Mulla Sadra and Metaphysics

There has been a flourishing of works on Islamic philosophy in the past decade or so. Many of them were originally PhDs at various universities in the UK and the United States. However not many were written from the point of view of philosophy. Although the texts or figures studied are connected to philosophy, the approach of most of these theses were mainly from the perspective of Islamic studies or Islamic thought. The work under review is also the result of a thesis written for a PhD at Cambridge University and was also from the perspective of the field of Islamic thought and not philosophy. However the thesis is written by someone well versed in western philosophical traditions especially analytic philosophy. This I believe is what makes this book a cut above the rest of the more recent literature on Islamic philosophy.

The central question of this book is basically how do you reconcile the belief in the One with this world of multiplicities? According to the writer, Mulla Sadra uses the concept tashkik al-wujud in answering this question. Tashkik which is translated here as modulation of being is discussed from its various linguistic aspects, its connection with the discussion on mental being and the reality of being or the circle of being.