul will be produced more easily.
fateme soleimani
Abstract
IntroductionGod as the creator and lord of humans, and as All-Provider (razzāq), is in charge of providing for human primary basic needs, as in the Qur’an God promises to make basic provisions for everyone. The promise led some people to think that humans have a right to receive provisions ...
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IntroductionGod as the creator and lord of humans, and as All-Provider (razzāq), is in charge of providing for human primary basic needs, as in the Qur’an God promises to make basic provisions for everyone. The promise led some people to think that humans have a right to receive provisions from God, expecting that God should optimally and fully provide for human needs. For this reason, the difference in people’s provisions has led to questions concerning divine justice.The problem with which this paper is concerned is why God has allotted different amounts of provisions to different people, instead of giving different people equal shares of provisions. Moreover, if allotment of provisions is attributed to God, why is it emphasized that people try hard to gain provisions?These questions have frequently been raised in religious milieus throughout the history, often with the intention of casting doubts on religious beliefs by questioning divine justice, since different provisions for different people are thought to be at odds with God’s justice.A number of papers in the field of Quranic sciences have been written about this problem, which are based on the views of Quranic exegetes, on which we draw in this paper. The contribution of this paper is that it offers a philosophical consideration of the problem in terms of Avicenna’s philosophy, particularly his essay on provisions (Risāla fi-l-arzāq). It is noteworthy that the problem was not tackled by any other Muslim philosophers. In Islamic philosophy, God’s attribute of All-Provider is mentioned in passing as an attribute of action—it is at most defined and reduced to divine attributes of essence such as knowledge, wisdom, and power. Avicenna deals with the problem of provisions in his Risāla fi-l-arzāq. This is an essay attributed to Avicenna. Over 20 manuscripts of the essay are available in libraries, and its attribution to Avicenna has not been a matter of dispute.The essay is concerned with questions about divine justice and how to treat people’s differences in their provisions in these terms. Avicenna explicitly deals with the problem in terms of a debate. In line with his Peripatetic framework, he considers different aspects and possible results of the question, as illustrated with numerous examples.In this paper, I provide an account of Avicenna’s remarks here given his general theoretical framework as explicated in other works of his. I also offer criticisms of his account. Taking account of the views of Quranic exegetes concerning the problem, I offer my own account of the problem.Discussion and ConclusionsIn order to reconcile two groups of Quranic verses in one of which the allotment of provisions is attributed to God and in the other the attainment of provisions is conditioned upon the human labor and efforts, one might offer the following account: in a monotheistic view, provisions are ultimately allotted and distributed by God, but this is in terms of unchanging traditions in accordance to the divine wisdom. In the best or optimal order and the dynamics of the universe, human wills and the amount and quality of their labors and efforts play roles in the expansion or diminution of one’s provisions. For obtaining a desirable provision, a set of conditions should be satisfied and certain grounds should be prepared.Given one’s material and spiritual possessions, which are in turn from God, every person tries to obtain provisions by drawing upon one’s insight, intelligence, as well as spiritual and material capitals. The better one performs in utilizing one’s opportunities the more provisions one attains, and the more negligent and indolent one is in using one’s existential and material capacities and the more vulnerable one makes oneself to unpredictable economic circumstances the more deprived one will be and the more futile one’s efforts will turn out to be, in which case one will have a diminished provision. In this way, God the Wise has established laws and traditions in the creation in such a way that everyone can attain his or her own share of provisions with their mental and physical capacities, without there being any injustice.In his “Essay on provisions” Avicenna has dealt with the problem of the difference in people’s provisions and its bearing upon the divine justice. In this essay, he tries to rely on divine wisdom and grace to correct wrong conceptions and establish divine justice in the measurement of people’s provisions. Through an articulation of the contradictions involved in different aspects of the problem, Avicenna shows that the idea of exactly equal provisions leads to an impossibility or the human destruction.
fateme soleimani
Abstract
Introductin Since the best order is the best possible created order, such an order is a complete created order as an act of God the All-wise. Given the teleological notion of order, which is the harmony and coherence of the parts of a whole directed at a purpose, the existence of an order in the world ...
