A Study of the Effects of Mir Sayyid Sharīf Gorgānī’s Views of Existential Oneness on Later Gnostics and Philosophers
Subject Areas : Studies on Sadrian philosophers and commentators and critics of Mulla Sadra
1 - Assistant Professor, Philosophy and Kalam Department, Research Institute of Hawzeh and University, Qom, Iran
Keywords: gnostic existential oneness, oneness of intuitions, mystic taste (dhawq of ta’alluh), Mir Sayyid Sharīf Gorgānī,
Abstract :
Mir Sayyid Sharīf Gorgānī paid particular attention to the problem of gnostic oneness because of his mystic beliefs. He explained the doctrine of the “oneness of being and plurality of existent” based on the principiality of existence regarding Almighty Truth. However, he viewed the doctrine of the “oneness of existence and existent” in opposition to rational evidence, on the one hand, and believed that its perception depends on the realization of a state beyond the state of the intellect, on the other hand. In his view, if the realization of “a state beyond the state of the intellect” is denied, and what the intellect testifies against is considered to be absurd, there is no option but to interpret gnostics’ unveilings and intuitions, assuming they are correct, as what the intellect finds acceptable. He proposed the oneness of intuitions as a solution. A study of the kalāmī, philosophical, and gnostic legacy of the 9th-11th centuries demonstrates the great influence of Mir Sayyid Sharīf Gorgānī’s ideas about existential oneness on the thinkers of this period. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the effects of his views in this regard.