The Reality of Existence and Its Intuition in Transcendent Philosophy

Document Type : Research Article

Author

Phd in Islamic philosophy and theology at Tehran ut

Abstract

The subject of philosophy is being, though each philosopher interprets it according to his own school of thought. Unlike Khwāja Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī, who identified it with the concept of existence, Mulla Sadra considered the subject of philosophy to be the reality of existence. Moreover, he did not regard knowledge of it as conceptual (ḥuṣūlī), but rather as intuitive and experiential (shuhūdī), attainable only by the firmly rooted in knowledge and the mystics. Yet ambiguities remain regarding what exactly the “reality of existence” means in Transcendent Philosophy and how it is to be intuited. This is because, in addition to being the subject of philosophy, the term is also applied to the Necessary Existent; but the Necessary Existent is certainly a problem (masʾalah) within philosophy, not its subject. Furthermore, when Mulla Sadra speaks of the all-encompassing nature of existence, he equates the reality of existence with al-wujūd al-munbasit (the diffuse existence) or the Breath of the All-Merciful. However, this too cannot serve as the subject of philosophy, since it does not encompass the Necessary Existent. Thus, another path must be sought in order to clarify what truly constitutes the subject of philosophy—an issue to which this article is devoted.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

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  • Receive Date: 22 September 2025
  • Revise Date: 26 April 2026
  • Accept Date: 04 June 2026

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