Moral Responsibility in Encounter with the “Other”: A Sadra’i Reading Based on Substantial Motion and the Unity of the Intellect and the Intelligible

Document Type : Research Article

Author

Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Ale- Taha Institute of Higher Education, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

The central question of this study is a transition beyond the common dualistic conception of the relation to the “other,” toward reconceiving its very nature as an existential process with ethical consequences. Whereas modern philosophy regards the subject as a self-grounded and separate substance, on the basis of the two Sadrian principles of “substantial motion” and “the unity of the intellect and the intelligible,” relation is an internal and constitutive reality that transforms individual identity within a “shared becoming.” Methodologically, this study is analytical-fundamental, and by grounding itself in the philosophical foundations of Ṣadrā, it demonstrates that human identity is not a fixed “thing” but rather a dynamic “becoming.” The findings are analyzed on three levels: knowledge as existential union with the other; mutual relation as the intertwinement of two substantial motions; and ethics as responsibility toward the “becoming” of the other. This approach is placed in conversation with Eastern wisdom and contemporary science showing that moral responsibility is not an ontological necessity. Within this framework, the highest ethical act is any act that assists the “becoming” of the other and the traversal of his/her path to perfection; and the most unethical act is any act that obstructs existential intensification.

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References

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History

  • Receive Date: 15 December 2025
  • Revise Date: 06 June 2026
  • Accept Date: 11 June 2026

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