Abstract

To shed light on Mulla Sadra's judgement of sense and soul perception, it is recommended to first comprehend the views of Ishraqiyyun and Mashshaiyyun in this connection.Suhrawardi, the founder of illuminative wisdom, believes that sense materializes in the absence of any mediating agent i.e. as soon as the conditions for sense to exist are provided, human soul which itself is pure perception activates one's vision thus revealing the external existence of things.However, Peripatetics argue that the sensible form is transferred from outside into the organs and that is when it becomes perceivable.Sadr-ul-Muta'allehin develops his own theory which, nevertheless, seems to be partially compatible with the illuminative notion.Soul, he says, owing to its abstract existence and qualitative perfection is a manifestation of God Almighty's creativity. Sadr-ul-Muta'allehin considers sense existent, when soul having met certain conditions in the abstract world creates forms of external beings. According to him, soul creates the form of any being simply whenever it deems necessary.Unlike the Peripatetics, he believes that the transference of the sensible form to the organs is philosophically out of the question and sense is no more than a creation of an amazingly powerful soul.