between Sadra’s Philosophy and Husserl's Phenomenology
Transcript of between Sadra’s Philosophy and Husserl's Phenomenology
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Transcendent Philosophy 2, 173-191 London Academy of Iranian Studies
The Notions of Mhiyyah and Eidos: A Comparisonbetween Sadrs Transcendent Philosophy and Husserls
Phenomenology
Abdul Rahim Afaki
AbstractBoth Mull Sadr and Edmund Husserl are the philosophers oftranscendence but different from each other with respect to partly theirown character and partly their affiliation with two different domains of
thought namely Muslim philosophy and Sfism and Western philosophyrespectively. Sadrs ikmatal-H al-Mutaliyyah (TranscendentWisdom)
1is characterized as eclecticism in the sense that this is an
attempt of reconciliation of and, at the same time, reaction against his predecessors like Aristotle, Ibn-Sn, Ibn-Arab, the Illuminationistsand the Peripatetics etc. In addition, he also incorporates the Muslimtheological elements in his thought. On the contrary, Husserls
transcendental philosophy, far more well known as phenomenology, isclaimed to be a radical way of philosophizing which rejects every
presupposition whatsoever pre-given by past philosophies, religion,culture and tradition.
Two Philosophers, if they are recognized by the same trait,
must have some intellectual resemblance though there might becertain differences, whether major or minor, between them. Both of
our thinkers reject rational conceptual process as an appropriate way
of approaching reality. Instead, both focus on intuitive experience to
unveil reality. In their philosophies of transcendence, the notion of
essence plays a vital role but its relationship to reality is perceived
differently. This will be the focal point of my paper. I would like
here to explore the notions of Mhiyyah and eidos as expounded
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174 Abdul Rahim Afaki
by Sadr and Husserl respectively. Mhiyyah and eidos are twodifferent versions of the notion of essence that is a very significant
milestone through their paths to reality. For Sadr, the ultimate
reality is the Necessary Existence (al-Wujd al-Wjib) which isabsolutely objective and transcendent and so cognizable only
through the Gnostic experience (Irfn). The Necessary Existent isto impart existence to the individuals to make them accidental
existences as the sun, being a source of light, is to impart light to
other objects in order to illuminate them as they appear to us.
Whereas the essence of an existent is not an objectively existing
reality rather it is a subjective working out of the nature of
particulars by human rationality. So essence always remains, for
Sadr, a secondary reality that is construed by a subjective mindrather than cognized as an objective reality. Furthermore, essence as
a secondary reality is unified (muttahid) with existence which is aprimordial reality that can never be known by conceptual mind but
only the Gnostic experience can unfold it.
Unlike Sadrs al-Hikmat al-Mutaliyyah being groundedupon the difference between essence and existence Husserls
phenomenology is based on the relationship between essence (eidos)
and the thing in itself. For him, eidos is tantamount to the thing-in-itself so his main focus is to workout an eidetic method to reach at
eidos; once it is achieved then the thing in itself will never be veiledany more. His eidetic method begins with the bracketing of all
ideas, concepts and beliefs pre-given by culture and tradition. With
this bracketing one absolutely breaks with actuality and is led to thetranscendental-subjective consciousness. This consciousness as a
pure intuition grasps eide (pl. ofeidos) of individual beings and sogives rise to the whole life-world as an object constituted by a
subject.
Drawing from their views on philosophy, this study will
explore the meanings of transcendence as manifested in Husserls
and Sadrs thought. Furthermore, it will delineate how their
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The Notions of Mhiyyah and Eidos: A Comparison 175
concepts of philosophy and transcendence lead towards the notion of
essence.
Both Mull Sadr and Edmund Husserl are the philosophersof transcendence but different from each other with respect to partly
their own character and partly their affiliation with two differentdomains of thought namely Muslim philosophy and Sfism andWestern philosophy respectively. Sadrs al-Hikmat al-Mutaliyyah (Transcendent Wisdom)1 is characterized aseclecticism in the sense that this is an attempt of reconciliation of
and, at the same time, reaction against his predecessors like
Aristotle, Ibn-Sn, Ibn-Arab, the Illuminationists and thePeripatetics etc. In addition, he also incorporates the Muslim
theological elements in his thought. On the contrary, Husserls
transcendental philosophy, far more well known as phenomenology,
is claimed to be a radical way of philosophizing which rejects
every presupposition whatsoever pre-given by past philosophies,
religion, culture and tradition.
