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Allamah Misbah’s Puzzle … M. Legenhausen (37
body, for the semen is only a Sadra uses this to explain
residue of the nutriment in how religious teachings about
process of change. It remains, rewards and punishments can
then, for the reason alone so be understood to apply to
to enter and alone to be incorporeal souls after the
divine, for no bodily activity death of the body. (Mulla Sadra,
has any connexion with the 2008: 184-186)
activity of reason. (Aristotle, As for those faculties that
1984: 736b21-736b28) require a corporeal basis, such
Of course, today we would as Aristotle’s example of
say that the activity of reason walking, Mulla Sadra argues
is not independent of the that dependency does not
activity of the brain, or of the indicate the source. The same
central nervous system; but material may grow or fail to
Aristotle and Mulla Sadra do grow depending on whether it
not argue in this way at all. is exposed to sunlight.
Mulla Sadra argues that it By analogy, Sadra claims
is not only reason that does that the material conditions
not require a body, but also for various powers or
the imagination. In dreams we perfections of the soul are not
see things in the imagination sufficient for their actualization,
without using our eyes. So, the source of which must,
the seeing of the imagination therefore, be from the divine
is not dependent on the light of existence.
organs of vision. From here, a So, while Aristotle thought
leap is made to the that it was only reason that
generalization that imagination enters the soul from outside
does not require corporeality.
