KHERADNAME-YE SADRA
Year:2006 | Volume:11 | Issue:44|Papers Count:7

Nietzsche portrays the various dimensions of Empedocles's character as follows: "He is a physician or a magician, poet or orator, God or man, scientist or artist, a man of politics or a man of religion, and Pythagoras or Democritus. He is a character fluctuating between different poles and is the most amazing figure of ancient philosophy. He is the one who put an end to the period of myth, tragedy, and the mayhem of religious feasts.The picture of a more developed Greek is indeed manifested in his existence. He is a lover of freedom, a preacher, a rationalist, the creator of metaphor and irony, a man of science, and; in sum, the heir to two centuries of knowledge, philosophy, and thought.

In practice, Mulla Sadra believed in methodological pluralism.Therefore, he was negatively and positively influenced by various schools and sources in solving philosophical problems.In devising his theory of the order of emanation, Mulla Sadra had been influenced by the Ishraqi school of thought at least in four respects including the following:1. Paying attention to objective directions and modes in the emanation of the many from the one 2. Refuting the restriction of the intellects to ten types 3. Accepting the existence of horizontal intellects in addition to vertical ones4. Resorting to the principle of superior possibility in order to explain the order of effusion He also agreed with two elements of Peripatetic philosophers concerning emanation, namely, the analysis of the emanation of plurality based on mentally-posited modes and the restriction of the intellects to ten vertical types.

Philosophers have divided wisdom into two theoretical and practical types, with each having its own types. Theoretical wisdom deals with the principles related to "is" and "is not". However, practical wisdom deals with issues related to "oughts" and "ought-nots" that are in the domain of man's capacity. These two types are other than theoretical and practical intellects. The former are two scientific branches while the latter are among the human faculties that are used as tools in order to obtain the former types.In Mulla Sadra's view, the human soul has two faculties: one looks at its superior, namely, the theoretical intellect, and the other looks at its inferior, namely, the practical intellect. Although the theoretical intellect is originated in the practical intellect, it is superior to it because the practical intellect receives and infers the details about actions from the general principles of the theoretical one. Accordingly, the practical intellect is at the service of the theoretical one. Mulla Sadra refers to certain levels for the former and believes that the human soul has to go through them in order to attain perfection. He maintains that the ultimate goal of practical wisdom is the expansion of the mind. Ibn Sina has also referred to most of the above issues in his works.

The writer of this paper has tried to portray Plato's ideal government on the basis of his Republic. Apparently, Plato's main purpose in this dialogue was to define true justice rather than have his intended ideal government realized. The gist of his words concerning justice is that everyone must do the job that conforms to his nature. Of course, as Plato himself has pointed out, introducing and defining such an ideal city or utopia will inspire people to model it and create a terrestrial form of that heavenly pattern in the best way possible. This paper discusses the various defects and strengths of Plato's ideal society.

Suhrawardi considers himself to be the reviver of Iranian wisdom. We can infer two conclusions from this claim: first, his philosophical background is rooted in Iranian wisdom, and, second, he is the founder of Ishraqi school of thought. However, a part of this school which had previously existed in Iran but had been forgotten in his time was revived by mm. In this paper, the writer has tried to compare the Iranian wisdom with that of Suhrawardi. He finally concludes that the Iranian wisdom is originally of an Ishraqi nature.

Most Iranian and Eastern researchers working in the field of religion believe that Zoroaster founded Magianism and was killed in an attack made.by a foreign ethnic group. Two copies of his religious books were available: one in Takht-e Jamshld royal Library, which was put to fire by Greek invaders, and the other in Takht-e Suleyman, which was stolen by them.However, according to Islamic traditions, Zoroaster was not a Magian prophet. He claimed to be a prophet and had collected certain verses. Later' there were some conflicts among his people and, as a result, some followed him and some disagreed with him. Finally, he was expelled from among people and became prey to beasts.In these traditions, with some disagreements, someone called "Damast" is introduced as the prophet of the Magi, and their religious book has been called "Jamas", "Jamasb", and "Jamast". This prophet was finally murdered by his own people and his religious book was burnt.