Abstract

Is "spirit" the same as "soul"? Does Mulla Sadra discredit his controversial belief in the corporeal contingency of soul by endorsing the idea that the incorporeal spirit comes prior to body?Will the question be settled by assuming that he at times uses "soul" and "spirit" interchangeably? Or does he consider one as an incorporeal being existing prior to body and the other as a derivative of body?Raising such questions, the author makes a successful effort in removing the traditional ambiguities about Mulla Sadra's apparently overlapping notions of soul and spirit.Having rummaged all of Mulla Sadra's works in search of various interpretations of soul and spirit, Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Khamenei writes that Mulla Sadra considers soul and spirit as two entirely independent beings.Spirit as viewed by Mulla Sadra is the same as Plato's notion of heavenly spirit which is prior to body. Spirit, Mulla Sadra says, is other than the rational soul.He maintains that the contingency of soul originates from its corporeality which becomes spiritual in the course of time.