Man and Transcendence: A Narration of Man Based on the Principiality of Existence
Abstract
In Mulla Sadra's view, cognizance of Man is a difficult task because Man does not have a known level of existence so that a fixed quiddity is abstracted from him. Given this problem, one might ask what Mulla Sadra's explanation of Man is, and which approach one should follow in order to explain it so that it will be consistent with his initial claim.Sadrian philosophy agrees with defining Man as "a rational animal"; however, the explanation of Man in this school does not originally depend on presenting a "logical definition". Rather, it depends on the same truth that has caused the difficulty inherent in knowing Man. Mulla Sadra's explanation of Man is based on his very ontological change and evolution. That is why we can consider Man's most important feature in the Transcendent Philosophy to be his ontological transcendence and traversing various levels. Accordingly, Sadrian ontology is based on the principiality of existence and, therefore, in order to narrate it, we must choose Man's existential features as the beginning and central point around which the details of other issues are explained. The present paper intends to accomplish this task and, following a specific approach, considers "existential poverty" and the potential for "transcendence and perfection" as the most important pillars of Sadrian anthropology. Moreover, the writer explains elements such as activity, creativity, free will, training, and responsibility based on the above two concepts