Intellect

Providing an exact explication of rationality in a way that would lead to the explication of the scope of rational discourse is among the most fundamental problems of philosophers. In the current essay the author struggles to reach a comprehensive definition of rationality via an exact description and analysis of ideas of Mulla Sadra (1571-1641) as the most significant philosophical figure in the Islamic world according to which one can present all human achievements in the domain of knowledge and science as manifestations of this rationality. Rationality in Sadra’s intellectual system represents a comprehensive term with an analogically graded meaning that in different levels of certainty guarantees the validity of applied, theoretical and intuitive sciences. This comprehensive perspective of the domain of rational discourse can put an end to many disputes on the exact sense of rationality and in doing so, it can bring about a basis for more interaction and sympathy among scholars in various branches of science and open the path for deeper dialogue.

SUBJECT AND OBJECTIVES : Companying with revelation and other human faculties like sense and heart, Intellect is the perceptive faculty as one of the most significant fundaments of human Ma'rifat (recognition). It is important to know the position of Intellect in the epistemic geometry of Islam, especially Islamic ethics which lead human truth. In order to realize Intellect and its position among fundamentals of epistemology, the view of some precedent scholars like Sheikh Saduq is prominent since the proximity of his age to the presence of infallible Imams and finding minor occultation era. METHOD AND FINDING : Aiding a descriptive-analytical method, we seek for the position of intellect as one of epistemological fundamentals of ethics and their rank of influence on ethical Ma'rifat based on theological thoughts of Sheikh Saduq. We have defined Intellect from the perspective of epistemology as the source of knowledge. Then, we have dealt with the types of Intellect, including theoretical and practical ones, and finding the particular type considered in epistemology. CONCLUSION : Even though, Sheikh Saduq is counted as a textualist thinker but intellect in his thought is considered as an independent source in the scope of intellectual problems, which authenticates the other sources of recognition. Intellect is also mentioned as the primary source of recognition, and in company with revelation is known as the main causes of recognition.

One of the influential topics in Islamic philosophy is the issue of "active intellect". This term has entered Islamic philosophy from Aristotle's philosophy and some interpreters of Aristotle's works. Islamic philosophers interpreted this issue in the context of their philosophical system and by expanding its concept from the field of natural and industrial (artistic) phenomena to the field of epistemology; they gave it a significant role. These philosophers have presented two types of arguments to prove the active intellect. Some of these arguments are formulated based on the theory of the nine spheres and according to the principle of causality. These arguments attemt to prove efficient causes for the existence of spheres and introduce ultimate causes for their rotational movements. Arguments of the second category also attempt to prove active intellect by relying on principles such as "every event and contingent needs an efficient cause" and "lacking a thing, it is not given to it". In this article, these arguments have been examined and finally, it has been concluded that the arguments of the first category are vulnerable and invalid due to the invalidity of their basis (planetary theory); and the arguments of the second category can only prove non-material and efficient cause or causes, provided that their premises are true, not the active intellect, i.e., the tenth intellect.