Two Philosophers, if they are recognized by the same trait,
must have some intellectual resemblance though there might be
certain differences, whether major or minor, between them. Both of
our thinkers reject rational conceptual process as an appropriate way
of approaching reality. Instead, both focus on intuitive experience to
unveil reality. In their philosophies of transcendence, the notion of
essence plays a vital role but its relationship to reality is perceived
differently. This will be the focal point of my paper. I would likehere to explore the notions of Mhiyyah and eidos as expounded
by Sadr and Husserl respectively. Mhiyyah and eidos are twodifferent versions of the notion of essence that is a very significant
milestone through their paths to reality. For Sadr, the ultimate
reality is the Necessary Existence (al-Wujd al-Wjib) which isabsolutely objective and transcendent and so cognizable only
through the Gnostic experience (Irfn). The Necessary Existent is
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176 Abdul Rahim Afaki
to impart existence to the individuals to make them accidental
existences as the sun, being a source of light, is to impart light to
other objects in order to illuminate them as they appear to us.
Whereas the essence of an existent is not an objectively existing
reality rather it is a subjective working out of the nature of
particulars by human rationality. So essence always remains, forSadr, a secondary reality that is construed by a subjective mindrather than cognized as an objective reality. Furthermore, essence as
a secondary reality is unified (muttahid) with existence which is a
primordial reality that can never be known by conceptual mind but
only the Gnostic experience can unfold it.
Unlike Sadrs al-Hikmat al-Mutaliyyah being groundedupon the difference between essence and existence Husserls
phenomenology is based on the relationship between essence (eidos)and the thing in itself. For him,
eidosis tantamount to the thing-in-
itself so his main focus is to workout an eidetic method to reach at
eidos; once it is achieved then the thing in itself will never be veiledany more. His eidetic method begins with the bracketing of all
ideas, concepts and beliefs pre-given by culture and tradition. With
this bracketing one absolutely breaks with actuality and is led to the
transcendental-subjective consciousness. This consciousness as a
pure intuition grasps eide (pl. ofeidos) of individual beings and so
gives rise to the whole life-world as an object constituted by a
subject.
Drawing from their views on philosophy, this study willexplore the meanings of transcendence as manifested in Husserls
and Sadrs thought. Furthermore, it will delineate how theirconcepts of philosophy and transcendence lead towards the notion of
essence.
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The Notions of Mhiyyah and Eidos: A Comparison 177
Views on Philosophy
Husserls and Sadrs views on philosophy are verysignificant in order to expound their notions of essence, for these
notions are deeply rooted in what they understand and how they
interpret philosophy. Sadr defines philosophy as the perfecting ofthe human self by cognizing through demonstration, within the
limits of mans potentiality, the realities of the things in themselves
in terms of judgments rather than mere opinions or imitations
(AsfrI, p.20). He further equates this definition with the view that philosophy is an attempt of man, within the limits of his
potentiality, to establish an intellectual order in relation to the
cosmos in order to become like the Divine (AsfrI, p.20). Theseviews reflect that Sadr is not only a Sfwhose objective is to havethe religious experience par excellence characterized by becoming
one with God. Rather in order to have that experience he focuses on
the intellectual grasping of all aspects of human life from its Origin
(al-Mabd) to the afterworld (al-Mad). He designs a grandintellectual scheme for perfecting his soul by accumulating the
Divine Wisdom (al-Hikmat al-Ilhiyyah) that encompasses alldomain of knowledge including the knowledge of God, the angels
and the Divine Scriptures. That is to say, the Divine Wisdom ranges
from the knowledge of how God originated the world, what the
laws of nature are and how they determine the functions of
cosmos to the knowledge of human self, how it is related to the
world as well as to the Heavens (al-Mal al-la) (AsfrI, pp.2-
3). Owing to the mind-body dualism of human existence, Sadrdivides philosophy into two types of hikma (wisdom) namely thetheoretical wisdom (al-hikamt al-nazariyyah) and the practicalwisdom (al-hikmat al-amaliyyah)
2 corresponding to the abstract
thinking and the relational action of man respectively (AsfrI, p.20). The task of the former is to cognize, with perfection, the
reality of the extraneous phenomena as things in themselves.
