Examination of the Notion of Free Will in Transcendent Philosophy

Document Type : The Quarterly Jornal

Authors

1 PhD student, transcendent philosophy, Ferdowsi University, Mashhad, Iran

2 Associate professor, Fedowsi University, Mashhad, Iran (corresponding author)

3 Professor, Ferdowsi University, Mashhad, Iran

Abstract

In this paper, we seek to provide a clear picture of the notion of free will in terms of the principles of Transcendent Philosophy and remarks by Sadraean philosophers. The most important extant definitions of free will in Transcendent Philosophy consist in the following: “having multiple principles of knowledge, desire, will, and muscular movements,” “having dual principles of knowledge and will,” “possibility of both action and omission,” “wanting both action and omission,” and “independence of the agent and not being influenced by others.” The most comprehensive and common interpretation of free will is to say that it is to have will and knowledge, as this is interpreted in terms of the Transcendent Philosophy, according to which both knowledge and will are like existence: notwithstanding their conceptual distinction, they are present in all stages of being, and despite their synonymy, they are graded. The comprehensive notion of will which consists in delight, love, and consent begins with inferior instances such as desire in the natural world and extends to God’s essential delight and love. To refine the notion of will to existential love makes the acceptance of human free will more rational and plausible despite the dominance of causes over humans. Furthermore, consideration of human essential love and desire at the stage of his epistemic existence before God (the divine archetype, al-‘ayn al-thābit) accounts for the free will and answers some questions.

