Sazetak

Abstract

Supreme Wisdom is the name of the main Mullā Sadra work (al-Ḥikma al-muta’āliya), because this great philosopher and gnostic thought that philosophy is only a prerequisite for the preparation of winding up to the highest and deepest cognitions. One can say that only by the gnostic complement can philosophy (falsafa) be turned into wisdom (ḥikma), and that this wisdom will be the supreme wisdom (al-ḥikma al-muta’āliya). All three main dimensions of his thought - ontology, epistemology, and the doctrine of the soul - have an essential foundation in the Gnostic cognition that deserves the title of sublime wisdom.

Mullā Ṣadrā  begins the construction of his original ontology with the criticism of the doctrines of philosophers (primarily Avicenna and Suhrawardī), who hold that being is something that contributes to quiddity in one way or another (Avicenna), ie being is only the construct of our mind (Suhrawardī). He actually inverts such a theory, proving that only what truly is represents being, and its ‘transmission’ into the mind, changes its ontological ‘truth’, meaning its reality. The ultimate consequence of this doctrine is that being can not truly be understood by the mind, but only by direct contemplation.

Key words: philosophy, gnosis, ontology, epistemology, doctrine of soul.