Mehdi Zamani
Abstract
The present article, adopting a comparative descriptive-analytical method, deals with the role of "attention" in sensory perception from Molla Sadra's point of view. Mulla Sadra has presented various interpretations of sensory perception. In all these interpretations, the role of attention as a fundamental ...
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The present article, adopting a comparative descriptive-analytical method, deals with the role of "attention" in sensory perception from Molla Sadra's point of view. Mulla Sadra has presented various interpretations of sensory perception. In all these interpretations, the role of attention as a fundamental characteristic of the soul is undeniable. This role expresses the active feature of the soul in sensory perception and other processes, which is based on Mulla Sadra’s specific principles underlying his view of the soul and its divine nature. Mulla Sadra's theory of attention can be explained using two bases: a) the theory of multiplicity of powers of the soul and b) the theory of the unity of powers and belief in the levels of the soul. According to the perspective of the powers of the soul which is closer to the peripatetic views, attention acts as a kind of limiting filter and a bottleneck in the process of perception and abstraction, which prevents a lot of data from moving across the stages. Based on the levels of the soul, and the specific principles of Sadra's wisdom, the soul uses the source of attention for its specific actions according to its power. In this explanation, attention is like a source of light that reflects on things sometimes involuntarily and sometimes voluntarily through the will of the soul to make them clear and presentable to the soul. The model of attention presented by Mulla Sadra has similarities with and differences from the latest models proposed by psychologists. The main advantage of this model is that it highlights attention in all in- human processes.
sayyed mohammad hosain naghibi; addollah nasri
Volume 19, Issue 3 , January 0, , Pages 17-38
Abstract
There are two steps in the process of sensory perception: the sensory organ’s sense-impression and the soul’s perception. The first step is materialistic and the second one abstract. According to the union of the body and soul, the soul apprehends the sensory organs’ sense impressions, ...
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There are two steps in the process of sensory perception: the sensory organ’s sense-impression and the soul’s perception. The first step is materialistic and the second one abstract. According to the union of the body and soul, the soul apprehends the sensory organs’ sense impressions, and the soul’s apprehension is considered knowledge by presence. Some commentators of transcendent theosophy, like Allameh Tabatabai and Shahid Motahhari, support this viewpoint. From their point of view, the ability to explain the cause of sensory errors is an epistemological inseparable part of this theory. It is also an epistemic foundation upon which indirect realism theory can be defended in relation to the subject matter of sensory perception, as advocated by great scholars of Islamic theosophy. The acceptance of the knowledge by presence as belonging to the sensory organs’ sense perceptions is compatible with the concept of acquired knowledge. Ibn Sina and Mulla Sadra believe in acquired knowledge, while Suhrawardi and Sabzevari believe in knowledge by presence. According to the latter view, the soul finds its self outside, so the mismatch of perception with the outside is not conceivable, while in the encounter of sense organs with the outside, in some cases a form which is incompatible with reality presents itself to the soul. Thus one cannot imagine the presence of sensory perception.
