Abstract

The objective of this dissertation is to examine critically the legitimacy of a very important and widely held claim made by Islamic philosophers and scholars of Islamic Philosophy about Mulla Sadra's philosophy. The claim is that Mulla Sadra's philosophy is a synthesis of the truth claims of revelation, gnosis and discursive philosophy. The task of determining whether or not the claim is a legitimate one, is divided into three parts or stages of examination. First, to examine whether or not there exists a synthesis of the truth claims of revelation, gnosis and discursive philosophy in Mulla Sadra's philosophy? Second, if there exists a synthesis of the three truth claims in Mulla Sadra's philosophy, how does he synthesize them? Third, to evaluate whether Mulla Sadra's synthesis is a successful synthesis? ;An examination of the fundamental principles of Mulla Sadra's philosophy which constitute its foundation reveals that there exists a synthesis of revelation, gnosis and discursive philosophy in their formulations. Mulla Sadra's important and synoptic philosophical text al-Hikmat al-'arshiyyah is chosen as the basis of the analysis of his method of synthesis. An analysis of Mulla Sadra's manner of approach, method of reasoning and philosophical vocabulary in the al-Hikmat al-'arshiyyah demonstrates that Mulla Sadra's synthesis of the three truth claims is based on his synthesis of the three sources of knowledge: revelation, intellectual intuition and discursive reasoning. The evaluation of the two syntheses based on the criteria of their internal coherence, conformity to Islamic teachings and the impact and influence of Mulla Sadra's philosophy on subsequent Islamic philosophers after him demonstrates that both syntheses are successful. Thus, there exists sufficient evidences to support the claim that Mulla Sadra's philosophy is a synthesis of the truth claims of revelation, gnosis and discursive philosophy and that this synthesis is based on his synthesis of revelation, intellectual intuition and reason