Avicenna and MullaSadra’s Thought about the Perception of Universal Concepts: a Comparative Study

Subject Areas : Philosophy

بیوک علیزاده ¹ ( ندارد )
داود زندی ² ( ندارد )

Received: 2010-03-10 Accepted : 2010-04-12 Published : 2009-03-21

Keywords: Perception, universal concepts, Abstraction, Transcendence, epistemology (theory of knowle,

Abstract :

How soul perceives universal concepts is one of the epistemologicalproblems that have been discussed by great Islamic philosophers likeMullaSadra and Avicenna. These philosophers have offered totallydifferent theories in this respect. Avicenna and his followers believethat soul perceives universal concepts through extraction by omittingaccidental things (abstraction theory). This cognition, as he says, isachievable only through a kind of relationship with active intellect .Onthe other hand, Mullasadra believes that soul can perceive universalconcepts not through extraction but through rational laboring anddeveloping particular concepts into universal ones (transcendencetheory).