Examining the possibility of knowing God from the perspective of Mulla Sadra and Spinoza

Subject Areas : Epistemological researches

Anvar raissi ¹ , Abbas Ahmadi Saadi ² , Mohammad Ali Akhgar ³

1 - PhD student, Department of Philosophy and Islamic Theology, FASA Branch, Islamic Azad University, FASA, Iran.
2 - Faculty Member of Islamic Azad University of Fasa
3 - Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, Shiraz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Shiraz, Iran.

Received: 2025-07-04 Accepted : 2025-10-11 Published : 2025-11-22

Keywords: Spinoza, Mulla Sadra, Knowledge of God,

Abstract :

The aim of the present study is to examine the possibility of knowing God in the thought of Mulla Sadra and Spinoza. The research method is concept analysis. The findings of the study indicate that in Mulla Sadra's thought, the possibility of knowing God is taken from a rational perspective and he raises five aspects - the aspect of the impossibility of knowing the divine essence and the possibility of knowing God through attributes and actions; the aspect of the possibility of knowing God in the undifferentiated stage; the possibility of knowing God in the stage of distinguishing between superior and inferior positions; the aspect of the possibility of knowing God in the stage of distinguishing between knowledge and discovery; the possibility of knowing God - in the knowledge of God and passing through these aspects is done by reasoning. In Spinoza's view, imagining something is explaining it. In other words, the imagined exists to the extent of its explanation. Therefore, what you have understood is necessarily God, but this does not mean that what you understand is a complete understanding of God. Spinoza's thought can be understood in the sense that humans can inevitably know God, because humans are able to identify infinite ideas of God through their relation to their intermittent understanding.

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