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Introductin Since the best order is the best possible created order, such an order is a complete created order as an act of God the All-wise. Given the teleological notion of order, which is the harmony and coherence of the parts of a whole directed at a purpose, the existence of an order in the world can be seen as evidence of a harmony among phenomena in the world to achieve an end. Given the process of developments and changes in the world, the discovery of its complex laws and regularities leads the human mind to a serious problem: How can such changes and developments be accounted for by the fixed and rigid laws of the world. Moreover, how can man as part of the order have a conscious free life in such a coherent and fixed world? The main question is: What is the characteristic of the dominant order of the world, in virtue of which it can accommodate all the developments and changes of the natural world, particularly the developments of man’s free acts? This research seeks to provide an account of the changes and developments of the natural world and those of man’s free acts through an account of the created order and the relationship among God, the world, and man. In reply to objections such as the reconciliation of the human agency and the divine agency—man’s free will and divine will—theologians and philosophers have offered general accounts that fail to accommodate particularities and cannot solve problems concerning badā’ (alternation in divine will) and prayer. Because of this, it is necessary to provide an account of the world as a divine act, in which the world has room for both human choices and the deterministic processes of natural phenomena, despite its rigidity and organization. Discussion and results In the best order of the world, all changes and developments of the material world occur within the framework of fixed divine laws. God the All-wise exhibits proper reactions to the developments of the world in accordance with the fixed laws without undergoing passions or changes. On this picture, the world is a creative and dynamic process in a constant state of renewal. This process is creative in that it is spontaneous, internally caused, and systematic as directed by an All-wise and All-living agent. Thus, the world order is active and dynamic in accordance with fixed and inviolable laws, complying with these laws and traditions in different circumstances. In such an order, man with his power of choice applies divine traditions to himself with his power to choose. According to the Transcendent Wisdom, in a world in which evils are inevitable because of causal conflicts, God provides man with a variety of possibilities for achieving the good. When people comply with divine traditions and the worldly order, the material and spiritual causes and forces of the world will act in their favor, leading them to further enjoyment of the material world and spiritual benefits. However, if people act against divine traditions and the worldly order, they will face negative forces and will be subject to divine traditions that lead him to a wretched life. Under the direction of an All-knowing and All-powerful God, the world displays intelligent reactions to human actions and reactions. The divine power and will are absolute, and yet, they are guide and encourage people; that is, God guides people to the good and prohibits them from evils. God’s final goal is to improve and enrich people’s practice. In the dynamic order of the world, the fate never changes; it is made. In this order, God’s response to the prayer is not a matter of man’s influence on God. It is a matter of proper use of material and spiritual causes and forces within the framework of divine traditions and the discovery of the ways out of impasse. We refer to such a construal of the world as the “dynamic world’ which is a lawful, intelligent, and active system or order directed by an All-knowing, All-powerful, and All-wise being, appearing in a manifestation at every moment. On this account, man has a creative and choice-making power, making his fate within the framework of divine traditions in accordance with the extent of his understanding at every moment.
fateme soleimani
Abstract
According to philosophers intellect is the rational faculty of the soul, by which one can understand the truth universally. Now the question is how much this definition of intellect conforms to the Quran's view. Islamic Philosophers believe that intellect has got various capabilities to reach differing ...
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According to philosophers intellect is the rational faculty of the soul, by which one can understand the truth universally. Now the question is how much this definition of intellect conforms to the Quran's view. Islamic Philosophers believe that intellect has got various capabilities to reach differing degrees. In the lower degrees intellect can deduce, analyze and synthesize the concepts. Through contemplation, reflection as well as purification, this faculty could develop and would be able to connect with the world beyond and unify with separated intelligences and reach the truth immediately. Thus, the intellect controls the whole cognitive activities of human being including understanding, deduction, assessment, development, spiritual observation and his practical actions. In other words, the real existential dimension of man always thinks and acting accordingly. This concept of intellect is the one Quran verses admitted.