Whereas the objective of the later is to engage with the good actions
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in order to reach to the moral height. Thereby the human soul can
be able to control the human body so that it becomes totally
determined and dictated by the soul. As we have said earlier
Sadrs thought is eclectic in nature: the same is the case with hisdefinition of philosophy. So far he tends to amalgamate the
intellectual grasping of the things in themselves with the Sfexperience of becoming one with the Divine. Moreover, while he
explains the two types of wisdom he refers to the Qurn and theHadth to further elaborate his view of philosophy. In case of thetheoretical wisdom he quotes a Hadth in which the ProphetMuhammadis reported to ask Allah to make him see the things as
they are in themselves. Whereas drawing upon the verses 4, 5 and 6
of Srat al-Tn (Chapter 95 of the Qurn) Sadr explains thecombination of the theoretical and the practical wisdom. The Qurnsays:
We have indeed created man in the best of moulds (ahsani taqwm),then we abased him to the lowest of the low (asfala sfiln) except thosewho believe and do righteous deeds, and so for them shall be a rewardeverlasting. (Qurn 95:4-6)
According to Sadr, the term ahsani taqwm (the best ofmoulds) refers to the distinct and pure nature of the human soul
whereas the phrase asfala sfiln (the lowest of the low) defines the bodily aspect of the human existence that was derived from the
dense (kathf) and the dark (muzlim) material. Moreover, the phrase those who believe corresponds to those who have the
theoretical wisdom. That is to say, when once one totally submits toAllh one finds oneself able to know the reality of the world throughones belief in the Divine revelation. This ability necessarily leads
one to al-amal al-slih (the good deed) which is the sphere of thepractical wisdom. So mn (belief) and al-amal al-slih correspondto the theoretical and the practical wisdom respectively. When one
perfects oneself in terms of this bipartite wisdom one leads oneself
to become like the Divine. This two-dimensional view of philosophy
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(Falsafah) or wisdom (Hikmah) of Sadrs is known as al-Hikmatal-Mutaliyah (Transcendental Wisdom)3 (AsfrI, pp.21-22).
Unlike Sadrs eclectic view of Transcendental Wisdom, asdiscussed above, Edmund Husserl, rejecting every presupposition
given by tradition, culture, philosophy and science, emphasizes aradical way of philosophizing which he calls transcendental
phenomenology. Drawing upon Descartes Meditations, he tendsto begin with new meditationes de prima philosophiasubjected to
a Cartesian overthrow the immense philosophical literature with its
medley of great traditions. That is to say, Husserls transcendental
phenomenology begins with absolute poverty of knowledge being
devoid of any philosophical presupposition or pre-judgment (CM,
pp.1-6). This beginning of philosophical investigations with absolute
poverty of knowledge to cognize the phenomena is the first step of
Husserls phenomenological method which he calls the
phenomenological o (epoche). The epoche is not the denial ordoubt (as in case of the Cartesian method) concerning the existence
of world. Instead, it is a bracketing or suspension which
completely bars the beginners of philosophy from using any
judgment that concerns spatio-temporal existence (Ideas, pp.110-
111). At this moment of complete disconnexion through the
phenomenological epoche the only thing that remains unaffected is
the consciousness in itself. That is to say, at the moment ofepochethere happens a reduction-a leading back to pure consciousness
which is the only phenomenological residuum after the complete
suspension of the world. The simultaneous happening of thephenomenological epoche and reduction makes pure transcendental
consciousness available as the only field of the radical
philosophizing which Husserl calls the science of phenomenology
(Ideas, p.113). The philosophical investigations proceed through the
experiences of pure transcendental consciousness which is a pure
intuition whereby philosophy takes shape of [t]he pure
phenomenology of the experiences of thinking and knowing.
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Whatever appears to pure intuition is the thing in itself or
phenomenon which intuition cognizes in terms of its eidos (essence).
So phenomenology, according to Husserl, must bring to pure
expression, must describe in terms of their essential concepts and
their governing formulas of essence, the essences which directly
make themselves known in intuition, and the connections whichhave their roots purely in such essences. Each such statement of
essence is an a priori statement in the highest sense of the word (LI,
Vol.I, p.249). This Husserlian notion seems to be an echo of Sadrsconcept of the theoretical wisdom which leads him to the things in
themselves in terms of the Gnostic experience of transcendence. But
the difference between them lies in the states of knowledge attained
through the intuitive experience. In case of Sadr, man becomes likethe Divine having the knowledge of the things in themselves.
