Philosophical Thought

Consistency of the Individuation Criterion in the Thoughts of Avicenna, Suhrawardi, and Mulla Sadra

Document Type : Original Research

Author

M.T. Karimi

Department of Philosophy and Islamic Theology, Farabi College, University of Tehran, Qom, Iran

https://doi.org/10.58209/jpt.5.4.503
Abstract
One of the most complex issues in metaphysics is the problem of individuation and its criterion. Muslim philosophers have given this issue serious attention from the very beginning. Among the schools of Islamic philosophy, the Peripatetic philosophers—particularly Avicenna—have explicitly addressed the criterion of individuation, and other Peripatetics have also reflected on this subject. An important point regarding the criterion of individuation is the lack of distinction and the conflation between the mental and the external (objective) realms among the Peripatetic philosophers. Suhrawardi, being aware of this issue, sought to provide a well-founded answer to the question of the criterion of individuation. Following Suhrawardi, other philosophers, including Mulla Sadra, employed this distinction and offered different responses to the issue—responses that undoubtedly stem from it. After examining the criterion of individuation in the thought of the philosophers as mentioned earlier, the author ultimately concludes that it is compatible across the philosophies of Avicenna, Suhrawardi, and Mulla Sadra.

Keywords

Individuation
Distinction and Determination
Accidents
Objective Identity
Relational and Intrinsic Entity
Mind and Reality
Subjects
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Philosophical Thought
Volume 5, Issue 4 - Serial Number 20
Fall 2025
Autumn 2025
Pages 503-514

  • Receive Date 26 June 2025
  • Accept Date 06 August 2025
  • Publish Date 13 October 2025