Keywords

References

  1. Ibn Sīnā, Ḥusayn b. ‘Abd Allāh (1404), al-Ta’līqāt, edited by Abdel Rahman Badawi, Beirut: Maktabat al-I’lam al-Islami
  2. Ibn Sīnā, Ḥusayn b. ‘Abd Allāh (1379), al-Nijāt min al-Gharq fī Baḥr al-Ḍalālāt, prefaced and edited by Mohammad Taghi Danesh Pajooh, second edition, Tehran: University of Tehran Press
  3. Ibn ‘Arabī, Muḥyi l-Dīn (1946), Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam, Cairo: Dar Ihya’ al-Kutub al-‘Arabiyya
  4. Iṣfahānī, Muḥammad Ḥusayn (1414), Nihāyat al-Dirāya fī Sharḥ al-Kifāya, Qom: Al al-Bayt Institute
  5. Javadi Amoli, Abdollah (1386), Sarchishma-yi Andīsha, edited by Abbas Rahimian Mohaghegh, Qom: Esra Foundation of Revelatory Sciences
  6. Javadi Amoli, Abdollah (1388), Adab-i Fanā-yi Mugharrabān, edited by Mohammad Safaee, Qom: Esra Foundation of Revelatory Sciences
  7. Javadi Amoli, Abdollah (1387), Raḥīq-i Makhtūm 6: Sharḥ-i Ḥikmat-i Muta’ālīya (Asfar, vol. 6), Qom: Esra Foundation of Revelatory Sciences (audio source)
  8. Javadi Amoli, Abdollah (1387), ‘Ayn Naḍḍākh (Taḥrīr Tamhīd al-Qawā’id), edited by Hamid Parsania, Qom: Esra Foundation of Revelatory Sciences
  9. Khomeini, Rouhollah (1379), al-Ṭalab wa l-Irāda, Tehran: Organization for Compilation and Publication of the Work of Imam Khomeini
  10. Khomeini, Rouhollah (1378), Sharḥ-i Chihil Ḥadīth, 20th edition, Tehran: Organization for Compilation and Publication of the Work of Imam Khomeini
  11. Zunnūzī, Mullā ‘Abd Allāh, (n.d.), Luma’āt Ilāhīyya, Tehran: Institute for Cultural Studies and Research
  12. Sobhani, Jafar (1423), al-Inṣāf fī Masa’il Dam fīhā al-Khilāf, Qom: Imam Sadiq Institute
  13. Sabzawārī, Hādī (1369-1379), Sharḥ al-Manẓūma, edited and annotated by Hasanzadeh Amoli and prefaced by Masoud Talebi, Tehran: Nashr-e Nab
  14. Sabzawārī, Hādī (1383), Asrār al-Ḥikam, prefaced by Saduqi and edited Karim Fayzi, Qom: Matbu’at Dini
  15. Sabzawārī, Hādī (1372), Sharḥ Du’ā al-Ṣabāḥ, edited by Najafgholi Habibi, Tehran: University of Tehran
  16. Sabzawārī, Hādī (1360), al-Ta’līqāt ‘alā al-Shawāhid al-Rubūbīyya, edited and annotated by Sayyed Jalaloddin Ashtiani, Mashhad: al-Markaz al-Jami’i li-l-Nashr
  17. Sabzawārī, Hādī (1372), Sharḥ Asmā’ al-Ḥusnā, edited by Najafgholi Habibi, Tehran: University of Tehran
  18. Ṣadr al-Muta’allihīn, Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm (1981), al-Ḥikmat al-Muta’ālīya fī l-Asfar al-‘Aqlīyya al-Arba’a, third edition, Beirut: Dar Ihya’ al-Turath
  19. Ṣadr al-Muta’allihīn, Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm (1287), Si Risāla-yi Falsafī, prefaced, edited, and annotated by Sayyed Jalaloddin Ashtiani, Qom: Islamic Propagation Office
  20. Ṣadr al-Muta’allihīn, Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm (1366), Tafsīr al-Qur’ān al-Karīm, edited by Mohammad Khajovi, second edition, Qom: Bidar Publications
  21. Ṣadr al-Muta’allihīn, Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm (1354), al-Mabda’ wa l-Ma’ād, edited by Sayyed Jalaloddin Ashtiani, Tehran: Iranian Institute of Philosophy
  22. Ṣadr al-Muta’allihīn, Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm (1432), Tis’ Rasā’il Falsafīyya, vol. 1, edited by Sayyid Abulhasan Ali Baghdadi, Qom: Baghiat
  23. Ṣadr al-Muta’allihīn, Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm (1383), Sharḥ Uṣūl al-Kāfī, edited by Mohammad Khajovi, Tehran: Institute for Cultural Studies and Research
  24. Ṣadr al-Muta’allihīn, Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm (1422), Sharḥ al-Hidāyat al-Athīrīyya, edited by Mohammad Mostafa Fouladkar, Beirut: Mu’assisat al-Tarikh al-‘Arabi
  25. Ṣadr al-Muta’allihīn, Muḥammad b. Ibrāhīm (1363), Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb, prefaced and edited by Mohammad Khajovi, Tehran: Institute for Cultural Studies and Research
  26. Ṭabāṭabā’ī, Muḥammad Ḥusayn (n.d.), Nihāyat al-Ḥikma, 12th edition, Qom: Islamic Publication Institute
  27. Ṭabāṭabā’ī, Muḥammad Ḥusayn (1387), Uṣūl-i Falsafa wa Rawish-i Realism, Qom: Boostan-e Ketab
  28. Ṭabāṭabā’ī, Muḥammad Ḥusayn (1417), al-Mīzān fī Tafsīr al-Qur’ān, fifth edition, Qom: Islamic Publication Office of Society of Teachers at Islamic Seminary of Qom
  29. Mesbah Yazdi, Mohammad Taghi (1405), Ta’līqa ‘alā Nihāyat al-Ḥikma, first edition, Qom: Dar Rah-e Hagh Institute
  30. Motahhari, Mortaza (1372), Majmū’a Āthār-i Shahīd Motahhari, first edition, Tehran: Sadra Publications
  31. Mīr Dāmād, Muḥammad Bāqir (1367), al-Qabasāt, edited by Mahdi Mohaghegh, Sayyed Ali Mousavi Behbahani, Izutsu, Ebrahim Dibaji, second edition, Tehran: University of Tehran Press
  32. Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. Muḥammad (1375), Sharḥ al-Ishārāt wa l-Tanbīhāt, Qom: Nashr al-Balaghah
  33. Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. Muḥammad (1383), Ajwibat al-Masā’il al-Naṣīrīyya, edited by ‘Abdollah Nourani, Tehran: Institute for Humanities and Cultural Studies
  34. Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī, Muḥammad b. Muḥammad (1407), Tajrīd al-I’tiqād, edited by Hosseini Jalali, Qom: Islamic Propagation Office
  35. J. Moya, Carlos, (2006), Moral Responsibility, the Ways of Skepticism, London and New York: Routledge.
Theological Reflection and Philosophical Criticism
Volume 24, Issue 94 - Serial Number 94
October 2019
Pages 144-167

Files

Share

How to cite

Statistics