Whereas in Husserls case, through intuitive experiences man, in
terms of the essences of the things in themselves, constitute the life-
world (Lebenswelt), the world in which we are always already
living and which furnishes the ground for all cognitive performance
and all scientific determinations (EJ, p.14).
Meanings of Transcendence
Owing to the simultaneous differences and resemblance in
their conceptions of philosophy, one can now understand the
difference between the meanings of the term transcendence as
comprehended by Husserl and Sadr. For Husserl, phenomenology,as shown above, is a radical way of philosophizing which sounds the
Cartesian radicalism in working out a philosophical method. Hisnotion of transcendental subjectivity can be grasped in relation to
the Cartesian view of the ego cogito. Husserls fundamental phenomenological method is that of transcendental epoche which
bars Egoor I-myself completely from the world of space and
time and all of its scientific ideation. The gateway to the
phenomenological investigations is the method of transcendental
epoche which leads one to an absolute poverty of knowledge.
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The Notions of Mhiyyah and Eidos: A Comparison 181
Thereby the whole concrete surrounding life-world is transformed
into only a phenomenon of being. In epoche, the surrounding life-
world does not remain as something existing rather it is something
that claims being (CM, pp.18-19). The world is the world of
experience and in epoche I experience it as I experienced it before
but the only difference is that I, as reflecting philosophically, nolonger keep in effect (no longer accept) the natural believing in
existence involved in experiencing the world. In addition, all of the
processes of position takings regarding the world, the judgings,
valuings, and decidings, the process of setting ends and willing
means are also suspended, as they involve believing in the existence
of the world (CM, pp.19-20). This absolute and universal depriving
of all beliefs concerning the existential status (Seinsgeltung) of thelife-world and all existential position takings regarding it does not
lead one to nothingness. On the contrary, the epoche, with thisabsolute poverty of the surrounding life-world, leads one to the
absolute and universal richness of pure Ego or I-myself. The
richness of I-myself is characterized by my own pure conscious life,
in and by which the entire Objective world exists for me and is
precisely as it is for me. (CM, pp.20-21) Husserl relates his pure
transcendental consciousness to Descartes ego cogito, as it
experiences the objective world, perceives it, remembers it, thinks of
it, judges about it, values it, desires it, or the like which Descartes,
according to Husserl, indicated by the name cogito (CM, p.21).But Husserls pure Ego tends to remain above all life-world and
refrain[s] from doing any believing that takes the world straight-
forwardly as existing. Instead, the pure Ego enters the world thatgets its sense and acceptance or status [Sinn und Geltung] in and
from the Ego itself not independent of it (CM, p.21). The
transcendental epoche, as we have already discussed, as it leads Ego
back to the rich realm of its experience, is also called the
transcendental-phenomenological reduction. The method of
transcendental reduction, according to Husserl, makes
transcendental subjective consciousness epodictic in nature. Here
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Husserl again refers to the Cartesian notion of doubt to explain his
view ofepodicticity. In case of the Cartesian method, the ego sum is
found as certainly existing by doubting the existence of the whole
world around. Similarly, Husserl parenthesizes the extrinsically
existing life-world through epoche and reduction to find
transcendental subjective consciousness as epodictically evident. Inthis transcendence, according to Husserl, the epodictically evident
reduced Ego is not a piece of the worldneither the worldis a
piece ofEgo, rather
This transcendence is part of the intrinsic sense of anything worldly,despite the fact that anything worldly necessarily acquires all thedetermining it, along with its existential status, exclusively from myexperiencing it, my objectivating, thinking, valuing, or doing, atparticular times-notably the status of an evidently valid being is one itcan acquire only from my own evidences, my grounding acts. ( CM,
p.26)
Thanks to his notion of transcendence, Husserl rejects the
extrinsic and objective existence of life-world without denying the
status of the same as a domain of experience for pure transcendental
consciousness. Ultimately, this life-world is constituted by the
consciousness through the eidetic method of cognizing as we will
see in the next section of this study.
