A Study of the Development of Natural Universal in Islamic Philosophy
Subject Areas : Geneology of philosophical schools and Ideas
1 - PhD in Islamic Philosophy and Kalam, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
Keywords: natural universal, quiddity, non-conditioned by division, historical development,
Abstract :
The problem of natural universal is one of the most challenging issues in Islamic philosophy, so that there are several ideas regarding its definition and its external existence. Some thinkers view it as a non-conditioned by division quiddity; some introduce it as a non-conditioned by the source of division quiddity, and some disagree with both of them. Unlike most mutikallimūn, who maintain that the natural universal has no external existence, Muslim philosophers believe the opposite. However, some of them, such as Ibn Sīnā, state that it exists by the existence of the individual, and some others, such as Mullā Ṣadrā, consider the natural universal to be an accidental existent. The present study, while providing an account of the historical development and evolution of the natural universal from the past until now and referring to the most important views of Muslim philosophers in this regard, aims to examine the roots of their differences as much as possible. It finally concludes that, given the fact that it has various modes in the outside, the natural universal is not universal in the external world; rather, it is better to say that it is a nature that the mind attains after analyzing the external world and is the origin of abstracting the natural universal. However, when it occurs to the mind, it becomes universal; otherwise, it is neither universal nor particular in the outside. Accordingly, it is known that what is in the external world is the individual, and nature exists by the existence of the individual; in other words, nature exists in the outside through the mediation of the individual’s existence. Mullā Ṣadrā also confirms the same idea that the natural universal exists in the outside by accident. Ultimately, the author resorts to the analysis of the natural universal’s mode of existence in the external world and concludes that it is a non-conditioned by division quiddity.