The Unity or Mltiplicity of Soul in Man; a Comparative Study of Mulla Sadra and Professor Fayyazy's Theory

The Unity of Soul in Man; a Comparative Study of Mulla Sadra and Professor Fayyazy's Theory



Mehdi Meshki



Abstract



The "soul" of man is one of the important issues in philosophical anthropology. There are many questions about the soul, one of which is whether man has one soul or multiple souls. Almost all Islamic philosophers have theorized on this issue. Some have argued for the multiplicity of the soul and some have accepted the unity of soul in man. The present paper shows that the theory of Professor Fayyazi, who believes that human beings have two vegetative and human souls, is unacceptable in terms of its arguments, the theory itself cannot be defended by virtue of the prerequisites on which it is based, and at least it contains four flaws in it. Finally, Mulla Sadra's theory is explained and approved. From the perspective of Mulla Sadra, despite having simplicity and unity, soul has some levels, and in its strong and weak levels, soul itself is the origin of all perceptual and non-perceptual actions. In Mulla Sadra's view, non-perceptual actions of soul are congruous with the existence of soul, and therefore, human feeding and vegetative feeding are essentially two forms of feeding.