Like Husserl Sadr believes in transcending in order tocognize the realities of the things in themselves as we have already
seen in the last section where he defines philosophy. But his conceptof transcendence is entirely different from that of Husserls. In order
to comprehend the realities of the things in themselves, according to
Sadr, there is no need to deny their existence independent of thehuman mind. Instead, without such denial one can have a Gnostic
experience (Irfn) of the existence (Wujd) as such. Sadr uses themetaphor of journey (safar) to elaborate his view of transcendencewhich is gnostic in nature. His al-Hikmat al-Mutaliyyah is not
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simply the work of a philosopher who attempts to understand
everything by his reason or abstract thinking. But rather it is a sort of
intellectual movement that perfects the human soul by the
completion of the Four Journeys (al-Asfr al-arbaah). He describesthese Four Journeys in his magnum opus, al-Hikmat al-Mutaliyyah
fil-Asfr al-Aqliyat al-Arbaah (The Transcendental Wisdom in theFour Intellectual Journeys). The Four Journeys are as follows:
The First Journey: from the creatures (al-makhlqt) to the Truth (al-Haqq),
The Second Journey: continues in the Truth with the Truth,The Third Journey: from the Truth to the creatures with the Truth, andThe Fourth Journey: continues with the Truth in the creatures. (AsfrI,p.13)
Sadrs intellectual scheme implies that transcendence is amovement or journey from the creatures, the things in the
surrounding world, to the Divine in order to become like the Divine
as indicated as the First Journey above. This Journey is not merely a
mystic experience in which the human soul is lost in the Divine,
rather it is an intellectual movement of a Gnostic (rif) to becomelike the Divine reflecting on the nature of existence and its
accidents (awrid) (AsfrI, p.20). This is the character of histhought that demarcates him from the Sforder of Islamic traditionof which he himself is a part. He attempts to establish a necessary
relationship between the Hikmah and the existence (AsfrI, p.22).The Hikmah, for him, is the Divine Knowledge (al-Ilm al-
Ilhiyyah) whose main topic is the Absolute Being (al-Maujd al-Mutlaq). Moreover, as every being is an effect of some other beingthis sphere of learning focuses on the First Cause (al-Sabab al-
Awwal) of all beings (AsfrI, p.24).
Mhiyyah and Eidos
The main thrust of Sadrs philosophy is the ontologicalunderpinning of his Transcendental Wisdom, the focal point of the
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First Journey in his grand intellectual scheme whose task is to
cognize the nature of existence with all other notions related to it.
This study focuses on the notion of Mhiyyah (essence) as Sadrexpounds it in relation to the existence. Sadr believes that allessences (Mhiyyat) are the accidents of the existence4 which
become characteristically related to it first of all other accidents ofit (AsfrI, p.25). He considers existence as an unconceivable orundeterminable term, as it is beyond the known methods of
conceiving namely the definition (al-hadd) and the description
(al-rasm). The former is not applicable to existence, for in order todefine something one should necessarily know the genus (jins) and
the division (fasl) but existence is universally common to all,
therefore one cannot ascribe it to any particular genus. Moreover,
since it is devoid of genus therefore it is devoid of division. The
method of description is also not applicable to existence, for in this
case one describes something unknown by the help of some very
well-known meaning, but nothing is known better than the
existence. Therefore, it will be an absolute mistake to interpret the
existence by the help of some other entities considered as more
meaningful than the existence. So the existence, for Sadr, is beyondall demonstration and conception of the human mind (AsfrI, pp.25-26). That is to say, the existence is absolutely extrinsic and objective
being entirely independent of not only the human mind but anything
extraneous to it (AsfrI, p.27). It is the only reality that is real initself whereas all other entities including the essence, as they are, are
accidents of the existence. Sadr demarcates the Necessary
Existence (al-Wujd al-Wjib) that is a Being-in-Itself (Maujd biNafsih) from the accidental existence (al-wujd al-rid) that is abeing which depends on other to exist (maujd bi ghairih) (AsfrI, p.27). This distinction is grounded on his notion of hierarchy of
attribution of the meaning of the existence to different beings with
respect to their essences. The meaning of existence is common
among all beings that attribute it. However, all of the beings are
essentially different in the attribution of the meaning of the existence
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due to various respects. For instance, the Being that is uncaused by
any other prior being will be naturally the First and the Foremost
among all beings (Mutaqaddim ala jami al-maujdt bil-taba)or the existence of substance (wujd al-jauhar) is prior to theexistence of accident (wujd al-rid) (AsfrI, pp.35-36). Thehierarchy or the discrepancy in the attribution of the meaning ofexistence to all of the beings is to take place through their essences.
