Theory of Manifestation of Existence and its Application by Philosophers of Tehran School in Explanation of the Nature Origination of the World
Saeid Nazari Tavakkoli, Faculty of Theology and Islamic studies, Tehran University, Tehran, Iran.
Abstract
The rise of Transcendent Philosophy and the opportunity to benefit from the interplay of philosophy and gnosis provided the chance for researchers to examine philosophical issues based on Gnostic principles, while appreciating the rational-philosophical explorations of early philosophers. From among these issues, we can refer to the origination of the world.
Apart from the four different theological and philosophical analyses of this issue, that is, temporal origination, essential origination, perpetual origination, and natural origination, some of the followers of the Transcendent Philosophy have tried to present a new design of the origination of the world which is essentially different from previous ones. They have done this based on Gnostic teachings, such as the principality and unity of being, manifestation of existence in the arc of descent, the necessity of the nature of existence, and the like.
Based on the three theories of nominal origination, actual origination, and origination by truth, which were presented by Haj Mulla Hadi Sabzivari, Ilahi Qumshe’I, and Allamah Tabataba’I, respectively, there is no word about the precedence or non-precedence of the existence of the world by non-existence, in the sense that is discussed in theological philosophical sources, anymore. Rather, exiting the interiors has replaced it in the analysis of the origination of the world. This is because, in the Gnostic view, the world is one of the manifestations of divine existence, which is not prone to non-existence.
As a result, when going through its descending levels, existence has moved from unity to plurality, from inward to outward, and from hiddenness to openness, and the material world gradually shows itself.
In this state, there remains no place for lengthy and, at times, useless discussions about the quality of the union of the created and the pre-eternal, and the changing and the fixed.
Key word: Manifestation of Existence, Tehran School, origination of the world, Transcendent Philosophy.