That is to say, the Divine is essentially different from the mortal, the
substance is essentially different from the quality, the form is
essentially different from the matter because the attribution of the
meaning of existence to these beings is different from each other.
Sadr defines essence (mhiyyah) as what something is as itis (al-shaiyu hua hua) or in other words it is an answer to the
question about a thing-What is it? For instance, to the question-
How much is it? The answer will be the mass (kammiyyah
) of
that thing which, according to Sadr, is the essence (AsfrII, pp.2-3).It implies that essence, unlike existence, is the matter of cognition
that can be encompassed by the human perception (mushhidah) asan accident of the existence. The underlying reality of all beings is
the existence that carries essences with it which can be cognized by
the conception of the human mind while the existence is beyond all
methods of cognition except the Gnostic experience as discussed
earlier. Meanings of essences always remain on the epistemic orcognitive plane and so they cannot guarantee the manifestations
(tashakhkhus) to beings as they are. Instead, the manifestation of
beings as they are in themselves is determined through theirexistential relationship to the Real Existence (al-Wujd al-Haqq)that is the Origin (al-Mabd) of all beings (AsfrII, p.12). Thedistinction between cognitive and the existential plane of the things
in themselves is essential in Sadrs philosophy to draw thesignificant difference between essence and existence. The essence of
the thing in itself, although it is one with the existence, belongs to
the cognitive side of being of that thing. Whereas the existence is not
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and cannot be a matter of cognition, rather it is absolutely existential
or ontic which relates everything to its cause, the Necessary
Existence or the Divine. For all beings are shadows (zill) andilluminations (ishrqt) of the Divine (AsfrII, p.12). So the onlyway to reach the existential realities of the things in themselves is
the Gnostic experience of becoming one with the Divine, the Originor Source of all existence.
Husserl may agree with Sadr on the view that essence issomething what is as it is and also on the view that reality cannot be
graspable through traditional empirical and rational methods of
cognition. However, he would intensely disagree with Sadr ondrawing a distinction between essence as something cognizable
being an accident of the existence that is an absolutely objective and
extrinsic reality. On the contrary, Husserl emphasizes on the
constitution of all reality by an absolutely pure transcendental
subjective consciousness as we have already seen above. This huge
difference between the two philosophers transcendence is due to the
distinction between their intellectual commitments and methods of
philosophizing. Sadr is an eclectic-revivalist of Muslim traditionsboth of philosophy and Sfism. So he has never been able to deviatefrom his absolute commitment to the Gnostic experience of oneness
of being to unveil all reality. While Husserl, being absolutely
committed to suspend all traditions of Western intellectualism, is to
work out a new method of unfolding the reality which he calls the
eidetic method or the method of eidetic description (CM, p.69).
The first step in this method, as shown earlier, is the transcendentalreduction which leads one to ones transcendental ego when one
parenthesizes all givenness of actuality. This is not simply a
transcendental-phenomenological reduction, rather it is an eidetic
reduction in which ego, though situated in the empirical
factualness, entirely breaks with the same. This ego, in the next
step, selects a fact of perception to change it into a pure possibility
by [a]bstaining from acceptance of its being. This shift of the
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The Notions of Mhiyyah and Eidos: A Comparison 187
actual perception into the realm of non-actualities takes place on the
plane of mere fantasy or imagination. The procedure of
fantasiableness or imaginableness of perception removes it from
all factualness to make it become the pure eidos perception, an
essential universality. The pure eidos is absolutely unconditioned
by any fact and so an a priori in the very true sense of the term.Along with the shift of a fact into an a priori universal the ego is also
transformed from an empirically situated subject into an intuitive
and epodictic consciousness of something universal (CM, pp.70-
71). Through this imaginative procedure of selecting facts to
transform them into the pure eidos perceptions, the transcendental
subjective consciousness constitutes whole of the life-world in terms
of eide.
One should not equate Husserls method of fantasying fact
into the pureeidos
to Sadrs way of the Gnostic experience to
become like the Divine though it can also be interpreted as a highly
imaginative and intuitive experience. Husserls eidetic ego does
break with actuality like Sadrs transcendent gnostic but in ordernot to become one with the Divine. Instead, his transcendental ego
becomes free of all factualness to constitute the same life-world
(Lebenswelt). Husserls transcendental phenomenology developsthrough the eidetic method whose all investigations are nothing but
uncoverings of the all embracing eidos, transcendental ego as such,which comprises all pure possibility-variants of..de facto ego and
this ego itself qua possibility (CM, p.71).
Conclusion
Although Sadr and Husserl both are the philosophers oftranscendence having certain commonalties between them, they
differ from each other as well with various respects. Both are deeply
interested in cognizing the realities of the things in themselves but
begin to attain this task very differently. The later is to reject the
whole tradition of his academic culture to find out a radical way of
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philosophizing. Whereas the former is to show an extremely
accommodative attitude towards the past philosophies in order to
reconcile the various intellectual currents of Muslim tradition in
terms of his al-Hikmat al-Mutaliyyah. Both focus ontranscendence to grasp the reality but their meanings of
transcendence are entirely different from each other. For Husserl,Egos break with factualness leads to the pure transcendental
consciousness which is free of all beliefs and position takings
regarding the spatio-temporal existence. So transcendence, being
absolutely devoid of any touch of religiosity, is merely an epistemic
or cognitive attempt of the Ego to see the phenomena differently.
That is to say, rather than cognizing the world with the pre-given
beliefs and ideas Transcendental Ego grasps the same in terms of
eidos perception which it intrinsically constitutes through its own
process of imaginableness or fantasiableness. For Sadr, on the otherhand, it is not enough to break with actuality to experience the
transcendence in the exact sense of the term. Instead, one should
attempt to have the Gnostic experience of becoming one with the
Divine in order to find oneself transcendent. So transcendence is not
merely a cognitive attempt rather it is a cognitive-existential
experience of the human soul through which the soul not only
becomes like the Divine, but simultaneously grasps the reality as
well. This is so as Sadr demarcates between existence and essencevery significantly. Essence, for him, is something cognizable
through the traditional methods of conceiving the objects like
defining and describing etc. while existence is universally common
underlying reality that cannot be determined or conceived throughthose methods. Therefore, the only way to know the existence is to
transcend this world to become one with the Absolute Existent, the
Origin of all existence. On the contrary, Husserl, though he is also
interested in grasping the reality of the things in themselves, is to
believe that reality is not beyond the human mind. Rather it can be
graspable by the human mind if the mind is reduced to the eidetic
Ego that can transform all fact into the pure eidos through the
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The Notions of Mhiyyah and Eidos: A Comparison 189
extraordinary procedure of fantasying or imagining. This eidetic
method ultimately leads not to the Divine but to the constitution of
the same life-world in which the Ego is always already living and
experiencing.
AbbreviationsAsfr Sadr al-Dn Shrz, al-Hikmat al-Mutaliyyah fil-Asfr al-Aqliyat al-Arbaah (The Transcendental Wisdom in the Four Intellectual Journeys), 9Volumes, Bairt, Dr al-Ihy al-Turth al-Arab, 1419/1999 (The volume oneof this book is abbreviated asAsfrIand volume two asAsfrII)
MM Sadr al-Dn Shrz, al-Mabd wal-Mad(the Origin and theAfterworld), Bairt, Dr al-Hd, 1420/2000
CM Husserl, Edmund, Cartesianische Meditationen (Cartesian Meditations),
Trans. D. Cairns, The Hague, Nijhoff, 1967
EJ Husserl, Edmund,Erfahrung und Urteil: Untersuchungen zurGenealogie der Logik(Experience and Judgment: Investigations in a Genealogy ofLogic), Rev. and Ed. L. Landgrebe, Trans. J. S. Churchill and K. Ameriks,Evanston, IL, Northwestern University Press, 1973
Ideas Husserl, Edmund,Ideen: zu einer reinen Phnomenologie und
Phnomenologischen Philosophie (Ideas: General Introduction to PurePhenomenology), Trans. W. R. Boyce Gibson, London, Allen & Unwin, 1931
LI Husserl, Edmund,Logische Untersuchungen (Logical Investigations), 2Volumes, Trans. J. N. Findlay, New York, Humanities Press, 1970
Notes1. My translation of Sadrs al-Hikmat al-Mutaliyyah is a result ofbenefiting both from Fazlur Rahman and Hussein Nasr. The former translated theterm as the Sublime Wisdom while the later rendered it as the TranscendentTheosophy benefiting, may be, from Henry Corbin. See Fazlur Rahman, ThePhilosophy ofMull Sadr, Albany, State University of New York Press, 1975,p.19 and S. Hussein Nasr, Sadr al-Dn Shrzand his Transcendent Theosophy,Tehrn, Institute of Humanities and Cultural Studies, 1997
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190 Abdul Rahim Afaki
2. This division ofal-Hikmah into al-Nazariyyah and al-Amaliyyah seemsto be very similar to that of Ibn-Sns. See Ibn-Sn, al-Ilhiyyt min Kitb al-Shif , researched by yt Allh Hasanzdeh al mul, Qum, Maktab al-Almal-Islam, 1386/1966, pp.11-123. After having gone through Sadrs definitions of philosophy which Ihave already discussed above as well as benefiting from Mrz Mahdshtiyn,Hussein Nasr comes to the conclusion that Sadrs this concept of wisdom is thesame as well known as al-Hikmat al-Mutaliyah. He says: There arethree basic principles upon which the Transcendent Theosophy stands: intellectualintuition or illumination (kashf or dhauq or ishrq); reason and rationaldemonstration (aqloristidll); and religion or revelation (sharorWah). It is bycombining the knowledge derived from these sources that the synthesis of MullSadr was brought about. This synthesis aimed to harmonize the knowledge that isaccessible to man through the following means, namely, Sfism, the school ofishrq, rational philosophy (identified by Mull Sadr with the Peripatetic school)and religious sciences including theology (kalm). See S. H. Nasr, Sadr al-DnShrz and his Transcendent Theosophy, Tehrn, Institute of Humanities andCultural Studies, 1997, pp.87-88
4. The priority of existence to essence is the view that demarcates Sadrfrom his predecessors including Ibn-Sn and al-Suhraward. He confessed that hehimself was of that opinion that essence is prior to existence but later he becameenlightened by the view that the objective realities are the existences not theessences which can be cognized by the subjective mind through the ordinarymethods of the human conception. All possible existences are the shadows andilluminations of One Real Light, the Necessary existence that cannot be conceived
through rational method but only by the Gnostic experience. For the NecessaryExistence is devoid of any essence, instead, its very existence is its essence. SeeAsfrI, pp.48-49 and MM, pp.30-40Bibliography1. Sadr al-Dn Shrz, al-Hikmat al-Mutaliyah fil-Asfr al-Aqliyat al-Arbaah (The Transcendental Wisdom in the Four Intellectual Journeys), Volumes
1-9, Bairt, Dr al-Ihy al-Turth al-Arab, 1419/19992. .., al-Mabd wal-Mad (the Origin and theAfterworld), Bairt, Dar al-Hadi, 1420/20005. Ibn-Sn, al-Ilhiyyt min Kitb al-Shif, researched by yt AllhHasanzdeh al mul, Qum, Maktab al-Alm al-Islam, 1386/19663. Fazlur Rahman, The Philosophy of Mull Sadr, Albany, StateUniversity of New York Press, 19756. Nasr, S. Hussein, Sadr al-Dn Shrz and his Transcendent Theosophy,Tehrn, Institute of Humanities and Cultural Studies, 1997
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The Notions of Mhiyyah and Eidos: A Comparison 191
7. Husserl, Edmund, Cartesianische Meditationen (Cartesian Meditations),Trans. D. Cairns, The Hague, Nijhoff, 19678. , Erfahrung und Urteil: Untersuchungen zurGenealogie der Logik(Experience and Judgment: Investigations in a Genealogy ofLogic), Rev. and Ed. L. Landgrebe, Trans. J. S. Churchill and K. Ameriks,Evanston, IL, Northwestern University Press, 1973
9. , Ideen: zu einer reinen Phnomenologie und Phnomenologischen Philosophie (Ideas: General Introduction to PurePhenomenology), Trans. W. R. Boyce Gibson, London, Allen & Unwin, 193110. , Logische Untersuchungen (Logical Investigations), 2Volumes, Trans. J. N. Findlay, New York, Humanities Press, 1970